A Conversation with Morphogenetic, the man behind FBI Recordings

On this next installment of my series of interviews with electro producers, DJs and scene-makers, I sit down with FBI Recordings label boss Santino Fernandez. Raised in Colombia, and now residing in Virginia, Morphogenetic stays busy as a producer, head of FBI Recordings and contributor and partner in Technobass.net, which is run by his wife Stjarna. With that, let's get into it.

Santino, welcome to City of Bass, and thanks for taking the time to chat with me. First things first, tell the readers a little bit about yourself and your background...

My name is Santino Fernandez. I am originally from Takoma Park, Maryland,  but I grew up in Colombia, South America.  I moved there when I was a year old and returned in 1991, so to me it is as if I had been born there. I currently reside in Charlottesville, Virginia U.S.A., which is a small mountain college town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is where the Declaration Of Independence was written, and home of the University Of Virginia.

I’m always curious to hear how music-lovers became so, how did it spark with you?

My passion for music is a bit of an enigma really, something hard to put into words...I'll try my best! Since I was kid, i was exposed to many different kinds of music, from Colombian folklore music, to 80's New Wave and Rock. One thing was for sure, and it is that music did something to me, it moved me. In the 90's when i got into the Rave scene, I had a lot of very intense psychedelic spiritual experiences that made me come to the conclusion that my calling in life was music, and that i needed to use it to bring positivity and emotional stimulation to the masses.

After realizing Y2K had just been a bunch of hype, and after 9/11 happened, it all began to make much more sense to me. I knew that the world truly needed people doing things to help bring about change, and this was were it all fit in with music for me. I knew I wasn't alone, and that it wasn't gonna be easy, but I wasn't about to sit back and allow the negativity to consume me and everyone around me.

Tell me, what's your background with electro music specifically? How did you get involved?

I had been exposed to electro funk music around 1994; different friends would play it for me, but I never really knew its history, I just knew I loved the sound of it. In South Florida, where I spent my teenage years, the rave scene was composed of mainly breaks, but a lot of these so called "breaks", were actually old school Electro Funk beats, mixed together with a little bit of Miami and Detroit techno bass, as  well as Florida funky breaks.

Around '98 I began to heavily collect titles from the label "Breakin' Records", primarily the sounds of Mandroid. This was really the turning point for me. The music of Ed DMX and Bass Junkie was amazing to me, but Mandroid's compositions were unique and extraordinary, dug deep into my soul and made me realize that this was the sound I was looking for.



What made those Mandroid records pop for you?

Mandroid’s music is just powerful, the melodic arrangements that he puts together are on another level. I have always said that he is like Beethoven or Mozart reborn...he makes brilliant masterpieces. The notes he plays come from some place familiar, but at the same time it is a place none of us understand except for him. It also can tend to have this Egyptian or Arabian feel to it, which was one of the main things that got me. Being a big fan of Egyptian and Ancient Sumerian history, that type of sound really spoke to me.

I guess it could be said there is something ancient and very wise about his music. At the same time, he has good techniques, not overdone in any way, and he gets sort of playful and funky, which balances everything out in a really cool way. Perhaps the most stand out record by him would be his first on Breakin’, "Retrospect",  which is very deep and has a really strong message about his own dedication to the scene, and how music plays such an important role in that...sends shivers down my spine!




I love that Arabian vibe. The Blastromen release from 2010 had elements of this as well. So bouncing off of that, let's jump into your studio, What gear and software do you use daily?

Well, my studio is quite simple really. I use a laptop with Cubase 2.0, Reason, Rebirth, FM7/8, Pro 52/53, Moog Modular, etc, but most importantly, the Sonnox Oxford mastering plug-ins and the D16 Nepheton; which is such a realistic emulator of the 808.

Morphogenetic's Studio
No doubt, there's a lot of VST developers about, but the D16 crew really come correct with their suite of.. you can't even call it emulations really..enhancements rather of the original Roland hardware suite. What else?

Besides Cubase, Nepheton, and the Oxford plug-ins, the other stuff is for back up, because I make 90% of all my music these days with a Korg MS 2000, along with a Microkorg. I also just purchased a pair of Roland Cakewalk monitors, which I am very happy with.

Tell me about your production philosophy - how do you make these records? whats your process?

