¿Cómo han ido las cosas con los sellos desde que empezaron?

“Nuestro primer disco de Sushitech fue editado hace ya dos años y desde ese momento hemos desarrollado bastante tanto en lo musical como en nuestra manera de trabajo. No hemos editado tantos discos como lo han hecho sellos jóvenes que empezaron cerca del momento en que empezamos nosotros. La razón de eso es por que nos preocupamos bastante en cada una de las producciones que lanzamos al mercado, tratamos de editar música que quede en el tiempo y no sólo editar música que permanezca sólo un corto período de tiempo. Para nosotros se trata de pensar en adelantado material que sintamos que pueda hacer una contribución al mundo de la música en la que estamos, tratamos de hacer nuestro trabajo lo mejor posible y así lo esperamos también en la que está en esto también. Comenzamos a desarrollar nuestro propio circulo de gente que nos apoya y llegamos a amantes de la música que están en búsqueda de nuestras próximas ediciones y esos es bueno. Podemos decir de seguro que cada edición de Sushitech y las de nuestros otros sellos que van por el camino indicado”.

¿Por qué eligieron el nombre Sushitech / Sushipurple?

“Bueno, esta es una pregunta que nos hacen a menudo. La respuesta a esto sería que realmente nos gusta lo nuevo e inusual y tratamos de encontrar un nombre que con dos palabras juntas signifiquen algo que realmente no exista, como cuando dices que ‘la comida sabe amarilla’ o que ‘el aire se ve grande’. Es por eso que Sushitech no tiene un significado realmente y eso es lo que nos gusta, sushi y tecnología...”

¿Podrías hacer una descripción general de las ediciones existentes y de las que se vienen?

“Lo último que sacamos el 2006 fueron las ediciones limitadas de discos transparentes, estos fueron 12 pulgadas solamente. Esto fue para demostrar nuestro amor por los vinilos. En el mundo digital en que estamos viviendo es importante para nosotros hacer eso y tratar de mantener alguna de las antiguas vibras que parecen haberse perdido un poco hoy en día con los vinilos. Fueron cuatro ediciones en total para las ediciones limitadas con estilos que van desde el house hasta un sonido más techno. Fueron creados por Franco Cangelli, Fusiphorm, Camea, Pheek, E.Bridge, Polder y Leonel Castillo.
Este año en Sushitech estará un poco más dedicado al sonido house y también en algo de material experimental, estaremos en busca de promocionar a algunos de nuestros artistas más jóvenes y también tratar de traer algo de nuestra propia originalidad en el sonido.
En Sushitech tenemos el nuevo EP de Koljah, luego un EP doble de Mikael Stavostrand con remezclas de Koljah y Ralph Sliwinski. Después de eso nos moveremos a sonido detroit-house con artistas como Anonymos y Franco Cangelli, por otro lado en Sushipurple tenemos un nuevo EP de nuestro nuevo integrante venido de Israel llamado Chrom y de ahí EP’s de Polder, David Labeig y algunas colaboraciones con Thomas Melchior y Dandy Jack”.

¿Qué tomas en consideración al momento de elegir a los artistas que contribuyen con remezclas?, ¿Habrán algunos artistas a incluir?

“Estamos tratando de crear una cosa especial con cada vinilo que editamos eso significa tratar de escoger la combinación correcta de artistas para el proyecto en el que estemos trabajando. La meta es llevar al sello hacia un camino el que hemos llevado en nuestras mentes y también estamos tratando dar libertad al artista. Mientras más tiempo podamos llevar este balance ambos estaremos satisfechos y sentir que hemos creado nuevo y estimulante. Así es como elegimos los artistas con quienes estamos trabajando básicamente, por supuesto que hay artistas principales en Sushitech en el cual basamos nuestro sonido, como Koljah, Frano, David & Lauhaus, Alejandro, Mike, Yossi y así. Como mencionamos en la respuesta, damos más tiempo a los artistas principales de Sushitech pero este año se verán nombres nuevos tales como Dandy Jack, Melchior, Raudive y Damian Schwartz”.

How are things going with the labels since they were started?

“Our first Sushitech record was released two years ago already and in that time we’ve developed quite a lot both musically and the way we work. We haven’t released quite as many records as other young labels who started around the same time as us, the reason for this is because we are taking a lot of care in to the productions we are putting out in to the market, we’re trying to release music that will last the stand of time and not just to release music with a short life span. For us it’s all about forward thinking music that we feel can make a contribution to the world of music we are in, we are trying our best to work this way and hopefully people are in to it. We’re starting to develop our own circle of supporters and on top that music lovers are going out there way to find out about our next releases so that’s really great. We can say for certain that every release on Sushitech and on all our labels definitely feels like the things are going in the right direction.”

Why did you choose the name Sushitech / Sushitech Purple?

“Well this is an often asked question. The answer for this will be that we really like new and unusual things and we tried to find a name with a combination of two words that together meant something that doesn’t really exist, like when you say that the food taste yellow or the air looks big. So Sushitech stands with no meaning really and this is what we like about it, sushi and technology...”

Can you make a general description of the existing editions and what comes next?

