This week's feature is Mateo also known as Diosdelghetto who from my understanding is a fan of retro PS1 titles along with old school dungeon crawlers. Now If I could write about video games I could go on and on, but this is about Mateo. I've always seen his name on flyers and he's one of those artists that within my 2 years of writing and going to events I just never got the chance to meet him until I booked him for my Never Ending Valley Summer event and got to witness his work first hand. You know what they say right? If you can't see em ; book em haha. Either way besides his DJ work he also has his own separate work that goes into creating 2D and 3D shiny arts! It's pretty neat and if you haven't checked it out feel free to do so over at @diosdelghetto and for his music I personally really enjoy his release from a year ago called REALITI and Cortes which can be found on bandcamp, but here's the link to where you can find majority of his works.
Dig in! This week's feature is Mateo, @diosdelghetto
We begin by asking Mateo what he's been enjoying as of recently "Lately, I’ve been reading neuromancer which has been pretty fun to read now that I finally got around to it; I’ve been playing Lunacid as well, a pretty fun dungeon crawler on my computer, if you’re into old-school PS1 dungeon crawlers then i’d suggest you’d check that out tbh; and weightless cardio." I remember seeing the PS1 Bloodborne and that was neat. There's also that new game Gloomwood that looks pretty interesting as well. I don't play a lot of games in this "style" or "old-school" dungeon crawlers, but sometimes you find the right ones and it can be fun! Cardio my nemesis, just kidding! I usually go inclined cardio which just feels nice to me.
He continues by mentioning a shout out as well "Umm i’m pretty bad at these but shoutout to whomst ever has been looking, listening or buying the things I have out there, really appreciate it."
That was just the tutorial for real now we really dig into Diosdelghetto as we begin by asking who exactly is he? Could he tell us a little bit about his work as well as he says "So the moniker is just kinda me, if you sorta notice my designs and themes always kinda change here and there and that’s just me you know, changing, like we all kinda do we get into concepts and then fall in and out of ideas as we go but just a firmly pressed artistic channel in which i can do that." As he mentions "my designs and themes kinda change here and there" he has recently released "Projection Slide 01" as he takes an image and incorporates his style over it on blender (perhaps) which certainly fits! Especially the third slide on that post. He continues by saying "So originally it was conceived in high-school, and was firstly all about music and music production. But as i grew into a lot of things design and visual art especially it just became a conglomerate project essentially, it was really hard separating everything so it just stayed as one thing, also managing like 10 accounts for every little idea that deviates from each other sounds like hell so i don’t want to do that either." Mateo really said "managing 10 accounts" I can't imagine having that many accounts for having to separate your ideas. It'd feel a bit easier to piece it together or if they fit together just have it in one. It is certainly your embodiment and expression. I was thinking about doing a clothing fit page and a literacy page for my poems, but then I was like having to manage four Instagram accounts would be too much. I don't know how my friend's that have 6 accounts that manage that. As he shares a bit about himself and who Diosdelghetto is he brings up his style "But as far as my style is concerned I guess you can say they’re very computer friendly? I’m not a physical artist in a lot of ways. I don't paint, or do much studio-type work (wish i could though!) all of it is mostly revolved around my PC, a little sketch notebook and my ipad, and sometimes my phone and that's about it!" I mean creating virtually and on blender is art! It's another medium you don't need to be holding a brush or pencil to create "art." Even though he wishes to these things there's other artists that wish they could also tackle non studio-type work as well. That's interesting, huh? I mean I don't call myself an artist, but I've done my share of personal work at home which includes blender. We have our own tools we choose to create with and that's also where experimentation comes in. I mean maybe Mateo will pick up a brush one day even if it's just to try it out? Who knows. Mateo continues by saying "Growing up I never had a lot of space to have physical art spaces and was kinda frustrated by that but once I found computers can do alot of it I kinda just stuck with it and it feels pretty second-nature at this point." Growing up I usually just used my computer to watch animations on Newgrounds or on Youtube. I was really interested in it that. In high-school a friend and I created our own comics, but we never went any farther from that. I didn't really have a space for my own creativity, but rather I enjoyed seeing it. Mateo finishes off by sharing about his music "My music influenced by a lot of stuff I grew up with listening to on CD’s from my older siblings, my sister in the late 90’s and 2000’s was just really into techno and would get these club cds from chicago in that time, and my older brother grew up in houston so he would always be listening to DJ screw, Z-RO, lil keke, just a bunch of houston-based rappers, and along with that just my natural influences all kinda intertwine with those experiences and sounds. Like after reading that if you go and listen you’ll probably like , 'oh yeah that checks out' lol" I don't have siblings, but a lot of my older cousins and I would watch animated dragon ball z music videos as a kid. That's where my understanding of music came from or the first time I watched MTV as a kid. My parents really didn't let me experience music, but only what they listened to. So it's cool to know that Mateo had this experience! Even know as Mateo creates music and DJs, DJs really allows us to experience something new. It's fascinating for sure. Really putting all that into their sets.
