SASCHA FUNKE has been a busy man this year. After several 12“ releases and remix projects, he finished his second album in his new studio. You can definately hear that Sascha is still having the six months he spent in Aix-en-Provence in his mind. It owns the beautiful title “MANGO“ and its just: Great. Gernot (one half of Modeselektor) was really digging the new tracks when he heard them first he asked for a copy right away, as “this is the the most mature music Sascha ever did“ he says. Like its forerunner “Bravo“, you can expect nothing like 08/15 speed-techno with 140 bpm - but a fresh and direct, catchy sound. Sascha’s demand for Techno, amongst others, is the directness that is created by the structure of his tracks. On the other hand, you can associate something with every single song on the album. Mr. Funke definitely found his style and knows how to prevent boredom. Quite the Converse: Every track surprises. “Mango” is the perfect opener for this album, as it begins to slowly join in the emotions of the further tracks. It could be seen as the warm up. Everybody is enjoying a beer, but at the least with the beginning of the second track everybody just wants to dance. “We Are Facing The Sun” could not have a better title. You obviously are listening to the sun shining on your face. To stay with the nature imagery, the next track “Feather” simply makes you imagine elves dancing on meadow. Following up to that, “Take A Chance With Me” builds it up and finally, “Summer Rain” is the musical version of the late summer. The vocals on “Double Checked” are sung by Fritz Zander, but don’t be shocked - he didn’t smoke too much weed or has lung cancer. Sascha simply edited the vocals until they fitted the mood of the song. To be honest he wouldn’t be able to identify Fritz himself anymore. Besides of Fritz Zander, Mango presents a few other successful guest musicians like Fritz Kalkbrenner and TimTim, who played the guitar on “Mango”, “Feather” and “Chemin Des Figons”. By twanging his strings he created a lot of space within the songs and leaves it up to Sascha to define this space with his thoughts and interpretations, expressed by his music. MANGO is no determination. It doesn’t matter wheater you are enjoying a tasty barbecue or a crazy undergroundrave! Although the seventh track “Lotre (Mehr Fleisch)” fits perfectly to the barbecue: the bass developes like embers and hides behind rhythms and sounds, until Sascha's vocals catch the focus of attention and give the track its finishing touches. The next song has the french title “Chemin Des Figons”, relating to the street Sascha lived a year ago in Aix-en-Provence. Chemin means ‘way’, and the way this track describes is so beautiful - you want to walk it again and again. The last track of the album, that finishes this musical journey into perfection, features Fritz Kalkbrenner’s voice. On “The Fortune Cookie” he, once again, proves his qualities in writing and singing. It doesn’t matter if this song is related to the classic movie ‘The Fortune Cookie’ by Billy Wilder from 1966 or if the lyrics are as cheesy as words out of a fortune cookie: Sascha and Fritz harmonize as well as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the movie. Walter Matthau received an Oscar for his role. So this seems to be an indication…