FM Einheit

The musician, composer and sound researcher FM Einheit (Frank-Martin Strauss), has been making appearances in various groups and with solo projects since 1979 and is one of the most-renowned representatives of experimental sound art.

FM Einheit, who initially joined the punk band »Abwärts« as a drummer in 1979, played a major role in developing the sound of »Einstürzende Neubauten« from 1981 to 1996. From 1978 onwards, FM Einheit composed and produced numerous film soundtracks, including for films by Fatih Akin, Bernd Schadewald and Klaus Maeck. Since 1987, FM Einheit has increasingly appeared as a composer of theatre music – for productions by Peter Zadek, Werner Schwab, Wilfried Links and Wolf Seesemann, among others – and has meanwhile realized over 150 theatre scores. In 1990 he released the album »Stein« together with Ulrike Haage and Katharina Franck of the »Rainbirds«. This cooperation formed the starting point for further productions in the field of interaction between radio play, theatre and pop music. In addition, live projects with Diamanda Galas, Marianne Rosenberg and Rio Reiser were produced. From 1993 onwards, FM Einheit developed a series of radio plays in collaboration with Andreas Ammer, such as »Radio Inferno« (1993), »Apokalypse Live« (1995) and »Crashing Aeroplanes (Fasten your seat belts)« (2002). »Apokalypse Live« and »Crashing Aeroplanes (Fasten your seat belts)« were awarded the »Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden«. In 2020-2021, FM Einheit will realize a series of musical podcasts for musicAeterna as composer-in-residence in collaboration with Siegfried Zielinski and with numerous guests, including David Link, Meret Becker, Katharina Franck, Benjamin H. Bratton, Henning Schmidgen, Alex Galloway and Michael Saup.

The digital archive, since 2021 at ZKM, includes with 3,5 TB his approx. 370 projects in the fields of music, radio and radio play, theatre and ballet, installation and performance. It documents their creation and conception, their publications as well as live recordings and also provides access to the artist's numerous field recordings, samples and sketches.