Cosmic Conductor: AFTA-1 [Dazed & Confused]
Published WorkPublished April 14, 2008 at 6:20 AM No Comments
“It seems like everybody who’s grass-rooting it is really doing some real shit,” says Manuel Moran, an emerging 21-year-old explorative beatmaker causing sonic ripples under the name AFTA-1. “It’s getting to the point where it’s not about who’s getting signed and who’s getting played on the radio, it’s ‘Who’s under the radar?’”
The growing underground enthusiasm for AFTA-1’s self-released debut instrumental album, AFTATHOUGHTS Vol. 1, suggests he’ll register as more than a blip.
Born to Mexican parents in California, AFTA-1 grew up in Moreno Valley; a place he describes as “somewhere you’d stop to use the restroom” en route to Palm Springs, and little more. Lacking “a scene,” AFTA-1 immersed himself in creating, producing for Hip Hop groups in High School, reaching for whatever he could sample – without being “the arrogant, annoying dude who knows dates and names and what they were smoking when they recorded and shit.”
AFTA-1’s wordless, cosmic beats, intended “to be a soundtrack to your life,” weave stories between claps, synths and kicks from samples chopped with love.
“That’s the energy that is flowing through me when it’s being created,” he says. “I’m just a vessel to create this art. I’d like to think that’s what it reflects and that’s what people resonate with.”
AFTATHOUGHTS Vol. 1 is available to buy digitally from www.aftathoughts.com.
(c) Marsha Gosho Oakes, 2008
