Frak is the lifelong alliance of three analogue-obsessed Swedes who’ve amassed a vast back catalogue of degenerate techno and searing acid rave since their debut gig in 1988, when the barely-teenage renegades first adopted the masks that have become their trademark.  Initially more influenced by the industrial synth-and-drum ventures of the likes of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire than the era’s burgeoning rave movement, Björn Isgren, Jan Svensson and Johan Sturesson set up their label Börft in 1987 to release their early experiments. They put out dozens of analogue-driven cassettes and 12″s throughout the ‘90s, including 1993’s barmy 160bpm rave artefact Alice in Acidland (reissued a few years back by Joachim Nordwall’s iDEAL label).  The world has finally been catching up to the cult of Frak since they emerged from hibernation in the late ‘00s, releasing a flurry of 12″s on labels like Sex Tags Mania, Kontra-Musik and Rubadub, and gaining new converts through their searing live shows, which they still perform from behind their tinfoil masks. Most recently they teamed up with San Francisco label Dark Entries for the rugged Sudden Haircut EP (great sleeve, too).  The trio have cracked open the vaults to bring us a special all-Frak FACT mix, spanning material from 1987 to the present day. Expect slapping electro, blasted piano rave, thudding drum workouts and, of course, plenty of acieeeeeed, with an incredible closing section drawn from their earliest cassette releases. Have it!  (And an explanatory word from our reliably brilliant illustrator, Alex Solman: “Frak is Swedish for suit, and penguins are simply the best dressed animals.” Obvious, really.)

FACT mix 545: Frak

Every week, FACT brings you mixes from the hottest DJs and artists in the world.

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Born in Poland, Karolina Karnacewicz has long used music as a tool to make sense of the wider world. As a teenager, Karnacewicz started a punk band – Post-Spirit – before moving to Poznań and shifting hir focus to dance music. Before long, ze was performing fast, bass-heavy electronics, using the sounds and community to help shine highlight rampant industry inequality.

But after years of therapy and soul-searching, Karnacewicz realized something was missing. Using the moniker Morgiana Hz, a reference to Juraj Hertz’s movie of the same name, ze found a way to fold together all hir influences: bass, rhythm, noise, vocal experimentation, field recording and more.

Since then, Karnacewicz has been working in both music and activism, exploring the connections between hir interests and working to achieve more visibility and equality. “I want to act for the sake of woman because people take me as one,” ze explained to Subtermag last year. “But since I can remember I had problems with finding a relationship between the biological markers of femininity and I. I was kind of raised as non-gender being.”

Karnacewicz’s view on gender and sexuality is crucial to hir music and its diversity and fluidity. Last year, Karnacewicz performed at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival and spent almost a month working with East African producers in Kampala. The result was a lasting collaboration with Kenyan producer and DJ Slikback; their duo is called ogniki and blends free-form structures with rhythmic and bass intensity.

Hir FACT mix explores all these themes and more, blending abstraction – Arca, Cindytalk – with the full-on hedonism of Gabber Modus Operandi, club slither of Sudanim and rapid headrush of Bamba Pana. It’s not like any other mix you’re likely to hear this year, that’s for sure.

Tracklist:

Cindytalk x Morgiana Hz – collaboration for „Bueno Víbro” radio show broadcasted by Berlin Community Radio as a part of Morgiana’s Incubator residency
Morgiana Hz – ‘Fýbrís Amplicon’
MUKA – ‘Zapomnielismy Tytulu Utworu (Ehh Hahah remix)
Arca – ‘Manners’
Hexorcismos x Morgiana Hz – an excerpt from live improvisation (machines + plants + crystals + AI)
Bust x Follow Mute – ‘Santa Muerte remix’
MC Yallah (prod. Debmaster) – ‘Ndi mukazi’
Gabber Modus Operandi – ‘Dosa Besar’
Renick Bell – ‘Origin of All Phenomena’
Hyph11e – ‘Enter Nowhere’
Clap! Clap! – ‘Black Smokes, Bad Signs’
Ecko Bazz feat. Biga Yut – ‘Tuli Banyo’ (prod. PQ, Ekhe rave remix)
IUY – ‘Ruindrum’
煮凝りヶ沼 – ‘Nikogoriganuma’
Sudanim – ‘Abondance’
Swordman – ‘Cardi Black’ (prod. Slikback)
TSVI & Luru – ‘Egyptian Sensation’
HDMIRROR – ‘Spike’
Slikback – ‘Rage’
MUTWAWA – ‘Lamashtu Pazuzu Overdose’
oxhy – ‘The coming elation’
Osheyack – ‘Parataxon’ (Via App Remix)
ogniki – ‘Organic Sexuality’
Bamba Pana – ‘Kusini’ (Slikback remix)
Nettle – ‘Duende’ (DJ Scud’s In Chains remix)

FACT mix 694: Morgiana Hz

Cera Khin grew up in Tunisia surrounded by music. Her dad was a record collector and introduced her to a wide variety of sounds, from French classics to Egyptian and African jams, and when she got a little older, Khin explored on her own, using the internet to dig for sounds that took her deeper into into the unknown.

In 2016, she started her own radio show on Bristol’s Noods Radio, a place where her interest in grimy rave and euphoric ambience would finally have a proper home and she’s been contributing monthly shows – with guests such as Fis, Parris and Machine Woman – ever since.

