F/i
Wisconsin, USA situated F/i was founded in 1981.
The band started producing several cassette releases first. The early material was harsh, experimental electronic sounds with drum machines and less guitars. That initially got the attention of the RRR Records label. The new collaboration started in 1986 with a split LP featuring a related band named BOY DIRT CAR. Two years later the including F/i songs were re-released under the album name 'Space Mantra'. At that time the line-up consisted of Richard Franecki (guitar, electronics), Brian Wensing (guitar), both longtime core members of the band, additionally supported by Steve Zimmerman (electronics). The music is influenced by the industrial/power sound of the days provided with references to krautrock acts like Faust and Neu.
The following 'Why Not Now?...Alan!' from 1987 shows the first changes to a more rocking style. Jan Schober (drums) had joined the band and Franecki enlarged his instrumentation with the bass guitar. Some other vinyl albums were released by RRR furthermore until Franecki left the band in 1990. The album 'Blue Star' marked the change. The studio title track from 1989 still features Franecki. The other two songs without him are live recordings from their Europe tour in 1990 (Bremen/Germany). Franecki went on with his new project THE VOCOKESH in the meanwhile along with Zimmerman and Schober.
F/i continued with Brian Wensing (guitar), Ron Faiola (drums), John Frankovic (bass) and Grant Richter (electronics) making instrumental music more in a spacey vein. 1992 saw a new release, 'Merge Parlour', a split album of both related bands. The same year F/i had toured in Germany and Switzerland and some recordings were put on the live album 'Earthpipe', released as their first CD. After a longer break a new EP with two songs similiar to HAWKWIND's heavy space rock style appeared in 1995 - this time with new members Rick Hake on drums and J. J. McAuliffe (bass, keyboards). They continued 1997 in this way with reduced avantgarde elements, more in a song-oriented manner, with the album 'Helioscopium' featuring Steve Schrank at the bass guitar.
The next sign of life is coming from 2003. 'A Question For The Somnambulist' marked the return of Richard Franecki, now being involved in two bands. This album reveived excellent reviews offering an interesting blend of psychedelic space, electronica and kraut rock ingredients. 'Blanga' followed in 2005 with a stronger spacey hallucinatory orientation and Rick Hake back on the drums.
The band is still on the run in 2009 with Franecki, Wensing and Richter as the core supported by Jay Tiller (drums) and Russ T. (bass). Besides some compilations which were offered over the years the Australian label Lexicon Devil started to reissue all the 80s RRR label vinyl albums on CD in 2000. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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