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A TAV Curator's Pick.

“Funkstörung” is Funkstörung's 4th longplayer. After a ten years break this album comes along like a twisted Janus' head on a perfectly toned body. It's everything you've expected from glitch hop's inventors and everything you have not. For those eagerly awaiting the moment Funkstörung would come around the corner with a new innovation of electronic music, just like they did with their first record: This time they did not. Instead they do what they do best and take up the path they started to carve with “Disconnected”: Luscious pop songs with heavy backbones, illustrious guests adding heartfelt vocals to a bed of fizzing basslines. It is a very vocal album - there are guest singers on nearly every song on the record - but they do not domineer the sound of it. They all just contribute to a fresh version of Funkstörung that has ripened a bit and got seasoned with a hell lot of flavour. 

Some of the voices on “Funkstörung” have been part of the family for a while, some of them, like Jamie Lidell, are new collaborators. But wether with old friends or newfound partners all of the 14 songs on the album get to the heart of electronic pop. As a whole, the record seems so well balanced it's ready to be an instant classic. Each of the songs transports a timeless quality of content sunny vibes which would go as well with a very expensive wine in front of a fireplace, as with a plastic cup of beer and rubber boots at a muddy festival.

Instead of concentrating on glitches and breaks the effort of the two producers has gone into growing every sound into perfection, one can feel that no time pressure fixated a detail onto the wrong place. Like the duo say, the record is “evolution not revolution”. The album comes in a beautiful sleeve design by lauded graphic artists Zeitguised and Sebastian Onufszak.

“Funkstörung” is a very confident record not desperately trying to be zeitgeisty but most certainly up to date. - Monkeytown Records

“A full decade after Return to Acid Planet 10, producers Michael Fakesch and Chris De Luca reunite as Funkstörung to deliver their fourth long player. Unlike that recording, this self-titled album features all-new tracks. The duo don't push boundaries or really reinvent anything here (though on some level, they can't help themselves when it comes to sonics). Instead, they focus on their core strength: writing sensual IDM pop songs full of spare, sonorous melodies set to hip-hop and elliptical electro beats with irresistible basslines. ...

Nine of these 14 cuts include vocals and are delivered by a host of friends old and new. First single "Laid Out (one of four tunes featuring Anothr), remains a highlight, but it is nearly eclipsed by the soulful "So Simple," with Jamie Lidell on the mike. Australian duo Audego lend their spacy, jazzy, trip-hop stylings to "FalI Into You." Jay-Jay Johanson adds his voice to the aching, glitch-ridden "I Love Him So" as ziggy synth shards and acoustic piano loops frame his airy tenor. The darkest tune in this bunch is the tense, taut, nearly cinematic "Killers," featuring Taprikk Sweezee, with a lyric that juxtaposes eros and heartbreak. The spectral, languid "Chnnl" and the brooding, creepy "Slo" are the only two instrumentals that don't act as brief ambient interludes to link vocal tracks. There is a wonderful bluesy feel in Adi's vocal on "Who Is Who," with its crawling, downtempo snare colored and textured by a slow-strolling synth, hypnotic bassline, and icy breaks.

Funkstörung have a history of looking to the past for inspiration. Here they remind longtime fans of their requisite skills as songwriters (think back to Disconnected) while offering enough sultry, elegant, and seductive beat constructions to attract a new legion as well.” – AllMusic

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