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Telepathic Teddy Bear
Juan Padilla, Telepathic Teddy Bear Juan Padilla, Telepathic Teddy Bear
Background information
Origin	Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Genres	Indie folk, Electropop,Synthpop, Alternative
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer
Years active	2010–present
Website	telepathicteddybear.bandcamp.com/

Telepathic Teddy Bear is the stage name of Juan Carlos Padilla, a Mexican singer-songwriter and musician born in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Although active in the Monterrey local music scene for several years it was not until the second part of 2010 that he published his first EP Telepathic Teddy Bear EP, followed shortly by the full length Reactions, both of which have been positively received by the Internet crowd and local reviewers.

Musical style

Telepathic Teddy Bear's musical style is a rare blend of a singer-songwritter sensibility with deep lush pop electronica. Many of the producer's songs involve introspective lyrics delivered through ethereal vocals running over layered electronica that at times would feel right at home in a club environment and others would call for a more pondered headphone listen.

Career

2010 - 2012: Launch and Exploration

At first reluctant to publish any of his private work, Padilla embarked on the what he initially considered his biggest challenge, allowing people to listen to his work. More of an exercise in complete musical creative control than an outward facing expression of his work his first publicly available recordings came into being as self titled EP, Telepathic Teddy Bear, a great indicator of things to come showcasing a sprawling lyrical and musical range despite its limited 5 tracks and little over 20 minutes of music.

After the reception of his first release and refining his musical style (like losing some organic instrumentation) came the release of the full length Reactions (2011) with a clear sense of aiming to a wider audience.

It is after this that Padilla fully embracing the guise of TTB decided to leave his self imposed reclusion and expose his work through live performances.

2013 - 2014: Concepts and Collaborations

Energised by the reception of his work and the feedback of his live performances the producer did what all good introverts and went back into the refuge of highly conceptual work and rethinking his artistic process. In 2013 he released The Course of Empire EP, an atmospheric album based on a series of Thomas Cole paintings.

More comfortable with the life of a live act TTB participated in music festivals like MTY City Fest (20014) and opened for acts like The Presets (2013).

The result of opening his work to the public also opened the door to artistic collaboration. Although hesitant at first, it is at this time that Padilla allowed his own process to be enriched through the growth spurred by collaborating and helping others. In working with Los Klaxons, Kryoman, Crywolf and producing the work of emerging acts like Clubz, Padilla redefined his creative approach and started the long path to his next creative endeavours.

2015 - present: Forgiveness

The fruit of a more open musical career, multiple commercial projects and over a year of work is fund in Telepathic Teddy Bear's latest full length release: Forgiveness (2015). In his most cohesive work yet, Padilla, a lot more confident to let listeners into his world offers a powerful collection of pop leaning songs which in occasions demand the listener's attention with some definite electronic hooks and at others seem quite content with just companying the vocals in image laden personal voyages.

With his latest work, appearing on stage with popular outfits like Phantogram, and planned incoming public appearances (SXSW 2015) Telepathic Teddy Bear seems to be preparing for a full on dive into the limelight.

Personal Life

Juan Carlos Padilla was born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in Mexico. He became interested in music at the age of 9 and after searching for drum lessons he finally found someone that would take him despite his legs being too short to reach the pedals.

He studied guitar at the age of 14 and piano at the age of 17. In all cases where he took up a musical instrument, he would eventually discard his teachers in favor of self-directed learning.

At the age of 21 he enrolled in Berklee College of Music where he specialized in film scoring. After graduation and began DJing at local bars where he would indulge in spinning house music for the electronic crowd to some success.

In 2008, still frustrated with what he felt was a failure to pursue his dream, he built a small home studio, there he would create his first self-titled EP as Telepathic Teddy Bear. His influences at the moment (Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens, Björk, James Blake) can be heard in the EP although it shifted more towards a mainly electronic style due to his recording constraints at the moment.

Commercial work

While reclusive in his process and very personal in his musical work Telepathic Teddy Bear is not shy to work in explicitly commercial projects. The producer has worked directly in commercial projects with Nike, Jaguar, W Hotels, Kickstarter, Sprint, Blue Tomato, Loose Kid, K-Mart, Coca-Cola and Ford, amongst others.

Discography

Main article: Telepathic Teddy Bear discography

• Telepathic Teddy Bear EP (2010)
• Reactions (2011)
• The Course of Empire (2013)
• Forgiveness (2015)

External links

• Telepathic Teddy Bear @ Facebook
• Telepathic Teddy Bear @ Twitter
• Telepathic Teddy Bear Music