‘Beach House Sessions Vol.1,’ is a truly admirable depiction of Gabriela Villasenor’s complex producer mind. Adopting a broad spectrum of MIDI instruments and various, rich timbres creates this dense soundscape of ambient tones, thumping beats and pulsating rhythms which cumulatively create this masterpiece.
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‘I wanted to capture this whole discourse of sea-and-surf inspired music, evoking the sounds of rolling waves with the feeling of walking on the sand, feeling the sea breeze and synthesizing all this with a touch of vibrant and energizing rhythms and melodies,’ says Gabriela and she perfectly achieves this in her beautiful album.
Given the limited recording set-up she had, Gabriela’s production ability is sheerly admirable and her writing process of, ‘mixing sounds and melodies until I recreate the sounds and melodies I was thinking of,’ pays homage to her talent as an artist.
Gabriela’s introduction to the abstractness of the sounds of Electronic music spouted from a young love of artists such as the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. After renting a small flat above a thriving Electronic music bar, Gabriela here began to mix and DJ to a live audience and, henceforth, her adoration for music blossomed further. From this, she has diversified into a range of genres branching into house, deep, electro, progressive, techno, and recently experimenting with 8D and more. With a constantly evolving sound, Gabriela loves to cross over into various musical genres & this eclectic Mexican artist has a bright future in the music industry.
Getting To Know Gabriela Villasenor
Artist name and location?
Artist name: Gabriela Villasenor.
Location: Mexico/Los Angeles
Introduce yourself in one paragraph:
I am a Mexican artist, without the label of a specific genre. I have experimented with various disciplines within art, but music has always been an essential part of my life. I am an eclectic person, with diverse interests, so my music reflects that. I was born in the north of Mexico. As a child, because of my father’s job, we constantly moved places. Since I was almost always the new girl at school, music quickly became my refuge. I never took music classes as such, my approach to creating music came in an empirical and self-taught way, I create my music from my instinct and my interpretation.
Were you connected with music from a young age, or anyone in particular inspired you?
My introduction to music came without a doubt from my family. Music has always been a fundamental part of our lives. When I was little, I used to listen to my mom’s vinyl albums of artists from the 60/70s. I also listened to a lot of music with my siblings, from the 80s/90s so my musical tastes were enriched thanks to the fact that I had a wide variety of rhythms and styles from an early age.
What first kickstarted your musical career?
I don’t know if this kickstarted my musical career as such, but my first approach to mixing music and being able to do it in front of other people comes from my time in college when I rented a small studio next to an electronic music bar, in that place I had the opportunity to get started and be able to learn from DJs who used to play there. It was a great moment because not only did I learn how to use decks, mixers, synthesizers, but I discovered that I had talent (if you will) and the pleasure and ease of doing it.
Tell us more about your sound and how it has evolved.
When I finally decided to produce my own music, I was very influenced and inspired by life on the beach, I lived in Cabo for a while and listened to a lot of house and minimal music at that time, I think I connect my mood and my memories with my music. I would say that house music is the root of my sounds and you can probably perceive a little of the minimal influence that I have had, I like to mix a little of everything that I have learned over time.
Any words you want to share to encourage other artists and producers?
I don’t know how good I am at giving advice (laughs), but I would certainly tell anyone who reads this that the most important thing to achieve something is to decide to do it, whatever we want that is, afterwards having the will and the discipline to develop it in order to persevere is essential. Don’t be afraid to try new things, there are no mistakes, there is learning.
Networking, consistency, character, approach… what and how do you initiate your Industry relationships?
I started by approaching people who were already related to or were part of the industry; the media, musicians… some pay attention to you, others don’t. But that helped me to make myself known a little, I think that perseverance is the key. It was also thanks to my friends who have helped me a lot to spread my music. I think that believing in my music and in my project is what has laid solid foundations in my development as an artist.
Is there anyone specific you’d like to thank that has helped you evolve and why?
