Pete Namlook and his Fax

Peter Kuhlmann (who kept his first name, but reversed his last name, becoming Namlook for foreigners) created German label Fax +49-69/450464 to share tracks with his friends. To say: “Look, guys, what a sound I made yesterday!” In 1992, there were no messaging apps, no Skype, not even ICQ—no modern Internet whatsoever. How could you get discovered in that case? Namlook was refused by one label, then another, so he created his own. He sent out music from his number, and you could message him if you wanted to participate. Very convenient! And the fax itself is very convenient: you insert a piece of paper with a text or a photo into it and the device remembers the attached information and transmits it to the addressee in its original form over the telephone line. This is how communication used to work.

Namlook repeatedly called himself a music researcher, and his colleagues were surprised at how quickly the owner of Fax was able to work. In collaboration and alone, Peter prepared hundreds of releases. This is at least ten thousand tracks over twenty years of his writing alone. He’s the one to blame for the fact that there is so much music in the world! The tracks recorded by Peter weren’t supplemented or edited; they immediately went to print. “What’s done is done,” said Namlook, and started another work. Of course, he immediately got the reputation of a scribbler.