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| FischerSpooner (Warren Fischer, Casey Spooner & Co) |
 "Warren Fischer and Casey
Spooner met while attending The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Warren, a film major and a voracious music junkie into everything from
classical violin to hardcore punk, studied avant-garde composition and
collaborated with arch-experimentalist Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth, Wilco). Casey
started as a painter but found his niche in performance and video production.
Meeting in a film class, they soon created performance art pieces with Casey
reciting spoken word and Warren on violin. Years later, Warren and Casey
reconnected in New York and decided to collaborate on a video project. The only
thing that worked was the digital soundtrack Warren had composed, so the duo
ditched the film and wrote their first song. (...) Fischerspooner’s pulsing first single, Emerge, is lyrically based on an early treatment of the group’s mission statement. First released as a white label, the track caught the attention of DJ Hell of International Deejay Gigolo records in Munich, who released a limited version of the CD that quickly became an underground hit in Germany. By Hell's invitation, the group traveled to Berlin for their first European shows during the city's massive Love Parade music festival."
-- FischerSpooner.com bio
  ¼
2002:
#1
  "Rallying under the slogan 'sounds good, looks good, feels good, too', the multi-faceted duo concocts a glitzy amalgam of '80s kitsch, Orwellian fashion bravado and fist-pumping Euro-house beats. Of course, this approach begs the question of whether or not the group are more style than substance -- and rightly so. While there's no denying the hedonistic charm of Emerge or Turn On, it's also obvious that the album slips easily into a beat-happy rut, never quite pulling off the total and complete transfixion it was so obviously designed to achieve. "
-- Jason Jackowiak, Splendid, 3/03
"Fischerspooner is not simply an electroclash act—it
is a multimedia experience. The group's live shows are the stuff of
legend—perhaps that's why the act's debut album, #1, seems a bit
disappointing without the corresponding over-the-top visuals. That said, the
album has a number of great songs. Lead single Emerge is the absolute
highlight; it's no wonder the frenzied dance track has been a club staple for
months. A cover of Wire's The 15th and Tone Poem evoke some of
Depeche Mode's most tender moments, while the
hauntingly sexy Turn On boasts the strongest lyrics on the disc. The set
includes a bonus track (the Junkie XL remix of Emerge) and a visually
stimulating DVD."
-- KC, Billboard, 3/03
 ½
2005:
OdysseyMusicfolio Picks: Cloud, Never Win, Everything to Gain, Get Confused. "When Fischerspooner emerged from the grimy New York gallery scene in 2000 with over-the-top costumes and a kitschy, choreographed stage show, it represented something both decadent and preposterous. The duo of Casey Spooner and Warren Fischer had mined electro records for raw material, applied a surprisingly successful sheen of modern production and soon was a genuine phenomenon. Another art-music icon, David Bowie, even personally invited them to play a show in England. It was a stunning leftfield success story that suggested the group would soon experience a swift plunge toward the gutter of obscurity. But on its sophomore album, 'Odyssey', the group avoids the embarrassing and fatal flaw of repetition that haunts many electronic acts. Intertwined with the album's lilting female vocals and synthesizers are some fuzzy guitars and occasionally muscular drumming -- a significant shift toward a more rock-oriented sound. The production on this album is slick and streamlined, and though some of the lyrics are banal -- like the simplistic anti-war anthem on We Need a War -- the album is still fun. 'Odyssey' won't convince anybody who believes electronic music is just a collection of over-hyped Nintendo theme songs to think any differently. But for those who do get a kick out of dance music, it's a surprisingly steady and reliable set of upbeat songs."
-- Pat Sisson, Playboy magazine
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