Emanuel Cazares is a local musician who has been able to effortlessly stretch across various projects spanning sound and style. He is the bassist for the soulfully somber soft-rock group Burgundy Blues, and the guitarist for psychedelic, groovy riff-makers Slipping Into Darkness. Additionally, he recently started Café Canela, a funk and old-school soul solo project in which he plays, records and produces everything.
So far, Cazares’ releases as Café Canela have been strictly instrumental, allowing listeners to get a full focus on the fantastic instrumental and production work. Songs like “Perro Wawa” and “Gemini” explore grooves and psych rhythms that evoke a mix between ‘50s/’60s soul records and modern sounds from projects like Khruangbin and El Michels Affair. He is set to release a new song, “If I Fall,” on Friday, Jan. 26.
“(‘If I Fall’) has been a work in progress for the past couple of years,” Cazares said during a recent phone interview. “I’ve been trying to develop my old sound over time after playing in so many bands. The song is something that’s really personal to me.”
One of the ways in which Café Canela evokes the old-school sound is through the production. Cazares uses dated mic-placement techniques and even a big mixing board to find the right mood for his songs.
“I wanted Café Canela to be more raw-sounding,” Cazares said. “It’s obviously instrumental; there’s no singing in that, but there might be in the future. I want the sound of my production to be in your face, and kind of just as raw as possible.”
What’s the best way to make old-school music? In Cazares’ case, it means filling his spare bedroom with guitars, amps and a drum set from many decades ago.
“The gear inspires me a lot,” Cazares said. “I’m a fan of music from the ’60s, the ’50s, ’70s, the ’80s, and all my instruments are from those eras. Every time I sit on a drum set from this year, I feel like I’m hearing sounds from back then. Even with an amp, if I played through an amp from a certain year, I’m like, ‘Damn, this is what music sounded like back then.’ I want to capture all those sounds, so the gear inspires me in a different way.”
Cazares’ intense attachment to oldies music stems from his own listening history. He’s told me multiple times that he’d pick songs from the ’60s over most of the music of today.
“That’s what I grew up listening to, a lot of old music, and I’ve always liked it,” he said. “It’s what I think about all day. Some of the new music is cool, but it just doesn’t touch your soul like the older stuff.”
Another facet of creating a time-capsule sound is doing research.
“It’s been a long process, learning how to record—and especially getting the tones that you want,” Cazares said. “It’s a lot of thought and experimentation. It took me four years to kind of know what I’m doing. Also, part of it is listening to a lot of those old records and trying to figure out how to tune the drums, or what amps they were using, what microphones they were using—even listening to the rooms that they recorded in. All that stuff mattered back then, and that all contributes to the sound. It’s a lot of listening to music and studying sounds.”
Café Canela has left the bedroom studio for a few live performances. Cazares said his philosophy changes when it comes to performing these songs onstage.
“Some of the new music is cool, but it just doesn’t touch your soul like the older stuff.”
Emanuel Cazares
“It’s kind of hard to bring that sound in a live setting,” Cazares said. “It’s more of a production thing, but the songs are what touch people’s hearts.”
For the live shows, the old-school sound is expanded with help from other great local musicians.
“I’m really open-minded to having other people put their sound into it, or if they want to change something up,” Cazares said. “People inspire me, too. For the band that I put together, I picked everybody because I like how everybody played, and I want a little bit of their sound in the band.”
Cazares explained how he contributes in different ways to each of his musical projects.
“In Burgundy Blues, for example, Andrew (Russell) produces everything, and I just play his parts, but he’s also the same way—his songs are open to interpretation on my part, like I could change the bassline or whatever,” Cazares said. “For Slipping Into Darkness, I am more of a permanent member. I have a say in the sound if we’re making a song, and I guess I have added more major seventh chords into the music. … The songs have definitely gotten a little bit more jazzy.”
For more information, visit www.instagram.com/cafecanelamusic.
