Pachyman on World Cafe
World Cafe
Pachyman forges his own version of dub music on ‘Switched-On’
Pachy Garcia, who goes by Pachyman on stage, helped lessen our pandemic dread in 2021 with the release of The Return of Pachyman. That record tipped its hat to the history of reggae, dancehall and dub, but he had a bigger goal for his next project.
Setlist
Oct
11
Pachyman
Studio Session
- "Sale el Sol"
- "Trago Coqueto"
- "Toyota Nuevo"
- "Lovers"
“With Switched-On, I wanted to be more myself and be less my heroes, if that makes any sense,” Pachyman said.
You can still hear the influence of his dub heroes, like Scientist and King Tubby, on Switched-On, but by infusing his own history into the music, Pachyman has taken dub music in a direction all his own.
In this session, Pachyman talks about combining the past and present by using instruments like the Korg Poly-800 synthesizer and the güiro, a traditional instrument used in his native Puerto Rico.
He also talks about incorporating his voice into the music. The songs on Switched-On may only feature a few bits of songwriting, but Pachyman’s words still pack a punch. On “Trago Coqueto,” he sings about missing home.
“… which is a theme that I’ve never lost since I moved to LA from Puerto Rico. I’ve felt that I don’t really belong here,” he says.
All that, plus live performances from Pachyman recorded especially for World Cafe.