Vrils first notable appearance was in 2010 when his first EP – “Vril 1-4” – transformed the Dub Techno genre. His debut LP “Torus” followed, unveiling the depth of his abilities. It laid out a sonic landscape of loopy perfection and otherworldly noise, that brought attention from electronic music lovers across the world.

Since then, there’s been a steady development of VRIL’s visionary electronica – from the dystopia on “Thronwagen” (IMF), “UV” (OSTGUT TON), “Vortekz” (DELSIN), “Portal” (DELSIN) to the seemingly supernatural layering on “Anima Mundi” (DELSIN). Bad Manners 4, his most recent album on Marcel Dettmann’s label Bad Manners, is taking the powerful edges of his sound further and expanding them to conquer dancefloors.

While his productions cover a wide range from experimental deep listening to peak-time club tracks – ambient, IDM, techno, electro – they’re all sprinkled with a unique touch. He’s also become a sought-after remixer, having given songs by the likes of SUUNS, HVOB, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizzard & Sterac – to name just a few – audacious alterations.

Experiencing VRIL live is best described as highly energetic and profound, playing a kind of contemporary techno and electro that is cathartic in many ways.

Recent projects have seen him collaborate with Rødhåd as “Out Of Place Artefacts” and he became a regular participant in Sebastian Mullaert’s improvisatory project “Circle Of Live”.

In 2023 his 5th solo album ”Animist“ will be released on Delsin Records

Text: Theresa Baeumel

“65daysofstatic have always been a band unafraid to take on wildly ambitious projects” – The Independent
“A band more than well-versed in creating bold, beautiful music that often feels like the universe collapsing or a new day rising” – The Line Of Best Fit
“The music of 65daysofstatic has always sounded vast and out of this world” – NME Magazine

For a decade, 65daysofstatic could generally be found on the peripheries of any scene trying to claim them, headed in the opposite direction. From their immediately recognisable aesthetic of glitches and urgent guitars of 2004 debut ‘The Fall of Math’, the band’s sound evolved via techno, post-rock, drum’n’bass, math rock, IDM, drone, breakcore, film scores and their self-proclaimed “dustpunk”, clattering into the colossal, widescreen noise sculptures of 2013’s ‘Wild Light’.

In 2016, they released their critically-acclaimed score for ‘No Man’s Sky’, the most anticipated game in the world at that time. Their generative, infinitely long, in-game score was experienced uniquely by each of the game’s millions of players.
This crash course in algorithmic music led to the band building their own procedural musical systems and generative soundscapes, crafting custom synths, live coding and writing software to make music for (and against) them. This new way of working they called “Decomposition Theory” — decomposing from the infinite possibilities their systems churned out instead of composing from the ground up, a dialectic between the band and their machines.

From the eventual smouldering wreckage of their broken software systems and entropic algorithms, the band realised their next record needed to be the opposite. An album born from the debris, but stripped down to its most focussed, intentional form.

replicr, 2019 is the album carved from the wreckage. Forty two minutes of dread. A record that stares head on into the abyssal futures of late capitalism and refuses to blink. A melancholic, tireless soundtrack of acceleration. A feeling of frayed-nerved, time-smudged, light-speed drifting through cities built upon cities. Neon seen through rain-riddled windowpanes. replicr, 2019 is a stark, angular, stripped back slab of focussed noise. It wastes no time because there is no time left to waste.

DISCOGRAPHY
• The Fall of Math (2004)
• One Time For All Time (2005)
• The Destruction of Small Ideas (2007)
• We Were Exploding Anyway (2010)
• Silent Running (2011)
• Wild Light (2013)
• No Man’s Sky (2016)
• replicr, 2019 (2019)

A Winged Victory for the Sullen are an ambient music project by Redbird Music composers and frequent collaborators Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran. The duo met in Italy many years ago and initially only intended to release a single record as A Winged Victory for the Sullen, but the project has continued to live on and the pair have recorded a total of three full length albums and an EP since forming in 2011.

In 2013, A Winged Victory for the Sullen were commissioned by famed choreographer Wayne McGregor to compose the score for his critically acclaimed dance piece Atomos. This music would form the basis for their second album, Atomos (2014, Erased Tapes). Another high note came in 2015, when Mary Anne Hobbs invited A Winged Victory For The Sullen to perform at the BBC Proms. In 2019, the two were commissioned to write the score for Invisible Cities, a large site-specific stage production, which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2019 and a stunning two-night stand at the Barbican Centre featuring London Brass, ACME Strings and Shards in May 2023.

The duo are planning more releases on Ninja Tune in 2024.

“..intense, reflective, occasionally threatening and wholly enveloping” The Times

“Exquisite” The Guardian

“Huge, bold & cinematic affair” – Resident Advisor

Afrodeutsche (Henrietta Smith-Rolla), is a British born Ghanaian/Russian/German artist,
composer, producer, and DJ based in Manchester.

Her polyrhythmic compositions integrate a wide array of musical genres, including Afrofuturistic electro and techno, classical solo piano and Detroit legacy house; all memorable journeys into deep, abstracted sound.
Afrodeutsche’s DJ style is a synthesis of Drexciyan and Underground Resistance-inspired selections, intercut with a variety of forward thinking UK techno such as Bola and Lego Feet.

Renowned DJ and musician AFRODEUTSCHE begins a brand new show on 6 Music – The People’s Party with AFRODEUTSCHE (Fridays, 7pm-9pm).

The show promises to be an energetic celebration for the end of the working week – a place where people come together and let loose, through their shared love of music. Each week, Henrietta Smith-Rolla, aka AFRODEUTSCHE, will guide listeners though every stage of a classic Friday night. She’ll ask one lucky listener to pick their dream warm-up act, a headliner and an after-hours track and then curate that week’s show around those selections.

No one on this planet sounds like Aïsha Devi. Her voice is her most powerful tool in a repertoire that includes thumping beats and rave stabs, seraphic and guttural singing, mystical linguistics and corporeal sonics.

Born in Switzerland with Nepali Indigenous heritage, a transversal identity was forged, guiding both her personal and creative process. Dislocating pop culture, also evident in her mixes for Resident Advisor, FACT, NTS, BBC Radio and Mixmag, is one of her foundational tools.

In 2013 Devi co-founded Danse Noire, a label collective supporting insurrectional electronic music from around the world, where she released her breakout EP, followed by ‘Hakken Dub / Throat Dub’ in 2014, giving context to her universe alongside artists including Ruhail Qaisar, Yikii, and more.

In 2015, Aïsha Devi released her debut album, ‘Of Matter And Spirit’, a significant sonic statement rich in political and philosophical subtext. 2018 saw the release of Devi’s sophomore album, ‘DNA Feelings’, an acclaimed record addressing the impact of sound on an atomic level. On Nov.10, 2023 she will release ‘Death Is Home’, her most personal and accessible album to date. While she currently uses music as her primary medium of expression, Devi’s practice is fundamentally interdisciplinary – she studied graphic design and collaborates with visual and performance artists as well as making her own interventions within the art world.

