sonic.trips Whether Phanton is an inscrutable enigmatic mystery or is simply German and our understanding of what he wrote us has been lost in translation, he is a music producer with an ear for the avant-garde. Integrating elements of electronic dance music with prog and trance tendencies, Phanton perhaps reminds as much of a William Onyeabor as of Girogio Moroder. What we have discerned from his cryptic messages is that he has managed the Phantonstudio in Cologne, Germany since the 1980s, a role that has found him producing music for hundreds of artists, on top of engineering radio productions for Deutsche Welle. All of this experience has led him to a creative place in which he produces what we would describe as cutting-edge art as much as dance music. Indeed his songs, which are typically lengthy odysseys merging world-music sounds with tight production, samples, and dance beats, have even been featured as sound art instillations at various exhibitions. This can all be experienced in his recent album, Bagufoshe, which is difficult to put into words. Each song seems to occupy its own sonic world, drawing on wide ranging samples, and unique rhythm arrangements to create a sound that is, quite simply, totally unique. Tracks like “Infinity” which features everything from lush strings to a hip-hop beat to reggae-style guitar loops to jazz-inspired hooks, carry us through a psychological soundscape that is astoundingly cohesive. In that sense Phanton.de