Füxa
Encyclopedia
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
duo, consisting of Detroit musicians Ryan Anderson
Ryan Anderson (musician)
Ryan Anderson is founder and editor of Masstransfer, an independent music magazine. The magazine was created in 1997, and covers several genres of music, including ambient, dream pop, space rock and shoegaze....
(formerly of Asha Vida and later to join DELTA WAVES) and Randall Nieman
Randall Nieman
Randall Nieman is a 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.Neiman departed the post-rock band Windy & Carl to form Füxa in 1995...
(formerly of Windy & Carl
Windy & Carl
-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 guitarist Carl Hultgren and bassist/singer Windy Weber...
). Füxa was created in 1994 and their music has been described as psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
and experimental. Their first collaborative effort 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 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 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 take the Detroit coffee house scene by storm, 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
Korg mono/poly
The Korg Mono/Poly is a "mono-polyphonic" analog synthesizer manufactured by Korg from 1981 to 1984. This keyboard is the sister synth to the Korg Polysix....
synthesizer, often left to its own devices to produce loud, random arpeggios throughout the entire performance, which almost always cumulated in a drum circle where audience participation was encouraged to "feel good" with the band.
Their debut single was the self-released split with friends Gravity Wax, followed by the ground-breaking "Free Your Soul" EP, which featured the duo's best song to date, "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 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 Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
in the USA. Other bands they have split recordings with include Azusa Plane
Azusa Plane
The Azusa Plane was the psychedelic music recording and performance project of Jason DiEmilio of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania...
, Orange Cake Mix, Flowchart and Bright.
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
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
situated in the band's living room.
1997 saw the release of "Venoy", a contribution to Darla Records
Darla Records
Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren while he was in New York. Darla Record's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi band from Memphis.- Background :...
famous Bliss-out series of EPs. The band also
focused on the publication of their fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
, Masstransfer, with the first issue arriving in November 1997.
Anderson departed from the outfit in 1998, and Nieman took over Füxa as a solo project. In 2001-2003 Ryan Anderson Joined the DELTA WAVES to play drums and perform on a few recordings.
Current
- Randall Nieman: Synths / Guitars / Percussion / Space
- Ryan Anderson: Bass / Drums / Synths / Percussion
- Tom Meade: Synths / Electronic Percussion / Studio FX
Singles and EP's
- 100 White Envelopes 1995 (Mind Expansion - Split 7" with Gravity Wax)
- Free Your Soul 1995 (Burnt Hair - 7")
- Dreamlanding 1995 (Mind Expansion/Blue Flea - Split 7" with Windy & Carl)
- Standing Under U 1996 (Alley Sweeper - 7")
- Pivot 1996 (Mind Expansion - 7")
- City/Metro 1997 (Darla - Split 7" with Bright)
- Greenfield 1997 (Che`/Mind Expansion - CD5/12"EP)
- Venoy 1997 (Darla - "Bliss Out v.5" CD5/12"EP)
- Techno Lite 2000 (Rocket Girl - 7")
- Hideaway 2001 (Mind Expansion - 7")
- Fuxa Vs. Six Clips 2004 (Mind Expansion - CDEP)
- Electric Sound Of Summer 2006 (Static Caravan - 7")
- Fuxa Commits Suicide 2007 (Mind Expansion - CDEP)
CD/LP/Cassette
- In Another Direction 1994 (High Tokes - Limited Edition cassette only)
- 3 Field Rotation 1996 (Che`/Mind Expansion - CD/LP)
- Very Well Organized 1996 (Che`/Mind Expansion - CD/LP)
- Inflight Audio 1998 (Che`/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)
Compilations
- Mind Expansion Vol. 1 1995 (Mind Expansion - 4-way split 7")
- Mind Expansion Vol. 2 1996 (Mind Expansion - 4-way split 7")
- Noise Reduction 1996 (Alley Sweeper - CD)
- Disco Sucks 1996 (Che` - 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)
Fuxa originally was the name of an old Czecheslovakian Family. How the band found the name is unknown.