Füxa (pronounced like the color

fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, ''Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic ...

) is an American rock band. Füxa was formed in Detroit in 1994 by musicians

Randall Nieman Randall Nieman is an American musician and entrepreneur. In addition to being a guitarist and percussionist in several bands, he has played a variety of exotic instruments, including the theremin. Nieman departed the post-rock band Windy & Carl t ...

(formerly of

Windy & Carl Windy & Carl is an American ambient duo based in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Overview Cited as "a leading light of the Michigan space-rock scene" by AllMusic, the minimalist group formed in 1993 around the core husband-and-wife duo of g ...

) and Ryan Anderson (formerly of

Asha Vida Asha (; also arta ; ae, 𐬀𐬴𐬀, translit=aṣ̌a/arta) is a Zoroastrian concept with a complex and highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of 'truth' and 'right(eousness)', 'or ...

and later to join Delta Waves). Band members include

( synths/

guitars 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 strin ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

/ Space), Tom Meade ( synths/

electronic percussion Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion soun ...

/ studio effects) Mark Refoy, Jonny Mattock and Stefan Persson. The band quickly achieved cult status with their split recordings with artists such as the

Azusa Plane The Azusa Plane was the psychedelic music recording and performance project of Jason DiEmilio (1970 – 2006) of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. Performing almost exclusively on a Fender guitar and usually through echo effects, DiEmilio released ...

, The Telescopes,

Martin Rev Martin Reverby, better known by his stage name Martin Rev, (born December 18, 1947) is an American musician and one half of the influential synth-punk band Suicide. Rev has also released several solo albums for a number of record labels, includi ...

, Dean and Britta and

Stereolab Stereolab are an Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a re ...

History

Füxa's first collaborative effort, which was immediately bracketed within the

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science ...

and experimental category, was a collection of short, guitar and synth driven, primal instrumental space rock songs, recorded at home on a borrowed 6-track cassette recorder. The tapes were later brought to friend Erik Kassab of

Gravity Wax In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong ...

for mixing and mastering at his Mission Control home studio. The resulting masters totaled over 90 minutes, and the best hours worth of music was selected for their first release, a hand colored, labeled and numbered cassette. This tape was sold at local indie record shops, and quite a few copies were given away by the band. College DJ

Lunar Larry Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album '' Prior ...

played many selections from this tape on his Friday night program, "The Life According to Larry", on WHFR radio. Nieman & Anderson at that time began to play at Detroit coffee houses, quickly building a cult following with their brief, psychedelic, erratic performances. The duo performed with the assistance of an old, literally falling apart Korg Mono/Poly synthesizer, often left to its own devices to produce loud, random arpeggios throughout the entire performance, which almost always emulated in a drum circle where audience participation was encouraged to "feel good" with the band. It has been suggested that the Detroit-based experimental rock band focus on a lo-fi, electronics-heavy blend of droning, treated guitars, vintage synths, and sparse percussion in the vein of suicide, Spacemen 3 / Spiritualized, and neu!. Ryan Anderson departed from the outfit in 1998, and Randall Nieman took over Füxa as a solo project. In 2001-2003 Ryan Anderson Joined Delta Waves to play drums and perform on a few recordings.

Releases

Their debut single was the self-released

split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertain ...

with friends

, followed by "Free Your Soul" EP, which featured the song, "Photon". Füxa's first full-length CD was a compilation of their first 3 singles, entitled "3 Field Rotation", released by England's

Che Records Che, Ché, Chè or CHE may refer to: People * Ché Ahn, (born 1956), American Christian pastor * Che Guevara (1928–1967), Argentine Marxist revolutionary * Che (surname) (车), Chinese surname * Che Lovelace (born 1969), Trinidadian artist ...

in May 1996. To correspond with the release of the disc, the duo was invited over to London to play shows supporting the disc. Later that year, the band was featured on a split 7-inch with Stereolab, and performed a few shows with

in the United States. Other bands they have split recordings with include

, Orange Cake Mix,

Flowchart A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task. The flowchart shows the steps as boxes of va ...

and

Bright Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People *Bright (surname) *Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage name ...

. The band's second full-length came out in late 1996, entitled "Very Well Organized" - a collection of songs composed around a 1963

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

situated in the band's living room. 1997 saw the release of "Venoy", a contribution to

Darla Records Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren in October 1993 while he was in New York. Darla's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi band from Memphis. Background The music of the artists on the la ...

famous Bliss-out series of EPs. The band also focused on the publication of their

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share t ...

, '' Masstransfer'', with the first issue arriving in November 1997. Fuxa's swirling electronica and atmospheric downbeats are suggested to evoke a forgotten transient landscape. Füxa's first album in a decade, Electric Sound of Summer, was released on Rocket Girl in 2012. Both

Britta Phillips Britta Phillips (born June 11, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Phillips' music career spans more than 30 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s as the singing voice of the title character ...

and

Dean Wareham Dean Wareham (born 1 August 1963) is an American musician and actor who formed the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. He left Galaxie 500 in April 1991 and founded the band Luna. Since Luna's breakup in 2005, Wareham has released albums with fellow L ...

(of Luna and, later, Dean & Britta) donate vocals, as does Seefeel’s Sarah Peacock, while members of

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pie ...

