Daniel Favre aka Spatsz from electronic music Duo Kas Product has passed away last night at the age of 61.
Kas Product was formed in 1980 and is a musical project strongly associated with the French cold wave and electropunk movements.
With Spatsz on electronics and rhythm machines with Mona Soyoc on guitar, vocals and piano, the pair created a unique sound, that on paper one might make a comparison to Vince’s Clark’s Yazoo, but in reality the two projects were universes apart.
What made Kas Product so unique is the profound musical chemistry oozing from their most well known for their song “Never Come Back”, where Spatsz jams out a sinister synth melody on a Korg MS 20, while chanteuse Mona Soyoc showcases her impressive vocal training from her previous work as a Jazz singer—which arguably bleeds into the music in such a slinky cabaret fashion that pales the work of Marc Almond by comparison.
Prior to joining the band, Spatsz had worked at a psychiatric hospital, and during his tenure in Kas Product would go on to release 5 studio albums before breaking up the project for the first time in 1990.
During this period band was extensively documented in their promo pictures and album covers by legendary post-punk photographer Paul Slattery whose portraits also include famous images of Joy Division, The Smiths, Nick Cave, U2, The Slits, Echo and The Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more.
Later, Spatsz and Mona would reunite for live appearances in 2005, being booked at festivals throughout Europe for more than the past decade.
No details about Spatsz’ death are available at this time.
