Fanu

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 official Fanu website at www.fanumusic.com.

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 of the Fanu site.

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, Liverpool, ), 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 has been releasing 12" releases on various labels representing the breakbeat sound over the years.
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 x 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".
Early 2009 with see the release of Fanu's second artist album, called "Homefree", on his Lightless imprint.

Some other works - remixes and releases on labels other than Lightless - are to come out as well.

Fanu and Lightless Recordings can be found on Myspace:
www.myspace.com/fanubreaks
www.myspace.com/lightlessrecordings

Lightless is distributed by St Holdings and the art is provided by Khoma.