Futurism Restated: A Fennesz Interview From the Archives

A 2014 interview for Wondering Sound, rescued from the dustbin of internet history

Back in 2014, I interviewed Fennesz for Wondering Sound, the music website that was spun off from download platform eMusic’s editorial operations. The Viennese glitch titan had recently released Bécs, his third album for Mego/Editions Mego—he considered it the closing chapter of a trilogy, along with Hotel Paral.lel and Endless Summer—and was in town for the Lapsus Festival. (This was, of course, years before I’d end up coming on board as a co-host of Lapsus Radio. Prescient!) We drank three relatively high-ABV beers in an unadvisedly short span and then walked around the Raval on a sort of lightning-round photo shoot, which was made even more difficult by Fennesz’ determination to ham it up. Not what I’d expected from the creator of Endless Summer. Wondering Sound eventually shut down, taking its archives with it. But I recently came across those photos and wondered (no pun intended) if I still had the interview on my hard drive anywhere; lo and behold, I did. 

So here, as a bonus issue for paying subscribers, is that 10-year-old interview. He was a testier interviewee than I remembered! But also quite candid, and funny, in a very wry way. It makes sense that he and Peter Rehberg were drinking buddies. We also talked about his work with Ryuichi Sakamoto, his live techniques, and the origin of the title Hotel Paral.lel.