Funkstorung Appendix CD - Import

A wrap-up (of sorts), Appendix looks back at the final seven years of Funkstörung's remixing résumé. (For the first half of the remixing-career overview, listeners would need to add 1999's Additional Productions.) During the late '90s and early 2000s, the bloom was coming off Funkstörung's rose; although their style of slightly funky, slightly glitchy electronica was much in fashion, it was also clear that they needed to broaden somewhat. The first track here, their remix of Spacek's "1st Stroke," does just that, distorting and amping up the vocal until the track sounds more like the future of contemporary R&B than the present of electronica. (A Beanfield remix included here later on does much the same thing.) Unfortunately, a low point comes directly after; with Phon.o's "Trick or Treat," the duo were sounding more like obvious and awkward Basement Jaxx imitators. Two of their high-profile productions, Björk's "All Is Full of Love" and Lamb's "Heaven," don't add much to the originals, but they fare better with L'usine's "Sustain" and Towa Tei's "Latte & Macaron," a pair of smooth, beautifully textured remixes. There's more here of character and good quality than not, but it's obvious that before their breakup in 2005, Funkstörung were merely refining their abilities, not enhancing them. ~ John Bush