Hello and welcome to Magazine Sixty Snna Oblack & Nacho Arauz. Can we begin by asking a little about your background? How did you first get into DJ’ing/ Producing and which artists/ clubs initially inspired you?

Hello, it’s a pleasure to be here with you.

When we both started out and were still very small we worked individually but when we met we decided to form what is now Los Pastores, from that moment we began to produce together we were influenced by artists like Luciano, Loco Dice, Matthias Tanzmann, Marco Carola or Hector Couto among others. The clubs that inspired us most at the time were Barraca (Valencia), Florida135 (Huesca), DC10 (Ibiza), Amnesia (Ibiza).

You have been running the label since 2012. How would you describe the state of the record business and can you tell us about the importance of vinyl to you?

We started with our Oblack label in 2012 with two formats, vinyl and digital. The vinyl format has always been very important for us, but we must bear in mind that this format is only used by a relatively small number of people, and from our point of view we have to accompany it with digital releases to reach as many people as possible.

Your current release is by Ogni – Point Of No Return. What do you look for when signing something to the label, and do you think it is harder or easier with today’s technology to be an original artist?

Yes, it’s a great EP!! Hehehe When we sign EPs for vinyl release we always look for the music to be atemporal, however for the releases of the Digital Series we look for a sound with a dancefloor focus. This year we have released our new series of digital music called “Raw Series” in which we release more avant-garde music.

We think that it´s much easier to be an original artist with modern technology, since there are so many different ways to produce electronic music nowadays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5izjwpmrUKI

Talk us through the creative process for you when making music, and can you tell us about your studio set-up?

We use several types of machines in our productions but the most outstanding are undoubtedly the Nord modular, Moog Sub 37, Nord Rack 2 or Roland TR-8 among others. In addition, we have always combined the old hardware technology with our favourite software, Logic.

https://soundcloud.com/inermu/los-pastores-james-dexter-no-rush

Who creates the artwork for the label? Do you have a favourite cover to date?

For the design of our covers we work with different designers and illustrators, all the ideas are thought by the team, and after this process we materialize them. Our favourite cover so far is the latest vinyl EP OBLACK021.

What inspires you outside of the world of Dance Music?

We are inspired by good food, sports, good books, and generally healthy habits.

How did your collaboration with ARBG on Sit Down Recordings happen? What was the inspiration behind the production?

We met ARBG through an EP that he signed for our Oblack label and as a result we started to share music before collaborating with him. We are very happy because this EP is receiving very good feedback and has just been charted by Matthias Tanzmann in his Closing Ibiza Chart 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rl-t0NT34w&t=238s

And finally how do you see the label and yourselves as artists moving into the future?

Our label is well positioned within the European electronic scene, in our next releases you can see artists such as ONNO, Chris Wood, Diego Krause, DJ T, Alex Arnout, System2, Javi Bora, Justin Harris, Mihai Popoviciu, Christian Burkhardt, Sascha Dive, and many more.

As Los Pastores, we are going to be releasing on labels like Deeperfect, Roush, Oblack, Sanity, Yaya Records and many others yet to be confirmed.

https://www.facebook.com/lospastoresmusic

https://twitter.com/los__pastores

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ln7JKW0zk