INTERVIEW: Curses
Ahead of his debut Australian tour we chat to one of clubland’s most original acts…
Artist bios can be fickle things, at times so verbose it's frustrating. What you read is usually not what you hear. In the case of Curses, the exact opposite rings true: 'Berlin-based Curses blends New Wave and Post-Punk with his ghostly vocals and guitars, punctuated with flashes of 80's EBM and New Beat.' If anything, it's almost reserved in delivering the full scope.
Fast forward to 2020, and there are so many flavours infused in the Curses sound it could be the next step in musical evolution. And to support that quote it seems to be a sound DJs from many different tribes can shake hands on. His straight-up club cuts could pull together lovers of Italo Disco, post-punk, tech house, nu-wave and more without breaking a sweat. Take recent single, 'Puttanesca', its mournful guitars, reminiscent of old western movies, combine with heartsick synths to harmonise into a fresh hybrid filled with substance. It feels timeless.
Curses is easily one of our favourite artists, and as we found out in our interview, he is a man who lives and breathes art.
From Opera to Speedcore
Imbuing your music with so many flavours point towards a diverse palette. As Luca Venezia aka Curses confirms, his upbringing indeed was filled with variety: 'My father was always blasting opera and classical, while my mother was playing things like Talking Heads, Morphine and Eurythmics. I think that mixture had a unique influence on me and the music I soon became drawn to'. Tell us about it, the drama of opera, the saxophone drone of Morphine mixed with the nu-wave of Eurythmics was always going to lead to something unique. And where do you go with that musical foundation? In the case of Venezia, a youth soundtracked by acts like The Cure, Wu-Tang, Sonic Youth, Aphex Twin, and Front 242.
With such expansive tastes, he must not have had an inch of his childhood room walls exposed. A trademark of a teenager’s room growing up in the eighties and nineties were walls filled with posters and pictures of their favourite acts cut from their favourite music magazines. (ED: I just realised in this day and age of dwindling/non-existent print press the age of walled shrines are a relic of pre-millennial star worship. Mind blown.) He quickly shoots down that theory: 'Ah actually I didn't have band posters on my walls,' before redeeming us with 'but I had rave flyers. A lot of them'. Ah, we'll take that as an endorsement of our claim then. Venezia goes on to recall: 'Even though I was playing the guitar and listening mostly to bands, I was spending most weekends at raves dancing to speedcore, techno and drum & bass.' And for Luca, those weekends meant the vibrant party scene of New York where he grew up. However, sometimes it takes a change of scenery to really invigorate the creative juices.
let’s go dark disco dancing
In his earlier production years, the New Yorker fiddled around with electro house, a sound that was prevalent back then, and aligning himself with the Institubes crew and artists like Surkin and Para One. It was his eventual move from New York to Berlin, however, which gave him a new musical direction. ‘It all sort of fell into place my first year living in Berlin’, he remembers. This move served as a massive catalyst to unlodge some old inspirations. ‘The music I loved as a teenager but never thought of producing came rushing at me. I was immersed in New Beat, obscure Italo, EBM, and New Wave.’
Fast forward to today, and he is considered a leader of a sound many call dark disco, a collective name of sorts for all those sounds he mentioned before plus more. It’s a sound starting to crop up all over the globe, with Mexico in particular, a hotspot for it. But let’s be honest, any time someone conjures up a new genre name it can all be a bit… eye-rolling. ‘Yeah, it’s a term that kept popping up the more I began to tour in the last few years, and at first, I was hesitant to embrace it. To be frank, we are all just a big group of friends. We all have similar elements in our sounds, 80s wave, electro, Italo, rock and roll, but all with our unique spin.’
And by friends, he means acts like Damon Jee, Franz Scala, Zombies In Miami and Jennifer Cardini, to name a few. ‘What’s funny though is none of what we play or produce is anywhere close to your typical 70’s disco’. He has a point. Much of it is less about Studio 54, burn-your-vinyl-disco and more about drawing a thread between the last 30 years of music, kind of 80’s nu-wave sleaze meets nu-school cool that sits somewhere between 110 to 120 BPMs. ‘At the end of the day though, it does have a nice ring to it, “DARK DISCO.” So I am down to be a part of this new rise.’ It does roll off the tongue.
Romantic fiction or work of art
With the release of his 2018 debut album ‘Romantic Fiction’, however, Venezia created a sound that is less dark disco and more Curses. ‘It is the first album I made in which I made music for myself, and didn’t think about the dance floor.’ It’s a decision which paid dividends and attracted kudos from some highly credible artists. That must feel pretty damn good. ’Yeah, I feel fortunate and lucky that people understood me, and that the songs resonated with them. Especially peers I look up to, like Andrew Weatherall (RIP) being a big supporter.’ And needless to say, Romantic Fiction was one of our favourite albums of 2018.
