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Published in melodic techno ·

Joachim Pastor

Eternity

Eternity is Joachim Pastor's 2016 single for Hungry Music, the Aix-en-Provence label he founded with Worakls and N'to: six minutes of melodic techno from a conservatory-trained producer who calls himself an analog gear geek.

By korczis 3 min read
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Review

Genre and Mood

Joachim Pastor’s Eternity is melodic techno, electronic music in the shape its maker describes for all his work: danceable, with a lot of melodies, “techno for the electronic dancey part, melodic for the emotional one”. The feelings follow from that split, energetic in the beat and emotional in the tune.

Song Summary

Eternity runs six minutes and twenty seconds and came out on 9 December 2016 as the A-side of Hungry Music’s eighteenth release, HM18, paired with a track called Millenium. Hungry Music put it on YouTube the same day, along with a short clip about it in the label’s video series Simple As F**k. No review we could find describes how the track itself is built, so this page tells you where it comes from and what its maker says he aims for, and leaves the sound to the video.

Musical Breakdown

No source describes the parts of Eternity, so this breakdown follows Pastor’s own account of his music rather than the track’s structure.

Main Section

Listen for his two sides at once. Pastor describes his music as techno for the body and melody for the emotions, and says a side of it is more accessible than the underground likes, with real open melodies, while still too artistic for pop and EDM.

Outro

How Eternity ends is not described in any source. Notice whether it closes on the melody or on the beat.

Concepts in Focus

Pastor has described his working order in detail, and it is a lesson in mixing. When inspired he creates as much as he can, then arranges, then mixes in the computer as well as he can, polishes that mix with his analog gear and only then masters. In his view the colour of a track comes mostly from how its elements are mixed and which sounds are chosen; the gear only adds the final polish.

He is also a self-confessed analog gear geek who grew up on Jean-Michel Jarre for the technology, the synthesizer sounds, the soundscapes and the textures, and has played live with Moog synthesizers alongside guitars, percussion and a laptop.

Artistic Context

Pastor discovered music at four, studied at the Versailles Conservatory and played in bands before he began producing. With Worakls and N’to he founded Hungry Music in Aix-en-Provence, a label whose music Wikipedia describes as a mix of techno and acoustic; N’to’s NTO – Time came out in the same catalogue. He lists Daft Punk’s Discovery, Queen and Röyksopp’s Junior among his favourite albums.

Impact and Reception

Eternity reached beyond the label: MusicBrainz lists it on the compilation About: Berlin Vol. 17 in 2017 and on the label’s own Hungry 5 in 2018, and a four-minute version appeared on Electric For Life Episode 108 within weeks of release. By 2025 all five Hungry Music artists had moved to other labels, Pastor to Armada Music. Let it run for its full six minutes and see which side of his music wins.

Learn from this track

Introductory

What you will learn

  • Describe the two sides Joachim Pastor names in his own sound: techno for dancing, melody for emotion.
  • Explain the order of mixing and mastering, following the steps Pastor describes for finishing a track.
  • Place Eternity in the catalogue of Hungry Music, a label run by the artists who release on it.

Listening guide

  1. the beat The techno side Pastor names, the part of his music he made for dancing.
  2. the melody The melodic side he made for emotion, which he says the underground hears as too accessible and pop hears as too artistic.
  3. the sound as a whole The colour Pastor says comes mostly from how the elements are mixed together and from the choice of sounds, with analog gear only giving the final polish.

Concepts in this track

mixing

31 tracks

The stage of making a record where all the recorded parts are balanced into one finished stereo track: their levels, placement, tone and effects. Mixing comes after recording and before mastering, and is often done by a specialist rather than by the producer.

synthesizer

66 tracks

An electronic instrument that generates sound from oscillators and shapes it with filters and envelopes. Synthesizers define the sound of electronic pop, house and techno.

Listen next, and why

Questions for discussion

  1. Pastor says his music is too accessible for the underground and too artistic for pop. Does a track have to choose a side?
  2. He mixes in the computer first and then polishes with analog gear. Why might an artist keep both worlds in one workflow?
  3. Hungry Music was founded by three of the artists who released on it. What changes when artists release their own music instead of waiting for a label to pick it?

References

  1. YouTube (Dancecode Electronics). Joachim Pastor - Eternity (2016). Label
  2. Hungry Music. Hungry Music catalog. Label
  3. Wikipedia. Hungry Music. Encyclopedia
  4. Electronic Groove. Joachim Pastor: I just do the music I like and I don't care about codes and trends (2019). Interview
  5. PLAYY. Magazine. INTERVIEW: Five Minutes With … Joachim Pastor. Interview
  6. YouTube (Dancecode Electronics). Simple As F**k - S02E05 - Eternity (Joachim Pastor) (2016). Video
  7. YouTube (Joachim Pastor - Topic). Eternity (Electric For Life Episode 108). Video
  8. MusicBrainz. Eternity (recording). Database

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