Devi has worked closely with Chinese artist Tianzhuo Chen on a string of videos, as well as performances together with the Asian Dope Boys collective, most notably at The Barbican and The Broad Museum (LA). She has also recently composed for and performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Queen Elizabeth Music Hall.

But Aïsha Devi is just as magnetic performing solo. With her mesmeric digital world-building and captivating stage presence she has bowled over crowds at CTM, Primavera, Unsound, Roskilde, Dark Mofo, MoMA PS1 and hundreds of festivals and venues from Japan to Mexico and beyond.

Alex Wilcox is a Texan-born music producer and live performer based in Berlin known for his eclectic club music.

His journey began with a fascination for 90’s rock music, later evolving into an interest in techno during a visit to Berlin. Unsatisfied with the music scene in Austin, he moved to LA to hone his production skills, working in pop/rap music production. His heart remained in Berlin’s club culture – he moved to Detroit, started DJing and immersed himself deeper into the techno world. His self-released album caught the attention of Anetha, leading to collaborations and releases on labels like Mama Told Ya, Ellen Allien’s UFO Recordings, and Nina Kraviz’s Trip.

Transitioning from DJ sets to more ‘in your face’ hybrid sets with live vocals and performing only original music, Wilcox brings a punk energy often missing from the current club scene. With support from renowned DJs worldwide, he continues to evolve his sound, with new lots of new releases slated for 2024 and beyond.

Amnesia Scanner is the Berlin-based Finnish duo Ville Haimala and Martti Kalliala. Founded in 2014, the group’s scope encompasses music writing, production, and performance, as well as its creative staging and circulation. Characterized by a deep fascination with system vulnerabilities, informational overload, and sensory excess, Amnesia Scanner carnivalizes the present. At the core of their work is an interest in how the contemporary experience is mediated, including the ways in which listening to music and live performance is evolving as streaming platforms become dominant and the feedback channels between artists and fans become more direct.

Building on their debut mixtape AS Live [][][][][], the duo interlaced a data-rich mesh of grime, trap, and rave with a mechanic narrator for their critically acclaimed 2015 audio play Angels Rig Hook, and Lexachast, their cyberdrone audio-visual project with artist Harm van den Dorpel and Bill Kouligas. Two EPs for Young (AS and AS Truth) followed in 2017, furthering the duo’s imaginative capabilities to project immersive sonic worlds into a dark, rave abyss. In their first LP, Another Life (2018, PAN), as well as in their 2020 full-length encore for the same label, Tearless, avant-EDM tropes are contextualized within the broader discourse of pop formalism, juxtaposing the duo’s harsh, deep-fried, synthetic signature style with canonical structures of pop songs. With STROBE.RIP (PAN 2023), Amnesia Scanner, joined by Freeka Tet, continues to play with the signs and signifiers, abstracting the tropes of their sonic universe.

Amnesia Scanner has performed across a wide range of venues and settings, from the massive Roskilde Festival in Denmark to Berlin’s Berghain to London’s Serpentine Galleries. For their design and visual direction, they collaborate with PWR. Ville Haimala, independently, has also written and produced music for and with David Byrne, FKA Twigs, Holly Herndon and Anne Imhof among other artists. Beyond his work with Amnesia Scanner Martti Kalliala is an architect, cultural critic and co-founder of the creative think tank Nemesis.

Anthony Parasole should need no introduction to newer or longer-standing dancers of the New York Techno & Deep House scenes, and a prominent figure with the underground House and Techno resurgence of NYC, Anthony’s acute selections won our ears right away, and he hasn’t let go since. Known for the deepest sounds of Techno and House and for gracing dance floors home and abroad

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Anthony Parasole has had a lifelong love affair with electronic music. Listening to radio shows playing the early dance tracks from New York, Chicago, Detroit, and beyond. Parasole is also huge into hip-hop. His engulfment in this gritty New York street music and culture is an influence on his style to this day, not only in his music but in the entire artistic aesthetic of his labels.

Anthony has had productions out on his own labels, The Corner & Deconstruct, as well as for Marcel Dettmann’s mighty techno imprint MDR, with his ‘Off the Grid’ EP aswell as remixing Dettmann’s ‘Seduction’. He went on to release ‘My Block’ through Ostgut Ton aswell as putting his first LP out on Dekmantel

Electronic legend Aphex Twin released Syro on Warp Records September 19th, 2014. His first LP under the Aphex Twin name since 2001’s drukqs, Syro won the 2015 Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

Aphex Twin is only considering high profile / headline offers.

Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, the duo are one of the most prominent acts signed with Warp Records. Their music has exhibited a gradual shift in aesthetic throughout their career, from their earlier work with clear roots in techno, electro and hip hop to later albums that are often considered more experimental in nature, featuring complex patterns of rhythm and subdued melodies.

The Autechre live experience is a classically pitch-dark mind-warping audio affair.

aya is actually a real person from the north of England. Her work is primarily concerned with the transfigurative power of experience and memory on the physical body. aya’s heavily anticipated debut LP ‘im hole’ is set for release with Hyperdub on October 22nd. she has previously released music with Local Action, 2BReal, Tri Angle Records, Astral Plane Recordings and Wisdom Teeth. She co-runs the label YCO with BFTT, a home things for all things Yes Come On. Asides from her philanthropic work as self-proclaimed First Lady of the Bootleg, aya is in her 3rd year of monthly radio residency with NTS, whom she loves with her whole heart.

British-born, Berlin-based Sam Barker has long sought to push the boundaries of electronic music – both in and out of the club. The Berghain resident’s string of signature solo releases for the club’s Ostgut Ton imprint have explored the rhythmic functionality of pumping, twisting and constantly evolving modular electronics. He is also one half of Barker & Baumecker with longtime Panorama Bar resident nd_baumecker, with whom he has released multiple EPs, two albums and dozens of remixes.

As a DJ, Barker combines bass music tropes, techno, electro, breakbeat, dub and ambient elements that coalesce into a distinctive, future-facing vision – one which is also reflected in his curation of the Leisure System label, which he co-founded in 2009. Originally started as a Berghain club night in 2008, Leisure System has released seminal works by the likes of Dopplereffekt, JakoJako, Objekt and Visionist (among others). The club night also held the longest residency in Berghain’s history.

Barker released his solo debut EP Debiasing on Ostgut Ton in 2018, containing four hypnotic and kick-less dancefloor tools conceptually based on research into behaviorism and psychological conditioning. This was followed by his solo debut album Utility, a playful but non-ironic musical approach to a spectrum of transhumanist ideas packed into a deeper exploration of the emotive potential of rhythmic ambient electronics – once again almost entirely without kick-drums. For many, both releases were seen not only as instant classics, but also as helping to define a discrete category of ambient dance music. Utility made numerous Best of 2019 year’s end lists, including Pitchfork, The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and others. It also earned title of Mixmag’s Album of The Year 2019. As Philipp Sherburne wrote in his Pitchfork review: “For anyone who has ever fantasized about dissolving into the dancefloor, Utility is about as close as it gets.”

