Komakino – Man On Mars [Orbit Records] 1997

[TRANCEBLASTER]

'Komakino' (named after a Joy Division' song) were 'Ralph Fridge' and 'Detlef Hastik'. this duo worked under various aliases, their best known productions are 'Structure - Das Licht' from 1991, 'Confession - I Found My Love' from 1992, 'Komakino - Outface' from 1995, 'Final Fantasy - I Close My Eyes' from 1998 or 'Vectrex - Meteor' from 1999.

the 'Komakino' project started in 1991 on 'Talla's' famous 'Suck Me Plasma' label. 'John Frusciante' from 'Red Hot Chilli Peppers' mentions them in many interviews as a key influence on his music. here a quote from a 'Electronic Beats' interview:

Another one I pulled out was Komakino, Energy Trance EP. Komakino is a couple of guys from Germany, and again, there isn’t that much information about them. I saw it one day in a record store and bought it because the cover looked cool and they were named after a Joy Division song. But it’s such huge-sounding music. These guys don’t have much—from what I can tell, a 909, an 808, a 303, an Alpha Juno synth and a computer. It’s the opposite of Aphex Twin and Venetian Snares: it’s not sophisticated. It’s kind of stupid music. But they have a great sense of melody, a basic sense of harmony and the Western modes, modulation, key changing and stuff like that. I’ve found very little techno or trance that I loved so much as their music. I’ve bought everything that they’ve ever made and every remix they ever did. At a certain point they stopped producing, and their last couple of 12″s aren’t so good, but almost everything that they’ve done has a very special place in my heart.

I really loved 'Man On Mars' in days of the release, it was their most commercial single, supported by TV and radio, unfortunately the Maxi-CD failed to enter the German TOP 100. following this failure, the record label refused to release their completed album. (it was released very quetly 15 years later). after this 'Detlef' convinced 'Ralph' to stop the project and 'Ralph' started his 'Ralph Fridge' solo project.

hate it or love it:

Komakino – Man On Mars [Orbit Records] 1997


Komakino – Man On Mars [Orbit Records] 1997


Komakino – Man On Mars [Orbit Records] 1997



new versions were released in 2002, the 'Martin Eyerer Remix' was pretty ok

Ralph Fridge - Man On Mars (Martin Eyerer Remix) [Go For It] 2002

 

[afterhourpower]

My favorite version is by Dj Jan. Amazing remix