Similar Objects, different sounds

In a bustling, brick-walled coffee shop, Jorge Wieneke sits across from me, wearing a black sweatshirt with what looks like Arabic characters imprinted on it and rugged sneakers to match. He gives off a laid-back vibe, making it easy to ally with the easy-going professor by day, and the dynamic artist that blazes through the night from Manila’s DJ booths. At just 25 years old, he has successfully transitioned from punk band singer and independent beat maker to collective founder and renowned experimental artist. With all these to his name, it seems the only person Jorge has to surpass is himself.

A face behind the beats

More popularly known by his stage moniker, Similar Objects, Jorge is inspired by Carl Jung, abstract art, nature, and the moon, among many other things. But what are these ‘objects’ exactly, and what makes them so ‘similar’? “It dawned upon me during meditation,” he replies. “I had a ‘eureka’ moment and realized that everything is connected in one way or another.” This drove him to produce more experimental and abstract music known to the average joe as chill pop, glitch hop, trippy garage, and other terms of the same decibel. But on a deeper level, it’s so much more than just electronic music.

Through his work, he documents a divine message of self-discovery, spirituality, and consciousness that resonates within one’s self. Take his 2011 EP, The Limits of Thought, for example. Jorge describes it as “a musical exploration of concepts like Future Forms, Tangents, the Butterfly Effect, the Law of One, and more”. Some of his records, on the other hand, hit closer to home. The tracks of his LP Tilde are arranged according to when they were written, telling the events of his life story chronologically, while Finding Astral Lovers was created as a sort of dream journal, making use of ambient soundscapes and lush beats to induce trance-like phenomenon. There is definitely always something more than what meets the eye (and ear) with his art.

Having always been into the music scene, Jorge reveals that he had always dreamed of performing, which led him to his first punk band called Zero Divide. However, it wasn’t until a few years later that he decided to independently come out with his first release entitled black aircon sober, which landed him a feature on Pitchfork Media.“I got pushed into music by myself because of the freedom. There’s no one to tell you what’s wrong and what you can’t do,” he shares. So Jorge took matters into his own hands, and it only went up from there. The multi-genre beat-maker attracted label after label, which helped him to produce his first EP – the rest is history.

The birth of Buwan-Buwan

But Jorge knew he could do more. After successfully diving headfirst into the creative community, he met fellow producers and musicians who shared the same vision. “Back then, there was an electronic scene but not our generation’s, so we wanted to steer it to our direction. We talked about creating a collective of beat-makers, which we originally called ‘Rubik Collective’,” Jorge says. “We operated on our own savings until we started charging entrance fees for our events. Eventually, what used to be an average of ten to twenty people in an audience has now grown into a monthly event where lots of people flock to.” Thus, the birth of Buwan Buwan Collective.

“We were just a group of kids finding a venue for the content we had,” he continues. Interestingly, their gigs are timed with the phases of the moon, hence the name “Buwan Buwan”. Jorge claims, “People react differently to the gravitational pull. Your creative juices flow more.”

Now with twelve artists in the Buwan Buwan family, including other prolific beatmakers and experimental musicians such as FXXXYBLNT and Like Animals, the creative crew finds its home under the blankets of Manila afterdark, in places like Black Market and Today x Future.

Personally impersonal

When he’s not busy providing ambient ear candy to the city’s youth, or spearheading a chill-wave musical movement, Jorge, as mentioned earlier, also teaches as an Electronic Music professor under the AB Music Production Program at the College of Saint Benilde, and The One School. He shares that teaching has always been one of his dream jobs. “You leave behind a legacy – knowledge. I guess that’s one way to immortalize things, so it feels nice to contribute something bigger than myself,” he continues.

But don’t be fooled. Despite him frequently headlining gigs at clubs, both posh and underground, Jorge is a homebody at heart. “I like reading books, cooking, watching movies. I like being alone because you get to untangle your thoughts.” In this way, he gets his juices flowing. While other artists require a shot of vodka or an epiphanic experience to ignite a creative spark, Jorge prefers to be completely sober, with his body and head clear. In this way, he engineers a musical paradox. While the process is personally intimate, the results are a vulnerable canvas of off-kilter tracks that fit perfectly together while floating in an ethereal haze of futuristic beats.

Sonic soul

Jorge’s works are a plethora of various sounds that prolifically evoke your senses, from sampled old records and wispy vocals, to conversations in a crowd and beach waves. While channeling influences from Aphex Twin, Depeche Mode, and The Beatles’ psychedelic side, Jorge can’t help but let normal aspects of his life spill over to his music. Whether you’re looking to pop some champagne on a Friday night or in need of a soundtrack to solidarity at 2AM in the morning, Similar Objects proves there’s a beat for every occasion.

Several releases, gigs, and a whole lot of dynamic meditation later, it’s safe to say that the man behind Similar Objects has become one of the successful pioneers of the thriving local electronic music scene we have come to enjoy today. He has even shared the stage with Tycho, Joss Stone, TOKIMONSTA, and the like, while becoming a resident at the annual Malasimbo music festival. As the artist sings on one of his tracks, leaving his listeners in a haunting yet thoughtful arrest of emotion, “It has nothing to do with obligation, it’s pure symbiosis. It’s similar objects.”