MUMBAI: Founded in September 2016 by Aazin Printer and Kumail Hamid, Knowmad Records is a Mumbai-based independent record label. As the ideology behind Knowmad is pushing atmospheric, electronic sounds dynamically and globally, the label recently signed Los Angeles-born, Montreal-based musician Gabriel Gutierrez (known as Smileswithteeth) followed by a release of an EP Suddenly Constantly on 14 July.
Smileswithteeth is the alter ego, also a dream project of Gabriel, where he blends ethereal textures and propulsive drums uniquely that is both elaborate and effortless in chorus. Radioandmusic got the opportunity to speak to the musician where Gabriel shared that he was introduced to the world of music by his dad, as he used to play a lot of music on the stereo while he was growing up. Gabrial started ‘messing around’ with a Garage band when he was around 11 or 12-years-old and slowly invested more time in producing and self-teaching how to mix and record throughout high school. “I never really learned how to play an instrument, so a lot of it just comes from listening to records. I tell people my music sounds like Four Tet, but that’s not quite right. When it is about my sound, dream pop was something a former classmate suggested and I ran with it,” says Gabriel.
Inspired by a disastrous trip to a beautiful place, Suddenly Constantly is the first release from Smileswithteeth since 2015’s Walk Forever. A meditation on loving someone, messing it up, and trying to do better, Suddenly Constantly traces an emotional curve through four tracks infused with drum breaks, ethereal vocals, and free jazz explosions, all while maintaining a practised air of calm and control. While talking about the recent release Suddenly Constantly, how did he collaborate with Knowmad Records, Gabriel shared that a friend showed him Kumail’s music and he loved it and reached out about collaborating. “Fast forward a couple of months, Kumail hit me up about this label he was starting. I was very flattered,” tells Gabriel gladly. Talking about the artistic rise he told that he tries to fit things together like a puzzle so that the different elements wrap around his brain and create this pleasant sensation of things riding the line between stability and chaos. “It’s hard to care for someone without hurting them, and it’s hard to build back the trust that was lost. But the reward for doing so is incredible, overwhelming, beautiful, sudden and constant. The creative process usually feels like a blur if it’s going well. It’s being hyper focused and kind of zoning out from reality,” describes Gabriel.
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Also, while structuring or conceptualising a track he usually just goes with intuition. “I love music that uses samples and so I’m really just try to make something I’ll enjoy listening to. A lot of times it’s not specific and I just think what does this need or what should go here and often that’s enough. Sometimes I think I should do like a Gold Panda thing here, and sometimes I try to mimic something more directly. It depends,” he explains. Gabriel, who is listening to a lot of Roy Ayers, Kiefer, and Thundercat at the moment, shared that when he is not at the studio or not producing, he works at a cafe, see his friends, and work out. As his live band is a bit scattered right now, they are probably just going to play a couple of festivals in Canada this fall, however, he wishes to come to India if someone flies him out. In addition, he is currently working on an album with local jazz musicians in Montreal that he is pretty excited to get back to work on.
Gabriel, who likes cooking, is proud of his Twitter account and considers as ‘pretty good’. A keen listener of leftist political podcasts, Gabriel believes that comprehensive political change is possible in the US. On about essential things about sound, technology, and producing, he strongly stated that learning is imperative. “Theory, knowing an instrument, and knowing the right way to do something all can only help you as a foundation. The progression is all about your facility in combining and recombining things you know, finding shortcuts and making your brain work in different ways,” he signs off.
