Munich-based producer Michael Fakesch's work is more widely known via Funkstorung, the name he records under with partner Chris De Luca. Funkstorung have released almost a dozen records in just three years together, mostly through the obscure Acid Planet imprint and, more recently, their own label Musik Aus Strom. Funkstorung's records typically deploy a dark, rough, hard-edged electro aesthetic vaguely reminiscent of a slightly less obsessive Autechre. Fakesch's solo work, however, while retaining the gritty production values, pursues a bleaker, far more introverted tack, with a studied focus on melody and slower, more plodding rhythms. Fakesch followed a not uncommon progression from late '80s hip-hop (Public Enemy, Paris) and old-school electro (Grandmaster Flash, Man Parrish) -- he was a semi-professional breakdancer -- to the techno explosion that took hold in Germany in the early '90s. His solo output to date consists of the two-part Demon EP (1997) and the 1999 full-length Marion. ~ Sean Cooper