#circuitree

   Mid-way through the album Deflon changes his pattern of instrumental tracks by enlisting the vocal talents of Meghan Tartamella. Appearing on the track "Broken Bones", Tartamella sings longingly on top of a dreamy, glitched out arrangement that leaves her exposed and alone as a vocalist. This technique works beautifully as we hear the story in the lyrics unfold. Taramella tells us about loosing hope, needing to go home, even "seeing like Jesus before he lost hope" and of course her "Broken Bones". 

   As you listen to Darker Than Black, you quickly realize this album has more to offer than just spacey, meditative vibes. The album's smooth sound has an almost aphrodisiac-like sex appeal. Tracks such as "Reflect" and "Land of the Arp" create an intimate environment ideal for you and your 'Boo'. 

RYB: Can you tell us a little about how getting your start in Miami shaped your musical tastes? Did you find that you were drawn to electronic music seeing as Miami has such a vibrant community of DJs and Producers?

PG: Like I said Miami had this IDM thing going on which was really about exploring what was possible with electronic music, seeing how far one could take sound using computers.  People like Otto Von Schirach, Dino Felipe, Phoenecia and Richard Devine were making very cutting edge music before I even got started, and if you lived in Miami and were awake, you were aware of their influence.

On the other hand I'd say Miami isn't the greatest place to BE a musician.  In fact most of the better known Miamians had to move to another city to gain any sort of recognition.  You can be very well known in Miami and virtually unknown to the rest of the world.  Miami is also more concerned with what is going on outside of Miami as opposed to nurturing the talent that is there.  I don't really play Miami anymore…they could give a fuck about me at this point.  I had to move to be able to grow with my career.  It's the best thing I ever did.  Asheville's  scene is way stronger despite being a group of say 20 artists and only 60,000 residents.

RYB: Ok, so you are based in Asheville NC now. Absolutely beautiful in the Blue Ridge Mountains, how does the electronic culture compare to Miami? Has it evolved during the time you have lived there?

PG: Oh I kinda started to answer that one…but yah, it's amazing despite being a small town.  Producers like Peripheral, EmE, Bookworm, Jables, Mother Hood, Nigel One, Don Winsley, Marley Caroll, Woodwork, Samuel Paradise….there's a band called Sonmi who are totally amazing.  The list goes on and I'm sure I forgot someone who will be pissed.  There's also a bunch of guys right outside of Asheville like Prof.Logik, 10th Letter, Kwala, Nice-Icles, Sunday Morning, and the Deflon who are all amazing that roll through quite often and perform.   Charlotte has a dope music scene too, led by Mindelixir and crew.

As far as it's evolution goes, the Trinumeral Fest, Moogfest and Bass Church have really changed the South Eastern musical landscape and helped to put Asheville and it's surrounding region on the map globally, although it's still in it's infancy as far as being known for as a place that produces great talent.  I'm trying to help change that.  But yah, it totally destroys Miami in terms of places to play, fans, support, and all that.  It does need a few actual "club" settings though, which Miami has an abundance of.  Namely it needs some amazing sound systems.  The best one (in Asheville) currently, in my humble opinion is at the Asheville Music hall, but even it pales in comparison to something you'd find at a big club in Miami.

RYB: And how is Circuitree's music received by the community in Asheville?

PG: I feel like it's been well received.  A lot of people here were really into Miranda Rae of Sleepover when we put out their record.  She's gone on to do a few collabos with Peripheral, and has one coming up with Bookworm.  Kentsoundz is going to come up for his second show here soon, so that'll be fun.  I've honestly had a lot of issues signing artists up here mainly because people think they are like fucking rock stars or something and get all paranoid that I'm gonna steal the rights to their music or their soul or something, which is absurd considering how much money I've lost doing this label and how much time I've invested in other people's careers when I could be doing my own thing.  And to be honest, Panther God is going to be my main focus soon.  I owe it to myself and to the people who believe in me / support me (hey Grant and Par).

RYB: Let’s talk about the label, when did you come up with the idea to start Circuitree Records, do you have any partners or is it just you?

