The Sundowner. Mix #20 comes from Spanish DJ Goalmaker. Based in Valencia, Álvaro plays an important role and supports the growth of the underground music scene in the city. Spending many weekends in the countryside have inspired him to record this chill and cozy mix that he has prepared for us. Check out the interview we had with him.
Inés: Hi Álvaro, how are you?
Álvaro: Right now I am super focused working remotely at my place, trying to polish many things about the festival ‘Días de Campo’ which is only a few days away.
Entradas
Inés: Yes, can’t wait for it! Please tell us how has your evolution been since you started DJing for the first time?
Álvaro: Evolution has been very natural to me, it started as a hobby when I was 16 years old. I recorded CD’s for my friends and the tracklist somehow made sense back then. Some friends played at clubs as well and I was the one looking for the music and passing it on to them. And since many people were often asking for my music, I decided to step up and play it myself, and for that reason, I took it much more seriously. When I was 22, I had saved some money and bought more and more music equipment. Thanks to that I’ve been able to play in clubs and festivals which I’d never have imagined. I have even created my own promoting company.
Inés: Where did you grow up and how did that influence your sound?
Álvaro: I grew up in two cities, Valencia and Tenerife. I’ve been in touch with music since I was very young. My father is a big music collector and he plays various instruments. At home we used to listen to Jazz, Funk, Psychedelic Rock or Reggae. When I was 6 years old he took me to a Michael Jackson concert and I remember he used to record the music from the CD to tape to listen to it on the Walkman.
At the age of 14 I started to go out and that’s how I discovered House music. When I was 18 I went to Ibiza for the first time and discovered Minimal music and so on.
At the age of 22 I started a music blog and discovered a lot of Indie music. With 26 I played for 2 years at Propaganda Club where we used to play loads of house, funk and disco music. Having listened to many different genres of music during my whole life influenced my style but I’m always keeping a kind of groove, that, to me, is mandatory on the dancefloor. 80% of the public do not feel music the same way a DJ does; so you have to put yourself in their shoes.
Inés: Tell me more about the scene in Valencia in which projects are you involved with? I had the chance to go for the first time last year and I absolutely loved it! It was so nice to see how you are growing the underground scene there and doing so many nice off-events!
Álvaro: In Valencia there’s always something going on, we are very creative and we produce interesting stuff even if we are not as big as Madrid or Barcelona. Like my good friend Adrien Lurbe once said, we Valencians love to give our 100% in whatever is amazing, so that means we create something, we squeeze it and we go for the next thing. I am involved in various projects, the main one is TheBasement which has been going on for 10 years now. With TheBasement we host many events and festivals throughout the year but the main one is Días de Campo, a 3 days festival just in the middle of nature.
Another one just started a bit back is Marjal, a platform where I upload videos of local DJs from Valencia. I believe in Valencia there have always been good DJs but we have never been able to get ourselves out there and I believe this gives us a chance to show the world who we are.
https://www.instagram.com/marjalmusic/ I also collaborate with the record label Plural making podcasts for their series Pluralized and I have one last project with my two friends called Apolonios, we throw little parties and reunions of friends and we play the 3 of us together.
Inés: From your perspective as a DJ & Promoter how does the future of the electronic music scene look like for you?
Álvaro: I believe electronic music has grown a lot, and so it is very productive, especially in terms of the big international public. With underground electronic music you can see there’s a lot more going on during the last years but only in some cities, for the rest, living outside of those cities, it is very difficult to make a life out of it. I truly believe the future holds the same as usual, when something is really good will turn out commercial music so the underground will only live in small clubs thanks to the clubbers passion.
Inés: Did you have a concept in mind for the creation of this podcast?
Álvaro: Yes, lately I am a lot into downtempo to record podcasts. It all began because my friends and I are always going some weekends away, out to the countryside. During those trips we look for rather chilled music, that’s why the name of the session is called ‘Acid Cottage’.
Inés: If you have to live in a book or a movie what will it be and which character will you be?
Álvaro: Leonardo di Caprio in Catch me if you Can
Inés: What do you think is your spirit animal?
Álvaro: Like my childhood friend Julio says, I’m a bit like the African Elephant, I can get full power energy by sleeping very little, just like them.
Inés: Thank Álvaro, it was a pleasure to get to know more about you and looking forward to hear more about your projects in the future. Follow Goalmaker https://www.instagram.com/goalmaker_/