Published by Alessandro Violante on February 20, 2023
Today we talk with Marco Berardi, active in Berlin with his project Mogano since 2011. Together with Andrea Familari (FAX), he has created the label Arboretum, focused on releasing experimental audiovisual works, with which they have published, amongst others, a release by Diasiva (the collaborative project of Swarm Intelligence and of Monolog). On 17th February, he has published his new EP with Voidance Records, entitled Terrarium. We’ll talk with him about all these topics.
Hi Marco, it’s a pleasure to talk with you on our website. Would you like to talk us about your project Mogano?
Hi and thank you for having me here, it is my pleasure. Mogano is an electronic music project I started around 2009, soon after I stopped having a band. It was and still is a huge catalyst of all music backgrounds ranging from Dub, Industrial, Techno, IDM, Jungle, Metal and Ambient, entwined with different intensities and depths at a time. Despite coming from a band/live music approach, originally the project was mostly focused on Dj-sets, performing at that time across some techno and drum&bass venues in both Italy and Berlin. Dj-ing for a few years definitely gave me a lot of meaningful inspirations that allowed me to shift progressively my band music production knowledge into a more electronic and club-oriented one. Back then I experimented a lot on how to carry music solutions from one aesthetic to the other trying to merge them over and over until the result would finally resonate properly with me. That eventually happened around 2015 with my debut Sycomore EP signed with a remix by Samuel Kerridge on Arboretum. Right after that, I started performing live sets more and more frequently and often accompanied by the visual work of Andrea Familari aka FAX. In such a format, we performed in very interesting events such as Contort (New Codes – Berlin Atonal), RoBoT Festival (Bologna), ATOM Festival (Ukraine) and Modern Bon (Berlin) sharing the stage with artists in the like of Kerridge, Dadub, Pact Infernal, JK Flesh, Positive Center and FIS to name few.
What could you tell us about your upcoming release Terrarium, which will be released by Voidance Records? I like a lot that dark IDM influence, it’s one of my favourite music genres.
With Terrarium I wanted to shorten the distance between what I was playing as a Dj and my music production outcomes so far, aiming for a more dance-floor-oriented version of the same vibe. In this EP the compositional work mostly comes from some experiments I did with an ancient Egyptian violin called Rebab, which I used to create most of the pads, textures and drones you can hear on the record. I liked it a lot because it keeps a very lively and acoustic touch, even if it was heavily processed afterwards.
In fact, all instrumental parts (voice, guitar and violin) are recorded live by myself while improvising on some loops. In this regard Ableton “Lane” feature was a big lifesaver for me in that case, totally recommended if you wish to manage simultaneously multiple versions of your recordings. In addition, I also experimented a lot with spectral processing technology based on FFT and FM Synthesis to mangle some vocal and drum recordings in order to give the IDM flavour you previously mentioned. About the creative process in general, I really enjoy recreating with sounds this sort of cyber-dystopic scenario, where ancient and futuristic, savage and mechanics coexist in the same dimension.
I’ve noticed that, some time ago, you’ve done the O.S.T. for a movie entitled Repubblica Ossiura. I think it’s a very interesting topic to discuss. What could you tell us about this experience and this movie?
Working on “Repubblica Ossiura” was definitely an exciting experience for me. The Documentary is by the Italian director Giovanna Poldi Allai, who also directed amongst others “Gente d’Alpe” a work featuring also Giovanni Lindo Ferretti from C.C.C.P./C.S.I./PGR. Before getting to know her personally, I already used to like her photography and the vibrant underground scene she was portraying in her movies, so it was for me simply terrific news when she asked me to collaborate.
This work describes the daily life of an anarchist and self-sufficient family community in the mountains around Parma during the Pandemic, addressing topics such as freedom, prohibition, history and nature through the stories of individual personalities. This collaboration has been utterly inspiring but also quite challenging as it was my first time working as well on Dialogues Post-production for a full-length movie. “Repubblica Ossiura” has been presented at many International Movie Festivals, and so far we are all very thrilled by the feedback we are receiving about it.
Mogano
Would you like to talk us about your collaboration with Liber Null Berlin on their compilation “Seven Years Of Delirium”? I’ve followed with particular interest their work, and with our label FLUX Musical Art we often have collaborated with some of them. What could you tell us about this collaboration and about your role in this cult project?
Same here actually, Liber Null was one of my very first encounters when I moved here to Berlin. I was shocked by the visionary way this crew was putting together art, performances and sick industrial music, indeed “love at first sight” for me. Throughout the years after attending many of their parties, both Manos (Unhuman) and Thalia (Nullam Rem Natam) became to me like one of those dear friends you love to share projects, records, gigs and parties with, so I guess the collaboration was just a natural outcome for all of it.
