Podcast 298: Curses [Dischi Autunno]

Photos by Carole Bonarde.

The New Yorker/ Berlin based Curses is known for blending his Rock & Roll roots with the darker side of Disco & Electro. In both his DJ and live sets. Curses incorporates his ghostly vocals and guitar with flashes of EBM, New Wave, Post-Punk, and Psychedelic synth vibes.

Releasing selectively on well respected underground labels such as Bordello A Parigi, Throne of Blood, Ombra INTL. Relish, Curses also runs a Rinse France monthly radio residency showcasing artists who share a love for mixing wave and weird disco. Curses finally dropped a long awaited debut full length on Dischi Autunno in 2018.

TF: Tell us something about you. What’s your background? Where did you studied and who influenced you to explore musical processes?

CU: Born and raised in NYC, now living in berlin for almost a decade, I'm an Italo-Americano new wave raver goth acid punk. I went to University upstate NY, majored in Integrated Arts, BA in Music and Video.

TF: When you look back to your career with all its highs and lows, can you imagine having done things differently? Is it more fate or choice?

CU: I have had many different careers, none I regret. Every path taken in the past leads you to the present and future of now. Life is what you make it, I don't believe in fate.

TF: What do you think is the role of new technology in composing music? Do you rely more on digital or analog sound?

CU: Finding the right balance between analog and digital is crucial. This is why I always incorporate organic elements like vocals or guitar, keeping room for happy accidents in the human error, life within a sea of machines.

Photos by Alicia Devaux.

TF: What new hardwares did you apply to make 'Incarnadine' LP? Do you have a particular method while working in the studio?

CU: I actually stripped back the hardware on this album, and put more focus in writing 'songs' instead of club tracks. My bandmate for the Curses live, Dame Bonnet also collaborated on the bass and writing process of singles like, 'Miriam,' and 'Coma' which took the album to a more goth pop new wave direction than previous albums.

TF: Which aspects of sound have you been examining recently? Is the impression that your music produces on the audience important for you?

CU: I don't think about the audience for the album songs so much, because they are very personal works. Writing lyrics and vocals are a very transcendental process: Losing one's self and finding the meaning in your subconscious to make sense. Its a completely different approach when it comes to my Remix production and club tracks, though. I fully imagine a sweaty dungeon rave or open air strobe and laser forest festival.. how the crowd will react how to impact and build the tension etc.

Photos by Alicia Devaux.

TF: Any book or movie that you would like to recommend to the public to feed your creative side?

CU: Keeping in theme with 'Incarnadine', I suggest everyone watches the romantic vampire tragedy, The Hunger from the 80s starring Catherine Deneuve and Bowie.

TF: What are you working on now? What ideas or plans do you have for your future work?

CU: I have a new club-focused collaboration with Theus Mago that is coming out on Optimo Music as well as a collaboration with Chinaski that is proper new wave italo vibes. Me and Dame also have a new album under the name, Lolo Paradiso ready to drop next year, which is more goth-pop vibes.

TF: Can you tell us about the mix made for The Forgotten?

CU: The mix starts in the late 80's: Proto-ebm, obscure new beat energy into a lot of unreleased edits and present power-wave ballads. This mix is perfect for getting ready before going out and having a mega weekend. Dressed 2 kill.

Listen the 298th episode.

Tracklist:

1. Signal Aout 42 - Pleasure And Crime (Instrumental) 2. MCL - Power Plant (Razormaid mix) 3. Inconscio Viola - Rabbit On Tuesday 4. Local Suicide. & Curses - Secret friends 5. Flood - Romeo (Alpha Sect Dark Remix) 6. Adrian Marth - Experiment Man 7. Chinaski & Curses - Forever (Chinaski Für Immer Mix) 8. KOMMUNIK8 CURSES Edit 9. Sonic System - Operation Desert Storm (Bombing-Attack-Mix) 10. Babes of Enola Grey - Freiheit_Sicherheit (Disco_Morato Remix) 11. Venom Vampires - Red Warning 12. Uranio Empobrecido - Heating_Electrons (Facets_remix) 13. Man2.0 - OumuaMua (Original_Mix) 14. B1980 - Hooded Figure 15. Randolph & Mortimer vs ROÜGE - Sermon Three (David Carretta Remix) 16. EYE - BM - 2 (Original_Mix) 17. Red Deviil - Pink Powder 18. Megabeat - Mathausen 19. Termination 800 - Spec Ops. 20. NOISE UNIT - Deceit 21. SIAN - You Know Its Right (Curses Remix) 22. Alvee - Perdido(Curses REMIX)

Curses social networks: Facebook / Website / Soundcloud / Incarnadine album.