Alaska in Winter in Berlin—in Need of Some Red or Green

August 29, 2008

Listen to it with a clear head, and Alaska in Winter’s album Dance Party in the Balkans will transport you. A couple of weeks ago, PAC505 contacted Burqueño Brandon Bethancourt, creator of Alaska in Winter, about using his “Balkan Lowrider Anthem” for a momentAM radio spot. Over and above allowing us to use his song, Brandon graciously agreed to answer some questions. Here are the questions and his answers.

PAC505: Both you and Zach Condon (Beirut) seem heavily influenced by Eastern European music. Is that just a consequence of your guys’ collaboration over the years, or is there something about your NM roots that somehow pointed your sound in that direction?

Brandon: I think for both of us it has more to do with traveling and just getting out of the US than anything else- and in turn that lead us to a wider musical appreciation.

PAC505: Dance Party in the Balkans seems to address the idea of “place” on a bunch of different levels. Can you identify or articulate the effect that places (Alaska, NM, others) have had in shaping your sound?

Brandon: Well I spent a good amount of time traveling around Eastern Europe in search of dance parties right before I recorded much of the “Dance Party in the Balkans” album which definitely had an influence on the sound for that album. My time in Alaska was pretty much the polar opposite in all of it’s dark and isolating experiences- something I can’t quite explain yet at the same time it’s one of the main things that has shaped my sound. New Mexico has definitely had a part in shaping my music in the sense that my high school friends owned lowriders with massive sound systems.

PAC505: In a more abstract way, Dance Party also creates a sense of place. Is that by design?

Brandon: I always try to capture the feelings and emotions of the place or state of mind that I’m in while recording music, and if I’m successful at it, then that sense of “place” is hopefully recreated for the listener.

PAC505: Where are you?

Brandon: Where am I literally? Well, right now I’m living in east Berlin… for about half a year now.

PAC505: What are your reflections/observations about NM as a place?

Brandon: New Mexico is one of those places that you absolutely have to get out of and separate yourself from for a period of time in order to fully appreciate. For example, you realize that NM has the best food in the entire world and that chile withdrawals are no laughing matter.

PAC505: PAC505 called out the Shins for failing to represent Albuquerque. Was that profoundly stupid/childish/insecure of us?

Brandon: No, not necessarily, but at the same time I also understand having enthusiasm for living in a new place and starting a new life. There’s nothing wrong with change.

PAC505: There is a theory, discussed by V.S. Naipaul in his book “The Enigma of Arrival” that everywhere people are pretty much the same, and that our judgments about a place are really just reflections of our own thoughts, anxieties, prejudices, etc. Any truth to that in your mind?

Brandon: I would definitely have to agree with that to a certain degree. I’ve been to enough places in the world to see that on a basic level, all people are fundamentally the same, but I’ve also been to enough places on earth to know that this truth can only hold up to a certain point, at which point there are so many factors involved that this would turn into a rather lengthy conversation.

PAC505: Do you root for the USA in the olympics?

Brandon: The olympics are happening? Hmmmm, I don’t know who I would root for… perhaps a little place, like Iceland.

Editor’s Note: This year Iceland medaled in the summer olympics for the first time in the 96 years that it has participated in the games. A silver medal in handball.

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Posted in 505, Uncategorized, burque, music