“Our last release for 2006 was the limited edition clear disks, those were 12” only and this was to demonstrate our love for vinyl. In today’s digital world it was important for us to do that and try to retain some of the underground vibe which seems to be missing a bit with vinyl today. There were four releases in total for the limited series with styles ranging from house to a more techno based sound. They were created by Franco Cangelli, Fusiphorm, Camea, Pheek, E. Bridge, Polder and Leonel Castillo.
This year on Sushitech we will be a bit more dedicated to a more house orientated sound as well as some experimental material, we are going to be looking to promote some of the young artists on the label and also to try and bring some of our own originality in the sound.
On Sushitech we have the new EP from Koljah, and then a double EP from Mikael Stavostrand with remixes from Koljah and Ralph Sliwinski. After that we will be moving in to a detroitsh house sound with artists like Anonymos and Franco Cangelli, on the other side of the label on Sushitech Purple we have got a new EP from our new signing from Israel 'Chrom' and then upcoming EP's from Polder, David Labeig and some collaborations with Thomas Melchior and Dandy Jack.”

Which do you consider at the moment of choose the artists or the ones who contributes with remix? There are some future artists to be included?

“We are trying to create a special thing with every single vinyl we release that means that we will always try to choose the right combination of artists for the project that we are working on. The goal is to take the label on the path we have set in our minds inside all this we are also trying to give freedom to the artist. As long as we can keep this balance we are both satisfied and feel that we can create something new and exciting. This is how we choose the artists we are working with basically, of course that there are the main artists on Sushitech that we based our sound on, if its Koljah, Franco, David & Lauhaus, Alejandro, Mike, Yossi and such. As we mention in the answer above we will give more time to the main artists of Sushitech this year but you will see a new names on Sushitech as well such as Dandy Jack, Melchior, Raudive and Damian Schwartz.”

Can you mention something about the guy who makes the cover illustrations?

“The visual part in Sushitech as most people know is very important for us. We are trying to give a lot of time for it with a goal to create a real piece of art together with the music and art work. In the beginning we were working with the designer Jon Burgerman who created all those trippy and crazy drawings that we all know, it works very well and we were very pleased with it. However during our two years we look again to do something different, something that will try to bring what we are about in an even better way. We have just pass all of this visual work to Chris Meinke who also takes technical control of our new websites which will be launched soon, he also does the art work for our sub label Pariter.
With this we changed the style to be bit to more serious and it maybe had a bit more of a conservative style than the artwork on Sushitech. We think that it works much better with this type of music. We will of course keep working with Jon from time to time on some upcoming projects. Also at some point in the future we may release a small book which will just contain our artwork, that’s a long way off but it’s an idea we have.”

There’s some interesting label(s) to mention around the UK scene at the moment and also clubs and artists, what’s your view on the scene?

“Yes of course, there are a lot of people who are pushing the music world forward not just in the UK but all over the world. On the one hand it’s great because you have a lot of high quality labels and artists releasing really great music, on the flip side though there is also a lot more rubbish out there in terms of releases, people who are now releasing one type of music just because it’s fashionable at the moment.
As for the labels and artists that are based in the UK, we take a lot of inspiration from artists and labels such as Herbert, Baby Ford, Mark Broom, Shackleton, Dubsided and of course Warp. Sushitech is of course a UK based label and we will keep working from the UK but later on this year we will also open our new office in Germany and we will try also to concentrate on getting our sound over there, this is where most of our main artists come from and also where our biggest market is, we will try to involve our selves more into the scene over there in the near future.”

You founded your new sub division last year names Pariter, can you please tell us more about it?

“For all those who wonder, Pariter actually comes from a Latin word which basically means equal, or to be equal with one another, this was the idea for the label in terms of music and this is exactly how we see the relation of this new sub division with Sushitech.
With Pariter we will release a more aggressive techno sound and it will be more dance floor orientated than with Sushitech. With this label we will also try to release the more techno side of the artists we are working with from Sushitech but you will also see new names on the label. On Pariter we have already released two records, the first one of Alejandro López and the other one with Barem, for the next coming records we have Xpansul, Tadeo, Agaric, Gurtz and of course as we always try to work with the artist inside the Sushitech family.

What is the main difference between Sushitech and Sushitech Purple?

“The difference between the labels is not about the BPM or necessarily music style in general, they can both be anything weather it be house, techno or even electronica, each has his own way, we are just trying to release on Sushitech the more deep and sensual material and on Sushitech Purple the more Funky and Smiling sounds lets say.”

Any new projects plan for the future?

“The next big project we are working on is a new booking agency that will run under the label name, it will be run by our contact from Spain and will include most of the label artists exclusively, this way we will try all together build a solid concept and to be more accessible to all the label parties. This will be going live coincide with the launch of our new websites, it will happen in about two months.”

Where do you see Sushitech in the next 5 years?

“Two years is already behind us and all the hard work of setting up the company and building a working relationship with the artists is mostly done, this means we have more time now to plan more releases and to build our sound in this electronic music world. The more releases we do the more solid the label becomes as does the sound, we will have a lot of collaborations between ourselves, the artists of Sushitech, and we will keep most of the work between them. For the future you’ll hear a development in sound for sure, which we hope everyone will enjoy.”

Thank you Yossi & Matt and good luck and in future.

“Big Kiss from Sushitech.”

Jorge Cortés
January 2007