We were joined by the ever-charming French DJ Joachim Pastor at the Nexus Lounge Virtual at the ROOF at theWIT to talk about his new album Greater Message.
Right out the gate, you can tell that Joachim Pastor cares about the meaning of his work. But what is the more powerful message behind Greater Message?
When asked about the title of his latest work, the DJ responded by saying that “we live in something that we don’t understand.” Truth, in Pastor’s view, is ever-changing. “What was true a hundred years ago is now proved to be false,” he says, and more powerful messages are often “attributed” to things by people.
That being said, from the way he talks, it’s clear the Joachim Pastor isn’t as excited as some to live in the digital age, and he has some pretty good reasons why. When asked about social media, for example, he described it as “anti-social media”, recalling a time when “forty years ago people would take the bus and talk to each other, but nobody talks to each other and there’s almost an animosity between people.”
When asked about virtual events, though he saw the positives, he was also reluctant to praise them too heavily, saying that things are becoming “less real.”
The future of the music industry is a concern for just about every performer, and that’s no different for Joachim Pastor. Despite his concerns about the artificial nature of virtual events, he did acknowledge the accessibility that they provide. Ultimately, however, it seems pretty clear this performer comes down squarely on the side of live events. “I love to play in front of people,” he says, “I love the energy, but I hate to travel.”
Doubtless, his views on these issues play into the ideas behind Greater Message. Pastor certainly seems concerned with how things have changed over time, and there’s no crazier time to be living in at the moment, particularly for anyone in the performing arts.
There’s a lot that goes into making an album and, for Joachim Pastor, it seems that understanding his work is very important to him. “Music is not right or wrong,” he says, when talking about why music is so essential, “music is music, you know, and it gives you something deeper that many things cannot give you.”
He takes a very non-judgemental view of personal taste. “Of course there is bad music,” he says, “but it’s not wrong.”
When talking about his work, he stresses a need for individuality:
“Sometimes I was trying to make music, and I would listen to someone I loved and try to redo the same kind of thing… when you do something you love, the result is always better, you know?”
That’s a positive attitude we could all do to learn from.
Pastor is undoubtedly an eccentric fellow. When given a chance, he was more than willing to wax lyrical about his favorite film (Blade Runner), talk about his dream of building a tesla coil, and consider what the world would be like if it was populated entirely by clones of himself. If you’d like to know more about him, then be sure to check out the full interview.
