Yamaha and Casio

He shuns building music from scratch with computer-generated timbres. He instead seeks out traditional instruments and low-end keyboards, records them and then builds melodies and chords from the tones they yield. His studio is littered with peculiar instruments: rare guitars, ukuleles, a pump organ from Egypt, a Roland analog synthesizer from the 1970s, stacks of cheap Yamaha and Casio keyboards and assorted percussion instruments.

"I just want to sound different than everyone else," he said. "I don't care if it sounds bad."

Yet his collaborators say Mr. Blanco's biggest asset lies in his ears and instincts. Much of what Mr. Blanco does during songwriting sessions, they say, is direct the creative flow of other musicians, pulling them in directions they would normally avoid.