Free The Robots - Old pics, new album, free MP3, and Lamar freaking Odom

Chris Alfaro is easily one of the coolest dudes you'll ever meet. He's extremely knowledgeable about and connected with all sorts of scenes from music to food to art, but so down-to-earth you'd never know it. Foodwise, the always-changing pizza at The Crosby can't be beat. In music, I loved the mixes he did with Roam for OBEY (Bad Brains, Portishead, Dead Keennedys, Paul Weller...) and the sample-based music on his first Free The Robots EP (including "Jazzhole"), but the full-length debut is something else.


Built from the ground up, Ctrl Alt Delete is way dirtier, harder, and heavier than his debut. But a guy like Chris just isn't wired to mad dog all day long. His sense of humor and love of fun percolates through in the most unexpected times, breaking up the tension and making for some seriously gripping and interesting listening.

GR: The song titles on the new LP ("Orion's Belt Buckle," "Sci-Fidelity," "Mental Universe"...) seem a lot more cosmic than the ones on your EP. Do you think about a lot of stuff when you're mopping and wiping bar counters at The Crosby?
CA: I’d say so. Who would’ve thought that cleaning could be so inspirational. 


GR: In some ways, the opening The Crosby with your buddies probably delayed the release of this album. But do you think it also grew your music since now you've got world-class music makers coming through every week?
CA: Night after night, I’m constantly exposed to great stuff: beats, psych rock, punk, dub, world music, jazz, salsa/cumbia, etc. Between the different resident DJs and promoters we chose and the people we personally book, there's plenty of inspiration and energy in heavy rotation. Diversity is key to keeping my mind flowing.



GR: What are some ways your approach to music has changed in the three years or so since the EP came out?
CA: As a musician, I’m always learning. Over the years I’ve developed my own sense of melody and song structure, focusing more on original composition. I took a step back from my original approach and decided to focus more on synthesizers and live instrumentation. This record is about 90 percent sample free, whereas the EP was the opposite.

GR: Aren't you just a little afraid that you might lose some female listeners with the somewhat harsher, darker, and drippier sound?
CA: Actually, it seems like times have changed. At first, this type of bedroom nerd music pretty much only attracted dudes. These days, the female audience is representing in a big way! Lovin’ the diversity right now. I think for the first time in history, crowds are going nuts to music they’ve never heard. It's grimey and dark as death, but its still danceable.



GR: Tell me about the track with Ikey Owens. Some of the songs have the feeling of being thought out note by note, with almost a Philip Glass or Brian Eno atmosphere, but did you jam that one out live?
CA: That track was a trip to record! I met up with Owens at his pad in Long Beach with nothing more than a laptop, Garage Band, and a rough version of the track. We set up and hunched over in the middle of the living room with a couple organs and two 3” computer speakers on the coffee table. The sound of his fingers hitting the keys was louder than what we were hearing while we recorded! That's ghetto rig challenge number one, but we got it done. He knocked it out in two sessions after listening to the track only once. The man’s got skills!

GR: OBEY, Low-End Theory, and Alpha Pup Records--I understand. But how the heck did you get mixed up with Lamar Odom's T-shirt company?
CA: Odom’s art direction for his company is a little unorthodox--at least for the average athlete. Marc Yamaoka (The Crosby) was actually hired on as the lead cut-and-sew designer for the company. My partners and I always work together on whatever projects that come up and, random as this one is, I got hit up to be part of their first artist/musician pairing with the amazing Joe King!


The Candy Man is a Free The Robots fan (wearing the shirt) and you should be one, too. Check out the new album on Alpha Pup now.