Bio IAN F.
After a decade of successful sound blending Ian F maintains the status of one of the most fresh-sounding deejays around. Being introduced to the art of music improvisation at an early age and heavily indulging on alternative art as a teenager, he continued to nurse this passion even more after becoming a deejay.
Ian F is a member of the Jesus Loved You family, co-founder of Flow Management agency and a long time resident deejay of Ambasadi Gavioli, one of the hottest super clubs in the Mediterranean. He forefronts the new generation of promising young artists that are redefining famous Slovenian techno sound and are heavily supported by artists such as Umek and Valentino Kanzyani.
Currently Ian F spends most of the off-deck time producing music and developing his Flux:ology, which combines elements of different art expressions. After a series of releases and remixes on selected labels in Europe, Asia and USA (Jesus Loved You, Advanced, Pure Substance, Traffica, Mashtronic, Decoded, Vezotonik, Dig:Atel …), he’s dedicated to spread his eclectic art of noise even further in the forthcoming months.
His production was supported by artists such Umek, Valentino Kanzyani, James Zabiela, Anthony Pappa, Armin Van Buuren, D Ramirez, Misjah, Wally Lopez, Flash Brothers, Andy Moor, Andrea Ferlin, Nick Muir, Wehbba, Marko Nastic, …
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ECLECTICISM: from jazz improvisation to the sound of future
It's not unusual to put a kid behind the piano at the age of six. But when his peers where still learning to play Bach and Chopin, Hague (NL) born Jan Jakomin was already introduced to the art of jazz improvisation. So it’s kind of natural he acquired a healthy taste for fresh, modern, weird, provocative music, poetry, movies, design and other art expressions. “I guess this explains how I got involved in the electronic dance culture. I was, and still am, attracted to everything new. I noticed this stuff on some Italian radio stations even before the rave phenomenon hit Slovenia. I got hooked as I learned more about the music and the whole movement. I spent countless nights recording tunes from Italian radios on cassettes and listening to them on walkman on a way to school the morning after. But as this was well before the euphoria hit our home turf, I was considered weirdo who listens to some strange music, by most of the other kids.”
Moving to high school it became easier for Jan to find soul mates. Especially after Ambasada Gavioli club started to operate in his school backyard. “This is where the whole generation of young people got in touch with the scene. At the age of 15 I became flyer-boy and got to know then resident deejays Umek and Valentino Kanzyani and they are still two of my big role models. This was back in 1996. The year after I teamed up with Andrew Technique and Alexander Madness, we bought our first gear and started mixing records,” remembers the time when he became DJ Ian F, now already mature and established, but still very fresh sounding genre bending artist. “Gavioli was also the place where I got my big chance and spent the next eight years as a resident deejay. I’ve fine-tuned my knowledge of every angle of club culture: from performing, programming the set, to booking, sales of drinks and other aspects of party-organization. And I got in touch with some of the leading artists as they performed in the club on the regular basis.”
At the end of the century Ian F became a resident deejay of the Sub Sub club in the Slovenian capital city Ljubljana and was hand picked by Valentino Kanzyani to open or close his now legendary all-night performances as a support deejay. That gave additional momentum to Ian’s career, and he became regular performer at leading indoor and outdoor raves in the region and shared another residency with DJ Psiho at the Colosseum in Opatia, Croatia. Psiho also introduced him to the art of music production and they've released two joint ventures on Annuaki Records.
CHALLENGES: Productions. Live Act. New expressions.
Being obsessed with searching for some fresh stuff all the time, the life of producer is a constant battle for Ian F: “Currently I spend most of the off-deck time developing my own sound under the guidance of my studio guru Tomy DeClerque." Ian F’s recent production Subconscious was picked up by local Apple distributor for a TV commercial and can be heard on the MTV. Some other releases on Tested/Agent Funk, Mashtronic rec., Jesus Loved You (Valentino Kanzyani) and Traffica (Marko Nastic) are scheduled and the preliminary arrangements with some UK and Germany based labels were already struck. “Another intriguing project is Flux, for which I am joining forces with Tomy DeClerque, KayKay and Dave Morgan. Flux is a unique live act, a mixture of live music performance and electronic live act with the addition of other art expressions. It’s very alive. The structure and expression of this project varies all the time as it is under constant development. We’ve already performed in Gavioli and at one open-air party, but a lot of work still has to be put into this project.”
Performing at the parties is just one side of Ian F as a musician. He indulges on combining his passion for music with other art expressions on regular basis. He's no stranger to performing at art and fashion exhibitions, poetry recitals, teaming up with pop artists and rock bands or developing soundtrack for an on-line art gallery. He even produced music and performed with a contemporary dance company at selected venues, including premiere at the 7th Annual Gala at the national theatre, which was broadcasted live on the Slovenian national television.
REFERENCES: Performances. Releases. Collaborations.
Ian F is established artist in the region, performing in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina on the regular basis. His poison is techno & tech-house with expressive warm harmonies and little touches of other genres. As a long running resident of some of the top clubs and events in the north Adriatic region he already performed alongside most of the top techno artists as well as the biggest names in the industry such as Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Derrick May, Tiësto, Steve Lawler, Sasha, John Digweed if we name just a few. He's a resident deejay of Ambasada Gavioli, Fetch the Vibe events and official ambassador of Slovenian Haineken Music events.
Ian F's productions were so far spun and included on track lists and charts by Anthony Pappa, Armin Van Buuren, Flash Brothers, Andy Moor, Marko Nastic, Umek, Valentino Kanzyani and other established deejays. His artist production and remixes were released on Slovenian labels such as F-Recordings, Annunaki, Vezotonik and Vezotonik LTD, Malaysia based Pure Substance and Red Flux Music, Atel - DigAtel (USA), Mashtronic rec. from Germany, Advanced rec. (UK) and Croatian Decoded and Decoded Mini.
As a member of SDJF initiative Ian helps develop local club infrastructure and platforms to support young artists on their first steps. Another two promising young artists Andrew Technique and F.Sonik are members of Flow Management agency. Currently he’s also spending a lot of time in and out of the studio with a deejay & producer Aneuria.