As far as philosophy, to me music is all about melodies and depth. I always start with a nice beat, something to groove to while I find the feel. I'll begin to do a string by hand, just freestyling, and then go from there. I approach making music with a tremendous respect for classical music theory, so I will write everything in relation to its foundation and focus solely on the actual melodic structure first. The spacey abstract stuff comes in last, once I have all that figured out and it is time to add a little funkiness.

You’ve done some outstanding remixes. Tell me about your approach when doing these for other artists.

Well, again, its all about the melodic stuff to me. If the original track was not very melodic to begin with, then I try and compose a very strong structure out of the notes used on what was given to me, otherwise I just add some accompaniments to complement the original, along with a new beat. I never use the original beats, in fact, I always tell the artist not to even bother sending drum samples.

That’s interesting. I always start with their original drums but I freak them so much they’re unrecognizable, and minimal in the overall mix - kind of my way of leaving an element of the artist’s “drum funk” stamp if you will... but I can definitely see how it’d be liberating to do it in this way. Other than doing your own music and remixes, i know you stay busy with your own label, FBI Recordings. Can you go into why did you decided to start the label?

I always dreamed of having a label, it was in many respects as important to me as making music. Being that I felt that my music was something very important to me in terms of spreading positivity, I knew I couldn't do it alone, and that I owed other artists for the inspiration they gave me to do this to begin with. In a way it was about giving back, but it was also about helping direct the conceptual artistry of people's music, so that it would convey a strong message.

How do you pick out tracks in terms of what you want to put out?

Many labels just pick tracks that are "hot", or that "will sell". We pick tracks based on their meaning, and their relation to one another, so that it creates a concept E.P. or album. We don't wonder if it will sell, we just believe in what impact the music will have, and that is enough for us.

So what are you looking for when deciding to do a drop?

FBI is not your usual label, the only other label i have ever known that you could say has a very similar philosophy is Underground Resistance. Our purpose however, is to tell a story, to explain the history of humankind and where we are headed, what we truly belong to, and why it is important to understand this. All of our records, from the first, to the newest being published as we speak, follow a sequence in storytelling, all of them using sacred geometry or symbology to tell this story and prepare you for the next. At the same time, we see ourselves as a force that is fighting the elite and their master plan to control the world and create ignorance amongst the people, so we do get a little political and rebellious.

Who are some of the artists on the label?

Until recently, we knew that we needed to build a strong reputation, so people would want to listen to us. From the very start, we were incredibly fortunate to get a bunch of material from Sbles3plex, Dark Vektor and Mandroid, so we wanted to focus on getting this stuff out first, being that these artists themselves had a strong reputation already. We are now entering a phase where we are beginning to release and seek out material from up and coming artists, so one of the aspects of our mission is beginning to come true.

What’s cooking as far as upcoming releases?


The new FBI release, which is about to be announced, is by Kosmozo, who you may remember from Dona-li Records a few years back. After that we have an E.P. by MicroControlUnit, and following that a solo project by one of the artists from Kosmozo, Voehn.

Looking forward to hearing these mate. From first hand experience, I know that running your own label can be challenging. Can you share with the readers your story of operating the label - in particular, for example, I imagine it's hard to balance running the label and being an artist as well - can you talk a little bit about this from that perspective?

Well, from the very get go I have tried to make this all as simple as possible on myself and my partner/wife Starrie. Throughout the 7 years we have been doing this, we have also been going to school, working full time, moving to a new state, etc...so! As you can imagine, when you also add trying to make music and meet deadlines, it all begins to get a little unbearable.

The other part of it is that our particular style of electro music doesn't make very much money, which, even though we are anti-commercialism and do not care about profit, it does make it very hard to continue pressing vinyl or CDs if you continue to loose a vast amount of money.

Honestly I'd venture to say that hardly any styles of electro make money in these times, it's why I can't really fault some bigger names from the electro scene expanding and making different styles...but I digress, go on....

Well, this is one of the main reasons why we only release about one title a year; also because we have not wanted to completely go digital. It has always felt as if we would somehow be demoted. That's not to say digital labels are in any way below vinyl ones, its just that when you have been a solely vinyl label, its hard to give up on that. Maybe its a vinyl junkie's mind talking, i don't know.

FBI Recordings discography


That’s a tough one for sure.. I’m an old vinyl DJ, but it is definitely hard to justify the cost - but I’ll tell you as a consumer, it’s hard to drop 12 to 15 USD for a vinyl. The flip side of that though, digital releases are so here-one-minute-gone-the-next, you know what I mean? Anyway, can you share any advice for newcomers who are thinking of doing their own label?

