Sometimes they come back. Sure, life gets in the way, and people grow. But eventually, the passions that fuelled us when we were young come back to bite us, to remind us we used to dream high. For American creative cruncci, one of those passions is music. Active in the Seattle area as a hip, young musician, he let music run away from him, taken aback by busy family life. Now based in Santander, Colombia, he reconnected with his artistic journey.
‘whacc intentions’ is cruncci’s comeback EP, showcasing how his musical aesthetic changed a great deal: from guitar shenanigans to synthesisers-based goodness. The 5 tracks in ‘whacc intentions’ are a tense, haunting yet exciting journey into avant-garde electronic, with frequent techno incursions and trip-hop sensibilities. Recommended!
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with cruncci to find out more about his artistry and future goals… Interview below!
Hey cruncci, how is it going? some of our readers might not be familiar with your project, how would you describe yourself, in a few words?
I’m doing fantastic, thanks for asking. It’s early morning here in the northern Andes where I live these days. I’m still on my first cup of coffee. The main thing I’d like people to know about me is that I’m a down-to-earth guy. I’m not afraid to take chances, in the service of evolving myself. I hope that shines through in my music. I hope that a sense of connection finds its way into my music in a way that brings people together.
You are coming back to music after a long period of ‘family life’ – what motivated you again to seek comfort in artistic expression?
Believe it or not, my first inspiration to make this kind of music came from my son, Jackson, when he was still a teenager, he talked me into getting him some software for producing music. That was about 8 years ago, and he made a couple really amazing tracks. It just sort of stuck around with me, the idea nibbling away at me, breaking down my resistance and emotional barriers. About 2 years ago I was in a serious accident, I broke my arm doing a construction job and I was laid up for six months, recovering. It was then that I decided to get into producing. My first compositions were hot messes, they had no start or stop points, the tracks all discordantly working against each other. But I loved it, I was the proud papa of those ugly little babies! I spent a lot of time talking people into listening, and I got some great feedback.
If you had the opportunity to pick any artists in the world for a collaboration, who would be your first choice? (and second choice, perhaps?)
If it could be anyone, even a TV character I’d choose Paperboi from the show, Atlanta. I love that guy. In terms of IRL people, gotta be The Prodigy, or someone like Digweed. In terms of pure sentiment, I’d say Kurt Cobain. He was a being of pure genius, a poet, a philosopher, an artist. He cared so deeply about the world we live in and I just wish he’d survived his era. He’d still be kicking out the jams if he was with us today.
Your latest release ‘whacc intentions’ is definitely a very peculiar piece of avant-garde and leftfield electronica. What does the track represent to you?
It’s got a driving, kind of quirky, raw sound. I think it’s kinda playful, actually. Definitely gotta be a road trip tune, or maybe play it while you’re cramming at 3AM for a major exam. I feel like it pulls a lot of my different influences from rock, to EDM, to metal. It was a lot of fun to produce, I was in a constant state of, “yea, man, we gone do this!” type of energy. There’s a lot of me in this song, it’s got my intensity, my passion, my love for bringing different stuff together. The intensity of it also led me to compose a couple slower, more down-tempo tracks, to help compliment the pace, and the driving nature of this tune.
Do you feel more confident writing music alone, or within a team?
I work pretty well in collaborative situations where I know my place in the overall process. I definitely need to have control over my piece though, after all I have a vision and I know what I’m looking for. I have some friends from back in the day I still talk with. Last night I was chatting with my guitarist from back then, I asked him if he would play these tunes with me live and he said yes! So I told him, make sure you have your passport ready, we’re about to gig! That would be one of the finest things I can imagine.
How did you pick up your passion for electronic music? Do you miss performing rock and metal?
So yea, I was a vocalist back in the grunge era, trudging around Seattle playing pub gigs with my band of mates. It was fun at the time, but I’m a lot more drawn to electronic music, I feel the desire to make this music in ways that never hit me when I was involved with hard rock. There is so much that can be done, through sampling, through combining electronic rhythms with impromptu street recordings, for example. Just the other day I was chatting online with some people about mashing up that Rolling Stones song, Satisfaction with something from Biggie, like Hypnotize. I feel like that could really kick.
Artistically speaking, what challenges have the last two years presented you with?
I think my situation is really similar to a lot of people in that the pandemic threw me for a total loop, causing me to experience intense feelings of isolation. I can still remember the despair I felt in those first six months. Learning new ways to stay connected with people and overcome that sense of loss has been huge. Those feelings made me unmotivated, and I’ve had to fight to stay charged, that’s been my biggest challenge. I’ve found that the key is to allow myself to move a bit slower, to forgive myself for not being perfect – none of what I’m doing needs to be accomplished in a day.
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
Right now I’m focusing on promoting this little beast of an EP. I’d really love to get it in front of some TV or movie producers, for consideration as theme music. I think my tunes have a cinematic feel to them. Moving forward I want to come up with a way to incorporate physical drums and guitars, so this music can be played live on stage. I’ve also been slowly gravitating back into production, outlining the shapes of tunes to come. I’d love to work with some EDM practitioners to ensure my upcoming songs are fine-tuned, EQ’d, mixed, etc. Producing electronic music is such a new process for me, its been a huge learning curve. I still have a lot of work ahead of me. One thing I can say for sure though: the gestation time is over, my mind and hands are open to the very best of outcomes!
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