The Band performs acoustically as a duo with Michael Roderick and cellist Amy Danziger, and expands into a quintet, combining the talents of accordionist and vocalist Michael Roderick, cellist Amy Danziger, guitarist Billy Barnett, bassists Dorian Crow and Jeremiah Harris, and drummer James West. Mood Area 52 also features various Oregon musicians including Erin Williams on saw, Dustin Lanker, Mckenzie Stubbert, Dan Schmidt, Sylvain Duplant, Dylan DeRobertis, Anthony Dyer, Derek Trost, Kee Zublin Adam Wendt, David Roderick, Cosmos Corbin, Marietta Bonaventure, Kelly Leguizamon, and Richard Johnson, adding horns, strings, drums, and additional vocals.
Influences
Surrealist art, Buster Keaton, malfunctioning appliances, accidental art, unexpected setbacks, sad books, happy food, 19th century narratives of maritime cannibalism, antiquarian garbage, 15-ton sentences, ornate, impractical machines, awkward humor, Danny Elfman.
Michael Roderick founded Mood Area 52 in 1998 as a Piazzola inspired neo-tango ensemble. Since then the group has incorporated Golden Age Tango material, lounge, electronica, Eastern European influences, polyglot vocal material, Waitsian cabaret tunes, chanson, and original compositions about love, loss, genetic mutations, daring women in petticoats, and the ill-hatched crimes of ambitious charlatans into their self-styled Chamber Americana repertoire.
The Band performs acoustically as a duo with Michael Roderick and cellist Amy Danziger, and expands into a quintet, combining the talents of accordionist and vocalist Michael Roderick, cellist Amy Danziger, guitarist Billy Barnett, bassists Dorian Crow and Jeremiah Harris, and drummer James West. Mood Area 52 also features various Oregon musicians including Erin Williams on saw, Dustin Lanker, Mckenzie Stubbert, Dan Schmidt, Sylvain Duplant, Dylan DeRobertis, Anthony Dyer, Derek Trost, Kee Zublin Adam Wendt, David Roderick, Cosmos Corbin, Marietta Bonaventure, Kelly Leguizamon, and Richard Johnson, adding horns, strings, drums, and additional vocals.
Mood Area 52 has performed with Naim Amor, Chuck Palhnuik, The Damo Suzuki Network, Rasputina, The Tin Hat Trio, Slowpoke, Amy Denio, Devotchka, David Lindley, and many other national acts. They perform in venues ranging from clubs to festival stages to old folks homes, accompanying burlesque troops and providing original soundtracks to golden age films.
Mood Area 52 has written and performed original soundtracks to F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu", Marks' distopian sci-fi classic "La Jette", Sunset Boulevard, numerous Buster Keaton shorts, and several independent films.
Mood Area 52's composition "Furniture Migration" will be used in an upcoming animated short by acclaimed Spanish animated film director Ricard Gras, and Music from their most recent album "Guevara's Ghost" will be used in an upcoming documentary on the life of Che Guevara called "Imagen del Hombre Nuevo." "Occluded Pets" was recently purchased for use in an Argentine television program thanks to Rumblefish, who has helped market many of Mood Area 52's songs.
For commercial licensing, please contact Whitney Jones at Rumblefish whitney@rumblefish.com
Send booking questions and any other questions to Michael Roderick through this website.
Mood Area 52 is available to play milongas and has connections with the Eugene, Portland, and San Francisco tango community. Their music and interviews have been featured on Argentine public Radio and on the Buenos Aires station Dos por Quatro.
Roderick and Cosmos’ collaboration, "Guevara’s Ghost", a fusion of tango, lounge, and glitchy trip-hop beats, is now available through Rocketboy Arts along with their previous releases "Mood Area 52" and "Nine Fancy Tangos."
I just accidentally turned on the tv at exactly the moment your Oregon Art Beat spot began! Congrats! It was pretty good, although it was salt on the wound I feel not having seen or heard you all live for a very, very long time. I'm proud to announce I'm done with cancer treatment now, after exactly one whole year, and I oughtta be gettin' out more so I'll see you around! Celeste
Salut!! ça y est!? le nouvel album est enfin sorti?! j'espère pouvoir arriver à m'en procurer un! ...ou mieux!! : si vous venez en France, vous pouvez vous arreter à la maison pour jouer quelque morceaux!!
A plus tard (dans l'espoir de pouvoir revenir vous voir très vite)
Emilien (sorry to write in french! Bill, You translate, please?!)
Hi lovelies.... I was contemplating doing a burlesque routine to your version of St. James Infirmary.....I know I have it somewhere, but now I can't figure out which cd it's on...Is it maybe just on something you burned for Adam, or is it on a real cd?
Hey guys (and gals). Wanted to say thanks for pulling something together the other night AND thanks for the CDs!! I've listened to them like 20 times each already, y'all are amazing!! Cheers, Jamie.
