Mood Area 52
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 sextet, combining the talents of accordionist and vocalist Michael Roderick, cellist Amy Danziger, guitarist Billy Barnett, vocalist Marietta Bonaventure, bassists Dorian Crow and Jeremiah Harris, and drummer James West. Mood Area 52 also features various Oregon musicians including Dustin Lanker, Mckenzie Stubbert, Dan Schmidt, Dylan DeRobertis, Anthony Dyer, Derek Trost, Kee Zublin, Cosmos Corbin, Sylvain Duplant, 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, accopanying 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."
Listen to music samples or Buy the Albums... (click album covers to go to CD baby)
For additional information about Mood Area 52:
From the U of O Emerald
Mood Area 52 is as spooky a tango group as you're likely to find in this town or any other. Their full-length, self-titled album contains one of my new favorite compositions ("Furniture Migration") as well as a number of other brilliant little pieces of creepy mood music. It has been said that they're looking for films to score, so if you need a little old-school European flavor, you might want to get in touch.
From the Eugene Weekly
Eugene's own Mood Area 52 always sounded like they were providing the soundtrack to an alternate universe where lounge music was a serious blend of Piazzolla and jazz rather than merely a lifestyle marketing concept. So the tango masters have long made a splendid accompaniment to silent films — including, for the fourth time, MA52's Michael Roderick's original score for F.W. Murnau's spellbinding 1922 silent film Nosferatu. - 10/28/06
Mood Area 52's instrumental music moves gently from tango rhythms to old-world melodies, anchored by Roderick's skilled accordion playing. Close your eyes, and it's easy to imagine yourself in a French café on a shadowy cobblestone street, or in a gypsy village under the stars. Roderick enjoys composing film scores, and would like to do more of this with Mood Area 52. "I think we all harbor the aspirations of doing music for films," says Roderick, "So I'm trying to shop this recording around in the hopes that someone will be interested in using it in that sort of context.
Eugene Weekly Review of 2000 MA52 CD Release
A local quintet, this band's debut CD is self-described as "tango nuevo." Jauntily combining sax, guitar, marimba, bass and accordion, the nine instrumentals exude a continental ambience. Whether for cafe society class, lounge lizard cool or rustic romance, MA52 gets my vote. Mood Area 52 features members of such local favorites as Thong, Los Mex Pistols and The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, so you know the music's good.
From The Tango Times
Michael Roderick, of Mood Area 52, loves playing at the Tango Center. "It's been a real pleasure to play in that environment." Recognizing the Tango Center's need to immediately raise funds and reorganize to sustain its downtown presence, this performance is Mood Area 52’s contribution to community building efforts. “It's nice to have a spot like this developed downtown,” says Roderick, “it's really cool and beautiful.” Mood Area 52 is a locally founded tango band that reaches audiences worldwide. They’ve recently returned from a successful tour of Argentina, where they were received enthusiastically by both live and radio audiences alike. We’re fortunate to have live music of this caliber to dance to. For more information on Mood Area 52, vist their site: http://www.rocketboyarts.com/MA52/. They also have CDs for purchase at the Tango Center.
From The Willamette Week BY AMY MCULLOUGH [November 7th, 2007] Halloween used to be so simple. As a kid, my mother transformed me into plenty of things that filled me with joy: a strawberry, a ladybug, an angel with devil horns and a barbed tail. She had a knack for costume making (my brother’s Venkman costume featured a damn-near-exact replica proton pack), and as long as I made it to the Brewsters’ house in time for a homemade popcorn ball, all was right with the world. In college, I learned the fine art of Halloween sluttery: Pick out a headband decorated with horns, ears, antennae or the like; couple it with something tight, shiny, short, etc. and—voilà! But what’s a gal to do when she inevitably outgrows fishnets and Natural Ice? A grown-up Halloween can mean a lot of things: If you have kids, break out the Simplicity patterns and dress ’em up yourself; if you’re a homeowner, employ fake blood and yard decorations to give your trick-or-treaters a gory scare. But if you’re an apartment-dwelling, childless twentysomething like myself (and many other Portlanders), these aren’t realistic options—which is why I ended up at the Mission Theater for Mood Area 52’s live scoring of F.W. Murnau’s classic vampire flick, Nosferatu, this Halloween. As ghouls and mice, starlets and beatniks filed into the 200-capacity hall, Michael Roderick’s Eugene-based, klezmer-tinged neo-tango ensemble, Mood Area 52—which holds the title for most mismatched band name, as there are no trippy light shows or spacey keyboards to be found—ushered in the evening. Roderick, seated on a tiny stool and donning a sort of mad circus ringleader getup (tailored suit, dark-circled eyes, tall hat, unruly beard), teetered on the edge of the stage, roiling accordion in hand. Later, he took to shouting chanty verses at the crowd, channeling the gruff spirit of Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse’s “March Into the Sea.” When Nosferatu finally began, the band melted skillfully into the background; it was so subtle I could have sworn actual sound effects, like creaking-door and wind noises, were part of the film, even though I knew better. But Mood Area 52—which has also lent its sound (a melding of tango with everything from electronic beats and surf guitar to Roderick’s masterfully played cornet) to British sci-fi flick La Jetée and several Buster Keaton shorts—also swelled and shattered at all the right moments; it created tension and drama in a film that, though quite entertaining, does have dull, lagging moments. Even when vocalist Marietta Bonaventure sang intermittently, the startling sound of her voice quickly and appropriately blended into the experience as a whole. And though I expected the event—with its mature soundtrack, ornate venue and seated, wine-drinking crowd—to make for a sophisticated way to appreciate my favorite holiday, I couldn’t help but grin and giggle with delight at every one of Count Orlok’s creepy moves or drummer James West’s spooky accoutrements. I was even a bit disappointed to discover that Roderick doesn’t usually dress and act like the crazed conductor he played last Wednesday night. Maybe I don’t want to grow up after all.
Mood Area 52c/o Michael Roderick
840 west 3rd Ave.
Eugene, OR 97402
(541) 343-1428
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