(Shitkatapult)
 
Berlin based Phon.o mixes techno, breakbeat, dancehall and hip-hop, confounding expectations of clubgoers. Lamenting the disuse of a whole world of non-4/4 beats, Phon.o’s dirty style takes a wider view, drawing together wildly disparate beats, sounds and samples from pop, r&b and other sources.
 
Carsten Aermes started his Phon.o project in the late nineties after moving to Berlin from the Hartz Mountains. With musical beginnings in the hills of former East Germany, Aermes got his first turntables and started dj-ing in 1994. In ’97 he started making his own music, citing ‘the hay in the barn, the dirt in the fields and the sheep calling him from beyond the hills' as strong early influences (as well as early techno parties). Phon.o – the name chosen because of its analogue sound – emerged in 2000 with a release on Jasper and Kit Clayton’s Californian label, Cytrax. After two 12” and an album, his dubby style moved in to new territory when he joined T. Raumschmiere & Co at Shitkatapult. 'Palersam The Cat', a track from Phon.o’s Bockflinten EP, was included on the definitive Michael Mayer mix CD, Immer (Kompakt), in 2002, garnering Aermes wide acclaim. Burn Down The Town, Phon.o’s 2005 techno-eurocrunk-dancehall grime album, featured contributions from Kit Clayton, Gold Chains, Sue Cie and Kevin Blechdom.
 
After studying Communication design at the Kunsthochschule Berlin, Aermes undertook many design, video and graphics projects, including collaborations with artists Noïca Llanos and Sara Riel and record covers for Shitkatapult. He was also a member of the design group Kiosk Royal, “…We do free interesting graphical jobs and works…” In 2005, Aermes started a collaborative project with Exsample called The Bareback Show – two djs, four decks and a pile of locked groove vinyl.
 
Aermes met Chris de Luca during Funkstörung’s ‘Disconnected’ tour in 2004, and they began collaborating, finally joining forces as performance team ‘Chris De Luca vs. Phon.o’. Together they’ve released a mix CD, Shotgun Wedding Vol. 7: Wedding Wow, in early 2007 on Tigerbeat6 sub-label, Violent Turd. The pair cast their net characteristically wide for the mix, including tracks from Missy Elliot and Destiny’s Child to Peaches, to Row Arai, Justin Timberlake, Mochipet and Mr.Oizo.
 
Aermes also released a hip-hop, broken beat oriented split 12” on Detroit experimental label, Detroit Underground, in 2007.
 
> Website Phon.o
> Phon.o on Myspace
> Website Chris de Luca vs. Phon.o
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > UNUSUAL CONFIGURATIONS
> CTM.06