User:Miguel Angel Bastida/sandbox

Deer Mx
Deer, also know as Deer Mx is a Mexican band  founded in 2013 by Miguel Bastida and Adriana Martinez Falcon in Hong Kong. Mixing trip rock, industrial sounds and deep basses plus the powerful vocals and the nostalgic in their lyrics. Deer have toured their hypnotic music across China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia, Estonia and Spain and performing in some of the best music festivals around Asia such as Sònar Festival (HK), Clockenflap (HK), V-Rox (Ru), Zandari Fest (KR), Wake Up Festival (TW) and The Asian* Invasion (EE). In 2016 they started working with the producer Yuchain from the Taiwanese band Green Eyes. In 2017 they worked together again for their debut Ep titled Portraits.

Formation
In 2012 Adriana Martinez, and Ethnomusicologist specialized on Chinese Music, decides to start her postgraduate studies in Hong Kong, at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Music Department. Meanwhile, she had a relationship of many years with Miguel Bastida. Both decided to move pursuing to enrich their careers. Adriana as a music researcher and Miguel as a Classical music composer. In 2013 after stablished in Kowloon, they started to do improvisation and composition sessions to create pop music. In those sessions were created "Just one way", that was later presented in the TV music capsule of Rock Angel by ATV in Hong Kong, and the single "How I feel", which later was released with good reception by the alternative media. In that year Miguel did the photo of a deer sculpture laying in the grass of one garden near the Nan Lian temple. Both musicians agreed that Deer was a short and simple name that could define the band. Since 2013 they started to play in different venues in Hong Kong and for different local media, such as ATV and RTHK. Due the size of Hong Kong, the opportunities to have a concert were very limited, so they started to tour around China and near territories, such as Taiwan and Japan. Deer explored a short acoustic stage when they include the Mexican drummer Aldo Quino to their tour. The sound of their first compositions include alternative rock and electro synth sounds. After this short stage, they decide to continue as a duo and explore  alternative music techniques that could enable them to perform as a band but with only two elements.

How I feel (2015)
In 2015 they did a modest release of the video of the single "How I feel". The video was directed by the Chilean Ernesto Araya, inspired on the 90’s movies aesthetic. The video creates a nostalgic flashback to films such like the Spanish Tesis by Alejandro Amenábar.

Portraits (2018)
In 2018 they released the EP Portraits. Portraits is a serie of imaginary stories that emerge from their experience as Hong Kong residents. The EP is part of a campaign that has been developed globally, but more specifically in Europe, Mexico and Korean Territory. The Ep was co-produced & Mixed by Yu Chain at Rooftop Audio Studios in Taipei, Taiwan. It was mastered by the Mexican musician Lenin Rojo.

Musical Characteristics and Lyrics
There are different music genres Deer has been described as, including Trip-hop, Industrial  , or Dark electro. Adriana and Miguel haver never referred to his own work as industrial music, but the use of noise and disonant machine beats evoque the style. In “Wild eyes” and “I want it all” the glimpses of industrial sounds dressed a traditional Rock song. “Alive" represents a fusion of down tempo and at moments ambient music, with a final section of electronic rock. “In the Shadows”, just as “How I feel”, takes the Bristol trip hop beats and combine them with melodic dramatism in the vocal part, just as some Latin American singers like Rita Guerrero or Chavela Vargas. Certain techniques and styles can be found throughout the songs. In "I want it all”, "Wild Eyes” and "In the Shadows" the use of the base in counterpoint with the voice makes harmonic references, but are not in a strict sense harmonic melodic compositions. In the song “Alive" the music dynamics of the instrumental parts are in times moving from pianísimo to fortísimo. The vocal interpretation is also very dynamic, could be describe in the first part as a pianísimo recitativo and the second part as a fortísimo molto expresivo. The songs sometimes make music references taking small  melodic motives, just like "Wild eyes," in which the final keyboard evoques “Closer” of Nine Inch Nails. Lyrical themes found in DEER songs are largely concerned with dark explorations of the self ranking from, existence, greed, self deception and ambition. They also include social criticism and topics like immigration, prostitution, and suicide.

Influences
Deer earliest influences include Radiohead, PJ Harvey, and Portishead, which helped shaped the first compositions of the band. Other artist of significance to Deer was James Blake, his simplicity and layered sound atmospheres inspired the down tempo sections of the band. The uses of voice looping technique is something that Deer also takes on their own music. Another large influence on the band's sound is UNKLE, because it combines acoustic instruments with electronic sections. Just as Nine Inch Nails, both bands in their own field are a mix of rock, powerful sounds with synth and electronic music elements. Vocally speaking, Adriana’s voice appeared multifaceted in different songs, "How I feel “ and "In The Shadows” incorporate soul vocal techniques. On the other hand, "Wild Eyes” and "I Want it All” had influence of rock style singing. The soft down tempo parts are almost spoken and have pop glimpses. Her vocal range glides in Contra alto- Mezzo Soprano, and the impost of her voice could variate according to the dramatic interpretation of the song, such as "In The Shadows”, where the voice sounds more bass and masculine. Her vocal has been compared to Nancy Sinatra and Shirley Bassey, however she has consider herself as an eclectic music lover. She admires deeply to female singers like Janis Joplin, Etta James, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Siouxsie Sioux, and Mercedes Sosa, to mention some. She also considers the stage projection of male singers like Jim Morrison or Zack de la Rocha as something that inspires her.

Live Performances
Miguel has fascination for the masks and their visual impact on the performative arts. He asked the designer Steve Wintercroft for a Deer paper stag mask. He replayed and sent the mask to the band. The band used it for the first time on stage at the Artouch Gallery in Hong Kong. After that, the band decided to incorporate the mask as and element of the performance. One cardboard mask is made for each show, and the mask is given to the person of the audience that actively interacts with the band.

Miguel Bastida
Active: 2013–present Instruments:  guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, programming (2013-present)

Adriana Martinez
Active: 2013–present Instruments:  vocals, guitar, synthesizers, lyric writer (2013-present)

Discography
EP Portraits 2018

External website
Official Website