Christian Fennesz (born 25 December 1962) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n producer and guitarist active in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

since the 1990s, often credited simply by his last name. His work utilizes

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

laptop computers A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a Flip (form), clam shell Form factor (design), form factor with the computer scr ...

to blend melody with treated

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

s and

glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...

production. He lives and works in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and currently records on the UK label

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

. Fennesz first received widespread recognition for his 2001 album '' Endless Summer'', released on the Austrian label Mego. He has collaborated with a number of artists, including

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto i ...

, Jim O'Rourke, Ulver,

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

, and

King Midas Sound Kevin Richard Martin, often known under his recording alias The Bug, is an English musician and music producer. Martin moved from Weymouth to London around 1990 and is now currently based in mainland Europe. He has been active for over two decad ...

Biography

Fennesz was born and raised in Austria and studied music formally in

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

. He started playing guitar around the age of 8 or 9. He initially performed as a member of the Austrian

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band Maische before signing to

label Mego as a solo artist. The influence of

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

led him to begin composing with a laptop. In 1995 he released his first EP ''Instrument'', which explored electro-acoustic and ambient stylings. In 1997, Fennesz released his debut full-length album ''Hotel Paral.lel'', which saw him delve more explicitly into laptop production and early

aesthetics. He followed with the 1998 single ''Plays'', which contained near-unrecognizable covers of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

' "

Paint It Black "Paint It Black" is a song recorded in 1966 by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is a raga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European in ...

" and

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

' "

Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album ''Pet Sounds''. Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, it is a ballad about nonverbal communication between lovers. Musically, the ...

". In the following years, he collaborated with a variety of artists, including Peter "Pita" Rehberg and Jim O'Rourke as part of

Fenn O'Berg Fenn O'Berg was an improvisational computer music trio made up of members Christian Fennesz, Peter Rehberg and Jim O'Rourke. Their existence began with a surprise appearance at the Nickelsdorf Festival in 1997. This was followed by extensive in ...

. In 2001, he released his third studio album '' Endless Summer'' to widespread critical praise and recognition. He collaborated with figures such as

Keith Rowe Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

, eRikm,

in the following years, and released the albums ''

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

'' (2004) and ''

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

'' (2007) to further critical praise. In 2009 Fennesz teamed up with

Mark Linkous Mark Linkous (September 9, 1962 – March 6, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as leader of Sparklehorse. He was also known for his collaborations with such notable artists as Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Daniel John ...

( Sparklehorse) to create In the Fishtank 15. The following year Fennesz released ''Szampler'', a cassette containing his sample collection on the Tapeworm label. This release was later remixed by Stefan Goldmann and released as ''Goldmann vs. Fennesz: Remiksz''. In 2011, he appeared on the live Ulver release '' The Norwegian National Opera'', contributing guitar and effects to "Not Saved." In November 2013, Fennesz played the final holiday camp edition of the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival in Camber Sands, England. In 2014, he released the studio album ''Bécs''. In 2015, he collaborated with UK group

on the album ''Editions 1''.

Recording techniques

Since the 1990s, Fennesz has worked with the programming software

Max/MSP Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, per ...

and the free patch Ppooll, which he runs in conjunction with the workstation Logic 9. In both studio and live settings, he routes his guitar through

effects pedal An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...

s (including a custom distortion box) and into his computer. There, it is processed and combined with Ppooll software plugins and tools such as samplers, synthesizers, effects, and

MIDI controllers A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...

Discography

; Studio albums * (1997) ''Hotel Paral.lel'' (Mego) * (1999) ''Plus Forty Seven Degrees 56' 37" Minus Sixteen Degrees 51' 08"'' (

) * (2001) ''Endless Summer'' (Mego) * (2004) ''Venice'' (

) * (2008) ''Black Sea'' (

) * (2014) '' Bécs'' (Editions Mego) * (2019) ''Agora'' (

) ; Collaboration albums * (2004) ''GRM Experience'' with

Mika Vainio Mika Tapio Vainio (May 15, 1963 – April 12, 2017) was a Finnish electronic musician. He was best known as a member of Pan Sonic. In addition to his real name, he recorded under the aliases Ø, Kentolevi, Philus, and Tekonivel. He has worked wi ...

