Wahteque Selector or the passion for retro music, Andrés J. Park

Andrés is a freelancer in the audiovisual sector and a programmer at the Las Palmas de GC Film Festival.

He tells us about his beginnings:

I’ve been listening to music for as long as I can remember.

I started DJing in some bar in Madrid when I was a student, and above all opening at the concerts of Insecto, a group that broke up and whose members later formed Dead Capo, an avant-garde rock band.

I was also collaborating with Spiral magazine, a defunct publication edited by Luis Calvo and Joako Ezpeleta (Elefant, Viaje a los Suenos Polares), and I was very active in the Malasaña indie scene, which in the 90s was the effervescent epicenter of pop-rock national independent.

What kind of music do you like to play?

I like to play good music, and make it easy to enjoy even if you don’t know the song. It is not the same to play a rock and roll song, with a familiar and easy to understand pattern, than something modern but complicated, songs that you need to have an acquired taste and be in the trend like trap, dubstep or current indie.

I usually start by playing soft music when the place is not full, so that people can talk freely and enjoy the moment. And as it fills up, encourage it according to the circumstances and the type of public there is.

It is important to see what kind of people there are, and try to play things that most people like: it is impossible to please everyone, but retro music, having well-known structures and easy-to-understand melodies, tends to be liked by almost everyone.

Your favorite song?

That’s a hard question, with an answer which also changes over time.

At this moment I would say “Have Love Will Travel”, version of The Sonics, “Do It Again” by The Beach Boys, “Loose” by The Stooges or “Into The Groove” by Madonna; tomorrow I could tell you “Cissy Strut” by The Meters or “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by The Rolling Stones, and the day after tomorrow I’d tell you “Baby Dee” by Konk or “Forma 2000” by Nicola Conte.

The songs that never fail me are “These Boots Are Made For Walking”, version of Nancy Sinatra, “You Can Never Tell” by Chuck Berry or “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen; is the sound of the first beat and everyone gets up to dance them.

Your favorite album?

That would be The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and “SMiLE.”

But just as important to me are “Spiderland” by Slint, “The White Birch” by Codeine, “The Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd, “4/Four Signs” by Led Zeppelin, “The Köln Concert” by Keith Jarrett, “Ambient 4: The Plateaux Of Mirrors” by Harold Budd and Brian Eno, and “Music for 18 Musicians” by Steve Reich.

There is also an impressive album, great from start to finish, which is the best kept secret in the whole world and in particular in Spain, and it is “The Very Special World of Lee Hazlewood”, a masterpiece of a genius that unfortunately should be more known.

There are great albums that grab you and put them on the podium for a while, but as you get to know more music, refine your tastes and evolve as a person and a music lover, the podium keeps changing until you find a series of albums that they move you regardless of your mood or stage of life.

Your favorite artist?

Over time, The Beach Boys have become my favorite artist/group, but I can’t stop mentioning other artists who seem equally important to me: Les Baxter, Henri Mancini, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Steve Reich, Burt Bacharach, Lee Hazlewood, Brian Eno, and lately I’m passionate about Ennio Morricone, who is the J.S. Bach and the Duke Ellington of our time.

And I have an absolute weakness for some female voices, like Jeanette (and Pic-nic) and above all, Karen Carpenter from the Carpenters duo.

You know, when you see and listen to Andrés J. Park it will be a sign that you are in a place where music is the important thing.