An integral part of my life.
I play (mostly acoustic) Guitar, Ukulele, Harmonium, Piano, and Synthesizers. I also sing along. Over the years I have participated in a couple of bands and choirs, but these days, I'm on my own again.
Current Instruments
I've been buying and selling a lot of gear in the last 30 years. Eventually I settled on a setup that lets me record mostly in-the-box, i.e. a DAW, a lot of virtual instruments and plugins, and some controllers.
These days, I prefer Apple (formerly Emagic) Logic as the DAW, U-He synths and effect plugins, and Native Instruments controllers. I also purchased a lot of sample libraries for my orchestral endeavours from Spitfire Audio, Orchestral Tools, and 8dio.
My Releases
After being pretty much inactive for more than two decades, I finally got around to working on music again. You can listen to the tracks in most of the usual music stores and streaming services. iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and more. Just search for "Fabrique Noir" (Ambient Electronic), "Taberna Mercurio" (Jazz, Alternative), or "Subliminal Thrust" (Rap, Hip-Hop).
Fabrique Noir – Abduction (Album) • 2023
Abduction tells the story of a group of humans that are abducted by aliens, spend some time in mysterious dark laboratories, and finally return to Earth. I just can't let go of the SciFi theme… yet!
Track List: Abducted (4:16), Foreign Surfaces (4:10), Otherworldly (5:40), The Lake (7:14), Retroactive (2:56), Breakthrough (4:28), Interlude (5:00), Elevator (4:33), Plateau (7:24)
Fabrique Noir – Airlock (Album) • 2022
Airlock brings us back into space and is the third chapter of our space travel theme. This bows down to books of the legendary Douglas Adams. 42!
Track List: Intro (1:46), Kommunikationslaser 17 (6:16), Thursdays (4:58), Perseids (5:12), Infinite Improbability Drive (5:58), Interface (1:26), The Chase (5:36), Behind The Walls (4:02), Alive (6:00), Disparity (5:28), Tribal Wars (4:56)
Fabrique Noir – Tales from Enwor (Album) • 2021
Tales From Enwor has been inspired by a well-known German SciFi and Fantasy author that I enjoyed reading a lot during the 1980s and 1990s. I have a sweet spot for medieval sounding vocals, which hopefully shows on Gowenna's Prayer (which I'm very proud of).
Track List: Vela's Plan (2:55), Gowenna's Prayer (4:24), Cearn (5:09), Nonakesh (4:14), Besh Ikne (3:12), Quorrl (3:31), Satai (3:57), Dronte (4:14), Skar's Lament (3:41)
Fabrique Noir – Colonization (Album) • 2021
Colonization continues the story of space travel towards the colonization of a new planet. Most of the tracks have been composed while I had a hemiplegia of one side of the face. There's a certain narrowness in the sound that I couldn't shake off which reflects to my illness back then.
Track List: Intro (2:09), Cryosleep (5:40), Approaching (5:19), Terraforming (4:54), Machinery (7:26), Settlers (5:51), Virus (4:56), Evolution (5:22), Outro (2:45)
Fabrique Noir – Brand New High Technology (Single) • 2021
Brand New High Technology tells the story of a well-known blue planet that experimented with dangerous technology to solve their needs for energy. It is an obeisance to the track Generator 7/8 from the congenial band Moskwa TV. The "back side" In His Quest For Progress is an ambient instrumental.
Track List: Brand New High Technology (5:46), In His Quest For Progress (4:13)
Fabrique Noir – Justice (Single) • 2020
Justice is an electronic club track about social inequality. That one was a hard job chopping vocal recordings, but I think it was worth it. With the drums and the overall athmosphere, I also tried to catch a bit of the Bad News (OFF) vibe. The "back-side" Return to Oberkorn is an ambient instrumental that has been inspired by one of the rare instrumentals of Depeche Mode.
Track List: Justice (4:45), Return to Oberkorn (5:17)
Taberna Mercurio – Marley's Story (Single) • 2019
Marley's Story is a jazzy murder tale featuring vocals by the amazing Simone Jeiter. This one almost wrote itself after the image of a diva in a night club emerged in my mind. Although equipped with a slight cough, Simone did a magnificent job by nailing the vocals in just a single two hours recording session.
Track List: Marley's Story – Live (4:35)
Fabrique Noir – Somnus Ambulare (Single) • 2019
Somnus Ambulare is an ambient / downtempo single taking us through different moods featuring three excerpts of a forthcoming concept album. It starts with a day at the harbor, then we dive deep into the sea, sing with the whales, and come back to the surface. Note: Unfortunately the full album (which was supposed to be Deep Space Explorer) has never been released, since I couldn't get the last 20% to sound right.
Track List: Somnus Ambulare (10:02)
Fabrique Noir – Touchdown EP • 2019
Touchdown is an EP featuring an extended version of the single Touchdown (which first appeared as an excerpt version on Space Travel) and three additional remixes. The remix "Bobby-Eats-Baklava-In-Space" has been conceived in cooperation with my long friend and music partner Oliver Linge. Check out his SoundCloud page.
Track List: Touchdown (4:31), Touchdown – Bobby-Eats-Baklava-In-Space Mix (4:42), Touchdown – Funky Planet Mix (3:31), Touchdown – Space & Time Mix (6:01)
Fabrique Noir – Space Travel (Album) • 2019
Space Travel is an electronic album celebrating human space exploration, including the 50th anniversary of the legendary Apollo 11 mission. STS-51-L is of course lamenting the death of the crew of the Space Shuttle STS-51-L. I have a set of spoken vocals for this and may overdub this track eventually.
Track List: Sputnik – Gaming Mix (4:03), JFK (5:13), Liftoff (4:25), In Orbit (4:57), Touchdown (Excerpt) (3:42), Space Debris (3:37), NGC 891 – Lounge Mix (4:43), STS-51-L (3:20)
Other bands
Over the years I have been listening to a lot of good (and a lot of bad) music. Here are some of the bands that have impressed me in one way or another:
Alphaville, in particular their debut album Forever Young.
Beat-A-Max / CCCP
Die Kassierer
Depeche Mode, in particular their 1983-1990 phase.
E.A.V.
Jean-Michel Jarre, in particular the trilogy Oxygene, Equinoxe, and Magentic Fields with a sweet spot for Rendezvous. By now I absolutely love Zoolook, although back then it took me a while to embrace it.
Joint Venture
Moskwa TV, in particular the groundbreaking album Dynamics & Discipline.
Psyche, in particular their album The Influence.
Rödelheim Hartreim Projekt
The Sisters Of Mercy, i.e. their 2nd album, the Floodland (1987).
The The, in particular the album Soul Mining (1983).
Radio Stations
I have stopped listening to classical (AM/FM) radio stations since long. My radio station of choice is the amazing Soma.FM – Commercial-free, Listener-supported Radio. With over 20 niche streams, there's something for everyone!