Naked Music Recordings House Music, Vinyl, Record, DJ
Innovative San Francisco/NY music label makes a name for itself
By Paul Vachier and Bruno Ybarra - July 5, 2002 house music, vinyl, records, DJ, techno, trip hop, drum n bass
If you're a dance music DJ or you keep up with the latest club sounds, you've probably heard of Naked Music, the 3 year young bi-coastal dance label out of San Francisco and New York. Known for its lush, groovy sounds and sexy, provocative album covers, Naked Music has quickly risen up as one of the real shining stars in the constantly evolving worldwide dance music scene. Founded in New York and San Francisco in 1998, Label Director and SF resident Bruno Ybarra has kept the label on track and helped to turn out one successful release after another, while promoting numerous artists to worldwide attention and transforming this label into one of the hottest dance labels around. What makes Naked tick? How did they manage to capture that Naked magic? I caught up with Bruno and asked him to tell us a little bit more about the label, who are the up and coming artists, and what to look forward to in the future.
Interview: Bruno Ybarra, Label Director, Naked Music Recordings
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| Bruno Ybarra - Label Director |
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NEP: Naked Music has rapidly risen to become one of the most respected music labels in the US, how would you describe Naked's philosophy, vibe, mission? What distinguishes you from the rest and makes you stand out?
Bruno: We've basically set out to try and do something with a signature soulful, sexy sound ... in different styles and tempos. It was all based on the premise of focusing on the 'naked' music (i.e. the song). Our test was to try and pull away all the production elements and see what you're left with. We felt that the essence of the 'song' should be able to stand on its own as a raw vocal. However, lately we've been expanding that mission a bit and branching into newer territories ... but still trying to retain a common thread amongst all of our releases.
NEP: How did NM get started?
Bruno: It originally started as a production studio in New York. My partners, Dave Boonshoft and Jay Denes, had rented a small studio in Soho for Jay's production work ... he was doing primarily dance records for other labels like Azuli and Wave at the time. I met Jay back in 1995 and we became great friends - I eventually brought his first full-length album, 'What's On Your Mind?' to Om Records and A&R'd that record as well as several other releases there over a 2 1/2 year period. In December of '98, Dave and Jay asked me to join them in launching a label, Naked Music Recordings, and that's when things really began to pick up speed.
NEP: Tell us a little about your own background, Bruno. I understand you're originally from Austin, TX.
Bruno: Yep, I'm originally from Austin but migrated to SF in the early 90's. I've been dabbling with different areas of music for quite some time now ...I played in a few bands in high school and college, dj'd for several years and did editorial work for several Music and Film publications as well as hosting a radio show for 5 years. My first real 'record label' gig was at Om Records / SF back in the late 90's. With Naked Music, I've been acting as the label director and dealing with all A&R, licensing, marketing and artist development.
NEP: One of the biggest keys to your success in marketing Naked Music has been the daring graphics which have quickly become a Naked Music signature. Beautiful naked women in sexy, loungy poses. Cool, retro-contemporary colors and design. You've really established a very distinctive "Naked" look and feel that has spawned quite a few imitators. Who does your graphics? Tell us a little about your design philosophy and how the Naked look developed.
  
Naked sells... Provocative illustrations by designer/illustrator Stuart Patterson grace Naked album covers...
Bruno: Pretty much all of our illustrations and graphics are done by Stuart Patterson, a brilliant and much sought after designer/illustrator working out of San Francisco and Barcelona. Stuart and I met back in the early 90's here in San Francisco when I was dj'ing around the City and Stuart was doing a lot of flyer work for various clubs (primarily Sound Factory). He's an amazingly talented illustrator and it just seemed like the perfect fit for the label. He came up with the concepts and ilustrations and continues to work for us. Stuart has since moved to Barcelona, and in addition to working for us he's set up a new design company there, Colorola. Expect great things from this man - he's a non-stop worker!
NEP: Yeah Stuart's definitely the man. I think Naked Music is quite lucky to have in-house talent like him. So tell us something about Naked's musical philosophy... a lot of your music is geared towards melow, sexy, mid and downtempo listeners, what's your view on this genre of music? Does it have a name? Do you see it growing in popularity?
Bruno: I'd say our target audience is generally a bit older and better acquainted with older formats (soul, funk, jazz, dub, electro, etc.). a lot of what clubgoers are listening to these days tends to be a lot higher energy, more electronic and less music/song-based. This is the main reason that we've always kept one foot slightly in the club realm - but the other foot in more of a solid/musical territory - as creating music to be listened to at home, in the car, etc. just seems to give us a lot more satisfaction than the disposable, fickle club market. Besides, when you really break it down - what percentage of your life do you actually spend on a dancefloor? It's fun every once in awhile but eventually you crave something a bit more substantial. 'Nuff said.
NEP: You've certainly been active in the local club scene too. Doesn't Naked do a weekly club event in San Francisco?
Bruno: I stopped doing the Scuba monthly events here back in December, 2001. We had been doing them regularly for 2 years and I really wanted to free myself up to concentrate on 'quality over quantity'. I'll still be planning one-off events that I hope will be a lot more memorable as well as introduce people to some great up and coming talent!
