"Fierce Spotlight" Musica Phenomena has a conversation with Casa del Mirto.

Recently Musica Phenomena managed to catch up with one of Italy's premier indie electronic acts Casa del Mirto. Coming off of their recent double album release titled "The Nature" and their heralded remix of Class Actress' song "Weekend" Casa del Mirto took some time from their busy tour schedule to speak with us and this is what they had to say.

Musica Phenomena: You're from Italy, tell us a little about yourself and how the name Case del Mirto came to be?

Casa del Mirto: "Casa del Mirto" means "House of Myrtle". The myrtle (Mirto) is a plant that is used to make an excellent liquor. We live in northern Italy, and this liquor is a sort of "rarity", but in our town there was once a bar that served it (for breakfast) to the workers of a garage called "Casa del Freno" (it means "House of Brake). We have just joined the two things (House of Brake + Myrtle = House of Myrtle/Casa del Mirto), just for fun!

Musica Phenomena: I have heard and seen releases by you defined in different genres; glo-fi, chillwave, shoegaze - we're you influenced by any oldschool shoegaze bands like The Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or Ride, growing up?

Casa del Mirto: For sure, bands like My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins have played an important role for our taste in music. These plays helped us to grow up in the teenage years, together with eletronic bands like Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode 'till the house music of the 90's. However is very difficult to say what has influenced us more, because we're used to listen and assimilate a lot of music. We are continuously searching for something that hits us and leaves us breathless.

Musica Phenomena: You're doing remixes as well as your own original material. Your Class Actress remix is wonderful and featured here on our blog. I know you recently finished a remix for The Swerve. How was that experience?

Casa del Mirto: We consider remixes as if they were our songs and we love to remodel tracks of other bands according to our personal style. We got in touch with Class Actress, after listening to them on a music blog. It was a good collaboration and the remix received a lot of good reviews, we're proud of it!

Yes, we just finished a remix for The Swerve, and we enjoyed the collaboration. They asked us for a remix of a song, so we listened to their two EPs and we literally fell in love with "Taken Apart". We worked hard and we like the result… hope you're gonna hear it soon! Maybe we'll stay in touch with them for a collaboration in the future, you'll never know!

Musica Phenomena: I've been a big fan of yours since the beginning, over a year now. "The Haste", from what I understand, is the song that put you guys on the map and is excellent. However, my favorite track is "Jacket And Shoes", a very catchy tune I hope more fans come to know - can you tell me what that song is about?



Casa del Mirto: The Haste and Jacket and Shoes have, more or less, the same theme: they both speak about the loss of control of your own life. J & S tells the story of a boy who has lost hope, a boy that has done everything in life and did not ever achieved anything. The situation degenerates to such an extent that eventually he wears his shoes and his jacket and just leave. It's actually a metaphor, the boy takes his own life. We liked the idea of using lyrics like these on a catchy and thoughtless music!

Musica Phenomena: Planning on any tours to America? Love to have you here in SF (San Francisco).

Casa del Mirto: We'd like to do it!! At the moment we're touring Italy so we are really busy 'till the end of the summer, nevertheless we're working in order to organize something in Europe, U.S. and SouthAmerica for the autumn and the next year, so we'll keep you informed or just check out our label website or our blog: www.mashhh.com www.casadelmirto.com We're even on Facebook!

Musica Phenomena: Chillwave is a genre I see on the rise and growing in diversity - bands like Washed Out, Niva, Persona La Ave, Chrome Sparks, Sleep 8 Over, Memory Tapes, Computer Magic, and even I Break Horses, are being defined as such - Are you a fan of any of them?

Casa del Mirto: We love the "I Break Horses" LP and along with this even some of the stuff of the names mentioned above. However, often, we find ourselves listening to stuff that has not so much to do with Chillwave in strictly speaking, stuff that has a "special mood" able to affect us and excite us. We say that we are omnivores listeners.

Musica Phenomena: And since our blog is, first and foremost, about promoting artists of Indie and Electronic music and all of it's sub-genres, are there any newer artists and / or albums you can recommend to our listeners?

Casa del Mirto: The last LP of Xiu Xiu, TRST of Trust, Oneohtrix Point Never, Soft Metals, Soap and Skin, Tearjerker and "Waves of past relation" of Atoi.

