PACHYMAN

For his latest sonic transmission Switched-On, musician Pachy García, aka Pachyman,  challenged himself to steer his dub-drenched dispatches towards another dimension.  The follow-up to 2021’s The Return of Pachyman, out September 29th on ATO  Records, Switched-On is an homage to the generative artistic era when musicians first  began manipulating synthesizers to emit gloriously off-kilter bleeps, bloops, and  whooshes. It also gestures to García’s chirring synthesizers that form the spine of these  songs, particularly the effervescent electronic interlude “Mi Sala.” While conceptualizing  Switched-On, García gravitated towards listening to Lovers’ Rock-era reggae and  transmissions from the iconic Studio One Records — a thread that surfaces in  “Goldline.” The song, inspired by García’s job at a hifi listening bar that plays a lot of  disco and funk at night, intentionally pulled at a “Studio One disco-soul vibe” with a  splash of dub mixed in. His ear for expansiveness comes through the winking “Trago  Coqueto,” a cheeky love song crooned through the prism of a cocktail that’s named  after a flirty lemon-ginger drink. In a uniquely Pachyman twist, it acts as a poignant ode  to his life growing up in Puerto Rico. It couldn’t be a more fitting testament to Switched On’s ethos, which meditates on García’s conviction to move his art forward while  simultaneously honoring his roots.