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“Orto.brz” is a hymn to the agriculture of Brianza. Joao was born in Mezzago, the origin of the renowned “pink asparagus”, a unique delicacy that Joao transformed into the opening theme of the IDM house “Asparago Rosa Di Mezzago”. Then we have the "white potato" from Oreno, which dates back to the 19th century by local historians. Hypnotic voices and crisp acid sounds characterize “Patata Bianca di Oreno”, another pearl of Joao Ceser. Of course, both the pink asparagus and the white potato are usually celebrated in Brianza with well-known parties.
We have had the pleasure of speaking with Joao and this has been the result.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?
This is a question that could be answered with an incipit like “once upon a time…”
But I don’t want to get you bored, so I’ll cut it short: I’m from Italy (Vimercate, near Milano). I started as a singer and hard core / metal drummer when I was 12 years old, then I acknowledged my misanthropy at about 18 - 20 years old and so I understood that electronic music was the way to go on making music with the benefit of being alone. Love with synthesizers was the natural consequence.
How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now?
It’s hard to answer this question. I like almost every kind of music but I enjoy the most the good-sounding music, so my sound is evolving accordingly, trying to get a good-quality product increasing every time the acoustic and the harmonic / melodic contents. Now getting back to your question, I enjoy listening Bach as much as Cannibal Corpse and I don’t like to mix acoustic / electroacoustic stuff, microphones could be very messy, that’s another reason why I love synthesizers.
How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners?
I don’t know, I hope that they could be influenced in a good way. When I make a song I’m not focused on what the listeners could feel or think about it, I just follow the feelings of the moment and let them go.
What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job?
My last project is the “Orto.brz” EP that is part of a bigger one: BRZ. This project is a tribute to Brianza, the land where I’m actually living, and that I love. Talking with people around my age I noticed that a lot of them are in conflict with their native places and feel the need to move away and for me this is a sad thing. I think that sometimes people just try to escape their problems by physically moving away, but if you stayed you could see the beauty and probably also understand what the real problem is. So, with this project, I want to emphasize the aspects of the territory that I most love and help people connect with their roots.
Where are you and what have you been doing now?
I’m in Vimercate (Monza e Brianza) enjoying the place :)
Has that sound changed a lot in recent years? What is your musical criteria?
The leads are always the same as the core of a synthesizer, the oscillator. What changes is the knowledge and with it the taste. I follow the flux trying to be / do better anytime.
Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound?
I feel safe if I play :)
We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity?
No. It’s just the current revolution, one of the many. If you really believe in something you are always able to get inspired.
Can you tell us what your present and future projects are?
Except for the previously mentioned BRZ project, I have to finish all the backlog of my gunpla scale models (yes, Gundam is cool XD )
