5 Minutes with Menog [Interview]
Menog has completed his 5th studio album, Party Animal Farm, and it is his most mature offering to date.
The Portuguese maestro who boasts one of the best studios to date has found time between moving to a new house (and studio), getting married, starting a family and completing a full-length album of absolute blasters that will satisfy both night and daytime lovers of psychedelic trance.
We sat him down for five minutes to take a breather…
Where did you grow up (city/town)?
Coimbra [Portugal].
Favourite city visited so far…
Tokyo.
First festival you ever attended…
First trance festival was Boom Festival ’98.
Favourite food when at home?
At home, I love to cook all sorts of fish and lately I’ve been cooking a lot of Japanese Udon (veggie).
If I’m ordering from home, then either Indian or Sushi.
Do you have any pets?
We have 2 cats, 2 dogs and 2 horses…. (still wondering about the name of the album?) 😊
One album you grew up with that you still listen to today…
V Empire or Dark Fairy tales in Phallustein by Cradle of Filth.
An artist you wish you’d seen play live before they died.
Prince.
Favourite music genre outside of psytrance…
It was Metal/rock until a few years back, but lately electronic music in general.
Some of them don’t even have a genre I guess….
I also love electronic fusion with classic music.
The track you are proudest of composing…
I will go with Kikkarapyllyt from the new album…
Your go-to hardware or software synth in the studio…
Hardware I’ve been having lots of fun lately with Modular, Eurorack has been my hours of fun, software I will have to go with Serum.
Being on Nano records means…
Having a family that we get to work with and truly help you when needed.
Your latest full-length album, ‘Party Animal Farm’ dropped this week. First off, tell us about the album name…
Well, as I mentioned in one of the previous questions, we do have lots of animals, and we are animal lovers, and we do like to party too!
We just bought a house with land that looks like a small farm in the mountains. In fact, our wedding party was at the new house… and what a party it was…
So, after that, this name fitted perfectly on the album since I produced 80% of it there…
Which track was the toughest to complete?
My Remix from Tristan and Mandala, although at the same time I loved the challenge of making three people happy.
I have to say I love the result, so did they! and it really works well on the dance floor.
And which track surprised you the most when you first played it out to a dancefloor?
Drunk on Milk.
One sentence to describe the sound of MENOG in 2019…
I will have to quote from the Nano promo text from the album since its exactly what I feel ;
“Balance between uplifting and powerful to pounding and edgy, as much covering peak daytime moments as peak night-time moments, creating a pure example of perfect balance both energetically and sonically.”