I definitely have to thank the PR team of Ditto Music; they’ve been the ones who have spread my music with media specialized in electronic music. And speaking of evolving artistically, I think I wouldn’t finish naming people but in a general approach it would be other artists from whom I have learned to appreciate music and who have encouraged me to do it myself.
Name 3 albums or labels that have inspired you the most.
This is a very difficult question! Pff! just three, well, I’m going to focus on the electronic genre:
Exciter by Depeche Mode was the first electronic music album I bought when I was a kid with my own money in a record store (laughs), sometime later I bought Imagine by Armin van Buuren and I remember loving it back then, I couldn’t stop listening to it. But without a doubt I have to mention Dreamland by Robert Miles, especially his song Children, I was a child when I first listened that song, but it stayed with me forever, I had never heard anything like it, I don’t know, I could say it was my first crush on electronic music, that song made me love this genre.
What’s your favourite piece of studio equipment or software?
It has to be mi Laptop, might not be an exciting answer but I do anything and everything with it, I’m still using the same laptop from quite few years ago, it’s my battle partner, I’ve created all my beats in it, so I have to give her proper credit.
Name your favourite club or festival in the world, and how does it make you feel?
At the moment Coachella because I live in Los Angeles and I feel that the festival captures the vibe that California has, but there are so many music festivals now and they are so good, I really love music festivals because they help new artists tremendously to spread their music to more people.
Name an outlandish rider request?
Remember that movie “Airheads” (1994), Starting Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler as three band members hoping for a big break and they head to a radio station to play their demo tape and wind it up, holding everyone hostage with plastic guns when the head DJ refuses to play them (laughs), well at some point they come up with a list of bizarre demands to help establish an insanity plea later. The list includes a football helmet full of cottage cheese, my outlandish rider request would maybe be that, just for the sake of it.
Favourite clubbing memory, who or what did it involve?
I lived in Cabo for a while and I remember that at one point in the night I had the opportunity to mix some music in the DJ booth of a local club, it was spring break, and the place was packed, everything was improvised but people had a great time and I enjoyed it much.
What quote represents you best?
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop”, this famous quote from Confucius.
For me it synthesizes the importance of perseverance, patience, focus and discipline. I think that perseverance is a vital virtue to develop in life because it is closely related to personal development.
If you could play any venue, where would it be and why?
TOMORROWLAND without a doubt, is the biggest electronic music festival in the world. The production is incredible, it seems from another planet.
Music is… (explain more)
As a personal approach I will say that music is one of the maximum expressions that the human soul has, through music we express feelings and emotions that otherwise would be difficult to explain, music is a universal language that is understood in all corners of the planet.
One song you really couldn’t live without.
What a difficult question! The truth is there are so many songs that have left a mark in my life, but if I had to choose it would be any song by The Beatles, I grew up listening to them and loving them so it would definitely any song by them.
Name drop your favourite tunes, artists or DJs (past or present)
White Town – Your Woman
Groove Armada – Superstylin’
The Chemical Brothers – Galvanize
New Order – Blue Monday
Bomfunk MC’s – Freestyler
These songs have accompanied me for many years and are some of the many songs that have inspired my style, without a doubt one of my favourites, they always go everywhere with me in my playlists.
What was your first music opportunity and how did it fuel your fire?
I think that when I produced my first single was when I realized that I had the potential to do this, apart from that I felt an enormous emotion when I heard my finished material for the very first time, it is an almost inexplicable sensation. When I sent my material to some independent radio stations and got positive comments and reviews about my music, it sparked something in me and gave me conviction to continue producing music.
Tell us more about your plans for the future.
Right now, I’m focusing on promoting my album, but I’m still working on new material, I’d like to release something new before the end of the year, a single or EP, and next year I’d like to focus on releasing a new album, that would be great.
Any worldly advice you’d like to share?
Finally, my advice would be to not forget to love and enjoy what we do, that whatever we do should make us feel satisfaction and joy. Many times, we forget it because we are so absorbed in our everyday life, it’s important to take a breath and build our dreams to make them come true, one step at a time.
