There aren’t many DJs who embody euphoric raving, moments fraught with happiness and electric discharges onto the dancefloor, as Len Faki does. What has been reserved for dancers at Berghain and other international clubs, is now available on CD for the first time ever. ‘Berghain 03′ is a display of Faki’s mastery at its most compact and intense. Unlike a recording from a clubnight, this CD concentrates all aspects and tonalities of Len’s extensive sets at Berghain on 77 minutes. Len takes the listener on a journey, or rather an odyssey: At the beginning one is sucked into a hypnotic techno sound gradually developing a more and more intoxicating, electrifying and dramatic dynamic. Len Faki’s exclusive contribution ‘BX 3′ marks a first euphoric highlight being absorbed by Radioslave’s dubby undertones of ‘Neverending’, another exclusive track on this mix, followed by Basement Jaxx’ disco house transporting the euphoric atmosphere to a new frisky level. Towards the end Jerome Sydenham’s and Dennis Ferrer’s ‘Timbuktu’ adds a spiritual depth underlined by Burial’s remix of Bloc Party’s ‘Where Is Home?’ as a perfect closing track.
Having moved to Berlin in 2002 Len Faki took a creative break in order to restart as a DJ and musician. He became a resident at Berghain and launched his new labels Figure and Podium on which he released a series of excellent 12“s. The highlights of his own output were ‘Mekong Delta’ on Ostgut Ton and ‘My Black Sheep’ on Podium.
For anyone who experienced Len Faki internationally as a peaktime DJ or who only know him for his productions, the second, more house-y part of ‘Berghain 03′ might come as a surprise, as this aspect of his DJing has so far been reserved to his marathons at Berghain. But Faki rises to the special challenge of presenting such a set during the length of a CD, without suffering the loss of the broad stylistic range of such a night. Being able to show that it’s still possible to bring oppositional tracks into a coherent context on this mix has been a task close to Len’s heart. As a matter of fact, this is the main theme of ‘Berghain 03′. Techno and house don’t appear as antagonists here, but rather are the manifestations of the same emotive erruptions. By changing styles Len Faki reveals connections you can feel. By layering the tracks for very long periods they all appear in a new light.
In spite of the stylistic openness, ‘Berghain 03′ is still a techno mix. For Len Faki, techno is the music of happiness. The energy of the dancefloor feeds back to the turntables and creates a loop driving dancers into ecstasy, bedazzling listeners during the course of 20 tracks; from John Beltran’s orchestral sounds to Burial’s fey Dubstep.
Minimaland Feedback: Another brilliant release by Ostgut Ton with Len Faki delivering a real massive techno mix, no fails, no flaws, clean mixes, great tracklist… If you like the underground movement you’ll surely like this, dark as hell with non stopping rhythm, techno is back people, it’s time to rave! A must have.. btw: Len Faxi – Bx3 is the best techno track i listened for a long time.
————Tracklisting————
01. John Beltran – Vienna
02. Edit-Select – Bauer (Exclusive Track)
03. Roman Lindau – Raumgestaltung
04. Collabs feat. Speedy J & Chris Liebing – Magnit Express
05. Gez Varley pres. Tony Montana – The World Is Yours
06. Someone Else – Lowdown Brittle (Wink’s Profound Sound Interpretation)
07. Pfirter – Mi Chica
08. Eric Johnston – Waiting For Weird
09. JP Montesino – Viaje Numero Uno
10. Planetary Assault Systems – Surface Noise
11. Len Faki – BX 3 (Exclusive Track)
12. Radio Slave – Neverending (Exclusive Track)
13. Radio Slave w/ Dennis Ferrer – Neverending w/ Jero A capella
14. Koljah & Oliver Deutschmann – Eaten Back To Life (Ed Davenport’s Stripped Mix)
15. Tony Lionni – Found A Place (Exclusive Track)
16. Basement Jaxx – Fly Life (Xtra Mix)
17. Nick Holder & Kaje pres. Trackheadz – Feel (Instrumental Mix)
18. Laurent Garnier – The Man With The Red Face
19. Ferrer & Sydenham Inc. – Timbuktu
20. Bloc Party – Where is Home? (Burial Remix)
OSTGUTCD#008
Release date: 20. 04. 09
Following the huge success of Marcel Dettmann, OstGut Ton brings you ‘Berghain 03′ by Len Faki at the end of april 2009. Before the CD hits the shop, the label releases two 12″s featuring the exclusive material of Len’s mix, which, of course, is too good to keep it from DJs all over. In Detail, ‘Berghain 03 – Part I (o-ton 22) contains tracks by Tony Lionni and Radio Slave, ‘Berghain 03 – Part II’ (o-ton 23) contains tracks by Edit-Select and Len Faki himself.