Musica Phenomena: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, but, before you go, can you tell us of any upcoming releases or events we can expect from you in the near future? And where can one go to purchase your music and find out more about you? Thanks again for being a part of our blog, Musica Phenomena, for our new feature, "Fierce Spotlight" -- Michael Fierce

Casa del Mirto: Thank you for the questions, we're happy to be hear with you! We don't have any release scheduled for the near future, our last double LP "The Nature" was released in november 2011, so we'll be touring for a while. According to our commitments we'd like to collaborate with other bands or to do some remixes. But, you never know, maybe we can take the time to release some single soon, inspiration can't be scheduled!

You can purchase our music here:
Vinyl and tapes: www.mashhh.com (there's even something in free download)

Digital: www.casadelmirto.bandcamp.com and on all the digital stores.

Ciao!

Dark Side of Pop Compilation Review

Wanting to review something special, I chose this incredible compilation from the Cowshed Records label out of Poland. Appropriately to our tastes here at Musica Phenomena, the musical styles of "Dark Side Of Pop" cover a vast array of subgenres connected to Indie and Electronic music. Dream pop, shoegaze, chillwave, ambient, indie pop, dubstep, etc., all gathered here for the melding of sometimes shimmery, sometimes challenging, cutting-edge music with the darker side of pop at the core of it's heart. Port-Royal, one of the better known artists here, start it off with a hazy slow moving storm with "Electric Tears (Nothing's Gonna Change)", that soon stirs up the ocean beneath it with a vocal that sounds like someone out there on the waves is trying to break through to the shore. A track that changes and causes more turmoil than at first expected, only to become quiet again, and because it is in the same key as the next track, seems to segue into it. Saskatchewan, a band I'd heard of but hadn't had the chance to explore before, surprise me greatly with their poppy "Skinny Dipping". This song is both catchy and dreamy and opens up the possibilities of where the direction of this album is heading while connecting the many styles nearly all-in-one. Incredibly, the next song is also in the same key, allowing for the album to really impress on me that it is a storybook of sound. The Swerve, who I've had the great pleasure of working with recently, begin their song very reminiscent of the "Virgin Suicides" soundtrack by Air, then shift into an indie pop song enshrouded in wisps of shoegaze fog. The lyrics and melody are outstanding and I imagine you will be singing them to yourself here and there like I have caught myself doing a number of times. Jana Hanavan has a very beautiful, distinctive voice that is borderline twee pop, but with serious intonations, that give the words both lighthearted hope and sadness too. The Swerve are one of the bands to watch in 2012. Next up is Sleep Party People. I hear all sorts of influences in their sound but they are completely their own. The beginning builds into something similar to OMD"s "Joan Of Arc" and when the vocal comes in I can hear everything from Radiohead to Clinic to Sigur Ros to even the more serious songs of The Residents. One of the best songs here and I have to wonder if these guys aren't going to be an overnight success. And if you're not convinced with just this one song, check out their videos on YouTube. I couldn't help but notice that other comments coincided with mine that there is a Donnie Darko like quality to the band. OK. I will try to concentrate on the highlights of this compilation so this review isn't ten pages long but most of it is a collection of highlights so it will be hard. Pleq's track is an ambient piece with a droney beat that I really enjoy. Next is "Ugle" by Electric Fitness with a melody that strongly resembles a slower "Eleventh!" from Arovane's classic "Tides" LP, and would fit as perfectly there as much as it does here. Sun Glitters are another band I'm familiar with and this one has an ambient dubsteppy thing going on with some cool vocal snatches that give it an otherworldly feel. Digital.Rape has whispery vocals, strong melodic touches and cutting edge samples, haunting all the way through. There is a lot of tension, but it is never misplaced in Herr-Etic's "Dirty Girl In Dirty World" - a perfect name for this song might I add. Then we have the vocally melodic Face+heel and I really have to hand it to the arranger of this comp, because stylistically the song is a big shift from the one preceding it but once again the transition from one song to the next is smoothly handled. The vocal outbursts of games people play are balanced nicely with the electronics, then to the percussive electronics of SBTLS, to the heavy ambient drone of KVLTIK, and with it's persistent vocal blips, is another highlight. "Altered State", another perfect name, by Sweet Garden, is an aggressive electronic instrumental, and Body Spam rides the line between ambient and dubstep. I'm not fluent in Autechre so don't make me try to pronounce the next band name, but the hieroglyphics look like this: ∑B❍L▲ ▲P∑ with their music being as interesting as their name. MJ Linckoln's 'Leon" is a nightmare of a song with a clap drum insistent until the end. Lasariage continues this darker path with a 60's campaign election sample, and I guess I should know better who it is, but couldn't quite place the speaker, that keeps the listener winding towards the end. And then it all ends with "Serenade" (hidden track), by Vortex Rikers, and if it really is a hidden track I'm glad it was found because it's one of my favorites on here and finalizes what is one of the strongest compilations I've heard this year, thus far. Up there with "Pop Ambient 2012", though far different in styles and tone. I'm going to keep my eye on many of the bands on here. And, I would like to add that the cover artwork is just fantastic, looking like an homage to Picasso as if done by Clive Barker. Highly recommended!

