PORN FOR NEURONS: Twenty years of FÜXA's "Very Well Organized"

Formed in Detroit in 1994 Füxa began being as a duet: Randall Nieman and Ryan Anderson. It´s with this formation that they produced "Very Well Organized" (Mind Expansion, 1996), disc that fulfills this year two decades of existence. They quickly gained cult status within the American space / experimental space rock scene thanks to their splits with various bands and acts like THE TELESCOPES, STEREOLAB, AZUSA PLANE, MARTIN REV, etc. Mostly Füxa opts for an instrumental, drone, hypnotic trance sound very close to the ambient, steeped in arrangements and glitches produced by analog keyboards and treated guitars. In addition to scarce but accurate percussions.

As influences for this disc we can mention TANGERINE DREAM, STEREOLAB, SUICIDE, E.A.R., SPECTRUM, NEU!, etc. From the sound of the Very Well Organized, sprout repeated spatial odes endowed with hypnotism and reverie where the deep and stuck notes give all of them creating atmospheres of subtle abstraction. This album shows little rock and more ambient in its tones and textures emanated from its turbulent electronics. Composed with a Hammond organ in the living room of his house, Nieman and Anderson fabricated this precious document 20 years ago and never ceases to amaze by its original futuristic will.

Frequencies not suitable for neophytes are those that flow from Füxa with their most psychedelic and glued sounds. Time takes on a different dimension while you hear these experimental sonorities that also drink from the German Kosmische (avant-rock of the 70's) and the neo psychedelic of SPACEMEN 3. It is noteworthy the trained exploration of cosmic sonorities, warm and friendly more Committed to happiness and hedonistic enjoyment confronting the majority pseudo-depressive tendencies of the American indie of his time (read grunge). The compositions of Füxa recall that with minimalistic sounds of sharp buzzings produced by the keyboards, clothed by simple guitars; It is possible to construct informal melodies at once challenging but without fanfare.

At times this "Very Well Organized" reaches strings of supreme strangeness with the regular bleeps and glitches of an electronics that looks more like the massive acts of today than what was produced in the famous decade of the 90's. Of course the avant-garde arrangement is present in this album to the point of risking enough with minimalism sometimes falling into the redundancy of sound and its consequent drowsiness. The Very Well Organized constitutes an inescapable document in the evolution of the space electronics whose mood of disc of cult over passes any intention to please the listener. It is stronger its significance seen at a distance as a musical landmark, emphasizing the space and historical context of its launch that what its repetitive melodies may or may not like the listener.

As noted above, Very Well Organized is not suitable for neophytes. Neither is born for those who use music as an ornament in their lives but for other musicians or specialized music lovers who find in the sounds more eccentric inspiration and number for artistic creation.

Devotion for the ludic.

Next we break the album track by track with the vain but necessary intention to verbalize the 55 minutes of sounds of this twentyish musical document.

-At your leisure:

Relaxing melody of ethereal tones produced by a restless but dreamy keyboard. "At your leisure" stands out for its refreshing joy and contained comfort feeling that opens the disc.

-Latitude / longitude:

As a measurement or calculation of hyper-spatial coordinates, this keyboard-synthesizer makes imaginary cartographic strokes accompanied by an electro-industrial base sound that will remain present throughout the whole theme.

-Suspicious:

Brief sound harmony of intriguing character. The simple and stable percussion is released on this track. "Suspect" includes a guitar score plus cosmic arrangements that maintain a pleasant tension that causes a kind of final smile.




-Unexplained transmission repair

Entering the hardest section of the disc, these frequencies recall E.A.R. In its shuddering eminently electronic / experimental sound. As a dry and rough repair process of unhealthy anomalies that undermine the optimal performance of any machine or entity. The theme evokes places of science fiction combining sound insanity and taking it to the boundaries between music and electronic noise.

-Witness to natural invention

Another piece of electronic sounds flying the experimental will of the disc. It includes glass breaking and the sound of the opening and closing of a damper of some electronic device. Nieman and Anderson deliver to the subject a strange conjunction of mermaids, mechanical details and states dissimilar to each other, apparently with the intention of disconcerting the listener. It includes modulated vocalizations that grant an unusual cadence. It finishes with a keyboard that gives light and shine to the composition.

-3cp:

The sounds emanated by the keyboard display their various melodic possibilities. A percussion of tambourine shines as the basis of the theme. In this brief piece the fun and playful mood instantly highlights. A sweet pear to taste.

-Pangaea:

Again the game of sonorities produced by the keyboard and guarded by percussion seeks to raise a recurring message of pristine and cosmic construction. The sensations provoked by this composition try to make the sound fun an aperitif for the hypnotism that stands out whenever the leading weight of the sound falls on a single note of the keyboard.

-Outer drive

The placidness of this piece recalls the times of a perhaps not so distant future of streets covered by electronic cars and speedy and ample conductions. The repetition of the melody supplied with bleeps denotes freshness in its simplicity.

-Pleasant orbitings:

Here the guitar breaks in as a novel musical argument that despite its almost naive simplicity, airs the loaded atmospheres that the keyboard of Nieman produces. Compositional technique has no mystery. The result: pleasurable sound orbits of minimalist conviction, giving the impression of turning on their own chords.

-Homonym hymn

In this piece, the beginning quickly sends to Spacemen 3 and derivatives, by its hypnotic sonorous development and the style at the moment of executing Hammond keyboard. This short hymn of subtle variations reflects a minimalist will that tears the vesania with the keyboard executed almost like a carefree romp.

-Unified Frequency:

The best theme of the album by contrast, retakes the hypnotic spirit with maturity and precision in the variations that, being less frequent, allow for a sound journey that is more balanced and of amazing lightness. The unified frequency also recalls the more ethereal and glued moments of E.A.R. Making the sensory shift into a beautiful piece of abstract and isolationist introspection.

./REVORDRIFT/

Randall Nieman about VWO

"This album was very interesting to record. I remember buying the Hammond b3 organ for $100 and every song was recorded live on LSD to a Tascam cassette 8 track recorder. I easily took 40 hits of acid throughout the recording of this Lp. It could have been edited way better I'm sure but, in those days I wanted to see what we could create naturally in that state of mind".

"As years went by, I occasionally played certain songs from this album live. At your leisure was one I played a lot and I made it way better than the original cut. It's been an idea of mine for years to re record the entire Lp as "Very Well Re:organized" as I see its potential as a polished studio album and not a live LSD drenched live to cassette album. Back in those days we got $1000 bucks to cut an Lp and we spent all the bucks on drugs and just winged it. Since its release certain songs became transformed into Spectrum songs like "Mary" and its been recycled into a clearer vision. I hope one day to give it more attn and care than it was given over a month of drug induced midnight recording sessions".