Psicodiscographic Questionnaire - Balun

Balun, is an electroacoustic trio comprised of Angelica, Jose and Andres, that hails from the beautiful Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Together they create evocative, dreamy songs which apparently are intended to be some sort of children's lullabies (they seem to get really happy when you tell them you got sleepy while listening to their songs). The nice use of melodica, violin, accordion and guitars serves to punctuate the sweetness and softness of their melodies. They will be releasing their first album under the label Brilliante Records this May 2006.

Oh yes, They're pretty hyperactive too... Angelica has released some fragile and melancholic piano melodies under the moniker "Arturo en el Barco" and Andres has a sort of tropical electronic proyect called "Los nervios" proyects which I highly reccomend checking out also.
The three members of Balun agreed to answer some of my questions and I feel the need to point out that those are some excellent electronic records they mentioned out at some of these questions, thanks for the great interview balun!

I guess it's not that cold at Puerto Rico right now, is it? What records have you been listening to this winter?

All:Right now the weather isn't cold, but it can get pretty cold, by our standards, when temperatures drop to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. But that happens only in a little mountain town called Aibonito, often during the month of December. In San Juan, where we live, the "coldest" it can get is in the 70's degrees kind of range, of course that is during the night.
Andres: Ladytron- Witching Hour, Babasonicos - anoche, Broadcast- Tender Buttons, Tujiko Noriko and Aoki Takamasa- 28, Gustavo Cerati - bocanada.
Jose: Part Chimp - I Am Come, Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase, Static - Re: Talking About Memories, Brothomstates - Qtio, Killing Joke - Night Time.
Angelica: Marsen Jules - Herbstlaub, Ryan Teague - Six Preludes, Psapp - Tiger, My friend, Le Mans - Le Mans, Efterklang - Tripper.

I've found music like yours to be perfect for hangovers and for insomnia (in a good way), do you have any records you love to play at bedtime?

Andres: Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions-Bavarian Fruit Bread, Tujiko Noriko-Make me hard, Flaming Lips- Chewing the Apple of your eye and the song "*****" from Transmissions from Satellite Heart, Oval- Szenariodisk, So- So.
Jose: I really like to listen to music while falling sleep, it's an exercise I've been doing since I started to buy CDs and for that I guess my favorite album would be Autechre's "Tri Repetitae +++ " since it has those excellent long ambient pieces at the end that I really love and make me feel calm and sleepy.
Angelica: Colleen's music is perfect for going to bed. Both "The Golden Morning Breaks" and "Everyone Alive Wants Answers" have something special that make you fall asleep while still listening to the music. I also like going to sleep with Aminamina EP from Amina and with Sigur Ros' "Music for Split Sides". (Moka note: I completely agree.)

Any record to play while walking around your hometown?

Andres: I guess it depends on what mood I'm in. The other day I was listening to Lemans and The Vaselines.
Jose: I really like to listen to Incredibad's "Just 2 Guyz" that song is hilarious but the video is even more funnier.
Angelica: For that I like to listen to our own demos so that I can think of what stuff needs some more work. Just last week I listened to the demo of a new song that we made called "Gente" for about 25,000 times in a row :)

There's an amount of children's music influence on your sound, do you recall the records you heard as children?

Andres: I was a really big fan of Cepillin and the Disney Storybook Records.
Jose: For me not so much really, for the most part it could be the music I learned at school which were mostly Christian songs, I guess that when I was a child I accidentally took a liking to the music that I heard on radio and saw on TV like The Cure, Duran Duran and then early in my pre- teens Nirvana and Sonic Youth and that was the music that impacted me the most during those years .
But yes, whenever the videos for "Dr. Feelgood" by Motley Crue and "Bust A Move" by Young MC came on, naturally I tried to do my best impression of a rockstar or a rap artist using a tennis racket that I tried to pass off as a electric guitar/oversized microphone.
Angelica: I remember listening to Xuxa and to "El Carrusel" (children's soap opera) soundtrack. Jose is the only cool kid in Balun that listened to The Cure and Sonic Youth when he was still inside his mom.

Finally, tell me 5 records you can't live without?

Jose:
Slowdive - Souvlaki
The Cure - Wish
Autechre - LP5
Cocteau Twins - Garlands
Mum - Finally We Are No One

Andres:
Tujiko Noriko- Make me Hard
Superaquello- La Emergencia
Beatles- Magical Mystery Tour
Cafe Tacvba- Re
Bjork- Homogenic

Angelica:
Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender
Bjork - Homogenic
Dmitri Shostakovich - The Complete String Quartets
Superaquello- La Emergencia
The Arcade Fire - Funeral

Balun - I shouldn't do this
Balun - there's a swimming pool in the cloud
Arturo en el barco - Raymond Dotson
Los nervios - maria, rosa y enyd

Also take a look at their space for more information about them.