& Christian Zanési (Signature) * (2005) ''Cloud'' with

Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese Onkyokei, onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on ...

and

Oren Ambarchi Oren Ambarchi (born 1969) is an Australian musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mainly electric guitar and percussion. Biography Oren Ambarchi was born in Sydney to an Iraqi Jewish family. Ambarchi has been performing live since ...

(Erstwhile) * (2007) '' Cendre'' with Sakamoto (

) * (2008) ''Til the Old World's Blown Up and a New One Is Created'' with Martin Brandlmayr & Werner Dafeldecker (Mosz) * (2009) '' In the Fishtank 15'' with Sparklehorse ( Konkurrent) * (2010) ''Knoxville'' with David Daniell and Tony Buck (

Thrill Jockey Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago. History Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...

) * (2010) ''Remiksz'' with Stefan Goldmann (Tapeworm) * (2011) '' Flumina'' with Sakamoto (Commmons/

) * (2015) '' Edition 1'' with

( Ninja Tune) * (2015) ''AirEffect'' with OZmotic (

Folk Wisdom Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fr ...

) * (2016) ''It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry'' with Jim O'Rourke (Editions Mego) ; Compilations * (2002) ''Field Recordings: 1995–2002'' (

) * (2010) ''Szampler'' (Tapeworm) ; Live recordings * (2000) ''Live at Revolver, Melbourne'' live EP (

) * (2004) ''Live at the LU'' with

(Erstwhile) * (2005) ''Sala Santa Cecilia'' live EP with

(

) * (2005) ''Live in Japan'' CD (Headz/Touch, 2003) and LP (Autofact/

) * (2009) ''Live @ The V. Sessions'' streaming video recording
The V. Sessions
, 2009 * (2014) ''Mahler Remixed'' vinyl (

) ; Studio EPs * (1995) ''Instrument'' 12" vinyl ( Mego) * (1998) ''Il Libro Mio'' EP (Tanz Hotel) * (1998) ''Plays'' 7" ( Mego) * (1999) ''Plays'' CDEP (Moikai) * (2006) ''Plays'' 10" vinyl (

Editions Mego Mego was an experimental electronic music independent record label based in Vienna, Austria. The label has been superseded by a new company, Editions Mego, which was set up both to keep Mego albums in print and to issue new albums, run by Peter ...

) * (2011) ''Seven Stars'' CDEP/10" vinyl (

) ; Singles, tracks, guest collaborations, etc. * (2002) "Wrapped Islands" with

Polwechsel Polwechsel is a musical group founded in Vienna, Austria in 1993. Their music has mostly straddled a line between contemporary music and free improvisation, and is characterized by quiet volume, sustained drones, and slowly developing structures ...

( Erstwhile) * (2005) "Erstlive 004" with

Peter Rehberg Peter Rehberg (29 June 1968 – 22 July 2021), also known as Pita, was a British-Austrian composer of electronic audio works. He was the head of Editions Mego, which he founded in 2006 as a successor to Mego. Early life Rehberg was born in To ...

Sachiko M Sachiko Matsubara (Japanese: 松原幸子; born 1973), better known by her stage name Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician. Her first solo album, ''Sine Wave Solo'', was released in 1999. Working in collaboration with Ami Yoshida under the name Cosmo ...

and

Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked i ...

(Erstwhile) * (2007) "On a desolate shore a shadow passes by" (

) – download only * (2008) "Transition" (

) * (2008) "Saffron Revolution" (

) – download only * (2010) "Future Back" and "Impassive Skies" with Patrick Pulsinger, on Pulsinger's album ''Impassive Skies'' (Disko B) * (2011) "Fearless" (Thrill Jockey) – contribution for the ''Benefit for the Recovery in Japan'' compilation ; Remixes * (2001) "IVEND 00", based on material from ''Attention: Cats'' by Various Artists, on ''rkk13cd'' (Reckankreuzungsklankewerkzeuge) * (2003) Remixed "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "The Future Sound Of Music" (titled "Only the Poor have to Travel") by Ulver on ''1993–2003: A Decade In The Machines (

Jester Records Jester Records was a record label founded in 1998 by Kristoffer Rygg (also known as Garm, Trickster G, G. Wolf and Fiery G. Maelstrom) after conflicts between his band Ulver and their German/American label Century Media Records. Artists * 13 ...

