For those of you on the hunt for new music and sounds you’ve likely never heard, Bandcamp has your fix. It’s an independent music platform that touts and supports thousands of artists from around the globe. My handle is RidgeRacer4, and over the years I’ve been introduced to hundreds of amazing sounds and albums. But the rabbit hole goes infinitely deeper. There’s literally a never-ending sound reservoir that keeps getting filled with more unique music each day.
One artist we’ve really taken to is synth and six-string prodigy, Ultraboss. His real name is PJ d’Atri and PJ lives in Austria. Since I’ve been so drawn to the music on Bandcamp, we’ve reached out the several artists to start a Bandcamp interview series to speak to Mogwai, Le Matos, Aesop Rock, Opus Science Collective, Remy van Kesteren, D/A/D, and Jake Kaufman. Now we can add Ultraboss to that growing roster!
PJ’s music is honest and so is his approach. His goal is to stay authentic and focused on what he really loves. Sounds easy, but still so hard to do theses days. Well, he must really love this style of music because he’s so good at it!
PJ is about as self-taught as they come. Growing up in Vienna – far from Sunset Strip – he got his hands on some truly inspiring and intimidating albums like Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite For Destruction” and “Use Your Illusion II”, Metallica’s “Black” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears”. Now what’s most impressive is that PJ picked the music apart and learned to play this kind of music without any training.
However good anyone one is, the days of hitting it big as a virtuoso are obsolete, so it is the passion and hunger that helps anyone break free from the pack. He grew his hair, began shredding (all the while trying to emulate Slash and Eddie Van Halen) but mixed in some great drums and synthesizers to round out his tracks.
But the true turn in his career is when PJ jettisoned the dominant portions of synthwave from his sound. The tunes he shreds these days still has an uplifting positive vibe, replete with ’80s flair, but the optimism is white hot: like Kenny Loggins on fire!
Were you to listen to any of his early music after taking the Ultraboss moniker, your face would be melted in less than 30 seconds. His playing is so furious, but it’s the combination of solos, synth and syntax that really grab hold. Listen to tracks like Espresso Ecstasy and Rocket Priest to get an idea of what d’Atri is capable of. He works regularly with Till Wild, Cody Carpenter, Sebastian Gampl and Robert Beachgrove and those featured artists help each track shine.
In February, Ultraboss released Yachtmaster which is his most stunning work yet. I I mean, can you believe that album cover above!? We’ve seen that he’s capable of this level of complexity, competence and cool in a track like “Beyond the Thunder” on the Gravitas album, but with this 2022 release he’s arrived at the sound he seemed destined to make.
One key ingredient in the success of this album is Beachgrove’s vocals who had a huge hand in helping d’Atri transform the words into poetry thorough the collaborative and creative back and forth. That input helps raise the quality and integrity of PJ’s music. Just listen to the words in tracks like “Flow of My Tears” and “Messed Up” and see the power they hold.
Seriously, check out his work, which is right up your alley if you like synthwave, ‘80s and outrun music with an extra slice of electric guitar magic!
Ultraboss, which admittedly sounds like a lost Sylvester Stallone movie from 1987, is so over-the-top but is feels so legitimately of that era. And so much so that you can see how well it plays over that iconic love scene in Top Gun. But not content to stay in one genre, d’Atri’s true love is Johann Sebastian Bach. In fact, he’s devoted a number of years to the legendary composer, including two stunning cover albums and a series of live shows.
PJ might seem like he’s not of this world, but, trust me, he is human, and incredibly humble. In our talk, we dive head first into Yachtmaster and break down some of his favorite tracks. It’s an amazing ride and those 55 minutes are some of the best ’80s music you’ll hear this century. Ultraboss is distributed by Rosso Corsa and you can expect another album, hopefully, this November. I guess you can say that he’ll be bach! Until then, enjoy our time with PJ!
Looping back to Bandcamp, once in a while they do something beyond showcasing and celebrating their amazing artists: they host something called free Bandcamp Fridays where nearly all the proceeds go directly to the artist/label. Bandcamp Fridays are returning this Friday, September 2, and continuing on October 7th, November 4th, and December 2nd. Check out more on that here.
