Populous
Populous is the project of multi-instrumentalist/producer Andrea Mangia, a musical nomad whose work, which ranges from shoegaze-tinged pop to sounds from around the globe, is defined by its dreamy atmospheres. Mangia's early albums, such as 2005's Queue for Love, blended hip-hop, soul, and reggae elements into hazy, chilled-out electronic soundscapes, but his horizons broadened as the years passed. On 2008's Drawn in Basic, he combined the influences of My Bloody Valentine and Raymond Scott into spacey electro-pop that predated the boom of like-minded artists in the 2010s. By that time, however, Mangia had already moved on to using his passion for musicology to create boundary breaking and border-crossing albums like 2014's Night Safari. Mangia rang in another decade of music with 2020's W, which championed women's musical artistry in free-flowing ways that played to Populous' strengths.
Mangia was born and raised in Salento, a region of Italy where traditional music is based around tambourine rhythms, and the concept of creating music with rhythmic foundations stuck with him over the years. As a boy, he listened to as many different kinds of music as he could, from the Close Encounters of the Third Kind soundtrack to Motown, classical music, metal, hip-hop, and more.
At university, Mangia studied musicology and played in a noise-rock band while also making delicately layered electronic music as Populous. When he was 20, he sent a demo of his music to the innovative German electronic music label Morr Music. Not long after, Mangia signed to Morr and made his debut on the label with November 2002's Quipo, a moody collage of hip-hop beats and intricate samples. On Populous' next album, May 2005's Queue for Love, he embellished these elements with soul, jazz and reggae influences that reflected the popularity of those sounds in his hometown of Lecce, Italy. Mangia then teamed up with New York-based MC Short Stories, aka Mike McGuire, on the 2006 single Breathes the Best and again on 2008's Drawn in Basic, an appealing blend of dream-pop and vintage electronics. Remixed in Basic, which featured reworkings of the album's tracks by Teebs, Harald Bjork, and Opiate, appeared in 2010.
Following Drawn in Basic's release, Mangia took some time off from Populous. With McGuire, he formed the IDM-pop project Life & Limb, which released its self-titled debut in late 2012. He also revisited Girl with the Gun, his electro psych-pop outfit with Queue for Love vocalist Matilde Davoli and drummer Andrea Rizzo, and issued 2014's Ages. To prepare for his return to Populous, Mangia immersed himself in music from around the world. Envisioning a dreamlike exploration of nocturnal landscapes, he created Populous' fourth album Night Safari. Incorporating African chants, Brazilian music, and Krautrock, as well as contributions from Cuushe, Digi G’alessio, and Giorgio Tuma, the album arrived on Bad Panda Records in September 2014. Mangia's sonic travels continued on June 2017's Wonderwheel Recordings debut Azulejos, a set of songs fashioned from field recordings and vintage albums he discovered while living in Lisbon, Portugal. For May 2020's W, Mangia took a slightly different tack: For its celebration of feminine and queer musical energy -- including his own -- he folded elements of house, vogue beat, and digital cumbia into tracks featuring Davoli, Lucia Manca, Kaleema and other female artists he admired.
© Heather Phares /TiVo
Discografia
17 album • Ordinato per Bestseller
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Moonbaton Vol. 1
World music - Pubblicato da WONDERWHEEL RECORDINGS il 22 lug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Azulejos
Elettronica - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 9 giu 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Breathes The Best
Elettronica - Pubblicato da A Number Of Small Things il 19 set 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drawn In Basic
Elettronica - Pubblicato da Morr Music il 5 set 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
W
Elettronica - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 22 mag 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moonbaton Vol. 2
Elettronica - Pubblicato da WONDERWHEEL RECORDINGS il 9 dic 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luna Liquida
Generi vari - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 15 apr 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pietre Roventi
Generi vari - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 13 mag 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Azulejos (Remixes)
Elettronica - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 13 ott 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remixed In Basic
Elettronica - Pubblicato da Disasters By Choice il 15 giu 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Com Amigos (Remixes)
Elettronica - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 19 ott 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
HOUSE OF KETA
Elettronica - Pubblicato da La Tempesta International il 5 mag 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remixed in Basic (Remixed Version of "Drawn in Basic")
Musica alternativa e indie - Pubblicato da Disasters By Choice il 5 mag 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Caracol (Populous Remix)
World music - Pubblicato da Waxploitation Records il 10 nov 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo