| |
|
RITUAL
galvena ideja ir deja
andrejsala, pulkvezha telpas
FANU/FANUSAMURAI
Real name: Janne Hatula | Age: ...is only numbers | Location: Helsinki, Finland
Janne Hatula, based in Helsinki, Finland, is the figure behind the artist name Fanu, representing drum and bass and downtempo.
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 with the 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."
Those are the elements that Fanu definitely cherishes with great pride. "What is 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, Breakin', Warm Communications, Subtle Audio, Thermal, Forestry Service , LoCuts, Soothsayer, 13 Music, Pauze, Darkestral, 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. The first release hit the shops in July 2006, and the second plate arrived in shops in December. 2007 will see the third plate as well: an Irish artist Naphta with some real ragga and jungle vibes, and 004 will present Vector Burn with a Fanu-track remix job and Fanu's counter-remix for Vector Burn.
To close the circle, Fanu also DJs to represent the jungalism to the fullest: so far, he?s been called to bring the breakbeat pressure to England, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Poland, Belgium, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, as well as his homeland, Finland. "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's downtempo material resembles drum and bass a little 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."
At the moment, Fanu is working on his 2nd album, currently titled "Daylightless", which will feature drum and bass as well as non-dnb - this time it will be for Lightless.
A 2CD - one half, uptempo, the other downtempo - and selected 12" cuts coming in the spring/summer 2007.
Fanu and Lightless Recordings can also be found on Myspace:
www.myspace.com/fanubreaks
www.myspace.com/lightlessrecordings
|
|
|
|
2303007 | RITUAL (23.03.2007)
---------------------------------
::JUGNLE::
---------------------------------
FANU/FANUSAMURAI
lightless rec
MELNIZZ
bio.codes
FEE.NIX-Z
bio.codes
BRAIN
bio.codes
VXN
bio.codes
MIND
testone, parastate999
DEVINE
testone
X3NO
testone
NORKA
ritmika, 3.55
TWO MASKS
---------------------------------
::VJ::
---------------------------------
RELICT
parastate999
Z99
ritmika
MR
rixc
KAVI
parastate999
BEIRUT
poppervideo
---------------------------------
::DUBSTEP/AMBIENT::
---------------------------------
NORKA
ritmika
FEE.NIX-Z
bio.codes
MAVI
sound.burnerz
GSTP
3.55
WICKISS
klusa daba
BOMBEY
klusa daba
PARASTATE999
SOULTHEQUE
sound.burnerz |
|
|
