Dreamscape Artist Spotlight: Michal Menert
–Written by Kevin Madert
Dreamscape is fast approaching, and we can’t wait to join Badvss Raves and all of you at Camp Ramblewood May 8-10. In the days leading up to the festival, we’re hoping to get you better acquainted with some of the artists playing the festival; if you read about them here on the AltFreq page, you should definitely catch their performances at Dreamscape.
Colorado native Michal Menert has come a long way since his days as co-producer on Pretty Lights’ debut full-length Taking Up Your Precious Time. In the decade since that album’s release, he’s built a name for himself with his never-stationary sound and his admirable work ethic, overcoming plenty of obstacles in the process. Dig a little deeper with us as we highlight one of Dreamscape’s most forward-thinking performers.
From my initial experience with Dreaming of a Bigger Life, I was hooked on Menert. As the first solo release under his own name, it was a statement album when it hit stores in mid-2010. Instead of jumping back on board with Derek Vincent Smith – who had released a pair of studio albums during Menert’s absence from Pretty Lights, overhauling the musical direction of the project in the process – he looked ahead, producing DoaBL and releasing it on the newly founded Pretty Lights Music label.
The release was also cathartic for a more somber reason, coming just a week after Menert lost his father to a long battle with cancer. He harnessed the tumultuous emotional energy swirling around him and allowed it to inspire rather than distract, focusing on touring the country and producing a sophomore LP. In 2012 that came to fruition with the release of Even If It Isn’t Right, a solid follow-up album featuring similar and familiar soundscapes.
Both these albums positioned themselves in the stylistic space between TUYPT and later non-Menert Pretty Lights efforts. Influenced evenly by his heavy hip-hop background (which includes this sweeping 33-track album on which he produced and performed under the name AES) and his forays into soulful electronica, they’re a testament to the development of Menert’s unmistakable sound.
Many people would be comfortable resting on their sonic laurels, but the Menert transmission is missing every gear but drive. He continued his busy tour schedule, including a wild PLM showcase in late 2014 that featured four-way performances from Menert, SuperVision, Paul Basic and Elliot Lipp. In the same year he also delved into curation with the founding of Super Best Records, a joint venture with fellow Denverite Mux Mool. And then there’s the Michal Menert Big Band, an 18-piece outfit of world-class musicians that’s better witnessed than described.
Above all, he’s continued to make fresh & fantastic music; Space Jazz, his third album, dropped on April 21. It’s an adventure through the cosmos on the nuanced wings of Menert, a simultaneous embracing and eschewing of the tenets of future bass that few others could have concocted. We’re less than halfway through 2015 and things couldn’t look better for Michal Menert; you’ll find us front and center at his 12AM headlining performance Saturday at the Pool Stage.
Connect with Michal Menert: (Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud / Official Site)
*Photo courtesy We Went Hard Photography