) * (2005) Remixed "Weight" by

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

on ''Oceanic Remixes Vol. 4'' (

Ipecac Syrup of ipecac (), or simply ipecac, is a drug that was once widely used as an expectorant (in low doses) and a rapid-acting emetic (in higher doses). It is obtained from the dried rhizome and roots of the ipecacuanha plant ('' Carapichea ipec ...

) * (2007) Remixed "In This Twilight" by Nine Inch Nails on ''

Year Zero Remixed ''Year Zero Remixed'' (stylized as ''Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D'') is the third remix album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released in the United States on November 20, 2007, and in the United Kingdom six days later. It features remixed v ...

'' ( Interscope) * (2010) Remixed "Returnal" by

Oneohtrix Point Never Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer and songwriter. His music has experimented with tropes from various music genres and eras, s ...

on '' Returnal Maxi Single 7"'' (Editions Mego) * (2011) Remixed "The Visitor" by Miracle on ''Fluid Window'' * (2011) Remixed "Shikaku Kakumei" (titled "QSMJAF") by

Sōtaisei Riron is a Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in September 2006. Summary The band consists of Etsuko Yakushimaru ( lead vocals, producer, original instruments, artwork), Seiichi Nagai (guitar), Masaru Yoshida ( bass), Motoki Yamaguchi ( drums). The ...

on ''Tadashii Sōtaisei Riron'' (

Commmons Commmons is a Japanese record label founded by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Avex Group, Japan's biggest independent record label, is its official parent company. History Commmons was founded in 2006 by Sakamoto with the help of Avex and ...

/Mirai Records) ; Soundtracks * (1999) ''Beyond the Ocean'' (USA) * (2000) ''Gelbe Kirschen'' (Austria), directed by Leopold Lummerstorfer * (2002) '' Blue Moon'' (Austria), written and directed by

Andrea Maria Dusl Andrea Maria Dusl (born 12 August 1961), is an Austrian/Swedish film director, author and illustrator. She was born in Vienna, the daughter of Austrian architect Erwin H. Dusl and Swedish captain's family Pettersson's descendant Monica Jülli ...

* (2005)
Platform#09 Chicago
' (France) directed by Cedrick Eymenier * (2009) ''Film ist. a girl & a gun'' (Austria), directed by Gustav Deutsch, with Lucía Pulido, Martin Siewert,

Burkhard Stangl Burkhard Stangl (born 6 November 1960 in Eggenburg, Lower Austria) is a composer and musician, currently residing in Vienna, Austria. Playing primarily guitar and electronics, he is a prolific performer in the world of electro-acoustic improvisat ...

(7", Interstellar Records, Austria 2009) * (2012) ''AUN: The Beginning and the End of All Things'' (Ash International) ; In Fenn O'Berg: * (1999) ''The Magic Sound of Fenn O'Berg'' (Mego) * (2002) ''The Return of Fenn O'Berg'' (Mego) * (2009) ''Magic & Return'' Double CD reissue (Editions Mego) * (2010) ''In Stereo'' (Mego) ; Tribute to Fennesz: * (2004) Tim Hecker "Mirages" (Alien8 Recordings) – Incurably optimistic * (2012) Lcoma "Fennesz" (Unsigned) – Musical influence ; With Food *''Quiet Inlet'' (ECM, 2010) *''Mercurial Balm'' (ECM, 2012) *''

This Is Not a Miracle ''This is Not a Miracle'' is an album by experimental group Food recorded in 2013 and released on the ECM label in 2015.List of ambient music artists This is a list of ambient music artists. This includes artists who have either been very important to the genre or have had a considerable amount of exposure (such as those who have been on a major label). This list does not include little-known ...

References

External links

Fennesz.com
– Official website

at

Touch Music Touch (sometimes mistakenly written 'Touch Records' and sometimes written Touch Music, which is technically the publishing side of the company) is a British audio-visual organisation, operating the Touch label. Touch was founded in 1982 by Jon ...

Fennesz
at Mego
Exclaim interview (02/2009)

''Semtex Magazine'' interview (02/2006)

Pitchfork interview (03/2002)

Fennesz RBMA lecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennesz, Christian 1962 births Living people Austrian electronic musicians Austrian guitarists Electroacoustic improvisation Experimental musicians Free improvisation Drag City (record label) artists