These releases were followed by two limited edition white label EPs for Ostgut, BARKER001 and BARKER002. Recently he has also completed remixes for the likes of Martin Gore, Tangerine Dream and Planetary Assault Systems, and contributed a track together with Luke Slater for Ostgut Ton’s 16-year anniversary box set, Fünfzehn + 1.

Barker is also an active instrument designer who combines coding skills with analogue, electric and acoustic instrument construction for his experimental archive and platform Voltek. In the summer of 2020, he contributed a large-scale sound installation for Berghain’s Studio Berlin art exhibition, featuring a self-playing piano performing generative serial compositions which emphasize democratic harmonic relationships between tones. He has also continued to delve deeper into constructing his own MIDI-triggered acoustic instruments, including a prepared plate reverb and various percussion instruments, notably exploring the resonant architecture of Detroit’s abandoned factories with Underground Resistance’s Ray 7.

Currently, Barker’s musical focus continues to be on the peaktime dancefloor potential of ambient music. To this end, he is working on both an album and a new label. Operating on the periphery of club music, Barker continues to shift its center.

Ben Frost (born 1980) is an Australian composer and producer He is based in Iceland. Frost composes minimalist, instrumental and experimental music, with influences ranging from classical minimalism to punk rock and black metal.

His albums include: Steel Wound (2003), School of Emotional Engineering (as part of the band School of Emotional Engineering) (2004), Theory of Machines (2007), By the Throat(2009), Sólaris (with Daníel Bjarnason) (2011), Aurora (2014), and The Centre Cannot Hold (2017). His latest statement, Scope Neglect, recorded with Car Bomb guitarist Greg Kubacki and My Disco bassist Liam Andrews, is set for release on March 1, 2024 by Mute.

Frost’s diverse impact reverberates across film, television, and opera, earning acclaim for his score for Julia Leigh’s Palme d’Or-nominated Sleeping Beauty and scores for TV series such as 1899, Raised By Wolves with Ridley Scott, Fortitude, and the global cult hit series Dark. His Opera creations, including The Wasp Factory and The Murder of Halit Yozgat -a collaboration with London-based research agency Forensic Architecture have been performed at London’s Royal Opera House and Hannover’s Staatsoper, cementing his position in the world of contemporary music and live arts. He has collaborated with contemporary dance companies Chunky Move, the Icelandic Dance Company and the British choreographer Wayne McGregor.

Following successful exhibitions for Broken Spectre; the latest result of his extensive collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Richard Mosse, which was shown at London’s 180 Studios, Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria, ARS Electronica, and The Momentary Museum Bentonville, Arkansas in 2023, the New York debut of Broken Spectre opens at the Jack Shainman Gallery on January 12 (continuing until 16 March). Ben Frost’s solo installation Among The Petals, a new commission for The Momentary Museum is a multichannel, 3-story vertical sound sculpture, on show through April 2024, this follows the acclaimed solo installation work A Predatory Chord which Frost debuted in Athens in May.

Drawing inspiration from Detroit and Dub Techno, Cecilia Tosh’s musical practice is characterized by a constant groove, depth, and hypnotic atmosphere, taking audiences on multifaceted journeys. She merges her own productions, focusing on analog jams and incorporating field recordings, navigating between decontextualized urban soundscapes and techno. Beyond performing, Cecilia is active in curating events, releases, and exhibitions, co-founding the former open-air club turned into the independent booking agency CURA Berlin. In her latest project, “Kotti Island,” presented at Kottbusser Tor, she localized field recordings and interviews into a music album released on Tresor Records, alongside a public exhibition offering various perspectives on the neighborhood’s life and dynamics.

Since her years at the Pulp, a mythical underground venue and haven of inclusivity even before this word was part of today’s music vocabulary, CHLOE has helped define the transformative power of a club and the emotional power of a DJ set. Away from the over-commercialisation of electronic music, she has championed a versatile and out-of-the-box electronic music practice that inspires fans and artists alike.

In recent years, she has played at major festivals (Mutek, Burning Man, Sonar, DGTL, Nuits Sonores) as well as holding a residency at Rex Club. Her sets are a unique experience, as CHLOE often performs in all night long formats that allow her to take the audience on unexpected journeys. She manages to create unique connections between various musical aesthetics, physical and mental sensations. An oblique way of approaching the dj set without leaving the audience on the sidelines, which has made her reputation with dancers all over the world. The production of tracks that have become iconic has allowed her to further establish her approach. The Dawn (on the Endless Revisions album, Nemone’s favourite record on BBC6) manages to develop a long melody between minimal techno and new wave, tinged with the heritage of Steve Reich. The more frontal Mars 500 (Permanent Vacation) and its early house accents bathed in psychedelia or Night Rider (DGTL), an emotional minimal wave played with a techno fever, are other unstoppable tracks that the public could taste on record before appreciating their power on the dancefloor.

She has also shone in her remix work for artists as varied as Metronomy, Etienne Daho, Malik Djoudi, Ezechiel Pailhès, Feu Chatterton, Mirwais, to whom she has offered inventive reworks bathed as much in her approach as a producer as in her DJ skills. At the helm of her own label, Lumière Noire Records, capable of performing in clubs as well as festivals, in museums or halls dedicated to contemporary music, CHLOE is a key artist on the current scene, where each track she plays contributes to lifting us a little further away from reality andprefabricated schemes.

In 2018 Sebastian Mullaert launched his project Circle of Live; a brand new event series concept and a record label, honouring the value of improvisational spontaneity. The project brings together elite live artists, and gives them an opportunity to take part in free-flowing collaborative jam sessions in clubs around the world. Each event will be unhindered from any formal structure, allowing both performers and audience to forget preconceived concepts and habitual patterns in the creative process of making music and explore the raw beauty of inimitable improvisation. Circle of Live is the first concept of its kind and is a refreshing and innovative beacon of change in live music performance.

Chris Clark – a visionary and pioneer in the electronic music scene – has spent over two decades crafting a series of sonic odysseys, driven by an unquenchable ambition to continually push the boundaries of his craft. From his groundbreaking 2001 debut, “Clarence Park,” Clark’s work has been characterised by glowering techno, brittle piano pieces, eerie folktronics, and found sounds – always delivering something new and unexpected. His journey in electronic music is marked by a relentless pursuit of innovation, seamlessly blending intricate rhythms with evocative melodies.

Clark’s long-standing relationship with Warp Records has been pivotal in his career. Signing with the influential label in the early 2000s, Clark has released numerous critically acclaimed albums under their banner. Warp Records, known for its roster of groundbreaking electronic artists, provided a platform for Clark to explore and innovate. His releases, including “Body Riddle,”, “Turning Dragon”, “Totems Flare,” and “Death Peak,” cemented his reputation as an artist at the forefront of electronic music, blending intricate rhythms with evocative melodies. Over time, Clark’s release methods evolved, and he now releases music under his own imprint, Throttle Records. Notable releases on Throttle Records include soundtrack album “Kiri Variations” and most recently the album “Sus Dog”, mentored and featuring Thom Yorke. “Cave Dog” followed as a companion piece and an album of two halves – one beat-driven and stripped, and one more spacious, dreamy, and intimate.