Spacemen 3 Spacemen 3 were an English neo-psychedelia space rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, known respectively under their pseudonyms Sonic Boom and J Spaceman. Their music is known for its brand of " ...

and

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of color ...

all contribute. It is suggested to be the cross-pollination of these collaborators’ talents which gives Electric Sound of Summer its strength and bottomless depth. It was dubbed as a "celebration of creativity; of community; of music past, present… and Füxa". Comprising a sixteen-strong army of collaborators, including

BJ Cole Brian John Cole is an English pedal steel guitarist, who has long been active as a session and solo musician. Coming to prominence in the early 1970s with the band Cochise, Cole has played in many styles, ranging from mainstream pop and rock to ...

Ann Shenton Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

Add N to (X) Add N to (X) were an English electronic music band formed in London in 1994. The original members were Andrew Aveling, Barry Smith (aka Barry 7) and Ann Shenton. Steven Claydon replaced Aveling in 1997. After several releases on small labels ...

Judy Dyble Judith Aileen Dyble (pronounced ''Die-bull''; 13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention and Trader Horne. In addition, she and Ian McDona ...

and Britta Phillips. Füxa's tenth full-length album, ''Dirty D'', was released on Rocket Girl in 2013. It is suggested to display a penchant for swirling electronica and atmospheric downbeats that have been compiled in a way which is constantly pleasing to the ear. The dirty ‘D’ of the title could refer to a number of disquieting facets of today's society – the dominance of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, the illusion of democracy, dereliction – and, in contrast to Disney's sickly saccharine supremacy over our children's imaginations.

Selected discography

Singles and EP's

* ''100 White Envelopes'' 1995 (Mind Expansion - Split 7-inch with Gravity Wax) * ''Free Your Soul'' 1995 (Burnt Hair - 7-inch) * ''Dreamlanding'' 1995 (Mind Expansion/Blue Flea - Split 7-inch with Windy & Carl) * ''Standing Under U'' 1996 (Alley Sweeper - 7-inch) * ''Pivot'' 1996 (Mind Expansion - 7-inch) * ''City/Metro'' 1997 (Darla - Split 7-inch with Bright) * ''Greenfield'' 1997 (

Ché Trading Ché Trading was an independent UK record label co-founded by Vinita Joshi and Nick Allport, and was responsible for releasing the music of Essex etherealists Disco Inferno. Other artists on their roster included the Tindersticks, Füxa, and S ...

/Mind Expansion - CD5/12"EP) * ''Venoy'' 1997 (Darla - CD5/12"EP) * ''Green Field'' 1997 (12-inch

I (label) I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

) * ''Techno Lite'' 2000 ( Rocket Girl - 7-inch) * ''Hideaway'' 2001 (Mind Expansion - 7-inch) * ''Fuxa Vs. Six Clips'' 2004 (Mind Expansion - CDEP) * ''Electric Sound Of Summer'' 2006 (Static Caravan - 7-inch) * ''Fuxa Commits Suicide'' 2007 (Mind Expansion - CDEP) * ''Füxa / Dean & Britta'' 2011 ( Rocket Girl Split 7-inch) * ''Füxa / Martin Rev Marty Suicide / Coyote'' 2011 (7-inch The Great Pop Supplement) * ''Sun Is Shining'' 2013 (7-inch Rocket Girl) * ''Photon'' 2013 (7-inch Rocket Girl) * ''Füxa, Cheval Sombre - I Love You / You've Got To Hide Your Love Away'' 2013 (7-inch Mind Expansion)

CD/LP/Cassette

* ''In Another Direction'' 1994 (High Tokes - Limited Edition cassette only) * ''3 Field Rotation'' 1996 (

/Mind Expansion - CD/LP) * ''Very Well Organized'' 1996 (

/Mind Expansion - CD/LP) * ''Inflight Audio'' 1998 (

/Mind Expansion - CD) * ''Accretion'' 1998 (Mind Expansion - CD/LP) * ''Fuxa2000'' 2000 ( Rocket Girl/Mind Expansion - CD) * ''Supercharged'' 2001 ( Rocket Girl/Mind Expansion - CD) * ''The Modified Mechanics Of This Device'' 2001 (Antenna Records - CD) * ''Füxa Versus Ectogram - Füxa Versus Ectogram'' 2001 (Ochre Records - CD, MiniAlbum) * ''Electric Sound Of Summer'' 2012 ( Rocket Girl - CD/LP) * ''Dirty D'' 2013 ( Rocket Girl - CD/LP) * ''Füxa & Neil Mackay - Apollo Soyuz'' 2015 (Emotional Response Records - LP, MiniAlbum)

Compilations

* ''Mind Expansion Vol. 1'' 1995 (Mind Expansion - 4-way split 7-inch) * ''Mind Expansion Vol. 2'' 1996 (Mind Expansion - 4-way split 7-inch) * ''Noise Reduction'' 1996 (Alley Sweeper - CD) * ''Disco Sucks'' 1996 (

- CD) * ''Elsie, Jack & Chair'' 1996 (EJC - CD) * ''An Evening In The Company Of Vespertine'' 1997 (Vespertine - CD) * ''A Mind Expansion Compilation'' 2007 (Mind Expansion - 2xCD)

References

External links

* *
Rocket Girl Page

Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuxa Rock music groups from Michigan American space rock musical groups Musical groups from Detroit Rocket Girl artists 1994 establishments in Michigan Darla Records artists