Out June 26th on Birdman Records!

“Me and Kevin packed up all the synths when we saw the police, and with all the cords hanging out of our bags and a huge whip hanging out of my pocket, we walked past the police who were checking everyone against the wall, but me and Kevin — as if we were invisible men — walked downstairs through all the police, out into the street, down to the tube station and home as if we hadn’t even existed …” — William Bennett, in an interview in Unsound magazine, 1984

“Invisible Men.” F/i could have been. To most people who have no idea who the band or its members were, they might as well have been. Even if you saw them on the street, you would have no idea that they were purveyors of some of the finest electronics-driven space rock ever to take you “out there.” But for those in the know, F/i remains legendary — not just as the interstellar rock band from Milwaukee with an appreciative worldwide audience, but as one of the pioneering acts of lo-fi electronic music and sound that helped to define cassette culture in the early 1980s. Sure, founding member Richard Franecki had rocked out before with earlier units like The Drag, The Shemps and as half of F/i precursor band Surfin’ Führers. But early F/i often had him exploring pure electronic tones, minimal, repetitious signal patterns and floating sound fields that traversed terrains closer to Cluster or to Throbbing Gristle than to the Hawkwind-influenced sound for which the band eventually became known. 

These days, Franecki winces at the mere mention of the old F/i cassettes. (He doesn’t even own copies of them, having lost all or most of them to a flood or to the sands of time.) From the perspective of the work he eventually did with F/i and his current band, Vocokesh, it’s an understandable stance — one doesn’t always think so fondly of early work that one might perceive in hindsight as “naive” or less than ideally recorded. But there’s compelling listening to many of the early cassettes issued by F/i in its early years. “One” (1983) revels in pure electricity and shortwave voices, barely referencing anything to do with conventional rock music. “Zombie” (1984) offers great early evidence of the classic F/i sound taking shape. (Another great one that should be heard … any takers on a reissue?)

But what’s really exciting about this re-release of “Invisible Men” is that it offers us a chance to hear a distinct period in F/i’s development that’s not as well known. According to Franecki, “Invisible Men” was recorded at the same time as another 1985 cassette release, “Illuminati,” and took its name from a quote by Whitehouse’s William Bennett in a 1984 issue of Unsound magazine. (See above.) It’s a fitting tribute — “Invisible Men” is a lo-fi masterpiece that somehow filters the band’s spaced-out sensibilities through dense electronics. Not power electronics as we expect of Whitehouse and its endless imitators, but a more monolithic sound than we’re used to hearing F/i deliver. We sometimes hear undulating suggestions of rock music (Am I hearing the Stooges??) filtering through the mix, but they’re still only a whisper against the muscular drone of the ARP at the fore. 

The 10 pieces that make up this tableaux have no titles. They’re anonymous. But like agents that slip into and out of the field and accomplish their tasks without being noticed, they manage to float into your consciousness and leave you altered — re-encoded, perhaps. This is an iteration of F/i with a mission to subvert its own sound while remaining true to its roots and core identity. For this band, at this time, it was a mission entirely possible. And the results are fascinating. Put it on and let it burn.

— Karl J. Palouček, 11 April 2025

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“Air” was recorded in 1984 by Richard Franecki and Brian Wensing. Instruments: ARP 2600 and Korg Mono/Poly through a Radio Shack mini-mixer recorded directly onto cassette.