“My culture is loud,” says George Ruby. Born in Xalapa, a city in the mountains of Veracruz, Mexico, his parents would drive him around the streets, stereo locked to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’, just to get him to sleep. We’re no experts, but we’re guessing that something like that might have a lasting impression on a kid. It certainly did something to George, whose idiosyncratic vision has been tapped for the next release on pointblank Music, out this week. Three pieces of mutant, HD electronica that recall fellow genre frontiersmen Arca and Oneohtrix Point Never. Yet beneath the gloss there’s something disarmingly human – George’s voice.
The ‘Creatures’ EP – available now on iTunes, Beatport and Spotify – is a realisation of George’s unusual intersection of styles, ideas and genres that goes right back to his childhood. At 16, he was unpicking a knot of musical influences – from Tosca to Miles Davis via Thievery Corporation – in his first musical project, an experimental rock band called Vox Movil. Attempting to corral his influences, he studied singing and music theory at the School of Jazz in the Universidad Veracruzana, but soon discovered he was limited by the conventional approach. “I started producing music around that time.” Explains George, “When all the sounds in my head were too much for just my voice and a guitar.”
It was while he was travelling in the UK that George’s unique sound really began to emerge, immersing himself in the sound system culture of Brighton, Bristol and London he was reinvigorated by the ideas percolating throughout these scenes. “I was so inspired that that I decided to concentrate on music production as much as possible, and started watching the pointblank Music School videos,” he says. “I discovered artists like James Blake, Curumin, Portico, Alex Banks, Baileys Brown, Cashmere Cat and others, all of whom continue to inspire me today”.
Like this? Head to the pointblank Music YouTube channel which is the new home for all the best music from PB students. Click here to subscribe and get involved. And if you want to see your own musical vision through to completion, why not book yourself onto one of our courses. Our Online Music Production Master Diploma is not only the most comprehensive course available online, but it offers 1-2-1 tutorials between you and your instructor every two weeks, alongside live masterclasses and the opportunity to receive customised feedback for your work as you progress.
Getting your music signed, released, and earning money from it through our own in-house label pointblank Music is just one of the many reasons to study with us, and it’s another way we help to connect our students directly to the industry. Throughout the duration of the course and after completion, students that sign their tracks to pointblank Music enjoy 100% digital distribution coverage including Beatport, Juno Download, Amazon, iTunes and Spotify and extensive promotion through pointblank’s social media, marketing and database networks. pointblank Music releases music exclusively from our students, and showcases all of the best talent that we’re constantly developing and nurturing.
We’ll also send your tracks to the world’s top DJs via our promo system Labelworxs. DJs that have supported pointblank Music releases include Terry Francis (Fabric), Paco Osuna (Minus), Slam and Magda. If you would like your music to be considered for the label, please submit your track to our A&R team via this submission form.
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When you register with pointblank, you access an array of free sounds, online course samples, access to our social network Plugged In and much more! Simply register below and visit our Free Stuff page to get your hands on a range of exclusive music-making tools and tutorials provided by the team. Fill your boots!