Looking at Mateo's work, what is it about himself that he implements into it? From the froggies to the gundams, to the retro game references. Are these things he enjoys personally as he explains "Honestly yes, all the things I tend to implement are things I get genuine satisfaction out of, most of the time I look at something I think 'I think this looks sick as hell, how do I make it something cool to show everyone.' Growing up trying to talk or show my hobbies to family I always got a lot of confused and blank stares and incorporating things like this into my art has been a really neat way of showing both my art and interest and I can still have my mom go 'oh woww' instead of asking what i’m talking about. Same thing with DJ’ing I always try to let people know that the majority of what I play is what I actually just listen to on my own and now I just get to show the crowd in a performative way, it’s all the same to me I think." I mean looking at Mateo's work and seeing what he puts into it and catching little things is what makes me ask. Some may look at it and be like "yo he's into the same stuff just like me!" Whether you enjoy it for the connectivity or because you find it cool, hey it's all good. I'm glad Mateo can showcase his work to the public "in a performative way."
From 2D to 3D what got him interested in the transition within his work and trying something new? "I always wanted to try my hand in 3d it was just daunting whenever I waded into those interfaces, a lot of my 2d stuff was supposed to simulated 3d spaces but as i got more comfortable in the 2d space i finally worked up the courage to finally supplant myself in the actual foreal 3d plane, i had some perfunctory experience when i did instagram filters but now it’s not so bad, the whole math part is kinda stupid i hate doing math but whatever!" I mean I get that. I've done some things on blender and I still can't even figure out how to work the camera on that thing, but I can do other stuff haha. It's a fun challenge for ourselves especially to just step out of our comfort zone! We expect a 3D Gundam soon.
Now for something a little challenging. The Ps2 or the sega dreamcast? Sega or Capcom? And why? As he says "Damn. you really got put me on the spot like this?
OK. if i had to choose, PS2, it’s got a bigger library, more to play on it. Dreamcast however, while its library was considerably smaller, a majority of the games have immaculate vibes. Also the ps2 controller is just better imo, i kinda get tripped on the dreamcast only having one joystick. I guess if we're talking about ps2/dreamcast era, I'd go with capcom, I went pretty crazy with Megaman Legends, Marvel Vs Capcom, monster hunter, and Resident evil. Can’t really throw those away those are my go-to’s" I'd choose the PS2 and Capcom as well. I can't let go of monster hunter and resident evil for example. Megaman was one of the Capcom starters for me, but when it comes to the Dreamcast I really really love Capcom vs SNK 2 that shit is my favorite. Even though I grew up with Nintendo I would pick the PS2 anyday.
How did he come up with his name Diosdelghetto?
"So I guess how it happened, during high school my friends would often poke fun at my DIY tactics, a friend of mine sorta coined it by saying ‘man you’re the god of ghetto solutions’ or something like that, And so I kinda just put that in Spanish and that was kinda it! Lol but I guess it’s still true, I do a lot of things on my own and self-teach a lot of aspects of my technical and artistic cores. I was considering doing a name change and asked my friends and peers but they all said it was still pretty relevant and they all still really liked how it sounded so I continue to use it. " Yeah I can't see a name change. That's certainly with you. Sure logos or imagery can change, but the name stays. Even with word of mouth people would know automatically just who Diosdelghetto is. That cool though "the god of ghetto solutions." The man of the DIY tactics.
Listening to Realiti is this what Mateo DJs? When it comes to not having someone ask for something specific, is this what you enjoy putting out? (Reading your bandcamp I went ahead and closed my eyes while listening to this made up a non existent game to go with it) "So Realiti (which is on spotify & apple music !!) isn’t very club-centric, that’s not to say I dont play it but a lot of the stuff i play for crowds is definitely higher energy/BPM, Realiti is definitely ‘not built for the club’ as they would say but more rather something you have while you’re kicking back with friends or maybe just zoning out, and yes!" Yeah while I was listening to Realiti I kicked back looking at the art cover and let it sink for a moment until I created my own world in my mind that went along with this "soundtrack" as I'll call it. A soundtrack for an imaginary game I created in my mind. Mateo continues by saying "Nowadays I am admittedly making more dance focused projects (you can check out my @djamimir for stuff like that) but I had this concept album laying around for at least a year and half before I put it out, I definitely hope to revisit this concept again soon when the opportunity strikes. And omg im glad that happened, the whole concept for the EP was to envision a conceptual game to the tracks so i’m glad to have put you in that zone!" Listening to Djamimir on bandcamp it certainly is more club focused, but I can feel Mateos interests in it for sure. I was listening to Duvet on the Cortes album on bandcamp and just the lyrics in the song. It hit me because I know I heard it somewhere. The song comes out in Serial Experiments Lain! I don't know the real band haha, but I know its the OP song for this anime. Even though the Cortes - Djamimir is more club focused it really brought back a memory for me of something I watched years ago. Check out Cortes on bandcamp!
