The Wire (6/00, p.63) - "...Built from fragments of beats and crackling percussion, with layers of strings to smooth out the edges....Each track strikes a good balance between the vocal and the stripped down sonic deconstruction..."
Funkstorung: Michael Fakesch, Chris De Luca.
One glance at the unusual packaging tells you this music is not a soothing slice of R&B. In fact, APPETITE FOR DISCTRUCTION is almost as industrial as it appears. The beeps, beats, and scratchiness of this German duo (who remixed the likes of Bjork and Wu-Tang Clan on the fantastic ADDITIONAL PRODUCTIONS in 1999) are a feast for the technological ear. Funkstorung's state-of-the-art static and woodpecker break-beats are perhaps binary code made audible, but this hard-drive jargon belies the inherent beauty of these trippy, electro mood pieces.
Where Fat Boy Slim's "The Weekend Starts Here" is quite mainstream and Add N To (X) use quirky humor in their metallic electronica, Funkstorung seems to strive to illuminate the humanity within its machines. Soothing synth melodies and a handful of guest vocalists provide a truly human element. Greenwood on "Think!" is in dark Tricky mood while on "Red Shirt, White Shoes," Carin provides silvery soulful respite from Funkstorung's terrific machine-gunning ambient beats and amplified cockroach scampering.