California based musician Yung Poncho recently released “Herons” which I can truly say is one of the most impressive E.P.’s of the year. The three song record takes you on a cosmic adventure full of vibrant and colorful tones, laid back beats and lush electronics.
I caught up with Yung Pancho to discuss their early musical experiences, how they started creating music and the making of the debut release.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Y.P.-The first music that really made an impact on me was definitely vaporwave. I remember discovering it when I was in like 4th or 5th grade and I had no idea there was like cool music out there outside of what was on the radio or what my parents played around me; it really opened the floodgates for me discovering different kinds of music online. Blank Banshee was the first time I ever had a favorite artist and he’s still a huge inspiration to me today.
CMM-How did you start writing songs and developing your own sound?
Y.P.-Learning how to write/make music was something that sort of culminated over time for me. I’d wanna say it’s a combination of all the time I spent messing around in DAWs and learning how playing instruments worked when I was younger, but, in terms of actually writing songs I still feel pretty clueless a lot of the time. I think I have a better grasp on how my sound came about because I always have had a clear idea on how I want my music to sound. I used to make really terrible distorted shoegaze demos on Bandlab but it had all the basic elements like the incoherent chords, heavily clipped drums, and synths. But mostly my sound right now came about from me making plugg beats and progressively adding more and more electronic influence until they weren’t really just plugg beats anymore. The music I listen to on a daily basis also plays a big role in whatever music I’m making at the moment sounds like, off the top of my head some artists who helped shape my sound are I Am Robot and Proud, Happy Doghouse, Lil Ugly Mane, and Hydrant House Purport Rife on Sleepy.
CMM-You recently released an E.P. called “Herons”. What was the writing and recording process like and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
Y.P.-I put it together on a whim honestly, all the songs on it were just demos I was sitting on that had no correlation to each other. All the songs were made during different times from last May to this June so I guess there was no real process to making the EP itself. No actual analog gear was used in any of the songs, the entire thing was made on FL Studio 12 with mostly free plugins. The only piece of actual music equipment used were the guitars on Sea Lettuce, I was using a J Mascis Jazzmaster into some free JCM800 plugin.
CMM- If you could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Y.P.-Wes Anderson, It’d be another movie where the talking animals get into hijinks.
CMM-Anything coming up?
Y.P.-Nothing specific planned as of now. If I make enough material I’ll probably drop another project, but for now I’ll just see where the wind takes me.