As predicted by his younger self, Clark has recently metamorphosed into a celebrated composer for TV and film. Self-taught in piano, cello, and drums, his evolution reflects a logical progression in his relentless pursuit of musical excellence. His contributions to prestigious labels like Deutsche Grammophon and critically acclaimed soundtracks such as “Daniel Isn’t Real” exemplify his masterful integration of acoustic and electronic elements.

In the mid-1990s, Clark’s passion for rave music, both its sound and production process, fuelled his disciplined approach to electronic music. This dedication is evident across nine studio albums, numerous remixes, and four soundtracks. His shift towards collaboration, showcased in his Deutsche Grammophon album “Playground In A Lake,” includes contributions from notable artists like Oliver Coates, Rakhi Singh, and Chris Taylor, enhancing his dynamic soundscapes.

Clark’s collaborative efforts have reinvigorated his creative process, contrasting with the solitary nature of his early work. Recording with ensembles in Budapest and Berlin and in world-renowned studios Abbey Road and Air Studios in London, he emphasises precision and clarity, especially in his soundtrack compositions.

Known for his meticulous sound design, Clark’s projects range from bedroom experimentations to dance scores for award-winning choreographer Melanie Lane. His work continues to evolve, always exploring new territories. Clark hints at a future return to heavier, ravier music, maintaining his love for risk-taking and innovation, underscoring his status as a trailblazer in electronic music.

Mark Stewart’s approach as Claro Intelecto exists somewhat out of time. While you can detect classic hallmarks of Detroit techno and Chicago house in his music, the Manchester-raised producer has rarely responded to the trends of the day, instead forging his own sound out of custom-sculpted drums and thick blankets of pads. Sometimes that sound revels in hazy melancholia and at other times it lurks in the shadows, but it’s consistently timeless.

There’s a consistent heaviness to Claro Intelecto. It’s not leaden or ungainly – Stewart knows how to wield weighty sound matter with precision, but the mood and presence of his music bears down with purpose, whatever the particular niche he’s exploring at any given time. As fads and phases flutter past overhead, Claro Intelecto lingers in a feeling refreshingly outside the slipstream.

Over the past 10 years prolific Scottish duo Clouds have consistently delivered impactful and groundbreaking dance floor tracks, often drawing influence from the hardcore and hard dance music they grew up listening to. In recent years the pair’s DJ sets have seen them stripping out all but their own productions, leading to a heightened appreciation of the various directions in which they can drive their work back in the studio. With this, their vein of Techno has seen a steady yet explorative development, resulting in scene dominating hits like Sharp Like a Razor, Parkzicht, and Another Day, and gaining them the support and respect of some of the planet’s biggest musicians and DJs.

A unique trio, Cobblestone Jazz creates pared-down sounds that retain the qualities of improvisational jazz within the parameters of a minimal, dance-floor aesthetic. Through a real-time exchange of musical form, language, and ideas, Danuel Tate, Mathew Jonson, and Tyger Dhula provide a continual sense of surprise and discovery for their listeners.

The influence each member has on the group’s sound contributes to the international success Cobblestone Jazz continues to receive. Danuel Tate’s history as a jazz musician and performer prompted the approach to the group’s writing practices. His keyboard playing shows a rich understanding of harmony and melody, but like many great artists, his dedication to simplicity is what holds him in such high regard. Mathew Jonson’s gifted ability to mix and compose freely, and his commitment to pushing his music in new directions is always present. Using analogue drum machines and synthesizers as his instruments, he chooses to write his parts in the moment instead of conforming to pre-configured patterns. Tyger Dhula’s history as a DJ and producer of electronic music provides the necessary stylistic foundations that form the backdrop for the group’s improvisations. His ability to break grooves up into their key elements holds the music firmly within electronic music traditions.

Since their 2002 debut release, Cobblestone Jazz have received critical acclaim for their output on !K7, ITISWHATITIS Recordings and Wagon Repair. Their two albums, 23 Seconds and The Modern Deep Left Quartet, have become something of a benchmark for this particular style, including modern classics such as ‘Sun Child’, ‘Dump Truck’ and ‘India In Me’. The band’s appeal is broad; they boast support from diverse DJs such as Carl Craig, Gilles Peterson, Joe Clausell, Laurent Garnier, Moodymann, Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, and Theo Parrish. They have performed internationally at events such as Fabric in London, Labyrinth Festival in Japan, Melt! Festival in Germany, and Movement Festival, in Detroit and Rainbow Serpent in Australia to name just a few.

Their music is created in one take, either culled from live performances or studio mixes, and their live shows are a representation of how they create music. Nowadays, the live set is made up entirely of keyboards and drum machines; the laptops and samplers are gone.

2015 saw the return of the band to Itiswhatitis Recordings with the ‘Northern Lights’ EP – and a number of shows, including MUTEK festival and Rainbow Disco Club in Japan. After some hiatus the members have reunited in 2021 for a run of selected shows as well as new releases, coming up on Mathew’s Wagon Repair, Craig Richards Tuppence label, and a remix for the Brazilian star Rita Lee, as a well placed start.

Crystallmess (birth name Christelle Oyiri), is a French born Ivoirian/Guadeloupean producer, DJ, writer and artist based in Paris.
Her unique production style combines melodic techno, afro-trance and abrasive dancehall.
The NTS resident and SHAPE Alumnus has released her stunning debut EP “Mere Noises” in 2018, a split EP on PAN Records followed in 2019.
Crystallmess’ approach to production, DJing and performance combines radical energy and fantasmatic afrofuturism. Her polyrhythmic and eclectic DJ style brings an uncompromising, globalized and diasporic approach to techno and club music in general.
As well as performing in some of Europe’s leading clubs and festivals, she has created sound designs for fashion houses such as Kenzo or Paco Rabanne.

*Working in collaboration with AMS Management

Steeped in Miami’s B-boy culture, it was classic electro & Miami bass that conceived Danny Daze’s love for the experimental Dutch electro & Detroit Techno scenes of the 90’s. Labels like Schematic in Miami, Interdimensional Transmissions from Detroit & Viewlexx out of The Hague set the foundation for Daze.

Daniel Gomez adopted his Daze moniker early on at his mother’s suggestion. Practicing on a set-up she bought him, Daze was spinning at weddings by age 14, funneling his earnings into vinyl to play raves on the side. That eventually led to producing his first tracks in 2004 on a cracked version of Fruity Loops and later that year, he jump-started a electro / techno white label called Omniamm.

Daze’s risk-taking & punk approach is at the core of everything he does and it’s a big part of the ethos of his current label, Omnidisc. “We’re not searching for chart topping hits. We’re more interested in curating a catalog of music you’ll remember when you walk out the door. We seek out tracks that are as raw as possible & welcome imperfections. We love the charm of an unpolished record”, says Daze. It’s also this freeform & experimental approach together with an element of surprise that sets him apart from the pack as both a DJ & Producer.

