Andre Salmon & Teddy Wong: our collaborations are just natural

Ecuadorian musician, sound engineer and producer Andre Salmon collaborates with Teddy Wong, Jorge Andrade, Le Roi Carmona and Michael Joseph for their first collective release on Hot Creations. The three-track EP is a rumbling journey through club-ready tech house, shaped by glistening beats, thick basslines and groovy
melodies. Ahead of the release, we invited Andre and Teddy for a chat, enjoy!
— Hello Andre and Teddy! Great to have you both with us. How are you both with us today and whereabouts are you both based right now?
— Andre: Hello amigos!! I am working hard for many artists and labels. I am mastering and mixing as a Sound Engineer in Ecuador with my wife and kids. I am super happy as always!!
Teddy: Thanks for having us. I'm doing great, currently enjoying the holidays and taking the opportunity to visit my family in Mexicali since I recently moved to Petaluma, California (about an hour up north from San Francisco)
— This December sees the release of your forthcoming collaboration on Hot Creations, the 'Pegao' EP, congrats! Before we get into the EP, what's the story of how you two first crossed paths?
— Andre: Well I found Teddy through music and mutual friends and he sent music for an old label that I used to run with a partner, and that's how it all started!!
Teddy: Thank you again! I had released an EP on one of Andre's labels (Sagmen) and after that release, I reached out to him and sent him a couple of tracks for collaboration and we came out with the "Nacion del House" EP, after that we started to collaborate more and more on new music.
— What was it that inspired you to get together for this collaboration?
— Andre: Teddy and I are always talking about collabs and music stuff so this is not the first time and will not be the last one for sure hehe!! The main idea came from Teddy , he sent me some grooves and well then I came with my salmon powers and tweaked them all!!
Teddy: Our collaborations are just natural and effortless. We complement each other's ideas quickly, and having worked together for some time now, it was just the natural flow of things.
— How did you approach the creative process on this release? Were you in the studio together or did you bounce back and forth online?
— Andre: Teddy sent me the first loop on Pegao and The Wonx, then I came with my ideas and took them to the next level. Jorge Andrade also added some flavor to Pegao in the grooves!!
Teddy: Since we are far away and in different time zones, we have always worked online, bouncing back ideas. For this release, it was no different. I had worked on the grooves and structure of the songs before sending them to Andre, who worked on the post-production mix and master.
— The title track also features Jorge Andrade, what was it like for the three of you working together on Pegao?
— Andre: It all started with Teddy sending me the first idea then I tweaked the full new arrangement and added more flavor there (I added some ketchup and Bbq sauce), then I sent this to Jorge Andrade and he added the butter and some more sauces there!! ;)
— We'd love to hear about which tracks each of you admire from each others work. Andre, what's your favourite track of Teddy's other than your collaboration here?
— Andre: Well he dropped a single back in the days on a label I run that is a deeper label with chill ambient…. Don't remember the name but you can go and check it in the label, label is called ABOVE FROM THE TREE….
— And Teddy, what's your favourite track of Andre's?
— Teddy: That's a difficult one, Andre has so many good tracks, but I think "Women were born to luv" has to be one of my favs.
— We'd love to hear more collaborative efforts from you guys in the future, do you have plans to work together again soon?
— Andre: For sure, this isn't a business for us, it is a passion and the fact we are friends for me is the best thing, music with friends is the best!!
Teddy: Speaking for myself, I'm pretty sure we will work together on new tracks, but as with all of our collaborations, I think it is going to be spontaneous and natural, not much planning involved.
— What else is upcoming from you Andre that we should look out for?
— Well trying more stuff for Hottrax and Repopulate Mars as always. Lee and Jamie have always supported my stuff and for me those labels are homes!! Trying for a second release on Hot creations also. There is so much cool music coming up on my label with Inner City (Kevin Saunderson& Dantiez), and the label is called ARRITMIA!! Check it out!!
— And Teddy, what about yourself?
— More music, for sure. I got new music coming out in the first quarter of 2023 that I'm excited about and can't wait to share.
— Thank you for your time today guys and wishing all the best for the release. To round things off, do you have a last word on the Pegao EP for the listeners?
— Andre: It is a cool EP for DJ's and the actual sound of tech house!!
Teddy: This EP is special to me. Releasing music in Hot Creations is a dream come true, so I hope everyone enjoys this EP; as much as we enjoyed making it, it is music with lots of love. Thanks again for having us.