With over thirty years experience between them, the German duo have finally turned their attention to the burgeoning electronic music scene in China. Asia has played an influential role in Codec and Flexor's recent work, with the video to one of their most acclaimed tracks 'Time has Changed' featuring images of Japanese Samurai dualing amid a vista of picturesque Asian landscape.
Keen to bring to China their trademark distorted basslines, industrial-lite vibe and dissaffected... Read more
With over thirty years experience between them, the German duo have finally turned their attention to the burgeoning electronic music scene in China. Asia has played an influential role in Codec and Flexor's recent work, with the video to one of their most acclaimed tracks 'Time has Changed' featuring images of Japanese Samurai dualing amid a vista of picturesque Asian landscape.
Keen to bring to China their trademark distorted basslines, industrial-lite vibe and dissaffected vocals, so popular during their tours of the United States and Europe, Codec and Flexor would relish the chance to perform at such a vibrant night scene as Beijing. Now, on the back of the release of their second album `Killer Machine` in 2006, which showed greater technical development and expertise with its techy beats, dirty guitar riffs, crowned with spherical vocals and superior hooks, Codec and Flexor are excited about bringing such tunes as 'Time has Changed', 'Tubed' and 'Crazy Girl', as well as their intensity and energy on stage, to a Chinese audience.
The name Codec sources from a computer chip that converts sound into digital information; Flexor is the tendon responsible for moving each finger. Combined, the name illustrates the symbiosis between music and bio-mechanics.
Sven Zalac, aka Codec, felt the music flow through him from an early age. As a child, whenever he went into a music store, he was not content to play just one instrumenthe wanted to play them all. At 12 he rigged a regular record player for scratching by cutting-up a dishcloth to make a slipmat. Later, Sven absorbed the wash of a guitar noise from Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. In 1992, Sven joined with a few classmates to form a cellar-based band; it was this band that eventually evolved into the psychedelic and progressive rock outfit De Luxe. Among these nascent noise-makers was one Matthias Freund, aka Flexor. Matthias` mutual love for the Seattle sound and its counterparts in bands such as the Pixies, made them a well-matched pair.
Neither Sven nor Matthias liked electronic music at that time. Matthias recalls: “We only knew the commercial side of techno like `James Brown is Dead`. That was the music I really hated.” This, however, was about to change.
Following a Depeche Mode concert in 1993, Sven and Matthias experienced what can only be described as an electronic epiphany at the hands of the legendary DJ Sven Vath at his techno club Club Omen. “That was the first time that I had heard non-commercial technonot that other stupid kind of techno. I liked it because the TB-303 was similar to the guitar, very aggressive and very kickin`. I just loved the sound,” said Sven.
From that moment forwards, Sven and Matthias took on their newfound interest in electronic music, spurred on by Club Omen, and began to pursue their digital dreams as Codec & Flexor.
From the moment that Codec and Flexor came together, they began translating the emotions of gritty guitar rock through synthesizers and a 303. `Tubed`, their first LP, has more in common with the rawness of Nirvana`s Bleach than the breakbeat-rock of the Prodigy. The two Germans combine classic EBM (Nitzer Ebb, Sheep on Drugs) with its modern equivalents (Green Velvet, Underworld) within a heavy dose of pure electro and techno.
The album took over a year to record. Along the way, Codec & Flexor discovered the meaning of the German term `Studiocoller`roughly translated as: `Studio Collapse`. Locked up in a room less than 15m², they ate, slept, created, and recorded stuff together. Sven explains: “It`s a sickness that comes from being in a studio too long with nothing besides music, and no contact with other people. We were living in our own little world for months on end, working for days on a piece of music that perhaps lasted just five seconds.” Flexor`s effected vocals unify the largely aggressive tracks that wind from techno to electro to industrial. On `Black Diamonds` a solid 4-4 kick provides the bed for Flexor to wax lyrical about the brilliance of darkness. The tattering techno of `Crazy Girls` expresses the dual role of women as a blessing and a curse. The sinister, driving electronic sounds of `Alert` mix perfectly with Flexor`s agro-distorted vocals and a searching guitar riff. The duo`s musical range shines on `She` which starts as a pretty little ditty accompanied by an acoustic guitar that morphs into a chemical breakbeat ballad.
Now that `Tubed` is complete, Codec & Flexor have taken the results to the stage for another take at their musical, bio-mechanical symbiosis. Codec assumes the programming duties, riffing his machines and intermingling them with a guitar, while Flexor stomps across the stage singing and using guitar-effect pedals to manipulate the sound of his vocals. Show less
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