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With his brand-new remix album 'Exchange', Michael Fakesch brings himself to mind as one of the great innovators of broken beat electronica. From his 12-year-long history as one half of pioneering group Funkstörung, to his influential Musik Aus Strom label, and the soulful glitch-funk of his solo productions, the South-German producer is a true master of the edit. We dedicate this newsletter to some of the highlights in Fakesch's impressive career, including many Musik Aus Strom classics which you will not find anywhere else.
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FEATURED RELEASE
The art of remixing. Michael Fakesch's history in this field goes back to Funkstörung's famous version of Bjørk's 'All Is Full Of Love' in 1998 and has continued over the years with edits, versions and revamps for a who-is-who of international artists, both together with ex-partner Chris De Luca and as a solo artist.
'Exchange' collects 18 remixes produced by Fakesch using tracks by other artists, but given the fact that most of these are now released for the first time on this volume, and that most are complete recompositions, it can very much be seen as a new Michael Fakesch solo album - his first one in 3 years.
Mr. Oizo, Booka Shade, Towa Tei, Bomb The Bass, Matthew Herbert, Jimmy Edgar, Notwist, Jean-Jaques Perrey - the list of original artists featured on 'Exchange' already speaks volumes about the album's eclectic brilliance. What it can't convey however is the way in which Fakesch turns each of these remixes into a meticulously polished work of art.
Take Raz Ohara's 'The Burning (Desire)' for instance, where the indie folk original gets re-imagined by Fakesch as deep-house electro-funk cross-over. Fakesch always treats his sources with respect, managing to leave their essence intact but bending the rest to meet his (booty-fidget-tronica) ends. Remixing is indeed an artform, and Michael Fakesch is one of its prime practitioners.
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MORE MUSIK AUS STROM ESSENTIALS
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Album released 30-07-2007 on !K7
Fakesch's second solo album after 1999's 'Marion', 'Dos' is an exercise in pure electronic funk. Recorded together with vocalist Taprikk Sweezee, the album collides Prince and P-Funk with the edit-heavy electronica sounds of Funkstörung. Sublime album.
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Album released 13-06-2005 on !K7
In the early 90ies Funkstörung recorded a bunch of now legendary seven inches for Bunker's sub label Acid Planet. 'Return To The Acid Planet' pays tribute to those early recordings, colliding acid breaks, old-school house and glitch-tronica. Funkstörung's last album, marking the end of an era.
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'Marion' was Michael Fakesch's debut solo album. A great selection of funked-up electronica tracks, including highlights such as the brilliant 'From Crocut'. Fakesch's wicked beat-editing is the golden thread running through the album, as is his ingenious use of free-style melodies.
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Album released 29-04-2004 on !K7
Four years after the glitch-hop debut album, 'Appetite For Disctruction', Funkstörung returned in '04 with 'Disconnected', which added a dimension to their productions previously only hinted at: vocals. A new, more accessible, and engaging direction that further defined the duo's unique sound.
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Album released 25-04-2000 on !K7
Funkstörung's debut album conjured up images of broken CDs - via its title, its Designers Republic cover artwork, and via the duo's trademark sliced, stretched and otherwise mutilated beats. Part hip-hop, part Autechre, this pre-dates Prefuse 73, Dabrye and many others - landmark album!
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Michael Fakesch's collaborative project with André Estermann as Aemic yielded two EP releases in the late 90s. In 'Beta', the duo wraps chimey, analog, melodic elements around crushed and compressed dry percussion that vary from sparse to extremely busy and all-together spontaneous.
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Featuring the first ever remix manufactured by Boards Of Canada, Michael Fakesch's first Demon EP on his own Musik Aus Strom label certainly holds a place in electronica history. A great record which impressively shows how early Fakesch and Funkstörung had developed their signature sound.
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The second instalment in Michael Fakesch's Demon trilogy, 'Demon 2' is a monster of shuffling and rolling snippet-beats, soothed by abstract ambient melodies. Comes with a nice remix by Skam's Jega.
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Third and last solo EP by Michael Fakesch in a series of three, showcasing an even more mature and perfected sound than on his previous two EPs. Released at a time when the term IDM had established itself as an exciting and innovative genre, 'Demon 3' is a slightly overlooked classic of this era.
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Compilation released 04-11-2002 on !K7
Over the years Michael Fakesch amassed two enormous boxes of demo-material intended for Musik Aus Strom. With a little help from the Funckarma brothers, who actually discovered these boxes, 'MAS Confusion' was born, a 12 track compilation featuring among others Clatterbox, Xela, and Lusine.
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