Deus ex Machina

Music:

Member Since: 6/1/2005
Band Website: deusexmachina.com.mx
Band Members:

Jose Luis Pellicer (a.k.a. Transistor) digital howls

Manuel Mejias (a.k.a. Mantrax) audio recycling

Fernando Zambrana (a.k.a. Anarköma) irritant textures

Currently Transistor is the only active member of Deus ex Machina

My main influence, as Transistor, came from Skinny Puppy. When I was in high school (yeah, well... a long time ago) I liked techno very much, but I felt like it was missing something. I liked the analog sounds and all, but the sound was so perfectly clear and the voices (some) were great, but I wanted something else.
Then I stumbled on Skinny Puppy's ViViSectVi (or Skinny Puppy stumbled me?) and I was amazed: exactly what I wanted. About that time, I found an article that further inspired me, in Keyboard magazine, about Cyberpunk music. Incredible! I HAD to find those artists!

Then I started to listen to more electo-EBM acts, like Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Leaether Strip, Nitzer Ebb, A Split Second, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails.
Then I found more experimental stuff, like Einstürzende Neubauten, Severed Heads, Foetus (a.k.a. Jim Thirwell).

Then I went back to the roots: Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, The Art Of Noise...
And finally traced the very origins of electronic music to Concrete Music (France) and Futurism (Italy) where, unfortunatly I couldn't find any recordings... but I related to their manifestos, attitude and history.

Now fast-forward to the 90s, fantastic times for electronic music if you ask me, with the Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, Delerium, Raves and so many, many others... Sure I listen to other stuff, like Rock, R&B and Classical music.
For a complete and uncensored list check my iTunes Registry account .

In a more classical fashion, my musical influences started early in my childhood thanks to my mother. She sang with a choir and taught us (me and my brother and sisters) to appreciate music, to distinguish one instrument from another and listen to what they play.
She taught me to play the guitar and I actually sang with the children's choir along with the adult's choir.
My grandmother taught me to play the piano. She was strict but I liked it (the piano!) so when I found keyboards, it felt like the way to go.

I'm not a bigot, I will listen to everything at least once, but my choices for personal listening are quite eclectic.

But that's not all!
Literature and movies have also made a significant influence. Movies like Blade Runner (great Vangelis soundtrack by the way), A Clockwork Orange (Wendy Carlos! yeah!), Terminator (all of them, actually), Robocop (only the fist one), Brazil (Terry Gilliam, wow), Total Recall and more recently Starship troopers, Matrix (only the first one)... and many, many others.
Check out the ratings and reviews of the movies I've seen at Flixter .

Books like The Naked Lunch (W. S. Burroughs) and classics like I, Robot (I. Asimov), Neuromancer (W. Gibson), 1984 (G. Orwell) and others from P. K. Dick, A. C. Clarke, H. G. Wells, A. Huxley, etc. etc. etc....

HOWEVER, when I start playing something that *could* be a Deus ex Machina song, there's no saying what the main influence will be... Neubauten? Skinny Puppy? Madonna? Rossini? who knows?!