My advice to newcomers in someways depends on where you live, things are a little different in the US as opposed to Europe. In the US, we only have one good Electronic Music distributor, and that is Crosstalk in Chicago. Europe has a wide variety of them, and they have all proven to be worthwhile. I would say this: Only do a label if you really care about the music, not the money or popularity...say something! The power is in your hands. Pick the music that really means a lot and also pounds the dancefloor at the same time.

Most importantly, give the artist the opportunity to express themselves by truly listening to what they are saying in their overall productions, and find a "happy medium", that wraps their overall message in a nutshell.

As far as pressing, if you are in the US, go digital, but master your stuff well and have really good artwork; maybe try Templeplate's on demand vinyl service, so some people can still get wax. If you are willing to risk it, press 100-200 copies and try to hustle them through your website and forums. In Europe, it's the same except you can actually press a bit more records and sell them because there are more distros...one big thing though: stay on top of your distributors and be confident, your music is worthwhile if you believe in it; don't take no for an answer.

How about advice for new artists shopping their music to labels? What can they do to stand out?

All you can really do is make sure you are not copying anyone, refine your craft Jedis! Make sure what you do is powerful and stands out because it is unique and truly means something. Other than that, it is like swimming in a school of fish trying to go hunting for food...survival of the fittest!

It isn't easy, there are many people doing this today. Do not give up whatever you do, and do not do this for money! If someone is willing to release you on vinyl and doesn't offer much or anything at all in terms of money, do it no matter what, get your names out there. When you establish yourselves, you will have more leverage to make demands. This isn't the commercial music scene, most labels aren't making money anyway, why should you; its about the love of the music. Work together as a community.

Now digital labels however, have little overhead, so get contracts and take no less than 50/50 if possible. Otherwise you are being ripped off. Believe me, they are getting something, and it deserves to go to you as well.

Great advice. I remember years ago, a few of my mates had a chance to do a remix for a fairly big house music label, and mind you this is in the days when vinyl was still big and CDs weren’t even popping. One of them threw a hissy fit about getting paid and all this nonsense when they were nobodies, and the label just took their remix off the releases. Poof, like that their shot was gone. It’s not a question of just giving everything away for free, but you need to know where you’re at in the game.
So now that we've covered the label side of your life, let's talk about you as an artist. Tell me, what are you up to currently in the studio?

Right now I am actually in the middle of doing a lot of remixes, which has been a great opportunity for me and has helped me truly find my style much deeper than ever before. I just finished a remix for Darxid's song "You", which should be out soon. I am now trying to polish a remix for Umwelt, then on to one for Devine Disorder's Zerodouble, and after that an E.P. that Prototype and I are working on for his label Battery Park.

Once all of this is all said and done, I will move on to finishing an album I started a couple years ago called "Harmonic Defiance". I consider this my manifesto, my most important message to everyone as we head into some of craziest times we will ever experience in our lifetimes. I am trying to keep things dancefloor friendly, but attain a dramatic and profound melodic element within the music and the lyrics. Some of the tracks actually have my voice barely vocoded, a little Detroit styled, but different. No singing, I don't sing.

So far its coming along great, but there have been hurdles. Half of these tracks were actually done using mostly a computer, then I had a crisis of sorts where I found myself needing to become more hands on with my music. Now most of it is done by hand. I sort of had to change my entire approach to making music because i had gotten sick of the way i did things, so Ii had quit for a few weeks until I realized what I needed to do to start over fresh. I am glad I did it though, I have been able to take things to a whole new level and it has proven to be a good thing.

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing this when you're done! Moving on, as I’ve been doing this series of conversations with electro heads, I always ask: what do you think about the state of the electro scene and where it's going?

I have been very pleased with the past few years and where things have been going. For sometime it seemed like things that gotten overly focused on glitch and technicality, which was fine, there is an amazing aspect to what can be done with the new technologies, and I am sure this was a path the music took to explore this. The thing that concerned me is that things had sort of lost the soul, the melodic element that moved you and gave the music meaning. There were artists and fans of the music alike who were saying that "music" was formulaic and boring, that it was all about making music with abstract sounds. This really bothered me.

Growing up on the sounds of Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, and of course having been an old school Rave kid, i was all about the soul, the feeling. I knew that there could be a balance, and that it would take things to a new level. In many ways this is something that i am trying to achieve with my music and our label...balance!

