Sidestepper


Electronic music hasn't made the inroads into Colombian culture that it has in several other countries, such as Peru, for instance. However, there's quite a bit going on here, and I suspect that with some digging, one could come across a great scene. You don't need to look any farther than Colombia's best rock group, Aterciopelados, to hear the potential that Colombian electronic music has (Hector Buitrago, the electronic-minded half of Aterciopelados, showed his best work on the band's 2000 album, Gozo Poderoso).

This group probably isn't new to many of you who live in Colombia, but I'm new to Sidestepper, the brainchild of UK native Richard Blair, who with Colombian rock legend, Ivan Benavides, has put together a couple of albums of subtle grooves intertwined with Colombian rhythms and melodies (and also some Cuban and Jamaican dancehall sounds, which I'm less fond of). The most recent album, 3am: In Beats We Trust, kicks off with the stunning "Deja (Mary)" (listen to a sample here), a hypnotic and haunting tune with a track so soothing you could listen to it for ages. Another song in this vein is "Dame tu querer," with a beautiful string track and vocal.

I think what makes Blair so successful here is his background as a drum'n'bass artist. Drum'n'bass has always been one of the most fascinating genres of electronic music to me, mostly because its rhythms are so animalistic and mechanical at the same time, but also because of its modernist simplicity. Blair's at his best when he uses the mixing tables to subtract complexity from the arrangements, leaving the listener to hear the beauty in the elements of the songs.

Sidestepper is another example of the way that traditional Colombian music is alive in a really exciting manner. And with the wealth of material here at his disposal, the project should keep improving. I'm trying to get in touch with Richard for an interview with this site, and hopefully next time I'm in Bogotá, I'll be able to catch him spinning at Quiebra Canto.