As a DJ, he prefers to express his versatility across long sets. He is known to cut & weave from Electro to Techno into Italo Disco, into a record by Yazoo deliberately intended to provoke a reaction. “I once played a Paula Abdul record at Berghain… basically, it’s like it or leave it,” says Daze. As a producer, his output ranges from releases on Kompakt’s Speicher series, to remixes on Phantasy, Comeme, Monkeytown & more… but he also reaches far beyond techno & has created original runway soundtracks for award winning American streetwear designer John Elliott & the Australian brand Song for the Mute. “I’m obsessed with the detailed manipulation of audio. It’s at the core of how I make music & I constantly feel the need to involve myself with projects that challenge & allow me to think out of the box… whether it’s creating a single recognizable noise for the new MacBook, or an advert for a fashion campaign blending original music with sound design,” says Daze.

Danny Daze’s radical approach to preserving music’s integrity while breaking its boundaries may seem volatile, but it’s not random. “I’ve always gone against the grain & it’s important for everything I do to feel authentic. There isn’t much difference between Daniel Gomez and Danny Daze.”

It was an embrace of emotionality and subconscious communication that prompted David August’s artistic evolution. The Italian-German composer, DJ, label owner and multi-instrumentalist has been releasing music since he was a teenager in Hamburg, but it took self-evaluation and a re-examination of his priorities for August to lean towards the future and follow his most experimental inclinations.

August picked up steam in the early 2010s, gaining global acclaim when he performed a dazzling solo session for Boiler Room. But he still felt some emotions remained hidden in his work; his artistic language was still in development, even if his aesthetic was seemingly well-defined. A turning point came when he established the 99CHANTS label, an open-minded platform that has offered him the opportunity to work with esteemed artists like Lena Platonos, Ron Trent and Giulio Aldinucci, simultaneously promoting lesser-known figures such as Louis Sterling or post-minimalist heroine Bunita Marcus. 2022’s ‘Imaginary Landscapes’ non-profit compilation was a particular high-point, asking artists KMRU, Kareem Lotfy, Yu Su, Liila and others to consider the concept of movement and change.

A spell in central Italy gave August the opportunity to dive into study and experimentation, exploring ancient philosophy, mysticism and quantum physics while he attempted to map these ideas out sonically in his home studio. He began to see himself as an observer rather than the protagonist and attempted to tune in with the unexplainable through sound, instead of merely using established language to tell his stories. Plato’s words “everything is becoming and never is” gave him the foundation for his ambitious latest undertaking ‘VĪS’ (Latin for “energy” or “force”), a sprawling multi-disciplinary chronicle that imagines an alternative evolution of mankind through sound. With its own ‘Imaginary Alphabet’ (created by Moroccan artist Hiba Baddou), an interactive website, an art book and an audio-visual live show featuring choreography from Franka Marlene Foth and stage design by MFO, the album is far more than just music, suggesting that it’s movement and imagination that drives us forward.

In the past, the composer has worked alongside the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and remixed artists such as Max Cooper, Bunita Marcus and many others. He’s performed across the world at headline shows at London’s Roundhouse, Berlin’s Columbiahalle, Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Amsterdam’s Paradiso, and has appeared at Primavera Sound, Sonar, Dour Festival, Montreux Jazz and more.

Past Discography:

“Neurotelepathy” – Leisure System (2022)
“Cellular Automata” – Leisure System (2017)
“Hypnagogia 12” – Leisure System (2014)
“Tetrahymena EP” – Leisure System (2013)
“Gesamtkunstwek” – Clone Classic Cuts (2007)
“Calabi Yau Space” – Rephlex (2007)
“Linear Accelerator” – Int Deejay Gigolo (2003)
“Myon-Neutrino/Z-Boson” – Int Deejay G (2002)
”Scientist Mixes EP” – Int Deejay Gigolo (2001)
“Scientist EP” – Int Deejay Gigolo (2001)
“Gesamtkunstwek” – Int Deejay Gigolo (1999)
“Sterilization EP” – Dataphysix Engineering (1997)
“Infophysix EP” – Dataphysix Engineering (1995)
“Cellular 7-inch” – Dataphysix Engineering (1995)

Emptyset is a London/Berlin based production project formed in 2005 by James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas. The project examines the material properties of sound and its correspondence with architecture, performance and physical modes of production. Their recorded output includes the releases Borders and Skin for Thrill Jockey in 2017, Recur and Collapsed for raster-noton, Signal a commissioned performance working with ionospheric propagation and Medium an expanded live recording in Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire. Their latest album, ash, out October 20, 2023, marks the 50th release for Ginzburg’s Subtext Recordings and a return to the project’s origins in Bristol. Emptyset have produced installations for Spike Island, Tate Britain and the Architecture Foundation and presented live performances with CTM/Transmediale, Unsound, Ruhrtriennale, Kunsthalle Zurich and Sonic Acts amongst other notable events and venues.

Contrast. Objection. Antithesis. This is how you might start an attempt to describe the world. A seemingly chaos of shapes and thoughts that don’t belong to each other. An overall image to be found in life and in music. But that’s not Fiedel’s view of the world. Where others make distinctions, he sees connections, where others find emptiness, he finds rooms full of opportunities.

Finding those harmonies, connections and contexts marks out his musical work. The synthesis of apparently opposing music, the interaction and the mix of styles and moods, without loosing the storyline, that makes out the characteristic Fiedel sound.

After the wall came down, the way was open to access a fresh scene, and with it came a whole spectrum of new and old music to discover. In the beginning of the 1990s, he started DJing in public as a regular at the Monday events at Subversiv. Shortly after he began his collaboration with his befriended Errorsmith under the name of MMM. They released several productions and play live shows. Since 2000 he is resident at OstGut and later on at Berghain. On the compilation Fünf he had his first solo release on the incorporated Ostgut Ton label, followed by contributions to the compilations Various (2013) and Ostgut Ton | Zehn (2015). In 2012 he eventually founded his own label Fiedelone, to give his own productions a more personal base. In spring 2014 he developed a live set, which he premiered at Berghain. March 2017 saw his first full Ostgut Ton release with the 12″ Substance B, followed up by his contribution to the Berghain mixes series in January 2018.

You can say one thing about Fiedel: he is no techno or house stereotype pattern, that you can put randomly on a every evening or club. He is lead by his history, the history of the music and the feeling of the moment to build something new and to capture this very moment. Let it be the straight dark techno of today, banging acid of the 80ies or an electro funk record, Fiedel surprises. He undermines and overrides expectations and refrains to limit the music for any reason. He lets the music speak for itself, through himself.

What started as a spontaneous session during an earlier edition of the renowned Sacred Ground festival has now turned into an official labour of love – one that’s not only based on mutual respect and admiration for the skill-set and profound musical knowledge the other puts on display, but on the endless possibilities that emerge once you stop serving to specific constraints and expectations people tend to link to your name.

