Funkstorung

Munich's Funkst?rung have been described as the German Autechre, a description which probably has less to do with their sound than the interest the group has attracted to their label Musik Aus Strom. Similar to Autechre's Skam label, Musik Aus Strom (German, roughly, for "synthesizer music") has become one of the more collectible, obsessed-over underground electronica labels. Composed of Michael Fakesch and Chris De Luca, Funkst?rung's are known for their excursions into dark, muddy, lo- fi electro and instrumental hip-hop. Their early releases comprised of a number of relatively straight-ahead techno records on Bunker sublabel Acid Planet beginning in 1994. The duo were contacted soon after by none other than Aphex Twin's Rephlex label about releasing some material, but stalled plans and unanswered phone calls led the pair to forego the label-shopping route early on, and most of their most significant material to date has appeared through MAS. In 1999 Funkst?rung hooked up with Studio !K7 and released the remix collection Additional Productions. They returned one year later with their full-length debut, Appetite for Disctruction. Their latest release Disconnected sees the duo successfully explore new territory with guitars and acoustic instruments and a plethora of guest vocalists. For Funkst?rung, Disconnected is a notable leap into new musical territory, which didn?t happen altogether by coincidence. "Pure electronic music was starting to bore us, it was somehow no longer our thing and we had to free ourselves from this feeling. We have always had the remixes with vocals and acoustic instruments at the back of our minds and then searched intensively for instrumentalists", says Fakesch. In the past two years, Funkst?rung have worked together with about thirty different musicians to find a trace of the right sound for their new vibe. Despite innumerable international contacts, they made the decisive discovery right in their own backyard. In the Munich studio "The Goldmine", they met a string of musicians who were crazy enough to set out on an adventure with some programmers who had suddenly developed a weakness for acoustic instruments ? these artists would provide the many acoustic components of the new album. As a title, "Disconnected" can be widely interpreted. It can be even applied to the working method of Funkst?rung. Extensive studio sessions with musician colleagues are not their thing. They prefer to work as a duo alone in the Rosenheim studio, letting the tracks fall into the FTP server. They've barely even set eyes on guest vocalist Enik. Communication is via music, in that Funkst?rung prepare sketches and initial arrangements for their fellow musicians. They have a free hand and can decide for themselves how to compliment the piece. "How committed and independent the artists with whom we work are themselves is ultimately decisive. The principle can only work in that way. We are producers, not songwriters or instrumentalists and, in this sense, we are naturally 'disconnected', when we wait excitedly in our studio to see how it develops further." says Fakesch.