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"My
music is a very personal play-thing inspired by every little thing that
is magic."
For those of you who don't know who Mira Calix is, she's Chantal Passamonte originally from Durban, South Africa now living here in England. She writes some of the most interesting, deeply personal music you'll probably ever hear and those of you who like me were discovering music in late 1989, her creations are some of the most exciting since Warp's year zero. Arriving in England in 1991, she landed a job working for Gucci . Not really content with that she quit after six months. Her interest in music inspired her to start working at Ambient Soho, a small record shop in London. Having used her housemate's decks, she began DJing the records she was buying and it seemed as if the bug had bitten. Reaching the point where her record buying equalled her income she decided to move on once more and managed to get a job at one of her favourite record labels, Warp. Whilst working for Warp she inevitively bumped into the likes of Richard James, Plaid, Autechre and found the whole approach to writing music so inspiring she began buying equipment, bursting with her own ideas. The result of this came in November 1996 when Chantal released her first creation. It was a two track single called "Ilanga" which came in the form of 10" vinyl wrapped in a cool mirror image sleeve with the title of the release embossed on the front. Chantal continued to release music for Warp. There was the "Pin Skeeling" EP (March 1998), Warp's 100th. celebratory single release compilation "We Are Reasonable People/WAP100" in which Chantal contributed. The track in question was "Umchunga Locks" which in my opinion is one of Mira's most original and mind blowing tracks ever. It's certainly one of my favourites. Chantal's lust for writing music greatened after these releases and she was spending more time perfecting her sound when she began to find difficulty juggling her day job at Warp and writing. Sometimes she'd come home late and not have time or just simply be way too tired to do anything productive. Eventually Chantal and Warp came to a mutual agreement which was for her to quit her day job and write an album for them. The result was "One on One" released March 2000. Just as you'd think things couldn't get any better, she was asked to do a session for the legendary John Peel which resulted in a five track EP aired on the 9th. March 2000 but officially released through Warp later on in the year. There's an awesome track of Mira's called "Too Slim For Suicide" which can be found on a Susan Lawly compilation titled "Extreme Music From Women". If you go to www.susanlawly.freeuk.com they have an on-line ordering system. Believe me this whole CD is an absolute delight. It's full of music created only by women and it ranges from the most distorted mayhem your ears have yet to experience to the soft, dark intricacies of Mira's mind which has depths you won't believe. There's a compilation on Worm Interface which features a track called "Pudditat" and another one to catch from Mira is from the WARP 10+3 Remixes. It's a compilation of remixes of original warp tracks old and new done by various reputable names. Chantal's contribution is a dark lo-fi piece based on Seefeel's "Air Eyes" originally from 1994's "Starethrough" EP. Chantal meshed her releases in 2000 with DJing as well. DJing is still something she still loves to do and it's taken her all over the world. 2000 climaxed with a series of support slots for Radiohead in October/November which coincided with their 4th. album release "Kid A". In summary, Mira Calix has become a very important asset to music. In a world of computers we have so many people writing and alot of the originality has been lost with copius amounts of copycats plagueing the record shelves. Personal and emotional creativity makes up Mira Calix in my opinion. There's longevity in her music and the album "One On One" will remain a very important milestone in not only electronic music but music period. |