- Michael Fierce

Dark Side of Pop Compilation featuring Port Royal, Sleep Party People, Saskatchewan, Electric Fitness and The Swerve

We here at Musica Phenomena have been on a short hiatus for the holidays but we're back and have a plethora of amazing music and music related reviews, articles and podcasts to bring you in 2012, so stay tuned.

We're going to start the year off right by bringing you a free download of an absolutely amazing new indie electronic compilation called "Dark Side of Pop" which features some "A" lister up and coming indie electronic artists from around the world that you absolutely have to hear. This excellent compilation is the work of a small label out of Poland called Cowshed records and judging from this release this is a label worth watching. The first 200 people can download this release for FREE with the link below, after that the compilation becomes 1 euro or about $1.32 US. Still an amazing deal for this 18 song album. We'll be posting a full review of the compilation coming soon but we felt we needed to get this link to you right away. Enjoy!

- M Pereira

Dark Side of Pop - Free Download

Free Download of Ladytron's "White Elephant"

The English electro pop sensation Ladytron celebrate their new album, Gravity The Seducer which was released September 13th on Nettwerk, with a free download of the song "White Elephant" courtesy of Amoeba Records. This is an amazing track and video.

- M Pereira

Click here to download White Elephant

Soundtrack - "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" by French Electronica Band AIR

Air is a music duo from Versailles, France, consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. They are also the composers of the soundtrack for the film "The Virgin Suicides" which was the subject of our very first blog post and podcast. They could easily be considered the quintessential french pop or electronica act of our generation.

Air has recently started taking pre orders for an unusual soundtrack / film project entitled "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" which we find to be one of the most exciting projects Air has been involved in since their soundtrack for the film "The Virgin Suicides."

For those that aren't familiar, Le Voyage dans la lune is a 1902 French black-and-white silent science fiction film. It is based loosely on two popular novels of the time: Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon.



The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. The film runs 14 minutes if projected at 16 frames per second, which was the standard frame rate at the time the film was produced. A Trip to the Moon is the first science fiction film, and uses innovative animation and special effects, including the well-known image of the spaceship landing in the Moon's eye.

After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lots of money. Unfortunately, Thomas A. Edison's film technicians had already secretly made copies of the film, which was showed across the USA within weeks. Melies never made any money from the film's American showings, and went broke several years later (while Edison made a fortune on the film.)

In 2002, a print of the film was discovered in a barn in France. It was amazing in that not only is it the most complete cut of the film (16 minutes long), but it was entirely hand-colored. The film was restored and premiered at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival the following year.

After creating the soundtrack to the recently discovered colorized (and highly psychedelic) version of the film, Air decided to create an entire album inspired by the film. Air's Nicolas Godin said of the album: "A Trip to the Moon' is undoubtedly more organic than most of our past projects. We wanted it to sound 'handmade and knocked together', a bit like Méliès' special effects. Everything is played live..."

The album is due out February 7th 2009 and you can preview a clip from the actual film with one of the songs from Air's forthcoming album below. This music video of sorts is quite a treat to watch, we here at Musica Phenomena were mesmerized by the new colorized imagery set to Air's music. It's a must watch and a must own in our opinion (both the colorized version of the film and the upcoming album by Air).