As soon as Frank Wiedemann and Mathew Jonson are facing each other on stage something magical is happening, a free-floating musical beast based on improvisation and triggered by the sheer love to create an experience – for the audience and themselves – detached from peak time clubland, release schedules and the limitations of distinctive scenes. It’s a new chapter of music for the masses that feels equally at home on any festival’s stage as it does in the rather intimate surrounding of a gallery space.

Frank Wiedemann: It took us only an instant to figure out that we really like to share the stage together. The reason why it took quite a while to make this an official project though is that we finally feel mature enough to let it happen.

Mathew Jonson: The great thing about playing with Frank is that our musical tastes are very similar but different enough to explore places which we wouldn’t necessarily visit by ourselves.

(Sven Fortmann, June 2021)

The music of Galya Bisengalieva is dark and atmospheric. The Kazakh-British composer and violinist centres unyielding drones as she weaves across genres like folk, ambient, classical, and electronic music. She made her first two records, EP ONE and TWO, on her own NOMAD Music Productions, a label she founded to champion experimental sounds.

In September 2020 she released her debut album ”Aralkum” on One Little Independent Records. Galya’s focus on wide expanses of tone suit the album’s subject: the Aral Sea and the desolate landscapes formed from its disastrous shrinking.

An internationally-recognised performer, Galya has played at venues including the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, Brooklyn Academy of Arts, ACE Theatre, Béla Bartók Concert Hall, Victoria Hall, Teatro Colòn, Strelka Institute and the Paris Philharmonie.

In 2021 she was invited to perform Aralkum Live at National Sawdust, Kiezsalon, Berliner Festspiele, Le Guess Who, Rewire and WOS Festivals and her compositions were featured in Fact, Boiler Room, Pitchfork and Nowness.

She has closely collaborated with some of the world’s finest musicians spanning many genres including Moor Mother, Pauline Oliveros, Suzanne Ciani, Laurie Spiegel, Terry Riley, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Mica Levi, Thom Yorke and Actress.

Galya’s solos and improvisations can be heard on numerous albums, film soundtracks and TV productions including Cyrano, You Were Never Really Here, The Mauritanian, Rocks, Honey Boy, American Animals, The Two Popes, The Matrix Resurrections and Suspiria. She has also toured key solos for live productions of Phantom Thread, Under the Skin, The Piano and There Will Be Blood.

Her latest collaborations have been with fashion houses Norhla, Phoebe English and Alexander McQueen.

“Galya…a powerful force in new and primordial music” The Quietus

“creates teeming and imagistic environments with four strings and electronics” Pitchfork

“It makes for a challenging listen, but demands the listener return for more, and reveals Bisengalieva not only as a star violinist but as a producing force to be reckoned with.” The Guardian

Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and broadcaster. Often inspired by the connections between science and music, her solo record career includes the album Awake But Always Dreaming, which became an ode to her grandmother’s mind as she lived with dementia; the electronic ruralism of Chalk Hill Blue, an album recorded with the poet Will Burns; and connecting our brain neurons to stars in our solar system, the space-themed Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30 piece colliery brass band.

A regular collaborator with Paul Weller, in 2018 she conducted and wrote all the orchestral arrangements for his shows at London’s Royal Festival Hall and contributed to his new no.1 album ‘On Sunset’. A year later Peel composed and recorded the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch which earned her a 2019 Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)’

Hannah Peel and Paraorchestra’s forthcoming album The Unfolding was recorded in March 2021 and is released on Real World Records in April 2022. The album features a glorious 14-piece ensemble of acoustic and electronic instruments as well as human voice for a transportive, playful, and otherworldly sonic experience. The Unfolding follows the huge success of Hannah’s 2021 Mercury Award nominated album Fir Wave.

Hannah is also a regular presenter on the BBC Radio 3 show, Night Tracks

Photo Credit, with thanks to Paul Heartfield

Heith’s music crosses many different sonic landscapes, but it sets ground on a no man’s land of electronic music, where organic and digital clash thoroughly and constantly. Often reminiscing confusion and puzzlement, his music sets the ground for a mediated conflict between different practices, something that was extremely clear in his latest opus “X, wheel”, released by PAN in October 2022, where synths, percussion and electronic often occupy and dispute the same space as organic elements, such as guitar. This renders his music extremely textural, thus visual and rhythmic, surpassing the over-explored European tradition of melody-harmony above all, in a contemporary ritualistic form yet to be mapped.

After the establishment of his label Haunter Records in 2013, he became part of the curatorial team of Milan’s legendary space Macao. He released a bunch of EPs (Laguna 2018, Mud 2019, Lo Zoo di Venere 2020) and collaborated with several artists including Puce Mary, Visio, Kareem Lotfy and Jesse Osborne-Lanthier.

His latest show features a collaboration with the design studio Declino, and it’s been premiered at Unsound to much acclaim. As described by DAZED, “X, wheel”, “transports listeners into a digital otherworld where strange and unfamiliar sounds are rendered in odd frequencies that feel familiar yet alien, situated in both the faraway future and a distant past.” For the Wire Magazine “X, wheel” is an unusual, spellbinding record on which Heith forges a distinctive musical persona out of disparate sound worlds.”

Movement, Holly Herndon’s debut album on RVNG Intl. in 2012, was a test chamber that hybridized her modern composition training and undying devotion to club music, equally Maryanne Amacher and Laurie Anderson as Berghain techno. With that spring board she became a champion of laptop performance and the instrument’s humanization. Platform, Herndon’s sophomore full length released in 2015 on 4AD / RVNG, furthered the previous album’s pop deconstructivism, this time galvanized into a singular voice, and with a very clear message of optimism in opposition to the looming mass surveillance dystopia. For PROTO, Herndon’s third LP out May 10, 2019 on 4AD she assembled a contemporary ensemble of vocalists, developers and an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC to create a record that encompasses live vocal processing and timeless folk singing, and places an emphasis on alien song craft and new forms of communion.

Ireen Amnes is a multifaceted artist and DJ, founder of the collective and label Under My Feet., known for its provocative exhibitions and showcases of power electronics and live experimental music.

Her artistic roots in industrial, noise, and experimental genres infuse her live hardware and DJ sets with moody, unpredictable journeys that explore an array of styles and intensities.

Based in Berlin, Ireen’s musical odyssey commenced as a singer and instrumentalist in metal bands, eventually weaving her signature style into the world of electronic music.

Within her own productions, Ireen’s music transcends with distorted aesthetics, melancholic atmospherics, and deconstructed rhythms, evident in recent works such as a collaboration with Drew McDowall of Coil; her latest EP on Tresor Records; the collaborative EP ‘Unravelling’ alongside Kamikaze Space Programme and the new live project with Infinity Division fka Minimal Violence ’s.a.t.i.n.’.

Her first full-length LP ‘In The Land Of Silence,’ released in 2020 through Sonic Groove Experiments, received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the emotional depth conveyed through moving melodies and rumbling drones.

Ireen’s live shows have seen her play venues like Berghain, Funkhaus, Iklectik, Macao, and Kraftwerk. As a DJ, she has performed in iconic spaces such as Tresor, Basement, Warehouse Elementenstraat, Fold, and countless other European clubs and DIY parties.

