Detroit-based Pato y Pato (Mark Maynard and John Duffy) shared the music video for their latest single, Klcks.
The track comes from their upcoming album, Staples, which is scheduled to be released July 25th, 2019 on This Deadly House. The album features five slowly-evolving, methodical compositions that they say are inspired by kosmische pioneers like La Düsseldorf, and early ambient projects like Cluster & Eno ‘77.
We asked Pato y Pato to tells us more about their music and the making of their new album:
Synthtopia: What can you tell us about your music and how you make it?
John Duffy: We’re inspired by a lot of electronic music from the 70s and early 80s, so to stay true to those traditions we’ve opted not to have a computer in our setup. Instead, we have two separate rigs, with a few pieces that are synced via MIDI, and we try to produce as much as we can live.
Mark’s rig is organized around percussion, strings, and noise textures. Right now he uses a Volca Beats and a Rhythm Wolf for drum sounds, which he compliments with all sorts of acoustic hand percussion. He uses an RS-9 for string sounds and a Realistic MG-1 for weird stuff. The synths run through a few analog delays, a ring mod, a DIY multi-oscillator noise box, and a looper.
My space is organized around basses, pads, and loops.
I’m using a Juno 106, Crumar T1, and Moog Minitaur, with a Keystep controller into a stereo delay. The Crumar goes through a Minifooger delay, a Carbon Copy, a Strymon Flint, and a Ditto x4 synced to the clock.
I also use a Digitakt to sequence the Juno and to trigger acoustic percussion samples that we can’t perform live.
Synthtopia: Can you explain your process for writing and recording your music?
John Duffy: When we’re writing, we typically begin by jamming around an idea or a phrase. If we get to an exciting space, we’ll hit record on someone’s phone. Once we have a few demos we like, we go back and write out patch notes, sequences, and movement diagrams.
Then we record everything in a DAW, which usually means getting the best of four or five live takes. If the track needs it, we’ll go back and overdub hand percussion or other acoustic elements.
When we started, we didn’t know much about synthesis. Mark’s background is in percussion and mine is in guitar, so we had to transfer what we knew about music and performance into a completely new realm. Predictably, the process has been exciting and frustrating. When we encounter setbacks, though, the steps we take to work around them usually render unexpected and exciting results. And these elements are almost always what I end up liking most about a track.
Synthtopia: What can you tell us about the new track, Klcks, and its video?
John Duffy: Klcks is a slowly-evolving piece that introduces a simple bass sequence and then plays with bouncy leads and electro-style hats. For the video, we wanted to riff on classic slow-motion driving footage and have some interplay between natural and industrial spaces.
We shot the footage around Detroit, and we wanted to feature space that is targeted by commercial developers. To record these spaces, then, isn’t just about showcasing beauty; it’s about asking viewers to imagine them “post-development,” as chain restaurants or expensive condos.
So, by seeing these places as dream-like, as fleeting or ephemeral, we hope to get viewers to question why these changes are happening and to imagine never being able to return.
I kept thinking about the Welsh word ‘hiraeth’–a feeling of wanting to return to a place that no longer exists.
So, by seeing these places as dream-like, as fleeting or ephemeral, we hope to get viewers to question why these changes are happening and to imagine never being able to return.
Synthtopia: What are your plans for the future?
John Duffy: Staples, our first full length, is coming out July 25th on streaming and cassette via This Deadly House.
We’ve also contributed a track to a compilation called Blank Hour, out in mid June on the Life Like label. It features a bunch of mind-blowingly talented Detroit-area synth and experimental groups. We’ll be playing shows out east in late July to support all of it, and then we’ll begin writing new material in the fall.
cool stuff. some of the elements in this remind me of Harmonia.
Computerliebe
This is nice.
Any pointers on how, when and where I can track to the compilation album Blank Hour out on Life Like?
Nice work guys!
Not bad, though it sounds like most contemporary things that claim to be inspired by kosmische classics: the same as others but hardly like its origins. Past a point namechecking Cluster/La Dusseldorf/ect. comes across as a cheap way to add percieved “cool points”/self-legitimize and hopefully draw associations in the minds of those less aware. I sound bitter but I’ve seen it enough. It’s tired. Also the video is just a driving video, which is fine. Very standard but also tired. The description is typical “fleeting memory/dreamstate” nonsense that current avant electronic have latched onto. To their credit Detroit is changing rapidly. I just grow tired of the cliches.