HOUSE OF NUMBERS
Curses
Hailing from New York and currently based in Berlin, musician Luca Venezia, aka Curses, is someone we’ve been following for a long time. Known for blending his Morricone-esque guitar with elements from early 80s music genres like new wave, post punk and new beat, Curses keeps pushing the boundaries of these references with an emphasis on his own ghostly vocals and guitars on his upcoming second album “Incarnadine” for Dischi Autunno operated by music pioneer Jennifer Cardini, following his 2018 debut LP “Romantic Fiction”. A resident DJ for Berlin’s infamous Pornceptual party, he also established his own label Ombra INTL in 2016. Further solidifying his love for genre-hopping, Curses runs a monthly Rinse France radio residency where he showcases artists who also share this passion for mixing Wave and the dark and weirder side of Italo Disco.
Before his new album “Incarnadine” drops, our beloved Curses makes a pit stop at LAGASTA and enters its series of mini-interviews “House of Numbers”, counting down all his favourite things. Let’s go!
ONE song you were whistling lately…
I think Roxy Music’s “More Than This” is constantly whistling in my head tbh…
TWO guilty pleasures…
1. Antonello Venditi
2. Watching rom-coms on a long haul flight
THREE things that you always have in your fridge…
1. Cheddar
2. Pickles
3. Prosecco
FOUR places you want to visit again…
1. Rio De Janeiro
2. Istanbul
3. Sayulita
4. Bali
FIVE lessons that life has taught you…
1. Have patience. Don’t value success by time.
2. Don’t be distracted by what’s hot or hype of the moment, create without doubt
3. Remember to value and appreciate the peers that listened, believed and helped you in
the beginning, and those that remained by your side along the way
4. Stick to your guns and don’t be afraid to make music that fulfills yourself, and that
passion will be contagious and eventually translate to others.
5. Have fun. Don’t let the hard shit get to you, in the end music should be something that
brings a message of light to the dark. Even if it’s dark music.
SIX words to describe yourself…
1. Lanky
2. Hungry
3. Trusting
4. Wobbly
5. Euphoric
6. Goofy
SEVEN things you love in your city
1. The endless but short summers
2. The lost and found Nights
3. The Friends of friends of making new friends
4. The lush parks for Running in
5. Thai Park for having a day of feasting all the tasty snacks
EIGHT things you love from the 80s…
1. The music
2. The fashion
3. The Bat Cave
4. Everything about Blade Runner
5. Tangerine Dream movie soundtracks
6. Bad Television Commercials
7. B-horror films
8. Bad Action films
NINE minute track (or more) that you wish it was even longer…
The Juan Maclean – Happy House 12:38 LP Version.
This sparks special NYC nightlife memories. An era in my early days of DJng and going out,
that felt timeless and continues to hold that spark strong in my heart.
TEN years later, how do you imagine yourself…
As much as I feel like I will never leave the stage, I still want to be performing at 80 or 90 if the
legs allow haha, I do plan on venturing more into soundtrack work and music supervision.
Being a music supervisor for film and tv echos a lot of the same process as a DJ to me. You dig
and search for music that speaks to one another, telling a story and creating a mood. I’m really
drawn to this with Film and Television Series. The music plays such an integral role in creating
the vibe and feeling of the visual story being told. So 10 years from now, I definitely will be more
involved with the visual realm of music.
ELEVEN minutes to draw something for LAGASTA…
TWELVE inches version of a track you adore…
Yello – Lost Again (Extended 12’’ Mix) is an absolute timeless beauty. Its got such a romantic
vibe, but at the same, dark David Lynch melancholic energy to it.
THIRTEEN-year-old Luca is dreaming to be…
scene where Michael J Fox travels to the 50’s and plays Johnny B Goode by the legendary
Chuck Berry. Rocking out, everyone in the crowd going wild.. And I was drawn to the whole
scene like a magnet. One of my fav movies at the time was also La Bamba, about rock n roll
pioneer, Richie Valens. Besides the bands I was listening to, these films took music to a visual
understanding for me, and sparked the urge and desire to be a performer.
Curses’ drops his sophomore album “Incarnadine” on Dischi Autunno.
Following his excellent 2018 debut “Romantic Fiction”, Curses makes a welcome return with his new album entitled “Incarnadine”, a 10-track record featuring collaborations with Jennifer Touch and TERR.
“The album is a dialogue between the inner self and outer, and romance of eternal and immortal existence. Hence the first single, ‘Miriam’ being a ballad to the Vampiress main character in The Hunger book and film from the 80s. How do we make an emotion timeless?“
Cult classic film The Hunger explores themes of immortality, love and timelessness, the post-modern vampire film contains a dark glamorous atmosphere and stars David Bowie. In a similar way we can see this reference transposed on Curses record. Slick production values and dark grooving melodies push the listener down a path.