NEP: NM is only one of a handful of succesful labels to come out of San Francisco, what are some others?
Bruno: Some of the others would be Ubiquity, Panhandle, Transport, Om, Greyhound, Loveslap, Tweekin, Cosmiq Flux, etc. a lot of new labels have been rising up here in the City over the past 2-3 years. It's nice to see San Francisco making more of an effort to contribute to the production/music landscape worldwide. San Francisco has always been a city that appreciated great music - but now people are taking the time to brush up on production skills and really try and make a statement.
NEP: How does being in SF and the West coast differ from NY and the East Coast? How does it effect your music, vibe, marketing, etc.? Does SF have a unique vibe and does it effect your musical philosophy?
Bruno: Personally, I don't think that music is geographic-specific. I hear amazing music from every corner of the globe ... so I really don't put too much credence on the East v. West scenario. However, if you had to generalize, I would say that San Franciscans favor a funkier, more soulful vibe ... and New York seems to lean more into the harder sounds. However, there are more exceptions to the rule than there are examples. I've heard some amazingly soulful music in New York (Giant Step, The Shelter, Body & Soul) and some really hard stuff out here in SF. It's all really more important what you feel as an individual. Music is universal.
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| Miguel Migs (aka Petalpusher) - Naked Music resident DJ, Producer and Remixer - more info... |
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| Gabriel Rene (aka Aquanote) - Naked Music Artist and SF local - more info... |
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| Blue Six - Naked Music Artist and NY-based Producer - more info... |
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NEP: You've been adding a lot of talent to your roster lately and have helped a lot of upcoming artists gain more exposure internationally. Who are some of the artists that Naked is working with these days?
Bruno: Our core artists consist of: Lisa Shaw, Gaelle, Aquanote (Gabe Rene), Blue Six (Jay Denes) and Petalpusher (Miguel Migs). However, we've also done work with Summerland (Mark Anthony Jones), DJ Rasoul, Sven Van Hees, Omega, Andy Caldwell, Undercover Agency, New Phunk Theory, Bugz in the Attic, Crazy Penis, Metro Area, Attaboy, Weekender, Swag and several others.
NEP: You've certainly helped launch a lot of careers with the success of the label. For example, your resident DJ Miguel Migs continues to be a highly sought after DJ internationally and his songs and remixes have been really successful. Who are some other up and coming artists, remixers, DJs, etc. we should keep on eye on (Naked or other)?
Bruno: On the Naked roster, be on the lookout for a lot of great stuff coming from Aquanote (Gabriel Rene). He has a new album coming out on Naked in July 2003. Miguel Migs also has a new album coming in Sept. of this year. We have some great new remixes coming from Jimpster, Ernest St. Laurent, Jonas Quant, Swell Session (Andreas Saag) and several others.
Some other artists that have been really impressing me lately are: Recloose (Planet E), Bugz in the Attic, Stateless, World of Apples, Herbert, Metro Area (amazing!) and Crazy Penis - all great in their own right.
NEP: Tell us about some of your upcoming projects.
Bruno: Well, I mentioned the new Aquanote and Miguel Migs projects - both very nice and soulful with some interesting production approaches. In 2003, we have albums coming from Lisa Shaw and Gaelle - very excited about those! We'll also begin work with some new producers - top secret - but should prove to be quite a journey for us, musically.
NEP: Your top 10 favorite tracks put out on Naked?
Bruno: Hmmm ... that's a tough one. Probably the following (in no particular order):
Blue Six 'Music & Wine'
Gaelle 'Rain'
Aquanote 'Nowhere'
Petalpusher 'Breakin It Down'
Gaelle 'Fallin'
Lisa Shaw 'Always'
Central Living 'Every Day'
Night Source 'Don't You Wanna?'
Blue Six 'All I Need'
Lovetronic 'You Are Love'
NEP: Thanks Bruno! Of course our review wouldn't be complete without a chance to listen to some actual Naked music. As a special treat for our readers, we've included some audio samples from the upcoming Naked Music compilation CD Carte Blanche vol. 3. The Carte Blanche series has always been one of the more enjoyable Naked compilations, exposing listeners to some of the very best stuff that Mr. Ybarra comes across as he scans the current musical world. The kind of stuff that really needs to be heard, but doesn't get the exposure it should. On this release, I particularly like track 5, "Deeper Love" by Onda, it's such a gorgeous, sexy track! Chill out, smoke a bowl and make some love while listening to this one... And track 6, Projections' "Backbone" is another smooth, sultry, deep tune that thoroughly epitomizes that sexy downtempo Naked Vibe. Carte Blanche 3 should be available by the time your read this article, and the full track listing is below with links to Real Audio sample files.
Netscape users take note: you'll need to right-click (control-click on Mac) the track listing and select "Save Link As" to hear the audio. Make sure you save it with a .rm extension and then launch it from the Real Audio player):
More Naked Music links:
Naked Music Web site
Naked Music online store (buy records, CDs and Naked Music accessories)
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