She frequently shares stages with esteemed artists like Drew McDowall, Hiro Kone, Phase Fatale, Alessandro Adriani, and Chloe Lula, crafting sets that captivate audiences with an unpredictable and eclectic journey through the intricate realms of electro, wave, industrial, techno, and experimental music.

Regardless of the genre Amnes’ music does (or doesn’t) fit into, its intense dynamism, nuance, and emotive power represent the expressions of a deeply complex and passionate artist.

Ivan Michael Blackstock is a South London-born multidisciplinary creative, whose work as an artist, mentor, and cultural innovator has been seen across the UK’s most iconic venues and beyond.

Ivan is focused on his work as an independent artist, creating thought-provoking and political artistic expressions. His work has been presented at Sadler’s Wells, 180 the Strand and La Villette in Paris and is proudly recognised for co-founding BirdGang Dance Company and in his award for Breakthrough Cultural Excellence in Film and Video (Nowness Awards 2019), Dazed 100 shortlist, 2021 and his role as contributing editor at Fact Magazine.

His growing success has catapulted his career into a multidimensional innovative space, and he has since founded CRXSS PLATFXRM, an organisation platforming talent that constructs new paths for subculture creatives. CRXSS PLATFXRM also delivers high-profile partnership events and consultancy with major cultural venues, brands and independent businesses such as Nike, Red Bull, The Southbank Centre and UAL: Central Saint Martins.

Most recently, Ivan created TRAPLORD BLK MEME/RA for Channel 4 Random Acts, Autumn 2021, now extending his creativity by tapping into the world of film and media. Some of his biggest highlights to date have been choreographing for Beyonce’s Black Is King and Grammy award-winning music video ‘Brown Skin Girl’, appointment of Artistic Director of 180 Studios, as well as founding his very own media production company ALTRUVIOLET, for which TRAPLORD is the premier work and winner for Britain’s most prestigious stage honors, The 2023 Olivier Awards for best new dance production.

It all started with an urge to play with sound and a desire to know more. After several years buried in books, manuals, patch cables, and messing with a DIY synth, JakoJako (real name Sibel Koçer) was playing her first live sets in Berlin, spending every spare cent on Eurorack modules. The passion soon became all-consuming, and in 2017 she left her nursing career to work at Berlin’s synth shop institution SchneidersLaden, where she’s been sharing her grasp of tools and techniques with the city’s music maker community.

Her approach may seem studious, but JakoJako uses this fluency in the language of sound to convey emotion. Each track is an experiment, with success based on the intensity of feeling it creates. Her EPs Aequilibration and Lux showcased this explorative mindset, with very different stylistic ideas tied together through emotive sound design, sharp production, and a strong sense of melody.

With regular events disappearing in 2020, live music migrated to URL, finding a global audience in a shared experience of isolation. After streaming a live set with HÖR she was invited to join ARTE, Innervisions and United We Stream alongside Âme and Frank Wiedermann. This led to a filmed live performance in her studio for FACT Magazine’s Patch Notes series and an in-depth studio feature for Electronic Beats, which together amassed over a million views (and counting).

IRL JakoJako has made good use of studio time and her success as a producer and performer has grown steadily. With two records on Leisure System that quickly sold out, remixes for New Order and Martin Gore, tracks on BPitch, Tresor and Figure. Her debut album ‘Metamorphose’ on Bigamo earnt critical acclaim and she also collaborated with Rødhåd on a new album ‘In Vere’ on WSNWG.

JakoJako has also been involved in several motion sensor dance projects with dancers at Superbooth and Kraftwerk Berlin, and a stunning performance at the Royal Albert Hall with Bonobo. She has been featured as a live performer at Berghain, where she is resident, and participated in live jams with the ‘Circle Of Live’, ‘Âme’, ‘Rødhåd & Barker’.

For 2023, more new music by Berghain resident is imminent with the ‘Verve EP’ due on Mute Records in March, as well as new dance performances in the works. It’s also the year when her DJ performances are coming to the fore, alongside her live shows, with bookings at festivals including Dekmantel, Awakenings, Elevate, WHOLE, Nation of Gondwana and Stone Techno in the coming months. JakoJako’s future, it seems, is akin to modular synthesis: sonically endless, full of opportunity, and with boundaries yet to be pushed.

For the past 30 years, James Lavelle has been at the forefront of global club culture. Known as much for his eclectic DJ sets as for his production work with UNKLE, Lavelle has been lauded as a highly influential tastemaker and musical curator.

He began DJing in Oxford aged only 15, where he started his first night, ‘Mo’Wax Please’. Relocating to London to start the record label of the same name, Lavelle took up a residency at The Fridge for Gilles Peterson’s ‘Talkin’ Loud’. The pair went on to start their own night together, ‘That’s How It Is’, a legendary Monday night session at Bar Rumba on Shaftesbury Avenue that saw Lavelle become a major fixture of London’s burgeoning club scene. This period saw his influence expand as he DJ’d across London and the UK, playing clubs from The Blue Note and Plastic People to Ministry of Sound and Cream. The opening of Fabric in 1999 was a major turning point in his career and saw him take up a residency and starting the iconic Friday night FABRICLIVE that lasted for five years.

James Lavelle MixCloud

Alongside his time at Fabric, Lavelle has also served as resident at several of the world’s top nightclubs including amongst others, Zouk, Womb, Watergate, and Space. He was one of the first DJs to play China and Eastern Europe and has played in all six inhabited continents. The development of his UNKLESounds project saw him traversing the globe, headlining festivals and clubs everywhere from Tokyo to Mexico City, with one of the first audio-visual DJ setups.

Lavelle’s ability to craft genre-spanning mixes translated from to the club to the studio, where he created contributions to several iconic mix series. After releasing mixes for Tribal Gathering and Cream, he produced the inaugural FABRICLIVE CD, and has gone on to release four critically acclaimed mixes for Global Underground, the most recent of which went to the top of the Electronic charts on iTunes. Pete Tong lauded him as ‘one of the most gifted minds in music’ when introducing his ‘mind blowing’ Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1.

Lavelle continues to tour as a DJ, playing a major role in Fabric’s 20th anniversary celebrations, curating two nights at the club and playing alongside Laurent Garnier. He also reunited with Gilles Peterson for a ‘That’s How It Is’ reunion show at We Out Here festival. Away from the dancefloor, Lavelle has recently contributed DJ mixes for Keinemusik, Crosstown Rebels and Mary Anne Hobbs, as well as the soundtrack for Virgil Abloh’s final Off-White show at Paris Fashion Week. His monthly Living In My Headphones shows on Soho Radio serve as a showcase for the more eclectic reaches of his record collection.

He also produces albums under his UNKLE moniker, working with a myriad cast of musical collaborators including Thom Yorke, Michael Kiwanuka, Mark Lanegan, Massive Attack, Brian Eno and Josh Homme. Lavelle also curates multi-sensory art exhibitions, with his highly innovative and hugely successful series ‘Daydreaming With…’ and ‘Beyond the Road’ the latter of which NME described as an ‘album you can walk around’.

