MOYA81 is a rather unknown name active at the wider fields of eletro-pop music. Based…
MOYA81 is a rather unknown name active at the wider fields of eletro-pop music. Based in Helsinki (Finland), this artist grew up in Santiago Of Chile (Chile) where he got in touch with electronic music. The debut album “ESP”, which rather looks as a mini-album, has been released last year on the Russian label ScentAir Records. The work is not only featuring great songs, but the music is a genius, sonic fusion between different influences; MOYA81 is not just electro-pop music inspired by Kraftwerk, but it still reveals elements of new-beat, Italo-Disco and also reminds me to the famous Frankfurter techno-scene from the 90s. Time now for an introduction!
Q: Let’s start with the beginning, how did you get in touch with music
and more specifically, electronic music? Tell us a bit more about your first
steps in music?
MOYA81: I came from a family of musicians on my mother’s side, and I
grew up with a piano at home. Around my teen years I became a cassette
collector and at 15 I met a local group of people who were listening to
electronic music, which sound-wise was related to Kraftwerk and early EBM. Then
the transition was natural. At 17 I was a vinyl record collector and did my
first professional club-gig (around the year 1998), which was into acid-house
and proto-goa.
Q: You grew up in Santiago Of Chile so tell us a bit more about the
electronic scene in the capital and in Chile properly speaking?
MOYA81: The electronic- and experimental music scenes are huge in Chile.
We respect people who think by themselves. Back in time while the first
electronic- and experimental acts started such as John Cage, we in Chile had a
music composer and teacher from the Universidad de Chile, creating something
similar. Chile is very rare in terms of art, maybe due to nature, mountains and
spectacular landscapes bring an open mind to the people. After the military
regime (70s), early ’80s many Chileans who were living abroad due to political
problems came back to the land and their kids were growing up in Germany,
Belgium, USA, Canada, France and Sweden (normally). Those kids where already
over 20 years old while the parents, mainly teachers or intellectuals were
connected with the bohemian- and cultural scene of those countries so you can
imagine what happened when they come back all together with tons of records. It
was MAGIC!
Art and Music took over the country. Freedom was back. Since then we had
bands dealing with new-wave, industrial, synth-pop, electro, techno and more
styles.
Q: You last year released your official debut album “ESP”, which is more a
kind of mini-album. What kind of work did you want to accomplish and how did
the writing of “ESP” happened?
MOYA81: “ESP” is the synthesis of my life. It is an active meditation.
Cybernetic and spiritual, just as we live this reality. As a composer, I want
to create music that might contribute to the evolution of the listeners.
Poetry/unconventional music computation. There were no difficulties on this
creation, it was a continuous flow as the track “Atlantis”.
Q: The songs aren’t only into electro-pop, but still featuring elements
of Italo-disco and even new-beat. What can you say about potential sources of
inspiration and is there one specific artist and/or music genre, which you
consider as an absolute reference?
MOYA81: This project is not looking to have tags as a supermarket
product. This music is a manifestation of life experimenting this virtual
reality. About influences I can mention Kraftwerk (from Ralf & Florian
until the “Electric Cafe”-album), Gary Numan (70s – 80s era), Jean-Michel Jarre
and Tangerine Dream (mainly late 70s until ’86). Styles of music? EBM such as
Clock DVA. Dharma (“Plastic Doll”) and Klapto (“Mr.Game”) when it comes to
Italo-disco. Early new-beat is also a big influence in my life and as a
producer.
Q: I noticed you also released on digital format several cover versions from
legendary artists such as Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, Modern Talking, Gloria Gaynor,
Bobby Orlando.. What do you like in the songs you covered? How do you look back
at these songs and what did you try to accentuate in your versions?
MOYA81: I cover tracks that you possibly could call ‘anthems’; tracks
that aren’t only good, but that changed the electronic- or dance music culture
forever. Gary Numan is a totally underrated artist, he did much more than
“The Cars”, he created an aesthetic style that is unique and is used
worldwide. Bobby Orlando is a producer who without him, HI-NRG and much of the
greatest electro- and disco music would never be created. Kraftwerk needs no
further explanation, but Modern Talking, yes. Even if they’re not one of my
favorites they incorporated elements from the Italian-, American- and European
Dance Music sound to create a perfectly balanced sound. Kick, snares, voices,
everything sounded round and perfect in an era where many great tracks sounded
terribly bad; Italo-Disco has many examples of this. Modern Talking created an
audio standard for
electronic-disco music.
Q: What brings 2020 for Moya81 and especially considering topics such as
live performances, remixes, clips, new songs and new releases?
MOYA81: A new album will be released in 2020; there’ll be a vinyl and
digital releases. Great music, very synthetic, super robotic, poetical echoes
from the future. I got contacts for live performances in Germany and France,
but all the information will be shared at the right time.
Thank you very much for this interview and the support of all the music
fans.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.