- M Pereira

David Bowie - "Low Broken Radio" Podcast

David Bowie is a an artist known the world over. Not just a rock star but a rock icon, idol, and living legend. Not only one of the most prolific musician / songwriter / singers, but one who has put out handfuls of classic, memorable, influential albums and songs in many genres; a one-man evolutionary chameleon, as his song "Changes" can be seen to suggest. Unlike other big artists, when asking a fan their favorite Bowie album or song, the answer would nearly never be the same. Best known for his earlier work as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, or his later pop song period starting with the "Scary Monsters" album with hits, "Fashion" and "Ashes To Ashes", and progressing to his biggest splash on the pop charts with, "China Girl", "Let's Dance" and "Modern Love" from the "Let's Dance" album, it is, at first, easy to overlook some of his best work. That is where "Low" comes in. With it's subtle appeal, it takes its' time to work itself permanently into your body and soul. "Low" was the beginning of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, which, interestingly, actually began in Paris, France, and was produced, mixed and finished in Berlin, Germany. It was during this time of his Berlin Period that Bowie was kicking his cocaine addiction and had asked Brian Eno to join him, along with a select group of classically trained musician-friends. Brian Eno, you should know, is the synthesizer-songwriter extraordinaire, who began with Roxy Music, went solo and then moved his way through amazing collaborations with David Byrne of Talking Heads, U2, more recently, Coldplay, and is now solo again with his new release with legendary label, Warp Records. Brian Eno, who we will talk about in later posts evolved indie and electronic music with his amazing synthesizer work and has influenced many great artists we are big fans of. "Low" can be defined as an art-rock album combining avant-garde songwriting with groundbreaking soundscape synthesizers that carved a path for electronic minimalism many years before those words would be common in today's cutting-edge music. "Low" is divided into two parts, a vocal side A, and a (mostly) instrumental side B. Although I can almost guarantee the original album will eventually work it's magic on you, it may take repeat listens before you fully succumb to it's inevitable spell. It has grasped many listeners of many music styles and as an example of it's charm, is considered Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Moby's favorite album of all time, both, of whom, have given an homage to it in their own songs. It has been a big influence on me for a project of mine named Of The Arcane that I will post a few songs from sometime this year. This podcast / mixtape here is "Low Broken Radio", a compilation album of selected songs by artists all over the world, with the theme being that "You are stranded in your car with only your radio working, with every song a song from "Low", and each song a different genre, by a different artist, in the order of the original album". I should say that although it has an indie and electronic focus, don't be surprised to find gems, you will surprise yourself you like, touched by dubstep, rock, pop, experimental, jazz, and there's even a hymn of "Warszawa", my favorite song from the original. I believe it is a must-have for David Bowie fans and an interest for anyone trying to find really cool artists they weren't aware of, and for anyone who likes thematic tributes. And for those David Bowie collector's, I can assure you that many of the tracks on this podcast are exclusive and cannot be found on any other cd compilation or release. The Swerve, as well as Chairlift, Matthew Dear and many others we think you will like are featured on this podcast. I even got to vocal coach one of the contributions. After downloading, please email us if you'd like a Playlist. Enjoy!

- Michael Fierce

Download the podcast on iTunes FREE by clicking here!

And for those that don't use iTunes you can download the podcast by clicking here!

Class Actress - Weekend (Casa del Mirto Remix)

As I'm sure know by now, Class Actress are one of the great up and coming indie, electro pop acts hailing from the US. Fronted by Elizabeth Harper who's shimmering 80's influenced pop vocals and impeccable sense of style harken back to fond memories of Yaz and Human League while still managing to stay relevant.




Recently Italian producers Casa del Mirto did a stylish reworking of Class Actress' latest single "Weekend" which we felt was well worth a listen. Check it out below.

- M Pereira


Class Actress - Weekend (Casa del Mirto Remix) by Carpark Records

Download 16 Years by Phantogram on iTunes Free!

For those of you who are not familiar with Phantogram, Phantogram is an American electronic rock duo comprised of Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards) and Josh Carter (vocals, guitars), from Saratoga Springs New York. They're Wiki page describes their sound as "street beat, psych pop", but I'd be more apt to call what they do a mixture of Inditronica and Shoegaze. In any case this duo is definitely worth checking out and for a limited time iTunes has their new song 16 Years available as a free download, just click here.

I recently got a chance to see the duo live at The Fillmore in San Francisco and was taken by their mesmerizing and emotional collage of lights and sound. Phantogram give me hope for the future of pop music in a time when we are inundated with a sea of commercial mediocrity coming at us from all sides. It just goes to show you that eventually the cream does rise to the top. And so you know, Phantogram, is one of the seventeen artists featured on our first podcast, "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides", avaiable to download for free further down this page.

For those that don't have itunes you can check out this awesome clip of them performing the song live at "The Moog Sound Lab" below.

- M Pereira

Michael Fierce's "Halloween Food For Thought - Huge Implausibility in Halloween? Or Not?"