Would you like to talk us about your previous release Sycomore, released in 2015? What can you tell us about this work and which projects have you worked on between that release and that of Terrarium?
“Sycomore” has been a very important key moment for me, as every artist’s debut I guess. It surprised me a lot to receive such amazing feedbacks at that time, and this certainly gave me a lot of strength and confidence to continue my musical journey. In between, I released the Liber Null VA we previously mention, another VA appearance on Arboretum with the track “Anthropocene”, whose video clip has been premiered on 4:3 (Boiler Room documentary channel).
Last year I also had the pleasure of remixing Senyawa‘s album “Alkisha” a cutting-edge music project from Indonesia often involved in the CTM Festival program. Moreover, I also started collaborating with Seedj.app, an E-Learning platform for music producers and DJs. There I had my masterclass about “World Music Elements in Electronic Contexts” which focused on how to use eastern time signatures and patterns in order to create an IDM-Techno track.
Would you like to talk us about Arboretum, a multidisciplinary label with which you and Andrea Familari (FAX) have released audiovisual releases? What can you tell us about it?
Arboretum is a project I founded with Andrea around 2009/2010 when we were both still living in Italy. In the beginning, it was more of a sort of hub for organizing visual/audio workshops as well as electronic music events at this DYI, dismissed Baroque Church (Cantiere San Bernardo) managed by an art collective in Pisa.
Arboretum turned into a record label only around 2014 when we were both in Berlin, signed with our first release by Drøp with Dadub Remix. Since then we kept printing vinyls and cassettes, using this audio/visual interaction as a key feature signature for the production, for example, all the artworks are generated by the sound itself reacting throughout a visual patch made by Andrea, different on every release. During these years we have been signing artists in the like of Yuji Kondo, Kerridge, Dadub, Ryo Murakami, Diasiva (Swarm Intelligence x Monolog), Honzo (D. Carbone), NWRMNTC, Cocktail Party Effect, OFK and showcase in venues such as OHM (Berlin), RoBot Festival (Bologna), ATOM Festival (Ukraine) amongst others.
After more than 10 years of collaboration, Andrea and I took different paths and Arboretum is now run by myself only. Nevertheless, I started re-boothing the Label both on the sound and visual level, piling up some very interesting news to be announced in Spring, so stay tuned.
Mogano – Terrarium
During these years, you’ve played in several important festivals and clubs. Several times, you’ve played your music in Berlin. I travel there every now and then to buy and discover new music as well as to listen to live music in particular contexts. If you should choose some of the best performances you’ve done there, what would you choose?
Choosing is always hard but I would definitely mention Modern Bon in Festsaal Kreuzberg as one of the best and most charming concert venues in Berlin in my opinion. I guess back then, it was the chemistry between location, audience and the massive energy from acts like Pact Infernal and Purpha that made it so special, inspiring my performance in the best way. Moreover, I would certainly remark OHM as one of my favourite venues in town to perform and attend an event in. I always feel very comfortable and free to experiment when I play in there. The crowd is always very responsive and enjoys a lot a wide range of music genres.
I’ve noticed that some years ago you’ve played in Milano at Saturnalia festival. Now that place has been closed. What do you remember about that event?
Oh, that was simply epic, I only have such good memories about it. Saturnalia was my very first time seeing Macao in person, such an incredible space and such nice energy from the collectives who were running this place. Discovering that in person really gave me back some hope about the Italian potential in a matter of cultural locations for electronic music events, It is such a pity it’s all over now. Speaking of good memories it was for me very nice for me to meet some friends from Haunter Records and Communion and have the chance to play together and see some incredible acts by FIS or Hieroglyphic Being.
How your live performances are? What your listeners can expect when they see you playing live?
I am finishing up the new Live-set which I will tour with from April onwards. There is an audio-only version of it and an A/V one made with the visual artist Andrea Familari who built up for the occasion a new audio-interactive system based on Artificial Intelligence Technology. Music-wise, the show is intended to push the Terrarium EP sound even further towards Industrial, Techno and Breakbeat. Definitely something tailored for dance floor and club environments. I will premiere this show in Bratislava in June with the Crew OLAM alongside Broken English Club and Nocna.
Besides your new release, what are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on a new solo EP and on some collaboration with some artists I am really inspired by. Besides that, Arboretum is also keeping me quite busy recently as there will be some exciting news to be announced in few weeks.
Thanks for the time you have dedicated us. If you want, greet our readers and invite them to buy your new release!
Well, I would certainly like to thank them for reading and invite them to listen to it. Thank you, FLUX Magazine for the invitation.