In the last 2 years or so, i have noticed a strong resurgence in soulful music, and the amazing thing is that it carries that balance I talk about. Take a look for example at Blastromen, if that is not balance at its very best, i dont know what is. I have been running around like a little kid since their album came out, fascinating stuff...a testament to how you can accomplish strong melodic structures, with brilliant technicality. (Read the City of Bass review of the Blastromen album here, and Morphogenetic's review here) Yeah, I think things are headed in the right direction, i feel something brewing, something strong.

Any thoughts on the top newcomers to the electro scene to look out for?

Well, as I mentioned, Blastromen is everyone's must! On top of that there are many great artists like MicroControlUnit, Rogue Frequency, DJ R21, Spectrums Data Forces, Defekt, Prototype, and so many more its impossible to mention. its a good time for the scene. Label-wise, I would say New Flesh is on top of its game, Binalog Productions, Devine Disorder, Dominance Electricity, etc.

How about geographically?

As far as locations, the US isn't doing as well as Europe, but it seems like Detroit is still ticking as it always did, Florida has a nice little scene, North Carolina as well. Lately I have also been noticing Denver, Colorado beginning to get strong. Virginia where we are at it's just us really, there are some scattered folks around, but we don't know them except for a guy that goes by the name of EMZ, might be a good name to look for in the future. Europe like I said is doing very well, all countries seem to have small but interconnected scenes with the others, lots of going back and forth. Perhaps because their economies are in better shape.

Can you share any night spots, cafe's, coffee shops or record stores/clubs in your city that visitors should know about?

As I said, this town has no electro funk or techno bass music besides us, and we just haven't focused much on playing out. There is definately a small electronic music scene, but its mostly techno, house, and some other stuff. Perhaps in the future we might try and do something, get a nice little scene started.

Record shops are actually more prevalent here than most cities this day in age, however, they dont sell much of our style of music. You can find FBI records there though! Richmond has a nice little store called Turnstyle Records that does carry tons of used stuff, anywhere from Elektrix, to Electronic Corporation. Not sure what that means, obviously that people buy the music in the area, why they get rid of it beats me. Perhaps they switched to digital and dumped their vinyl.

Out of my old DJ crew, I think it's only myself and one other cat who's hoarding the precious black records.. a lot of heads have been dumping vinyl. But that's only good for real vinyl heads! For those who are not up on your sites yet, where can bassheads find you on the web?

Our label site is: http://www.fbirecordings.com/, and of course, our new portal that has been gaining lots of momentum is at: http://www.technobass.net/. I do the articles for the site, which is mainly my partner's. We kind of traded talents, she helped me with FBI, I helped her with Technobass.

Thanks for taking the time to let heads know a little more about you. To wrap up, what's next for Morphogenetic as an individual artist, and what's next for FBI Recordings?

Well, as I said earlier, there is a new remix of Darxid's "You" about to drop, as well as a remix for Grow's "Tissue Replacement" track that will be released on a remixes album called "Immortality Recalculated", after that there will be a remix for Umwelt on his New Flesh label, and following that either a remix for the British artist Zerodouble on Devine Disorder Records, or an E.P. on Battery Park Studio that Prototype and I are writing together; depends which one is finished first i guess. After that,  I am gonna finish my album "Harmonic Defiance", to make sure it is out early 2012...wish me luck, this one is a challenge!

FBI has a new E.P. coming out by the group Kosmozo, which will be out on vinyl around February 10th, after that we will be getting geared up for MicroControlUnit's, and our new sub-label Techno Bass Music, which will have a remixes E.P. of my song "Techno Bass Is Back". Remixers are DJ Di'jital, Sbles3plex, and DJ Xed...stay tuned!"

Thanks for taking the time to interview me, i appreciate it! Keep up what you are doing, and that goes for everyone! Let's keep building. :)

Big things coming from Morphogenetic, make sure to stay on top of http://www.fbirecordings.com/ and http://www.technobass.net/ for all the latest and greatest.

You can order 12" from FBI's back catalogue at http://www.crosstalkintl.com/ and http://www.templeplate.com/ . For the digital heads, check the back and current catalogue available via Juno and other digital outlets.


City of Bass: blogging daily about the electro music scene. Follow along via twitter or the RSS feed

My blogs City of Bass [Dispatches from Vocode Project] · Template New post Overview Posts Pages Comments Google+ Stats Earnings Campaigns Layout Template Settings