Marcus Fjellström
Fifteen pieces set intricate electronic rhythms against expansive cinematic melody, moving from Kraftwerk and Drexciya to Autechre and Aphex Twin through carefully timed overlaps, muted tension and sudden detail.
Listen to the mix
STM 029 is a carefully measured musical compilation which consists of fifteen remarkable records from such authoritative audio projects as Kraftwerk, Drexciya, Autechre, AFX and other striking electronic music Mohicans.
Sound and image
The author of the mix was Marcus Fjellström (1979–2017), a Swedish contemporary composer and multimedia artist. Fjellström’s work ranged from the purely orchestral to electronic music and audiovisual work. Fjellström worked with the Swedish Royal Ballet and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, numerous ensembles and soloists, as well as with such independent record labels as Lampse, Miasmah, Air Texture, artists and well-known filmmakers including “Salad Fingers” creator David Firth. Fjellström studied composition and orchestration at the School of Music in Piteå, Sweden, where he graduated with honors in 2005. One month after graduation, his debut full-length album “Exercises in Estrangement” was released by Lampse Audiovisual Recordings. The following year his second album “Gebrauchsmusik” was released by the same label, after which he focused on orchestral and chamber music for two years. In 2008 he completed his first major audiovisual work – the experimental cartoon / electronic music piece “Odboy & Erordog, episode 1”. After that he wrote several audiovisual works with classical instrumentation, including “Lichtspiel Mutation 1” for Sinfonietta Cracovia and “Odboy & Erordog, episode 2” for The Peärls Before Swïne Exerience. Fjellström’s musical influences ranged from such electronica as Aphex Twin and Autechre, to such 20th century composers as György Ligeti and John Cage. Having been an active figure in solid projects, Fjellström definitely deserves to be heard.
Inside the mix
STM 029 is a volatile music selection which gently connects timeless records from the separate period of time and genre. The substructure stands on the architectural rhythmical patterns and profound ambience which are constantly mixing together and thus creating inspiring individual forms of intellectual sound. Regularly emerging extensive cinematic melodic layers, combined with mobile effect sound variations, enchains the listener till the end of the mix. A subtle vitality of modern electronic music is created by thoughtfully selected cathedral listening feeling records. Tracklist arrangement obeys the standard emotional and structural developing principles, which is why the advanced listener can feel numerous delicate unexpected variations and be fully satisfied. In all, it is an academic vision of pure computer made music.
Records and connections
STM 029 is like an enigmatic Marcel Duchamp painting “Network of Stoppages” where figurative archaic lines are drowned on the obscure abstract background, thus revealing numerous encoded theories.
Remembering Marcus Fjellström
Justinas / S13 / 12 October 2026
Marcus Fjellström died in September 2017, leaving a body of work that moved between orchestral writing, electronic music and animation. This mix, first published on 7 August 2012, preserves another part of that practice: the records he chose to place beside one another.
In a 2014 interview, he described combining live classical instrumentalists, electronics and video. His Odboy & Erordog films and the audiovisual opera Boris Christ show why remembering him only through his albums would leave part of the picture out. Sound and image were both central to his work.
In 2024, Miasmah released The Last Sunset of the Year, assembled by Erik K. Skodvin and Dave Kajganich from his work on The Terror. Conceived as a final album in its own right, it offers a further route into the imagination behind this earlier selection.
I also remember Marcus as a warm and genuine person. That memory deserves a place alongside the music and films he left behind. This mix has been part of Secret Thirteen since 2012, and the person I remember remains part of what it means to me.
Sources and image credits
- Photo © 2014 Open Source Art Festival. Digitally restored.
- Marcus Fjellström — archival portrait. Photo: Jason Clockpolk. Digitally restored.
- Original release artwork: Drexciya — Neptune's Lair.
- Original release artwork: Aphex Twin — ...I Care Because You Do.
- Original release artwork: Autechre — Quaristice.
- Original release artwork: Marcus Fjellström — Schattenspieler.
- Life dates and September 2017 remembrance: Miasmah — Exercises in Estrangement.
- Audiovisual practice: Marcus Fjellström — Who Are You?.
- Posthumous album: The Last Sunset of the Year.
- Existing archival portrait, photo Jason Clockpolk: Fluid Radio.
- Rubiks Collective at Imaginarium, a concert of Marcus Fjellström’s work, Melba Hall, Melbourne, April 2016. Photo: Alan Weedon. Partial Durations. Alan Weedon / Partial Durations.
