Over the past few years Jake Fairley has become recognized as a key force in the growing Canadian electronic music scene. Since June 2000, Jake has had nearly twenty releases under various names and on various labels, mostly under the Kompakt Distribution umbrella. Being from Toronto, he has developed a style which is a little harder, a little drier, and a lot dirtier than the common sound from Montreal.

 From the very beginning, Jake’s music has showed a bigger focus on stretching minimal techno into the popular rather than the experimental. Spending much of his youth watching bands play live has pushed Jake to try and perform his music rather than merely present it. As of late, Jake’s music has begun to show his rock and roll roots more and more. By using distorted sounds, a steady beat, and occasionally aggressive vocals, he has been blurring the lines between techno and rock music more than ever.

The desire to make the perfect hybrid of techno and rock n’ roll is nothing new for Jake and can be found even in his earliest work. In late 2001 he had his first dance floor hit with ‘Exploder’. Named after a Toronto garage band featuring the man that got Jake hooked on electronics in the first place, the EP not only showed Jake singing for the first time, but also his growing love for distortion. By the time ‘Exploder’ was released Jake had already been testing his version of The Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ out at his live shows. It was released in spring 2002 and showed not only Jake getting more aggressive, but also using the shuffle beat for the first time since his very first 12′. By winter he had started the Joy Division-meets-minimal-techno outfit Uncut with Ian Worang. They released their first single ‘Understanding The New Violence’ on Dumb-Unit that December. Late last year Jake released ‘Octane’ on Germany’s most celebrated techno label, Kompakt. Octane was a 4/4 monster that sealed the deal for Jake being established as the ‘foundation of tech-rock’ (De-Bug Magazine).

Fairmont – Robert Johnson – Offenbach DE – Mar 2008

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