Preview: Quantic in Oakland

quanticFor SF WEEKLY: The English producer, DJ, composer, and musician Will Holland spent the past seven years writing, performing, and recording music largely in Cali, Colombia, surrounded by local and regional artists, designed mostly for home listening.

But Holland, aka Quantic, was itching to combine all of the rich Caribbean, South American, and African music he’d absorbed with the music that originally launched his career: electronic dance music.

His latest album, Magnetica, is like a tour diary of Holland’s travels and collaborations: the accordions and trumpets of cumbia mesh with heavy, reverberating dub bass lines, vocals from British soul singer Alice Russell and Colombian singer Nidia Gongora, and electronic club beats, to create a sound that is worlds away from EDM powerhouses like Skrillex.

Quantic, now based in New York City, will showcase the new album at the New Parish in Oakland this week. “This new record is me getting back to production roots, taking this idea of electronic sound and mixing it with what I learned in Puerto Rico and Colombia and touring the world,” Holland says.

image: Magnetica album cover, courtesy of Quantic