Mike Bustamante released his third solo album, Minute TODAY! Every song is an instrumental that is 1 minute long with the style of Lo-Fi, with a touch of Soul, Blues, Jazz and Rock elements. Bustamante played and wrote all of the parts for the live instruments!
Listen to the album NOW!
We sat down with Bustamante to find out more about this exciting project!
Tell us about your solo album, Minute!
My third solo album is an all instrumental piece of music. A lot of roots in Lo-Fi, Funk, Jazz and Rock. I started with the intention of recording as many pieces of music as I could think of. The idea was inspired by signing a contract with Scene Support Music. A local music sync company in Cincinnati, run by Laney and Matt McCormick. The idea to be prolific and test my boundaries was really inspiring and about 23 songs in I realized I was leaning into a sort of bedroom pop, lo-fi sound and I decided to run with it. In all I recorded 52 songs and in total. I'm releasing 30 on the album and 1 bonus track on the first single Curtis Candy & the Moon Spoons. All of them are 60 seconds in length. My thought was, it would be a great way to put my work onto social media platforms and keep attention for as long as possible. There is truly something for everyone on this album and I'm really proud of the sound I've been carving out for myself. As a guitarist primarily, it is sometimes hard not to add a gratuitous guitar solo at the end of everything and I think on my first album Friends I was a bit more into that idea. But that was during the height of the pandemic so some crazy is allowed I guess. I really focused on what these songs were trying to say. Some don't even have guitar parts on them.
What went into the recording process?
Recording all took place at home and I played everything. I programmed drum loops, played the guitars, basslines, keyboards and percussion. I wrote, recorded and mixed everything myself in Logic and used Lunar Lab Studios for mastering. I've always loved being my own producer and session musician. I really focused on playing bass lines that grooved with the drum tracks and locked in where they needed to. After I had tracks that were making me move a little bit I started layering and writing parts for the harmonic and melodic instruments. It is such a farfetched idea to continuously change songs every 60 seconds but I think I was really able to capture the essence of each piece in that timeframe and I'm really excited for people to listen to it. It's a great driving album and it's really fun to have on at gatherings because the music is constantly evolving.
What is next for Mike Bustamante?
I'm already working on a fourth release and have about 6 songs that I'm interested in recording, so that will likely be my next solo project venture. I'd also love to get a trio together and record some ideas as a guitar slinger. Something a little bluesy and roots based might be for that project. With Veronica Grim, we are in pre-production for our next project that I can't talk to much about just yet, but I promise is going to be absolutely amazing. I love playing in that band, it is the rock band I've always dreamed of, Energetic, Soulful, Sexy, Bombastic and Free. Keep your eyes peeled for that and please check out our first album Chaos Magic. I work with a local cover band called Dat Band. We've spent the better part of this year preparing for a Prince tribute show which takes place on 4/21 and likely after this article comes out. You can catch us all summer all over town thought. That is another fun band. We work, we share a strong bond and we allow everyone to be individuals. We aren't a gimmick coverband, we play anything and everything and are all about bringing a party. Another avenue I'm looking to exploring is solo singer/songwriter gigs and opportunities. With the release of Minute, I'll be three records in and full of material. While Friends and The Stars Are Where You Sleep have more songs that I can strip down to acoustic guitar and voice, I'm constantly writing and have a batch of new material that needs to be workshopped. Either way and whatever happens, I'm so grateful for the chance to follow my dream and play and share music that I've created. I sometimes can't believe that I'm actually doing it and I'm so thankful for everyone who supports me and inspires me, life is truly a gift and music is the perfect compliment to it all. I also want to thank CincyMusic for doing what you guys and gals do for our community, it is an honor to be included and I'm filled with gratuity that I can even be mentioned in the same place as some of the local talent that I love so much. Thank You again and I'm so excited to share this new music with everyone!
