Biography
XRS Land is a place where emotions become characters, and melodies imprint color and temperature to objects of our daily life. A sunflower divided between the sun and the moon, burning of love. The winter is always blue, although scenarios and hearts might be on fire, red and gold. Drum patterns are the background for water oscillations. Journeys from south to north, underwater, through our beloved oceans, bring the present of our life, of the mud of which we are made.
Biography:
Michael de Oliveira Nicassio has a rich musical biography. Extremely versatile, he has adopted many aliases, such as XRS, Xerxes, XRS Land, Sys-X and Kapitel 6.
Known as one of the key figures responsible for the high visibility of Brazilian drum’n’bass, Michael´s debut as producer was in 1993, when he won a contest with the remix “Power 2 the People”, a hardcore track produced from tiny analog reel-to-reel tape samples cut by hand and spliced together.
Founded in 1996 by XRS and Ramilson Maia, Innerground was the first Brazilian label to release drum’n’bass. The release of the EP “From the Land you the City” initiated the project named XRS Land, that culminated in the álbum “Sarau” (1999). One of the tracks on this album, “Só”, produced together with Jorge Paizão and Marcello Marcky, was the first to have vocals in Portuguese, and inaugurated a Brazilian influenced movement in drum’n’bass that, some years later, would be incorporated as an “authentic” expression of the style.
Since his first international show in NY 2001, XRS has played in every continent. Among the memorable nights he mentions Belém do Pará, “the warmest public in Brazil”, the Soul:ution sessions in Manchester, the perfect sound system of The Womb in Tokyo and the Innerground party at The End in London.
His musical partners include critically acclaimed artists across many styles, such as Marcus Intalex, ST Files, Calibre, Gilberto Gil, Daniela Mercury, Fernanda Porto, Hugh Burrows, Cleveland Watkiss, Victor Duplaix, Jenna G and Singing Fats. As a remixer, XRS recreated tracks from big names in Brazil and abroad, such as Roberto Carlos, Otto, Marina Lima, Fernanda Abreu, Jorge Ben, Paulinho Moska, Dave Angel, Roy Ayers, Bebel Gilberto, US3 and Tali MC.
Created in 2008, his new label Tupy deals with various styles of Brazilian popular music, ranging from samba to techno and drum’n’bass. With only one year of existence, it is already rocking dancefloors and living rooms across continents with its unique blend of beats and melodies.
It is extremely advisable to stay tuned on these new waveforms. Tropical storms are about to come from South America.
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