(!K7)
 
Chris De Luca (b. 1974) started his musical career as a DJ in Rosenheim, Munich in the early 90s. After playing a string of successful parties organized by Michael Fakesch, the two teamed up to form what would later become Funkstörung. De Luca has since pursued his solo career as a DJ mixing his signature distorted funk and recently teamed up with Berliner, Phon.o, for booty-based antics that allow De Luca to further indulge his love of hip-hop, the music of his formative years.
 
De Luca’s earliest productions were with Fakesch: straight, minimalist techno under the name Musik Aus Strom (music from electricity) for Unit Moebius' label Bunker Records/Acid Planet in 1994. When there were publishing delays after the label ran into financial problems, the pair adopted the name Funkstörung (radio interference) and used the moniker Musik Aus Strom for their own label, on which they released EPs with a new sound, breakbeat-like rhythm-programming combined with melancholic melodies that earned them not completely welcome comparisons with their British counterparts, Autechre.
 
Following the release of two EPs in 1997 on Michael Reinboth's Compost Records and another on Chocolate Industries in the USA, Funstörung were hotly pursued for remix projects, which they executed to huge acclaim. They signed to !K7 Records in 1999, and their first album, Additional Productions, was a collection of these remix projects, and included the Funkstörung-ised, high profile takes on Björk, Wu-Tang Clan and others.
 
Appetite for Disctruction, Funkstörung's first artist album proper, appeared on !K7 in 2000. Their style had developed and had begun to incorporate elements of hip-hop; futuristic hi-tech hip-hop featuring MCs and female vocalists with melodious electronica.
 
In 2002, De Luca released his first solo offering on !K7. For the album he collaborated with DJ Dominik 'Peabird' Pointvogl, after the two met at De Luca’s Munich record store, Delerium. Peabird and De Luca used the opportunity to explore their mutual love of hip-hop, and the result, Deadly Wiz da Disko, is mix of old school hip hop and cut-up beats which appeared in the summer of ‘02 on !K7 Records. The two recorded together sporadically over the next three years and also formed a label, Sellwell Productions.
 
In June 2005, Funkstörung released another album called The Return to the Acid Planet to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their first release. De Luca moved to Berlin soon after, and by August 2006, the duo had broken up, citing musical and personal differences. The break up was sudden, leaving several booked dates still to play in the second half of 2006. Chris de Luca asked Phon.o to fill in, and a new collaborative partnership began. They first met was when Phon.o was a support act for Funkstörung’s ‘Disconnected’ tour in 2004. They began collaborating on sets of uncompromisingly eclectic mixes of hip-hop, techno and pop, before officially joining forces as performance team, ‘Chris De Luca vs. Phon.o’. Together they released a mix CD, Shotgun Wedding Vol. 7: Wedding Wow, in early 2007 on 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.
 
> Website Chris de Luca vs. Phon.o
> Chris de Luca on Myspace
> !K7 RECORDS
 
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > UNUSUAL CONFIGURATIONS