Synth History: Ela Minus

The first episode of Synth History speaks with Colombina musician and producer Ela Minus. The web docuseries brings the synth history and creative processes of a particular music maker to life - with the long form interview this video accompanies here. Here is an excerpt:

I love performing, playing live. It's like I'm not there but I'm also more present than I am doing any other thing, it's like meditating, but on a truly good day, when you don't know how you got there but you also never want it to end and you can't even really grasp what is happening.  So all I do is try to prepare the synths and myself as best I can to get to that place on stage - because of course it doesn't happen every time and the conditions have to be just right, but you can do a lot to try and make the conditions right, so precisely because of that there is actually a lot of programming I do at home on the MPC before I get to the stage. I do a lot so that I can be freer on stage, both to improvise even more with the synths but also to be able to perform with and for an audience. Physically leave the synth setup when I feel like it and go dance with people, look them straight in the eyes, hug them, dance around the entire stage, etc. I didn't use to program so much before and just did it all live, but with time, I have learned that having certain things programmed from home helps a lot to be freerer on stage.

For example: I'll program the songs in which I sing the most almost completely with program changes, section changes, etc. All done on the MPC to go from one sequence to the next for song parts, etc. so that I can focus on the singing and the performing of the lyrics for the people that are there, present, with me. But then I'll leave completely empty sequences in between the songs with vocals and on those I completely improvise, I have the Pocket Piano going into the MIDI in of the MPC and if I feel like playing a line I'll choose which synth I want to play and with MIDI thru play it, if I like it record into MPC, loop, then choose the next synth, repeat, and that is how I improvise at shows and at the end of the night if something cool came out, i'll save the night's MPC project and when I get home to the studio I'll develop those ideas. 

Here's an excerpt from an article on Ela Minus from the Guardian in 2020:

Having started her musical life as a drummer in a punk band named Ratón Pérez, Minus turned to electronic music after attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she became immersed in improvisational jazz and techno raves. That's where she fell in love with machines, inspired by Kraftwerk and early Daft Punk. She later became a synthesiser builder, and set about the self-imposed challenge of making Acts of Rebellion without using a single computer-generated sound.

Composed two years ago, Minus's rousing lyricism, entwined with her propulsive beats, mirrors the political urgency of 2020 yet speaks to the enduring oppression of minorities in the US: "We can't seem to find a reason to stay quiet," she sings on the opening bars of Megapunk. "We're afraid we'll run out of time / To stand up for our rights." As the track's scattergun melodies intensify, so too does her vocal defiance. The record is infused with a radical spirit – from the ambient warmth of Let Them Have the Internet to the rippling soundscapes of Do Whatever You Want, All the Time, both of which are inspired by anti-capitalist theory.

More from https://elaminus.com/

More from Synth History

• Bitwig's New Native Devices 17-Sep-26
• Reason Scream4 is Now Free! 17-Sep-26
• Broke Beats pt1 - A £37 Interface & Multi FX 16-Sep-26
• Ed O'Brien's Must-Listen Albums 16-Sep-26
• Mic Your Kick Drum Like a Legend 16-Sep-26