Name: Len Faki
Occupation: Producer, DJ, label founder at Figure
Nationality: Turkish-German
Current release: Len Faki's Fusion is out via Figure.

If you enjoyed this Len Faki  interview and would like to find out more about his music, visit him on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud. For more thoughts behind the production of Fusion, read the second part of our conversation with Len.



As the archetypal "music of the future", techno has long been concerned with the question: "Where are we going?" Your new album Fusion, on the other hand, seems to deal with the opposite question: "Where do we as a community come from - where do I as an artist come from?"

Can you talk a little about your answers to this and how the music on Fusion is a reflection of your personal journey?

Of course, Fusion reflects the sum of my experiences, including my beginnings. But that question was never the focus. I see this album as a snapshot, as a part of what constitutes electronic music for me in the here and now and what I can realise with my current studio skills.

The tracks developed naturally over a period of two years. I collected all the tracks in a folder and when it came to selecting a track for the first time, I realised that there was almost a balance between techno and more leftfield tracks. To be honest, I was a bit surprised myself at that moment.

Judging by the pieces contained on Fusion, what constitutes electronic music today is versatility. What's the core of your work, would you say?

With Fusion, I tried to combine my previous experiences with my view of today. You could also say: We are what we are.

I grew up with very different influences of electronic club culture. In my early days, that meant dancing until the early hours of the morning to hard or Detroit-esque techno sets and then going to the house after-party, where you would be exposed to anything from New York vocal house to rough and jacky Chicago beat influences. Then again, at other times, I'd spend the whole night in the chillout room with ambient music.

My record purchases were also firmly within that spectrum. I loved this diversity and it was normal for me to feel at home in all these different worlds. Over the years, techno has clearly become my great passion, but house and ambient, or the chillout rooms of the clubs, have always influenced me as well and have always been part of my musical world. Even if you would only catch a short glimpse of that as an outside observer.

Are there still larger trends in electronic music at all?

To be honest, I don't particularly care about trends or what is a new reality right now, so I can only say something about that to a limited extent. Of course I notice things around me and they will also influence me, but I don't make any conscious or even deliberate decisions in this regard. I follow my own artistic path. If I hit the zeitgeist with this, that's good to hear.

Despite its diversity, the album is firmly rooted in the club experience. Why so?

Because I grew up in clubs. That is undeniably my base and has always been my biggest influence. I have always loved the experience of forgetting time and space while dancing. I like the diversity that makes a good club experience for me.

The sense of belonging and equality that I experienced there is one of my cherished values for me and one of the main reasons why I have been part of this world for so long.

You are looking for more balance in your life and many of the tracks on Fusion combine powerful beats with warmth and intimacy. Tell us a little bit about how life and music go together for you today ...

In connection with the album, the first thing that came to mind when I heard your description of warmth and intimacy was an image of my mother. She fell ill with Corona during the album process and unfortunately passed away a few weeks later. That was an emotionally difficult time in my life and of course also influenced the album a lot.

Even during the weeks when there was still hope that she could make it, the music helped me a lot to deal with this extreme situation. All in all, I wrote two pieces named after my mother "Halide" and dedicated to her. The first, in the early days when there was still hope.



The second after she had lost the fight. That's when my life came to a standstill.



Relatively soon, however, I was drawn back to the studio. I knew that music would help me to deal with my grief.

Life and music are one for me. Inseparable and always connected and influenced by each other. It's been like that since my childhood and I would even go so far as to say that my life will never be without music. You never know what the future holds for me, but I can safely say that no matter where and how, producing music will always be one of the most important parts of my life, regardless of the circumstances.

What was the production process for Fusion like?

The structure of a piece is enormously important to me. I discovered early on that arrangements can be crucial and often decisive for a track. Even with the greatest ingredients, the arrangement is the basis for everything. It is an art in itself.

To make it easier to understand, it's best to compare it to a DJ. If DJ A and DJ B had the same 50 tracks for their set, I'm sure it would create a totally different dynamic and musical experience for the listener. It's all about the decisions you make.

Personally, I see arranging as an independent learning process and even after all these years I would never say that I have mastered it completely. I always ask myself how does the piece unfold best? What do I want to express and how do I get there?

I guess, just as with a DJ set, contrast is an import aspect as well.

Very important indeed. Take "Friedrichshain Funk". Stylistically, it occupies a space somewhere between a techno break piece and electronic jazz. I liked the idea of combining influences of styles and sounds to create contrasts.



Without the Moog One chords it wouldn't have had the hint of a jazz experience and without the real drums it would have sounded too electronic with the beats. These were moments that were a lot of fun for me in the studio and also a good learning process for myself.

You had a huge amount of tracks at the end. Was there ever the temptation to even go beyond what ended up on Fusion?

At the beginning of the album I had made two folders for sketches. One that can be looked at further and one in which sketches were stored that already have a solid basic structure and that I could have imagined for the album. I think there are still over 30 drafts in there.

When we had the first listening session with all the tracks, I think we sat in the studio for over 5 hours. In the end, our ears were bleeding and when I came up with the idea - hey, let's make a triple album - everyone had to stop me in my euphoria for a moment. (laughs)

Was making the album a kind of "rush"?

Working quickly is never my intention. But there is definitely a certain intoxication that comes with it. I think for me, especially when I manage to let myself drift with the music and become part of it. Then there are no conscious thoughts but rather intuitive actions in harmony with the energies that the music provides.

I am always very concentrated and focused and there are pieces that I finish more quickly and others that take a long time and that I sometimes put aside for a few weeks or even months before I work on them again. So I'm not someone who records and saves at the end and instantly has a finished piece ready for release. I always have to try out, test, understand, and rethink something.

On the upside, this results in elements that I would never have expected and which provides me with the next impulse or the next step.

In a way, Fusion is similar to Stephan Bodzin's Boavista, which was also sprawling. How do you imagine the listening experience for Fusion - small bites or a deep dive?

[Read our Stephan Bodzin interview]

I would be very happy about a deep dive!

But I think it would be a bit unrealisticto expect this from more than just a few listeners in a time when attention spans have become short and music is consumed in a completely different way.

But if I could, I would wish that more people would really spend time with music again, get involved with it, let it drive and inspire them. This process of immersion is a form of enrichment that I have always liked very much. There are albums where I keep hearing new sounds or effects and keep asking myself where the hell they came from!

I really wanted to have moments like that on Fusion. Movement, change and expansion, sometimes more subtle, sometimes more obvious.

Electronic club music has gone through many phases and has always changed its meaning. Where do you see the role of techno today, even apart from having a great time on the dancefloor?

Everything is in a constant state of flux, and contemporary events and experiences are always reflectively integrated into art and culture. When I joined the techno community, I felt a tremendous sense of belonging, which was vital for me at the time. Techno, for me, is essentially a development and continuation the social and societal context of the time we're living in.

At the same time, it creates or offers a place of freedom and equality. A place with visions and values worth defending. This also gives the music genre "techno" ever new currents and forms of expression.

The music itself is in a constant cycle and change, entering a dialogue with progress and the spirit of the times. Even if it doesn't seem like we're reinventing the wheel, there are always subtle changes that make a big difference in the end.

Never before has human expression been so strongly shaped by machines as today.