mentalEscape

Wikipedia:

MentalEscape (born June 1, 1983) is a Bosnian American post Industrial-Electronica solo project with EBM, Breakcore, and Hard Trance elements. The music can be described as dark and aggressive electronica as defined by the umbrella term. Similar artists to MentalEscape include Combichrist, Tactical Sekt, Grendel and Suicide Commando.

Mirza Causevic is a native of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but grew up in Revere, Massachusetts, U.S. near Boston, while spending summers in his home city Sarajevo. He is fluent in English and in Bosnian.

In 2001, Causevic, under the pseudonym Detrude, released his first single Industrial Whore, which hit #1 on the MP3.com Industrial Rock charts.

The single was remixed by GITM (Ghost In The Machine) and both MentalEscape and GITM enjoyed having the song be featured on a compilation album released by Raw42 Records called Definitive:Twisted (circa 2001). A review from A&R stated: "Industrial Whore (GITM Mix) by Detrude is a fantastic blast of industrial dance for the clubbers. Pounding, throbbing and sweat-inducing."

Misterbuster labeled the song as "generic techno rock" but also stated that it was very reminiscent of Lords Of Acid. An early 2000 review from LISTEN.Com stated that MentalEscape "convolutes melodic Euro grooves with a metallic Industrial appeal and a Hardcore affinity. Throbbing beats and breaks immersed in a mass of chemical confusion hit hard and fast. Robert Miles, outside of a Nine Inch Nails show."

In the past, MentalEscape has disputed the classification of his music by review critics because it is 'always changing'. He prefers being labeled as "Universal Sound Engineer", hinting that he does not stick to producing only one style of music as he is an avid fan of Ambient, Drum and Bass, hip hop, Industrial, Heavy Metal and Trance music.

In 2006, MentalEscape was tapped to produce and write the music score for the indie feature film Duality directed by Dominic Portalla, his colleague from college. This made Mirza one of the first Bosnians to score a feature length American film.

Later in 2008, MentalEscape composed a music score for a psych-thriller film entitled The Darkness Within (film)

Biography

Mirza ("Mizi") Causevic was born to Bosnian parents in 1983 in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mirza and his family moved to Revere, Massachusetts, where he went to grade school and eventually to college, where he majored in Multimedia and Digital Filmmaking & Video Production.

As a teenager, he became a DJ at local parties but shortly after decided to focus on production rather than spinning tracks at parties. In 2003, he co-founded a film and media production group called Door Eleven Productions with two friends, Dominic Portalla and Dennis Pinto. Door Eleven Productions has produced four short films: My Suburban Hell, Be Kind, Rewind, Billboard America, Jimmy's Birthday and one feature length film entitled Duality.

Aside of music and film, Mirza is also a digital artist as well as a photographer.

Style

Causevic's art & media production is known for its elements of dark atmospheric surrealism, polychromatic images and dreamlike sequences. Some of his work is often created by calculating mathematical functions and transforming its results into still images with vivid colors.

Influences

MentalEscape influences include:

Credited remix work

MentalEscape has done remixes for the following artists:

Other projects