Akufen

Quebecois electronic music producer Akufen is known most for his advancement of microsampling, a method of using fragments of sound sourced from his radio dial travels. Most prolific during the first half of the 2000s, Akufen built a "buy on sight" reputation with 12" releases for German labels such as Trapez, Perlon, and Force Inc., the last of which issued his lone proper album, My Way (2002), featuring the singularly jaunty "Deck the House." He took a long break from releasing his own music, and since the early 2010s has issued material on a comparatively sporadic basis. My Blue House (2019) and We Shall Not Surrender (2021), among other EPs, have alternated from slightly skewed deep house tracks to odder material with a springy quality recalling his earlier output. Born Marc Leclair in Montreal, Akufen -- the alias is a quasi-phonetic translation of acouphène, the French word for tinnitus -- made his recorded debut on the local Oral label in 1999. During the next two years, additional 12" singles and double packs were issued through Trapez, Perlon, and Background, among other imprints. Among the highlights were the first two volumes of the producer's Psychometry series and Quebec Nightclub. In 2002, Akufen completed Psychometry as a Trapez trilogy, and released My Way on Force Inc. Anticipation for My Way was increased by a limited release of "Deck the House," the album's central cut. Akufen would spend hours each morning recording bits off his radio -- seemingly the entirety of the dial, considering the range of sounds -- splicing seconds into minute fragments and converting them into house tracks. "Deck the House" displayed mastery of the technique with immediate dancefloor appeal. My Way received widespread acclaim, and was followed in 2003 by a remix 12" and the Hawaiian Wodka Party EP. The latter launched Musique Risquée, a long-running label co-founded by Akufen, Deadbeat, and fellow Montreal associates Stephen Beaupré and Vincent Lemieux. Akufen in 2004 delivered a volume of London club Fabric's DJ mix series, Fabric 17, and contributed roughly one-third of the tracks to Blu TribunL, a split CD with Freeform and the Rip-Off Artist. All of the album's tracks were based on blues samples. Under his birth name the next year, he released a more experimental LP. Largely inactive until the early 2010s, Akufen returned in 2012 with Battlestar Galacticlown on Musique Risquée, and a digital EP of previously unreleased tracks, titled Dollhouse, also appeared that year. These were followed in 2013 by a full-length under the recurrent alias Horror Inc. Akufen returned in 2017 with an EP, followed by Music 2 Wiggle 2 EP in 2018 and My Blue House in 2019. Two more EPs, We Shall Not Surrender and Preamble, were released in 2021.
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