How does Mateo feel he has progressed with his work? From his first designs to his first mix? "I can confidently say that i’ve made decent strides in most of my artistic aspects, there’s definitely a hill i’m on and can look down at how far i’ve come (mentally not like literally) and it’s pretty satisfying, there are days where I do forget that and i’m like man i haven't done anything! But I have to remind myself and then remember not to be so hard on myself, but I think that's a pretty normal artist thing so I don’t think too hard about it, I just try to do what I like and work at how to best execute it! Arts are not very fun if you think too critically about your process." Sometimes we think to ourselves that we haven't done anything or we aren't pushing out enough content, but we don't have to push ourselves daily or have to push ourselves to an extent. We have the work we've created and we can certainly take our time! It sure one of the tough parts to have these "expectations" especially if they're with ourselves.
If Mateo could be a Dj in any game/create the ost for a game what kind of game would it be and why? "Oh man, yeah so if i could DJ in any game world i’d go for system shock, the vibes in there would be crazy. So I used to play this Blade:the movie game on the PS2 all the time. If they ever decided to make another one of those, they need to put me on that for the OST. I'm waiting for that call." Dude I literally went on YouTube to check out the Blade 2 PS2 soundtrack and I have no idea why this goes hard as fuck? It makes sense it's BLADE but still! It was very unexpected! There's this and the weenie hut junior club would be Club LOL from Animal Crossing New Leaf unless you fill it with the Blade 2 soundtrack.
What sort of feedback has he received when it comes to his work?
"Thankfully it’s all been very positive, people seem to resonate with it or just think it technically looks cool, either one i’m just fine with! I’m also pretty open to just opinions on my art, even if people don’t find it favorable, i’m inclined to the idea that not all my art is ‘good’ to all people, so naturally I’d accept if people told me they didn’t like it, that hasn’t really happened yet but i'm sure there’s people out there and that's fine, i do really appreciate when people offer something constructive and I do occasionally feel like i get a little too obscure in my process but thats art ! no?" Fuck it get obscure, but I agree that constructive criticism is good. We have to understand that not everything we release will appease everyone. Heck the art is mostly for ourselves isn't it? We're simply putting it out there for others.
What can Mateo tell us about the beat system showcase? What would be the goal for these showcases? Could we be seeing another one coming up?
"Ok so the showcase really came up when i had a conversation with a fellow artist who recently moved here from LA, they asked if they were shows here for producers and I thought 'hmm no not really, there’s band shows, DJ shows, but not specifically a show where a producer can showcase their beats.' and then I kinda pondered on that and brought the idea to a couple more people and everyone seemed to be on board with it! There’s a nice crop of bedroom producers here in the valley that don’t really have the platform that an average band or DJ has, since producing music doesn’t really lend itself to a live audience all that well, so we ended up trying it out because well, what was there to lose honestly? And so far we’ve had a good response, there is definitely a crowd of people who ‘get it’ and I'm very grateful for that, and while there’s no confirmed details we’re definitely mulling over a couple projects later this fall! So stay tuned for that :o" I'm glad that they are certainly creating their our way of showcasing this to the public. We have shows with DJs, bands, and we have open mics, poetry nights, Monday night comedy, but now a beat system showcase which is new and has been going well! Very happy to see and I look forward to what they do next.
Dj set in animal crossing when?
"Actually I need to respond with Mr. Slider himself. We've been playing a game of phone tag the last couple of weeks but I'll DM you when that's in motion."
Mateo shares his thoughts on the local valley scene,
"I think for a lot of people it's either a love or hate, the scene has kinda let me do whatever because i’m always just riffing and there isn’t a whole lot of competition in the things I want to do specifically, so it’s a very good place to experiment with different concepts, music, without doing a lot of damage, a lot of bigger cities require you to do a couple of things for them before you can get on boarded to a certain ‘scene’ and that can be pretty stifling, on the other hand i’ve known a couple of people who just didn’t gel well here and had hard time doing their projects here and once they left they seemed much better which is fine! I think the valley and its scene can be equally freeing and stifling depending on what you want or need from it, if anything it is definitely unique and not what you would get from most other places, for better or worse. Either way I always try to give my extension to anyone who’s just down for something new and open to my ideas as well lol."
Mateo shares a final comments,
"Um not too much, just that honestly I didn’t think i’d reach a point where people wanted to hear my thoughts on my art and so just responding to this interview is kinda crazy to me, I hope I can continue to just do my thing and get better at it y’know? It’s weird being an artist tbh but I really can’t picture doing anything without it. So whoever has taken a look or shown up just thanks! I really appreciate it. That's all."
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