Dieb13

Dieter Kovacic's best-known alias is Dieb13, but he has also performed and recorded under the monikers Takeshi Fumimoto, Echelon, Dieter Bohlen, and Dieb 14. He sprang into action in the mid-'90s, as the Viennese avant-garde scene was picking up a momentum. His rare solo releases are complemented by a number of collaborations with the likes of Boris Hauf, Werner Dafeldecker, Martin Siewert, and Christof Kurzmann, all artists revolving mainly around the Viennese labels Charhizma and Durian. Kovacic was born in 1973. He came to music from the DJ side, instead of a more traditional musical background. He began to tweak cassette players and turntables in the late '80s, and later moved to the computer. In 1995, he applied for a studies program in electro-acoustic music at the Viennese College of Music, but was turned down. Ironically, his professional career started at around the same time. First, he self-released a cassette with Stefan Geissler titled Lomophonien. The label Rhiz invited him to contribute to the compilation Picknick mit Hermann (1997), and things picked up from there. Kovacic began to play in Kurzmann's Orchester 33 1/3, ©, Shabotinski, Radio Fractals, and Efzeg. In 1998, he contributed a track to Turntable Solos, a compilation released by the Japanese label Amoebic. Disguised as Takeshi Fumimoto, he resided amid Otomo Yoshihide, Christian Marclay, and Merzbow. For his first solo CD, Restructuring (2000, Charhizma), Kovacic remixed the contents of a whole experimental music festival. The album was released "open content" by the artist, a conscientious copyright objector. With this CD confirming his mastery of the turntable, he quickly moved to other pastures, stripping his sound of recognizable references to use record-less players and eventually the computer. In early 2002, For4Ears released Streaming, an electro-acoustic improv trio with Günter Müller and Jason Kahn.
© François Couture /TiVo