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Fanu is the one man breakbeat reformation act from Helsinki, Finland.
Fanu got into jungle and drum
and bass in the mid-nineties,
which he considers a seminal period in
terms of shaping the backbone of drum
and bass as well as his own drum-and-bass-mindedness in the process. Artists such as Photek, Tek9, Source Direct, Goldie,
Roni Size, and labels such as Metalheadz
and Good Looking Records, to mention
the most important ones, were
largely responsible for making Fanu’s
style what it is today.
“I’m creating today’s drum and
bass and breakbeat music using aesthetics that come
from the past,” he says. “More
often than not, there has to be proper
breakbeat action in the music
that I write because what blew me
away in old drum and bass and jungle was the
mind-blowing syncopation, the breakbeat element that I didn't catch in other styles of music in the same way; I've never been the biggest fan of the drum-machine styles. For me, the breaks were what made jungle
and d&b what they were back then, and I'm after the same elements today. What's also important is a good groove and proper atmospheres you can lose yourself in.
What
is equally important in music is what
I call emotional resonance
(he admits he picked that one from
DJ Shadow); there is often this
certain level of depth in the tunes
that I find myself liking the most.
Imaginative soundworlds are where
it’s at!”
Fanu’s unique style has definitely
made an impact on today’s drum-and-atmosphere-hungry drum and
bass audience. Always a busy man in the studio, he has released
music on Subtitles, Commercial
Suicide, Offshore, Ohm Resistance, Breakin',
Warm Communications, Subtle
Audio, Thermal, Forestry
Service , LoCuts, Soothsayer,
13 Music, Pauze, Darkestral, Cyberset, and now he's concentrating on his own label, Lightless Recordings.
You can check past and future audio on the audio section of the site.
Lightless Recordings is Fanu's own imprint
for the style that he is pushing:
deep atmospheres and dirty fat breaks: for more info, check the Lightless section!
To close the circle, Fanu also DJs to represent the jungalism to the fullest:
so far, he’s been called to do do some breakbeat reformation work to England (Bristol, Exeter),
USA (Chicago, Washington DC, Saint Louis, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Jacksonville, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, New Orleans), Canada (Toronto), Hungary (Budapest, Pecs), Germany (Berlin, Leipzig), Holland (Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht, Antwerp), Poland (Warsaw, Rybnik, Katowice),
Czech (Pardubice), Belgium (Antwerp), Lithuania (Klaipeda), Latvia (Riga), Estonia (Tallinn), Sweden (Stockholm), Austria (Wien, Graz), Russia (Moscow, Wetluck Festival), Ukraine (Kiev), Bulgaria (Sofia), Italy (Codroipo), Slovakia (Bratislava), as well
as his homeland, Finland (Helsinki, Tampere, Rovaniemi, Joensuu).
“I like
to keep the set varied: I play different
styles and switch between the moods
as I think it’s important to keep
the crowd interested. I’ve always
found the unexpectable DJs the best,
and that’s what I am like myself when
I get behind the decks. Nothing beats
seeing the crowd go mental for tunes
you love the most! And you won't get any boring beard-stroking sets from me or you'll get your money back. ”
Fanu is supported by Rane in May 2007, and he is now doing his gigs proudly with Serato Scratch LIVE.
Fanu's downtempo material
resembles drum and bass but
which still falls outside the definition
of drum and bass.
“In downtempo I find endless possibilities
for musical ideas: if compared to
drum and bass, it has a bit more space
for playfulness and limitlessness,”
he admits.
“My biggest downtempo
influence must’ve been the smokey
'triphop' I heard in the nineties. But
basically, into downtempo I pour all
my non-dnb influences - and repressions
and frustrations, hah! In terms of ideas and soundscapes, I owe a great
deal to Future Sound of London,
Underworld, Dj Shadow, Dj Krust, Amon Tobin,
and many more.”
Fanu's first album, "DAYLIGHTLESS", a heavy package of breakbeat music – drum & bass and downtempo – was released in July 2007 in the form of a 2CD (one half uptempo, the other downtempo) and a 3*12" LP of six dancefloor-accessible break-rich tracks.
Early 2008 saw the collaboration album, which is the result of the teamwork of Fanu, Bill Laswell, and a group of legendary jazz musicians: "LODGE".
Some other works – remixes and releases on labels other than Lightless – are to come out as well.
Currently Fanu is working on his second solo album, which will be called "HOMEFREE".
Fanu and Lightless
Recordings can be found on Myspace:
www.myspace.com/fanubreaks
www.myspace.com/lightlessrecordings
Fanu is supported by Serato Scratch LIVE .
Lightless is distributed by St Holdings and the art is provided by Khoma.
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