It is a criminally underrated release filled with singles that has something for everyone. When you listen to first single ‘Surrender’ you would be forgiven if you think it is a long lost recording from an obscure early 90’s band. It has it all: attitude, story and a whole lot of emotion, an almost nostalgic longing for times you couldn’t know you would miss. It kind of sounds like if The Pixies made electronic music for breakups. Many tracks feature an emotional intelligence that makes for more than just functional dance music.
On ‘Crucify’ he warns ‘You’re living a lie’, an intervention of sorts to snap you out of your Matrix-like slumber. And on ‘Surrender’ he wistfully proclaims that we are ‘Alone. Together alone.’ Could the album’s lyrical content about social media? The albums’ name Romantic Fiction implies a take on creating narratives. No, as it turns out, it is about sticking to your artistic guns - and embracing it. ‘Don’t be persuaded by what’s the current trend or the new flash in the pan - and NEVER compare what you do to other artists in similar scenes.’ So it is about finding salvation within your own Truth. And to put an exclamation mark on that point, Luca lobs a timely reminder: ‘It is about not being what people expect you to be, or more importantly, what strictly business and money hungry-minded managers expect you to be.’
Live alchemy
Recently, Venezia has taken Romantic Fiction to the live arena, creating an energetic dance music/rock hybrid alongside performance partner Dame Bonnet. Their live setup, consisting of bass, guitar, MPC Live, SPDSX, a mic with Venezia’s live vocals and no laptops, suits them perfectly. ’We’ve worked with live drummers, like Salto Honduras for bigger festival gigs, and that was super fun, but there is something about the simpler, stripped-down set up that appeals to both of us.’ And of course, the intimacy of being on the road consistently with someone can forge creative parity. ‘With all the touring, Dame and I have built strong chemistry as a duo, so I don’t see it expanding anytime soon.’ And as any alchemist will tell you, you need chemistry for creating. ‘We wrote a lot of new material together while on the road last year and this surprisingly led to finishing the next album. That will drop again on Jennifer Cardini’s Dischi Autunno imprint end of June.’ Nice.
Techno Rock with Ombra
Another string to his bow is Ombra International, an imprint we adore. Even though it flirts with dark disco, it's more about an aural aesthetic which pairs many musical tastes from italo-disco to techno-rock (Bandcamp's descriptor, not ours). Whatever you want to call it, we love it. 'Happy to hear you enjoy the label! Similar to Romantic Fiction, Ombra INTL is the first time I fully curated and created something to match my taste. In this case, the aesthetic and sound are so important to me.' "
The word Ombra means 'shadow' in Italian, which makes perfect sense if you consider the tenebrous nature of Curses' sound. 'I have always been attracted to the mystery and sexiness of darkness, but never the scary.' he confirms. 'I'm actually terrified of horror films, and not a fan!' And as you would expect this attraction has roots in his childhood. 'I am part Italian, so I spent a lot of time in Italy as a kid, and we'd frequent different churches which always had these incredibly beautiful but macabre frescos depicting stories of battles or how Saints came to be (how they were killed). This always stuck with me creatively.'
The music combines with the labels' strong visual aesthetics which takes inspiration from grainy 80's VHS films that swing from gritty and dark to sexy and weird (see vinyl artwork above). And that includes drawing inspiration from old vintage cult cinema like Cronenberg's Videodrome, The Hunger with Bowie and Terry Gilliam's Brazil. 'Those movies had massive impacts on me and still do to this day.' Thankfully the label is showing no signs of slowing down soon: 'International Waters Vol.1 compilation will drop in the spring with all new music from Mufti, Roe Deers, Skelesys, Local Suicide, Alejandor Paz, Borusiade, SHMLSS to name a few…'
Pitchin’ in Australia
His upcoming Australian tour is long-awaited. So will this be his first Australian sojourn? ‘I’ve been many moons ago with bands and other projects, but this will be the first visit as Curses, so am looking forward to it. Pitch festival, in particular, that lineup of musicians and fine artists is stellar.’ Indeed, the local Pitch Music & Arts with an undeniable lineup of acts are starting to make waves internationally. This year alone includes Richie Hawtin, Maceo Plex, Nina Kraviz, Hunee and many more. ‘Yeah, the lineup is awesome. There are actually many of my friends on it, so I am excited to be in Australia with a gang of friends from overseas.’ But in true Curses fashion, something else he is looking forward to is the festival’s lineup of visual artists: ‘Besides the music, I am very into video art so am really looking forward to seeing the works of Yandell Walton, and Matteo Zamagni.’
