Michael Fakesch

Dos is Michael Fakesch's first post- Funkstörung release. The German electronic duo pioneered a stunning collision of beat-based mayhem, digital electro madness and broad techno rhythms to great effect from 1994 to 2006, but when it comes to Fakesch's solo work, it's best to expect the unexpected.

For instance, not only can the articulate and genial Fakesch not decide whether his forthcoming album Dos is his second solo album (he released Marion in 1999, but, as he points out, that was a collection of tracks rather than a formulated body of work) but he's troubled as to whether Dos is in fact a solo album, given that he co-wrote it with vocalist Taprikk Sweezee.

"It doesn't feel like a solo album," Fakesch explains, "because Taprikk co-wrote it. But for Taprikk it felt more like a guest appearance so he suggested that I keep it under my own name." A true modern-day renaissance man, Taprikk is founder and one of the characters behind Zoikmusic (www.zoik.de), a net label platform where music, small comics and magazines are released. Having been introduced by a mutual friend, their musical pasts - Michael's peerless IDM (a term he detests) work and Taprikk's out-there soul, funk and rock excursions - might have suggested they'd make exemplary collaborators, but the reality exceeded both their expectations.

Dos is 21st Century funk: stone cold, down and dirty butt-shaking dance music from the soul. It may be layered with Fakesch's trademark bleeps and squelches, but these are but flourishes garnishing the main event. "I wanted to make it funky, dirty and not so over-programmed," Fakesch
says. "I wanted to make it rougher."

From the mad, slow techno of the opening track Escalate to the exquisite closer Channel and all points in between Dos echoes the legacy of Sly Stone, Grandmaster Flash, Prince, Derrick May and Aphex Twin at every turn. The orchestral manoeuvres in the dark of Wire suggests a brooding,
spooked-out Kanye West; Crest is OutKast on pills and the first single Soda sounds like Curtis Mayfield making sweet soul music with Luke Vibert (whom Michael will soon be remixing alongside Modeselektor, Mouse On Mars and Bomb The Bass).
"Funk is very important," he states not unreasonably, "but the funk I'm talking about is not necessarily that as meant by George Clinton. He's never really been an influence to be honest. It's more about the hip hop that was influenced by those guys and the funk in techno."

Since the demise of Funkstörung, Fakesch has been busy with remix work (amongst others Booka Shade and Herbert), soundtracking TV ads and even scoring movies (collaborating with Paul Haslinger on the upcoming New Line Feature Shoot Em Up, starring Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci, reinterpreting the score for the Oscar-winning short movie Glas). Dos will catapult the name Michael Fakesch back into the electronic mainstream. Like all great funk it's painted with the otherworldly cosmic brush that gives it real, intangible soul. Best of all, it's got that funk to make
heads spin and dancefloors sway.