Vibing with Mysicka’s Electronic Pulses

Senior Brandon Mysicka produces electronic-style EP

Lindsay Tenes & Maura TurcotteThe Santa ClaraOctober 6, 2016This summer, while many Santa Clara students tested their mettle in the real world with jobs or internships to add to their burgeoning resumes, senior Brandon Mysicka was hard at work on an EP.Mysicka, who grew up watching his older brother play guitar, has always tinkered around with music, whether it be acoustically on the guitar or electronically on his computer.But it wasn’t until this summer that he ever tackled a full-length project. Moving to a new city prompted the Sacramento-native to think seriously about his passions.“I went to Portland to focus on myself, it wasn’t to create a masterpiece or anything. (Focusing on myself ) happens to be writing music a lot, so at the end I happened to have an EP,” explained Mysicka.Living with his cousin and cousin’s wife in the hipster capital of the world, Mysicka was in a brand new environment that gave him the freedom to be alone.“When you’re by yourself, you’re listening to the music that you like to hear and only the TV that you want to watch. I came back in touch with a lot of the things I really like,” Mysicka said.The chance to explore his own interests opened a creative space in which he could dedicate his time to making music.“Once I made four or so songs that were different but all under the same umbrella of orchestral electronic quality, I thought I should turn it into a project,” Mysicka said.When asked to describe his style, he told us that it’s “largely electronic-glitch-style-musicmeets-anime-video-game-soundtrack.” Seeing our two confused faces, he elaborated, “I have a lot of traditional orchestral music from video games and movie soundtracks mixed in with electronic beats and glitch sounds.”As two people who largely know nothing about electronic music, this sounds more like SNL character Stefan describing a New York club than a music genre. But we’re here to tell you that even to the untrained ear, his music is melodically very pleasing (big music words happening here) and like nothing we’ve ever heard before.And even though he works within an extremely specific genre, Mysicka believes he offers something for everyone in his music, from atmospheric and hypnotic soundscapes to thunderous warblings.“I want to create a space and for you to feel like you’re in a different world when you listen to my songs,” he said. “You’re immersed in a physical space, but I also want to tell a story melodically with proper arrangement. I want to create this ambiguous story anyone could interpret differently.”At the same time that he was defining his style this summer, he began looking for a project in the video game industry. He came across a company called Mutt Studios, which happened to be looking for someone to create sounds for their game, Crucible, similar to the ones Brandon was already making.“It happened at the same time which was really odd. I didn’t create this music because I was supposed to do it for (Mutt Studios), I was finding my own sound that they also wanted,” he said.And while, technically, Mysicka majors in Physics Engineering, don’t expect this longhaired blond—often clad in tie-dye of some sort—to suddenly give up music once he enters the real world.In fact, Mysicka has no plans of pursuing anything with his physics degree, but remains in the major because “knowledge is knowledge.” Instead of continuing with physics, he plans on committing himself fully to music.“My number one goal is to never have a real job. Anything non-music related is a real job. My ideal career would be writing music for video games. Right now I’m on the path to doing all the sound design and foley art for video games and write music,” Mysicka said. “Ideally, I want to be a touring musician but the music I like to make is too niche—but you never know.”Before he graduates and can leave the physics world for good, you can catch his KSCU radio show at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. As the production director of KSCU since May 2015, he’s much too humble to play his own music, instead using the time to rage it out with punk rock.When asked about advice he would give to others looking to pursue their passions, he said, “The only thing between you and doing what you love is dedication. Put down the beer die and go do something you love.”Apparently, even if it has nothing to do with your major.Check out Mysicka’s EP, “breathe” on his SoundCloud page under the username, mysicka.Contact Lindsay Tenes at ltenes@scu.edu and Maura Turcotte at mturcotte@scu.edu. or call (408) 554-4852