Senking is a moniker from Jens Massel, an underrated Cologne artist known for his work as Kandis on the Karaoke Kalk label. After playing in punk bands, Massel began making electronic music in the mid 90s; his first Senking release was in 1996. The post-glitch LPs Trial and Tap (2000, 2003 Raster-Noton) were widely acclaimed for their deep take on the Cologne sound.
 
In the early 90s Massel played bass in several indie-rock and punk bands. He bought his first keyboard in 1995, which set off his interest in electronic music. A year later, Massel released his first record on (then) Cologne-based Karaoke Kalk as Kandis. The title of the twelve-inch was 'Senking'. The Senking project had its beginnings within the Kandis works – there were a few Senking tracks on Kandis records. Starting in 1997, Senking became a separate project with the earliest releases appearing on Karaoke Kalk in 1998.
 
In the same year, Genf, the band in which Massel played keyboard, split up. Genf were quite prominent in the post-rock scene in the mid-late 90s with releases on Munich imprint Compost Records and Cologne’s Finlayson Records (home-base of Kreidler). From that point, Massel focused solely on his solo projects.
 
In 1999, Massel came in to contact with Carsten Nicolai and Frank Bretschneider of Raster-Noton. The meeting in resulted in a Senking installment for the 20’ to 2000 series; the sixth (June). Several more Senking recordings were released on Raster-Noton throughout the 00s, including Trial (2000), Forge (2002), Tap (2003) and List (2007).
 
Massel has also composed for various theatre projects under the monikers Fumble and Poto & Caberg.
 
A new Senking album is planned for Raster-Noton's Unun series in 2010.
 
> www.raster-noton.net
 
Appearances:
> CTM.10 > RASTER.NOTON.UNUN