Words by Bryan Whitefield

Whether DJing as Egg Foo Young while dressed as a Chinese farmer, or hosting Penelope Cruz and David Hasselhoff lookalike contests, Ghostly International’s newest artist (Adrian) Michna is never afraid to do that little something extra. That special flourish to engrain in your memory. “It all started for me when one of my friends bought a strobe light. This one little light from Radio Shack changed our life. We realized all you have to do is blast techno, or really anything, with that light going and people would go nuts. It inspired us to go even further with smoke machines and disco balls, costumes…anything we could do for cheap to make people come out and remember our parties.” So how did he get Ghostly founder Sam Valenti to recognize his name out of a stack of demos? “I had performed some magic tricks for him.” Of course.

Listeners got an introduction to Michna’s mischievous mix of vocal snips, crunchy drums and a little Miami bass on this year’s Ghostly Swim compilation. Then on his debut album, Magic Monday, Michna took a unique approach to creating the textured electronic beats: “I like to look at the computer as a way to almost turn myself into a robot. A fancy sampler that can take my voice and everyday sounds and turn them into something more interesting.”