Title – Luis Baro – Moment of Transition EP
Release date: September 25, 2020
1.First Impression (Dub Version)
2.First Impression (Aaron Chase Remix)
3.Partners
4.Uplift My Hart
Moment of Transition is a four track EP written by Luis Baro. Fresh Meat Records is first publishing Moment of Transition at freshmeatrecords.bandcamp.com exclusively for 8 weeks. After the initial 8-week release period, we’ll publish Moment of Transition to all other shops and streaming services.
Any funds received during the initial 8-week release will be matched 100% by Luis and Fresh Meat Records and donated to the revolutionary collective. Assata’s Daughters. In their own words, “Assata’s Daughters is a grassroots intergenerational collective of radical Black women located in the city of Chicago. AD was founded, planned, and operated by Black women, femmes, and gender non-conforming people to carry on the tradition of radical liberatory activism encompassed by Assata Shakur, to train up others in the radical political tradition of Black feminism, and to learn how to organize on the ground around the demand for Black liberation, particularly a demand for abolition.” All Bandcamp revenue for Moment of Transition will be sent to Assata’s Daughters indefinitely.
Assata’s Daughters inspire us and we want to help their cause. In our small way, we hope to affect positive change in the struggle for racial justice. Learn more and, if you can, donate directly at: https://www.assatasdaughters.org/ Also, please amplify their voice by sharing their direct sites to your networks.
FMR: Who are you and where are you from?
LB: My name is Luis Baro. Born and raised in Chicago; North Sider, Medusa kid.
I’m a House Music servant!
FMR: What was your start in the music business?
LB: I knew this guy who was a promoter and he could get me into parties. So I
would go with him to pass out flyers and that led to getting a job for Tony Bitoy,
who was in Chicago at the time one of the biggest promoters. He used to do
Sunday nights at the Riviera and I was like 16 years old with a part-time job and
a guest list at the hottest party in Chicago, and that was a big deal and that sort
of was the introduction into my professional life within the music world.
FMR: How did you get into creating music?
LB: I wanted to make music for a long time but I kept putting it off and putting it
off. I kept thinking I’ll get to it when I get to it, and then I mentioned it to one or
two of my close friends who were very successful touring DJs at the time and
they laughed. They told me, “No! You should stick to promoting, you’re not
allowed to DJ.” I’m thinking what? I’m not allowed to DJ? Alright! Because they
told me I wasn’t allowed that made me go even harder. I moved in with this guy
Eric that used to work at the Hip House record shop (on Chicago’s West side),
and he had a set of turntables. It was ‘97 into ‘98 and I asked him, do you mind if
I practice on your decks? He told me to go for it. That was the start for me. At the
time I also started learning how to produce, you know there was Rebirth and
Reason, and I kind of went through the gamut of DAWs.
FMR: What’s your process for making a track?
LB: It can go many different ways. I might search YouTube and I’ll look for jazz
chord progressions and I’ll start to mimic those progressions. I can start with
chords and lay down some stabs and some pads and then I’ll think, well, I need a
kick drum so I’ll put down the kick drum and then I might put down some hi-hats,
and that’s generally the beginning of a track. If I get stuck, sometimes I’ll watch a
tutorial to learn something new, or I’ll try a new plug-in and that’ll usually push me
over the edge and get things moving again.
FMR: What’s inspiring you to make music right now?
LB: For a really long time I was stuck doing the same thing and it wasn’t getting
me very far. I would make these loops and I made a few songs and I finished
them and put them out, but it would take me months and months to finish
anything because of my own refusal to learn more. I thought I knew the process
and when COVID hit, to be honest, I watched a production tutorial from start to
finish and that just pushed me over the top. Now, if I want, I can finish a song in
one day. But it was the sitting down and watching an eight hour tutorial, which
wasn’t really eight, but more like fourteen hours because you pause it and then
you kind of mimic what they’re doing and then you start it back up. After that,
things started to click. If anyone is stuck, take the time and get through the
process, then you’ll be on your way.
FMR: How did Aaron Chase get involved with this release?
LB: Aaron Chase is someone I’ve known since the 90s. We worked together
when I used to organize events in Chicago. Aaron is one of these guys that can
play a ton of instruments, he’s a studio engineer, and a very talented guy. Every
time that I’d see him, he’d give me a new CD with an album worth of music. I
moved to Washington DC and I think he ended up having an accident that hurt
his back so we fell out of contact and then recently we reconnected. I told him I’m
making new tracks and asked him to help mix some of them, actually he mixed
the tracks on this EP. He said he wanted to get on a remix and that was a done
deal.
FMR: Does the current struggle for racial justice affect your creative process?
LB: When George Floyd was murdered it stifled the process because I wasn’t
motivated. I was depressed and sad and it was a reminder of the society that we
live in. It was a reminder of where we’re at. I stopped making music. When
COVID hit I wasn’t working so I stayed at home and just started cranking out
tracks left and right. Almost every day I had a whole new song. I’d send the
tracks out to like five of my friends and then make a new one. Then when Floyd’s
murder happened I stopped. And all of the DJ streams and all these other things
just didn’t seem interesting to me anymore. That was when we talked and I’m like
you know it just doesn’t feel right putting out something and making it about us.
Why don’t we try to figure out a way to do something in order to still express
ourselves creatively, but do something more to give back for a worthy cause.
Every little bit helps right so we’re gonna donate! We’re going to release the
music on Bandcamp and we’re going to donate all the proceeds that are given
through the Bandcamp campaign and then you and I are gonna match that. And
we’ve decided on a couple of different worthy causes and I think we finally
decided on one for this EP, and we’re gonna hopefully make this a series and
continue. And the plan is, every three songs or so, we put it out and we donate
the money to a cause that’ll hopefully make a difference. In a way, these
moments suck-and this might sound weird-but it’s really bringing these subjects
to the forefront. It’s making us confront the ugly side of our society and I think that
it’s gotten a lot of people more aware. Everyone was busy, I mean prior to COVID
we were all busy working, and no one had time for things so then everything just
got swept under the rug. And now you see these issues are top of mind and in
every discussion and you can’t avoid it. I feel hopeful that it’s pushing the bar and
we’re seeing real change, within government, within communities, within music,
within art…and it’s forcing the conversation, it’s forcing us to really analyze all of
this.