Mic Newman is the mastermind behind Fantastic Man, a thrilling musical project hailing from Australia and merging together echoes of the 90s trance music, house, club, and experimental. We caught up with Mic in Berlin to discuss his most recent release Visions of Dance Vol.2.
So, Mic, you’re originally from Melbourne. What brought you to Berlin?
Music and its proximity to the scene. Berlin was the second European city that I lived in. I moved to London first and I was there for like, eight months. Then I went back and forth between Melbourne and London for a few years, touring a little bit, living a little bit. And then at some point, Berlin seemed the more humane option for doing what I do, uh, in terms of time, pressure, all that stuff. A lot of friends were here, a lot of colleagues were here, a lot of clubs were here. You know, it’s the same as, if you’re an actor, you go to Hollywood. That kinda thing.
I heard somewhere that Aphex Twin and Larry Heard are your fans.
I mean, Aphex Twin definitely played my track Trance Sexual during his tour in 2017. It was a pretty good exposure for me. I think Larry Heard put a remix of mine in a mix that he privately sent out. Somebody told me that so that’s hearsay, I can’t confirm that one. But Aphex Twin is definitely there. It’s on the Internet.
What about yourself, are you someone’s fan?
Many people actually. Definitely Aphex Twin and Larry Heard. It’s a match. I mean, those two are absolute legends that inspired so many people. So yeah, that’s a very, very flattering and nice thing to know.
Have you always composed electronic music or maybe you had a guitar music phase or did you always want to do electronic music?
My father was a classical guitarist and there were always guitars in my house. I played guitar when I was young. I listened to bands like Nirvana and Silverchair. I grew up in the late nineties, so all that grunge stuff was around, so in high school I was into that, then there was my weed-smoking fase and hip-hop. When I turned 18 and started going to raves, that’s when the electronic bug bit me and that was it. I was just like, I need to be a DJ!
Your latest release was Visions of Dance Vol.2 what was the concept behind it?
It was a kind of playful way to narrow the scope of what I wanted to do. Inspired by the early nineties proto trance, house, you know kinda fusing all of those sounds from the time where the genres hadn’t really split up, you know? That’s the kind of sound that I really love and I dig for. so I wanted to recreate that in a more contemporary sense, but also with Visions of Dance, I wanted it to be a series focused on the club.
How do you approach the writing process? Is it like more improvised or do you usually have a clear image of the sound you want to achieve?
It depends, it can be both. I think the real inspiration comes when you are on the dance floor and sometimes like that can be really inspiring. I’ll come away from a huge weekend at a festival where I hear some amazing music that I wasn’t expecting and that will give me a very clear idea of what I want to do. Sometimes it’s just jamming, you know, with just like whatever in the studio, sometimes it’s samples, you know, I might sample something and that’ll be the defining thing of the track and I’ll build around that. It really depends, you know.
What was your most recent wow sample moment?
I’ve been ordering a lot of early nineties trance records from Discogs, but I don’t remember the names 🙂
What’s happening for Fantastic Man in 2023?
I have about four remixes planned. Possibly working on Visions of Dance Vol.3, I mean, I have a lot of music in in the bag that I’m working on. It’s gonna be fun!
Listen to Visions of Dance Vol.2 below:
