According to English-language newspaper The Olive Press, legendary music producer Youth is not only busy putting the final touches to three different albums, he's also getting his Space Mountain Studio ready for an unprecedented Open Day in honour of Puretone Resonate Festival. The multi-million selling producer can look back on an illustrious career that includes albums produced for industry greats like Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, The Verve and Pink Floyd.
Feeling forever young thanks to outstanding natural Beauty
Situated on the slopes of the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains in Granada province, the iconic studio will be hosting the festival, which will include artists like Jah Wobble, Coldcut's Matt Black, The Orb and Roger Eno among others. Held over three consecutive nights, the Puretone Resonate Festival will take in September. Youth's studio sits in a 60-acre olive grove and the property includes eight bedrooms. Complete with a Hobbit-styled wing à la J RR Tolkien, Space Mountain Studio occupies a truly stunning location in the Sierra Nevada. The region offers homebuyers many fabulous conversion projects, with some semi-derelict fincas plus large plots of land exchanging ownership for less than 50,000 Euros.
Youth was encouraged by friends and the local mayor to host a music festival. “They are very interested in bringing artists to the area so I decided to open up it up,” the legendary producer said in an interview with The Olive Press. “This year will be more like a launch party for around 1,500 people. But I want to open it up next year along the whole valley,” he added, already confident the festival will be a success.
Having started out as a bass player in cult post-punk band Killing Joke, Youth later joined The Orb. He has received many industry awards over the years, and a film about his career is to be released later this year. World-wide, he has sold 20 million records.
Although a devote to British counter culture, Youth is very knowledgable about Granada's rich musical heritage, which he regards as “very strong” and one of the main reasons why he built his studio in the area. He is, he said, a “huge fan” of Camaron de la Isla, Paco de Lucia and Morente, but is also a fervent “tourist guide”, taking his artist friends to the city of Granada to see flamenco performances so they can find inspiration.
Epic Landscapes that inspire Creativity
Youth began planning is Space Mountain studio back in the late 1980's when he was a frequent visitor to Granada. There, he got friendly with Keith Webb, a former session drummer who had worked with Donovan and Jimi Hendrix back in the late 1960s. Youth subsequently purchased land to build his studio in 1998.
At the time, he jokes, he simply couldn't stand being in London's basement studios and he could already see the writing on the wall for the city's big studios. Since he still needed a place where he could work, he began searching for a place that was similar in feel to the studios that had once inspired Jimi Hendrix and Jimi Page. In similarly glorious surroundings, he felt he could produce a truly great record.
“That epic sublime nature – it resonates with your emotional geography,” he said, and subsequent albums have borne out that this must be true.
Although much of the Sierra Nevada is protected and designated national park land, closer to the city of Granada there are still many areas where it is possible to find fabulous plots of land with a run-down farmhouse and outbuildings just crying out for re-development. For some 200,000 euros or less artists and those dreaming of being one can find their very own Sierra Nevada retreat.