For those of you that are huge Halloween, Michael Myers fans, I noticed something that needed further discussion.

Michael Myers was locked up in an asylum after killing his sister, Judith, when he was just 6 years old in the year 1963. He escaped 15 years later in 1978 just as his psychiatric doctor, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance) arrives with an assistant in his car to the Smith's Grove Sanitarium. While Dr. Loomis is checking out the unusualness of patients roaming about in the rain and the driveway gate being left open, his suspicions immediately jump to the conclusion that Michael Myers has somehow escaped. He knows it is the night before Halloween, when Michael not only became a murderer, but when he was locked up, hopefully forever. But it was not to be so. "The Shape", as Michael Myers was known then, attacks Dr. Loomis' assistant, still in the car, who jumps out, leaving Michael Myers to escape away in the car to terrorize the town of Haddonfield on Halloween once again.

So how did Michael Myers, who has been carefully supervised and locked up in an asylum since he was 6 learn how to drive? Is this a huge and terrible implausibility made by writer / director, John Carpenter, and screenplay writer, Debra Hill? Or is it that someone at the asylum gave Michael driving lessons as Dr. Loomis cynically suggests? Well. I don't think so. Research has determined that the Smith's Grove Sanitarium had a pretty big budget, being able to afford a nearly world-renowned Dr. Sam Loomis, who regularly meets and evaluates the condition and progress of a murdering child in a seemingly well-off community. It is no stretch whatsoever during the 70’s for the sanitarium to have been able to afford many luxuries during the more financially prosperous generation of baby boomers, in what is now considered to be the "golden age of the working class.” Arcade games were very popular then and it would not be uncommon to find one at a pool hall, pizza parlor, skating rink, bowling alley, and yes, even occasionally at a hospital, or in this case, sanitarium. I have even determined exactly what arcade game Michael Myers played, learned, and practiced his skills as a driver, based on its' year of release, popularity (it was voted one of "The Ten Greatest Arcade Games of the 1970's”) and the nature, and object of it's goal, stated here in this description:



Death Race
Released: 1976
Genre: Combat
Platform: Arcade
Developer: Exidy
Designer: Howell Ivy
Sequels: Death Race 98, Super Death Chase
Inspired by the 1975 cult film Death Race 2000 (starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone) Death Race featured a steering wheel and an acceleration pedal. The nature of the game - running down "gremlins" that resembled stick people - and the working title, Pedestrian, touched off a media avalanche of controversy.

Maybe this idea should be explored further, maybe even in a short film context? Who knows? Well....not most of the Smith's Grove Sanitarium staff, anyway. Most of them are gone. Maybe only Michael Myers knows for sure. Halloween food for thought.

- Michael Fierce


Check out my podcast that Mikael Johnston and I compiled especially for Halloween.

And for those of you who don't use iTunes you can download our podcast episode here.

Free Download Of M83s Midnight City On iTunes This Week Only!

Those of you not yet familiar with M83 can hear one of his songs in our "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides" Podcast. M83 is an electronic indie pop act by French musician Anthony Gonzalez. The musical style of M83 owes something to the shoegaze genre in its extensive use of reverb effects and lyrics spoken softly over loud instrumentals, although M83's songs employ considerably less guitar than most shoegaze bands. Gonzalez records mainly on his own, often with the help of his brother Yann Gonzalez, vocalist/keyboardist Morgan Kibby, and drummer Loïc Maurin. iTunes is offering a free 256 kbps AAC download this week of M83s new release Midnight City, which is a higher quality version than a 320 kbps MP3 for those non technofiles out there. This song is absolutely amazing, so grab it now while it's still free.

- M Pereira

UPDATE 10/29/2011: Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Midnight City is no longer free on iTunes but still well worth checking out and buying.

Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides - Podcast Part 1 "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides"

The Virgin Suicides, both as a movie and as a soundtrack has been hugely influential on the artists of today. Hundreds of bands, maybe without even fully realizing it have woven some of it's magic into their projects. The Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides can be interpreted as an homage to the original movie soundtrack by Air and to the film itself by Sophia Coppola, or as a sequel of sorts. I think of it as both. The Lisbon girls and their story will continue to do their hauntings in many different forms and hopefully you will enjoy this one.

- Michael Fierce

Download our "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides" Podcast episode free.
For those of you who don't use iTunes here is a direct download link to this Podcast episode. "Ghosts Of The Virgin Suicides" Direct Download Link