"I love Brian Ferry," says Patrick Pulsinger,
"because of his beard, you know.He has excellent
hair styling." Pulsinger likes to play prankster.

Part of the posse behind Vienna's Cheap Records,
he is one of electronic music's growing band of art weirdos. Like Cologne's Air Liquide or Finland's Sähkö, Cheap's ten releases play games with sound,
image and identity.
So he records under his own name but also morphs in and out of acts like iO, Sluts'N'Strings and Restaurant Tracks with partner Erdom Tunakan and others.
And their tunes take surprisingly freestyle jaunts around dance norms. The juicy disco of Iast year's Sluts'N'Strings' Real Rebellion shifts to sticky acid, while Citylights Pari 2 from Pulsinger's current Dogmatic Sequences 2 EP eases quirky electronics over irresistibly cooljazz loops.
"That's the groove here in Vienna," declares Pulsinger, "there's a kind of charm. We don't take things too seriously, it's kind of surreal. That's what free music is all about."
Cheap was formed two summers ago after a chance meeting in an Istanbul market.
"Erdom was trying to steal my wallet," laughs Pulsinger. "I caught him and he said we should make some music together." They use ancient synthesisers picked up from Eastern Europe, some of them broken down and capable of producing just one sound. Some of their tracks are little more than a handful of noises weird machines running minimal riffs.
Others are pure avant-nonsense, like the works created by what they claim is their 'parent company', Abuse Industries. Last year's 20-minute Abuse release, Mondo Salsa, ran voices from Mexican radio through effects units and into muted trumpet and South American rhythms.

Abuse Industries, claims Tunakan, are interested in graphics, disinformation and fun. "Sometimes they send out flyers for parties that don't exist or advertise T-shirts that no one can buy." More fiction, perhaps, but part of a compelling and evergrowing myth that places Pulsinger at its centre as Mo'Wax chase his jazzier tracks and Germany's Disko B prepare to release his debut LP, Porn. Who knows for sure? Pulsinger isn't saying. "Clarity," he sighs, "is boring." TonyMarcus
And compilaüon LP will shortly be available on Cheap.

Patrick Pulsinger's Dogmatic Sequences 2 EP is out now on R&S, followed ihis month by his debut LP Porn on Disko B. Mo'Wax are planning to release a Pulsinger track this summer.