PG: I started doing it around 2005 or 2006 with the release of my first EP as PG-13, which actually ended up landing me "Best Electronica Artist" of 2007 as named by the Miami New Times.  That was totally unexpected.  Anyway at the time I was working at this record store and the owner was like, "hey you should meet my room mate Kent…he's an awesome producer and you might want to work with him."  He stopped by the record store while I was working one night and gave me a cd, and I gave him a cd or two.  What he handed me ended up being amazing, and he dug what I was doing, so we started this hip hop group in which I would rap and he was the producer (Junc Ops).  It took about a year and a half or more to make an LP (2013 was the title actually), which we did and when it was time to release it, Kent got on board with the label and we've been partners ever since.  There's a whole lot more to the story which I can't get into but essentially we've made a lot of great art together and he's done all the artwork for the label minus the first EP, which was done by a friend Jiae Hwang, who was very supportive of the label before I met Kent.  I have to thank her for sure too.  

One thing I would like to point out is that, at the very moment when it seemed like the people we hoped would help us out totally flaked on us, is when we really launched the label.  We knew we could either put our careers in the hands of other people, or we could learn about the industry and just do it ourselves.  I tell a lot of artists to plant their own seeds as opposed to waiting for other people to make them a star.  You have to do the work and just hope people want to get involved and help out, but most likely that won't happen and you'll end up having to do 90 per cent of everything alone, or in my case, with a very talented partner who is a dear friend.

At this point we are 32 releases deep and have worked with a ton of very talented people such as Machinedrum, 000, Jimmy Edgar, Phoenecia, Jacque Polynice, Luke Vibert…on and on and are very grateful for the opportunities along the way.  I have to thank Nico and Matt too because they have both helped in a big way to keep this thing from sinking!  

RYB: Very cool, great to finally learn the history of Circuitree. You have evolved your name over the years and have landed on Panther God, pretty bad ass if you ask me. What led you to this rad yet powerful name?

PG: I was sick of calling myself PG-13 because it sounded so childish.  This was 2007-8, and I was looking to re brand myself in a sense although I couldn't choose a new name for myself. On my 27th birthday I ate a bunch of mushrooms and hung out in Kent's backyard for 4 hours.  At one point I shot up this 20-30 ft. tall rope hanging from a tree with what was for me an incredible amount of courage and speed.  While doing this a Jaguar spirit was present in a sense and I told Kent about it.  We'd joke about the Jaguar Lord and at one point, while in a festival in Asheville performing together as Junc Ops, Kent said to me, NO MAN IT"S PANTHER GOD.  It was kinda obvious since I was PG-13, my initials are P.G. and…well you get it.  He named me, and all the time people tell me it's a cool name, although it's a lot to live up to.  I don't feel like I have, yet.

RYB: You allow customers to set their own price for much of the music available on Circuitree, why did you decide to release your music in this way?

PG: Because not too many people buy music anyway I guess.  Plus if they can steal it I might as well give them the option to pay whatever they can.  Some people pay more some people don't pay at all, which is fine.  Having a label these days isn't about money, it's more about community and networking.

RYB: I like your thinking, make it about the art from the start. Speaking of the releases, you said Kent does all your album artwork, it's very cool.

PG: Kent does it all.  He's a badass designer and makes 10 times more than I do as a musician doing his design work.  I picked the wrong career to make living at. (Chuckles)

RYB: Is Circuitree aligned with any other labels, if so do you have any collaborations planned?

PG: We've worked with Jasmin Blasco over at Catalog Records (who goes by The Pearl and is releasing that project on Circuitree currently).  His label was something like our sister label for a while and Jasmin has been super supportive of Circuitree in many ways (thanks dude!).  He actually co-released our first compilation Silicon Graffiti and helped get our project off the ground in 2008.  We've also got friends doing this label in L.A. called Proximal Records led by Carl Burgin (Say Uhns) and Matt Hettich (Wake).  They are really awesome and hard working people who have actually released a few Panther God tunes along with loads of other great music.  There's a label called Broken Bubble, out of London, who are one of my favorite labels out there right now for futuristic UK dance music.  I've got a collabo with an Atlanta based artist T8R coming out just now on that label.  I think it came out today.

RYB: Lastly, any new releases or artists you are excited to talk about, from Circuitree or just in general?

PG: Mindelixir - Why I'm Easy EP 

Hurtdeer - Meraki EP

The Pearl ft. Distal - Flesh Eater's 7"

These are the three latest ones we've put out and I think they are amazing.  I'm very picky about the tracks and I spent a lot of time picking the tracks on them.  We've also got a remix LP coming from Kentsoundz and an EP from Deflon which I'm excited about!

Thanks again, and we wish you the best!

Cheers!