Her connection with Bristol doesn’t stop there either; a chance meeting with Young Echo’s Ossia at OHM was the start of an ongoing collaboration. The duo collaborated on the Coil-esque Guided Meditation, the first release on Cera Khin’s own LazyTapes imprint. Since then, she has released a collaboration with DHR’s Christoph De Babalon, a solo 12″ from Peder Mannerfelt and a second collaboration with Ossia. 

Cera Khin’s mix explores her wide range of influences and has been inspired by a recent Asian tour, “walking alone at night surrounded by Tokyo neon lights.” With tracks from Logos, Perc and Cypher alongside woozy bangers from Machine Woman, Sissel Wincent and new material from Khin herself, it’s a mix, she explains, for a “trip to an unknown planet”. We couldn’t agree more.

FACT mix 692: Cera Khin

s the 1970s drew to a close, composer Edward Larry Gordon had a revelation. He’d spent the early part of his life studiously immersing himself in music, studying composition and piano at the prestigious Howard University in Washington D.C., but he was feeling limited by the structures imposed on his art.

He was in New York City pursuing acting and comedy when he became obsessed with the Autoharp. A traditional folk instrument primarily associated with bluegrass, the quirky instrument fascinated Gordon, who swapped his Yamaha 6-string acoustic guitar for one at a pawn shop and never looked back. Using a Japanese clay modeling stick he’d found in Tokyo, he approached the instrument in a completely unique way, using open tunings and electrifying the output with a guitar amplifier.

This revelation coincided with an interest Gordon had developed in meditation as searched for answers that were not emerging from his brushes with fame and New York society. As the meditative practices and Autoharp experimentation converged, Gordon’s sound became more unique and he would busk regularly at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. One admirer was ambient music pioneer Brian Eno, who in 1978 left a note in Gordon’s busker’s case asking if he would be interested in collaboration.

The result was 1980’s Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, a musical milestone that introduced listeners across the world to the transcendent sound of Laraaji. Since then, Gordon has never stopped performing, recording and sharing his thoughts and practices – encouraging deep listening, meditation and laughter with a series of incredible albums and shows.

Laraaji’s FACT mix is, as expected, a journey to the spiritual plane, with his own compositions layered around exceptional cuts from Tetsu Inoue, Albert Ayler, Alice Coltrane, Iasos and others. 

On Record Store Day this Saturday, Laraaji will release Sun Transformations, a special album of remixes and edits of material from last year’s Sun Gong and Bring On The Sun from the likes of Ras G, DNTEL and Carlos Nino.

FACT mix 648: Laraaji

It’s not easy to pin down Ayman Rostom, aka The Maghreban.

Rostom’s been producing music for years, but until 2014 the sounds were a long way from The Maghreban’s crumbling house. He cut his teeth as part of Surrey-based hip-hop crew Diversion Tactics, where he produced under the Dr. Zygote moniker. After a handful of solo releases, he embarked on a stylistic shift, reconnecting with the dance music of his youth and emerging with a slew of house 12″s in 2014 under the shadowy moniker The Maghreban.

As an outsider, Rostom has been able to fold in his influences without feeling beholden to any of dance music’s rules. He grew up listening to his older brother’s hardcore tapes and that ragged influence is still on show in his productions. This “anything goes” outlook, along with the influence of classic hip-hop, is what anchors Rostom’s productions and what sets him apart from his peers.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that his debut FACT mix is delightfully eclectic. Rostom maintains momentum throughout but isn’t afraid to push himself into areas that might not make sense at a glance. He runs through a selection of his own vital productions into Carl Craig’s Detroit techno classic ‘Technology’ and makes a diversion for Mark Ernestus’s percussive ‘Walo Walo Rhythm’ and The Eurythmics’ ‘Monkey Monkey’ before settling back into the groove, ending on Nummer’s woozy ‘Second Sight’. It’s a rugged, heavy-duty selection that reminds you of the value of crate digging.

FACT mix 570: The Maghreban

Netflix’s Stranger Things is a phenomenon. The third most-watched original show on the network, the sci-fi series has captured hearts and minds with its nostalgic premise, lovable cast and, most importantly, the eerie, synth-driven soundtrack from Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon of Austin-based band S U R V I V E .

The duo were snapped up to score the show after creators the Duffer Brothers had used a S U R V I V E track in their pitch to Netflix. Their demo cues were even used in the casting process, so it’s hardly surprising how important their Tangerine Dream-influenced sound was to the show’s pacing and atmosphere.

S U R V I V E’s fourth album of moody instrumental synthscapes, RR7349 is set to drop on Relapse and their own Holodeck label at the end of the month and is jam-packed full of the band’s unmistakable tropes. Fans of Stranger Thingswon’t be disappointed – while the album offers a more upbeat take on their sound, the wobbling monosynth leads and clipped analog percussion should take you right back to the Upside Down.

The band’s FACT mix is similarly synth-led, blending a grab bag of S U R V I V E’s plethora of influences – from Japanese pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra and prog legends Camel to Dutch master Legowelt and Finnish IDM hero Ovuca. It’s eclectic but never tiring and offers a gripping look into the sounds behind one of the most talked-about bands of the year.

FACT mix 545: Frak

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