Futurisk
Futurisk
FUTURISK was a pioneering South Florida electro-punk group that recorded and performed in the pre-midi era of the early ‘80’s. They had two vinyl releases that sold out, a legendary live show and some videos, but for a number of reasons by 1984 Futurisk was history. Eventually the main core of Futurisk would be the Kolosine/Hess/Howard line up, but in ‘79 when a teenage Jeremy Kolosine won studio time & money in a competition with his drum-machine triggered guitar-synth act called ‘Clark Humphrey & Futurisk’, he decided to form a band around the name to record a more punk release “The Sound of Futurism 1980/Army Now”. It was an ambivalent anti-war anthem, with Jack Howard on drums, Frank Lardino on synth and Kolosine on vocals and guitar synth. In ‘81, Kolosine, who had gotten absorbed in a new synth/sequencer replaced Lardino with synthesist/recordist Richard Hess who had a myriad collection of Moogs, Oberhieims and KATs,etc. and the line up for the “Player Piano EP” was cast. The EP, like the live show, was a strange blend of punk/minimalist/disco influenced electro pop, with drum-machine triggered synths and often frantic real drums all led by Kolosine’s schizophrenic Bowie/Ferry/Foxx adulations (and about 20 seconds of punk-funk guitar). It was recorded by Rich and the band in the rooms of Ron K’s house.The drum sound, gotten in a bathroom, rocks, even today. Reportedly, Futurisk may have been the 1st synth-punk band in the American South…or something, and 1981’s track ‘Push Me Pull You (pt. 2)’ was an early pre-‘Rockit’ excursion into electro-funk.
In 2003 LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy gave a complimentary wink to Futurisk by using the track on the delightful Colette # 5 DFA Comp CD. In 2007 an unreleased 1982 version of the track “Meteoright” was included on Minimal Wave’s “Found Tapes” vinyl LP. In 2010 Minimal Wave Records released the long awaited 30th anniversary retrospective Player Piano LP by Futurisk.