FAX FAVORITES: A 2006 SURVEY by Kevin Renick

As far as I can determine, 1999 was the last time a poll was conducted among Fax aficionados to determine their favorite Fax releases. So it seemed like a good time to do another one—certainly a number of significant Fax titles have been released since then, and longtime subscribers to the Faxlist have had plenty of time to live with their collections (as well as increased opportunities to shop on Ebay for missing titles!). Throughout January and February of 2006, I asked Faxlist members to send in lists of their 10 favorite Fax releases (some people only sent in five, and a few sent in an odd number, but the vast majority stuck to 10). An interesting comment that kept occurring was “Here’s my list now, but you’d get a different answer next week,” or some variation thereof. Several people qualified their list by saying “Well okay, if I could only take 10 Fax discs to a desert island, I guess I’d pick these.” Such comments indicate the always-changing responses to Fax music. A disc that was out of favor last month could become a particular listener’s indispensable recording next month, and many collectors consider it a serious challenge to pare their list of favorites down to only 10. One thing that can certainly be said about Fax: it’s an evolving musical universe, both for aficionados and for the label itself.

About 50 people responded to the survey, submitting a total of 476 votes for their Fax discs of choice. There were 127 different titles that received votes, ranging from classic oldies like Silence and Dreamfish, to the very recent Re:sonate, which made a few lists even though it was just released this year. So without further adieu, here are the results of the 2006 Fax survey:

[22 votes]

Organic Cloud

[20 votes]

Air 2

[19 votes]

Ambiant Otaku

[14 votes]

Shades of Orion 2

[12 votes]

Air, 62 Eulengasse, Silence

[11 votes]

Zenith

[10 votes]

Dark Side of the Moog IX, Dreamfish, Silence III, Waiting For Snow

[9 votes]

From Within, Modula Green-Shellground

[8 votes]

Electro Harmonix, The Fires of Ork, 2350 Broadway, 2350 Broadway 3

[7 votes]

The Fires of Ork 2, Outland, Shades of Orion, S.H.A.D.O., 2350 Broadway 2

[6 votes]

DSOTM V, Jet Chamber, Possible Gardens, Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 I, Wired

[5 votes]

Atom Heart-Live at sel i/s/c, Silence II

[4 votes]

Aerial Service Area, Aerial Service Area 2, Datacide II, I.F., Namlook IV, Re:sonate, Sad World 2, Sequential, Spyra-Etherlands, Spyra-Invisible Fields

[3 votes]

From Within 2, I.F. 2, Jet Chamber 3, Kooler, Otras, Sad World 3, Seasons Greetings: Winter, Silence V, Slow and Low, Spacetime Continuum-Sea Biscuit, Spyra-Phonehead, Spyra-Sferics, Sultan, Syn 2

[2 votes]

Air 3, Air 4, Alien Community 2, Arizona Tracks, Audio, DSOTM I, DSOTM VII, Eisblumen, Escape, 4Voice, From Within 3, Hearts of Space, In Starless Space, Magic Diner (Anthony Rother), Namlook III, Namlook X, Namlook XV-Free Your Mind, A New Consciousness 2, Octopus 2, Otras 2, Outland 2, Planetarium, Pop For Dwoozle, Psychonavigation 5, Recurring Dreams of the Urban Myth, Sad World, Seasons Greetings: Summer, S.H.A.D.O. 2, Solitaire, Sultan-Osman, Transonic 2-Virtual Current, Virtual Vices II, Wechselspannung

[1 vote]

Adlernebel, The Ambient Cookbook, The Ambient Cookbook 2, Bedroom, Coeur Atomique, Create, Dreamfish 2, DSOTM III, DSOTM VI, Drum Machine Circle-Dada, Elixir of Life (Anthony Rother), Exploring the Psychedelic Landscape, 4Voice 2, Hemisphere, Home Shopping, Jet Chamber 5, The Jet Chamber Collection (MP3), License to Chill, Miles Apart, Namlook V, New Composers-Advanced Indigo, New Composers-Smart, Octopus, Orange (Atom Heart), Outer Dark, Outland 3, Outland 4, Planetarium 2, pp-nmlk, Replugged, The Retro Rocket, Shades of Orion 3, The Silence Collection (MP3), Softcore, Spyra-VCM 100F, Steve Stoll-Was Here, Sultan-Orhan, The Sunken Road, Transonic 3-Future Primitive, The 2350 Broadway Collection (MP3), Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 II

In examining the results, it’s interesting to see that Tetsu Inoue’s seminal work “Organic Cloud” tops the list again, as it did back in 1999. However, this was far from a predictable outcome, as “Ambiant Otaku” and “Air 2” were both in the lead at various times throughout the survey. But these three ambient titans appeared on roughly half the lists sent in, so there is little doubt as to their enduring value for most Faxheads. There are some other interesting results: “Dark Side of the Moog IX” was the most popular of the DSOTM discs by a good margin, yet in the “Favorite Moog” poll posted at 2350.org, it ranked very low, garnering only a few votes. Perhaps that can be explained by the fact that list members hadn’t spent enough time with IX when that poll was conducted. Yet, since some of those polls at 2350 are still active, it’s strange that the status of DSOTM IX hasn’t changed much in the past year. Go figure. At any rate, it should be fun for list members and newcomers to the Fax world alike to see the ranking of various releases. And clearly it’s a credit to Pete Namlook and company that so many different Fax recordings were chosen as favorites by one or more listeners. The enduring value of this remarkable musical world is proven once again…

Kevin Renick, March 1, 2006