James Ruskin is one of the leading lights in UK techno. With a musical history that can be traced back to mid-80s electro and hip-hop, Ruskin brings a long background and deep knowledge of underground electronic music to his productions and DJing. He explores a variety of tempos and beat structures throughout his vast back catalogue

James also runs the label Blueprint Records, releasing music from the likes of Surgeon, O/V/R, Oliver Ho, Truncate & his own project with Mark Broom, The Fear Ratio, aswell as 3 albums & multiple EP’s on legendary Berlin techno label, Tresor Records

Joep Beving is one of the most listened-to living pianists in the world.

In an astoundingly short amount of time, this incredibly gifted artist has found himself topping the Spotify charts, with over 300 million streams, and more than 2 million monthly listeners.

Joep describes his minimalist and contemplative style as “accessible music for complex emotions”. In an overcrowded music space, he has created a unique and recognisable voice that swims between classical, pop and avant-garde – with massive appeal.

As well as his solo piano concerts, Joep can perform with acclaimed ensemble, Echo Collective, or Echo Collective and Maarten Vos (modular synth and cello). There is also an option for the addition of the renowned choir, Cappella Amsterdam.

These performances can be complimented by a simple yet utterly spellbinding light show, developed by Nick Verstand & Boris Acket.

Hermetism, the Dutch composer/pianist’s fourth album for Deutsche Grammophon will be released globally on 8 April 2022.

Jon Hopkins is a London based electronic artist, producer and classically trained composer, whose solo and collaborative works have received widespread acclaim, as well as Grammy, Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello nominations.

Hopkins has forged a reputation for music that marries the dance floor to the devotional, and for live performances that are visceral, generous and charged with a rapt, sensuous beauty. His output flows from rugged techno to transcendent choral music, from solo acoustic piano to psychedelic ambient.

Initially gaining exposure through his work with Brian Eno and Coldplay in the mid ‘20s, Hopkins gradually found his voice as a solo artist, blending intricately crafted beats with serene, meditative textures. The Mercury Prize nominated Immunity (2013) and the Grammy-nominated Singularity (2018), two intense, ambitious albums of spiritually-minded techno and ambient tracks, were among the decade’s most lauded electronic albums. Music for Psychedelic Therapy (2021) was Hopkins’ first full-length since those two sister albums. For this collection he wanted to make something that faced the opposite direction, something egoless and introspective, made with total, raw honesty.

By turns devotional, empowering and nurturing, Jon Hopkins’ forthcoming new album RITUAL (August 30^th) is a 41-minute ceremonial epic built from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career, and acts as the kinetic counterpart to Music For Psychedelic Therapy. A single piece unfolding over eight chapters, RITUAL is personified by depth and contrast. Taking ceremony, spiritual liberation and the hero’s journey as inspiration, it taps into an ancient and primal energy.

Hopkins has many producer, remixer, collaborator and film credits to his name (including Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and Gareth Edwards’ classic indie sci-fi film Monsters, which earned an Ivor Novello nomination for Best Original Score) also the National Theatre Live production of Hamlet.

The Singularity worldwide tour saw him perform sold out solo live shows and festival dates across the globe. This was followed by the Polarity tour which tethered together the two disparate elements of harsh and fragile in his music in concert halls across Europe, including Royal Albert Hall in November ’21. Festival appearances as far away as the USA New Zealand and Australia have since followed and 2023 saw select exclusive appearances across the globe, including Hopkins’ debut at the BBC Proms series, again at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Hopkins will be headlining London’s Junction 2 and Green Man Festivals this year alongside shows at Bristol Beacon and Brighton’s Corn Exchange.

She is the founder and curator of the music record label JUJUKA, co-founder of the event series Radial exploring the intersection between live sonic art and electronic experimental music at the Fridman Gallery in NYC.Her sets are dense and vivid. Unpredictable. She herself is enthusiastic and energetic with a charismatic fatal charm. Govor knows how to move, make others feel and engage.

Known as a techno producer who has her own unique and innovative sounds, Julia has most recently been featured on Bandcamp Daily as the best electronic music producer and in a glowing review in The New Yorker that called her talent “beguiling” and “rare” and that her music “fills the mind.”

COMING SOON

Kianí del Valle is a Berlin-Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, director, and performance curator originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Driven by anthropological, biological, and sociological concepts, Kianí’s work blurs the lines between contemporary dance and performance art, integrating film, photography, architecture, pop culture, technology, and sound. She has developed interdisciplinary solo works and is the founder and choreographer of the KDV Performance Group.

“CORTEX,” KDV Performance Group’s latest work, was co-commissioned by Sonar Festival, where it premiered and was hailed as one of the festival highlights, and CTM. The piece was created in collaboration with experimental technologists Hamill Industries and music producer Tayhana. The performance probes the profound implications of the human brain beyond mortality and proposes that the temporal lobe’s capacity for persistence may be leveraged by the collective consciousness, thereby bridging the divide between individual and collective existence.

In recent years, Del Valle has collaborated extensively with musicians such as Labrinth, Ziúr, Kelman Durán, Ludwig Wandinger, Bad Bunny, LSDXOXO, Floating Points, Lyra Pramuk, John Legend, Clark, Objekt, Lotic, and Bendik Giske.

She has presented her independent choreographic works at some of the world’s leading art institutions, including the Berlinische Galerie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Silent Green, Funkhaus, Barbican, Silencio Club Paris, CCCB, Getty Museum, National Sawdust Brooklyn, Tribeca Performing Arts Centre, and Performance Space New York.

When it comes to artists pushing the boundary with bass-influenced techno and UK bass, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better mixes than those by Laksa. Regular releases on the likes of Timedance, Ilian Tape, Mistry, Hessle Audio over the last eight years have cemented him as a cross-genre tempo hopper.

Running the label, club night and NTS show ‘re:lax’ with re:ni, for the last five years they’ve been combining forces as re:lax, which has helped push both their own respective crafts to new heights.

Laksa has been consistently pushing bass mutations since his early EPs on Batu’s Timedance, cementing his place amongst the latest UK talent. He has added to this list with his debut EP for re:lax Body Score EP.

Take the calibre of labels he’s affiliated with—Timedance, Ilian Tape and most recently, Hessle Audio. All are primary sources for the best of forward-facing club music. With shows at institutions like Berghain, Nowadays and Printworks, along with gigs across Europe and Asia, he effortlessly blurs styles and genres with a UK rudeness. With more music and releases lined up for re:lax in 2024, Laksa will continue to explore his interests and sound, and push things FWD.

Berlin-based composer, singer, pianist and vintage synth devotee Lisa Morgenstern first came to significant public attention with the self-release in 2019 of Chameleon. Produced by Grammy-nominated Argentinian composer and cellist Sebastian Plano, it was a collection of spine-tingling grace and wonder in which her multiple-octave-spanning voice – part Elizabeth Fraser, part Björk, part Minnie Riperton, all Lisa Morgenstern – soared above bewitchingly atmospheric piano and synth lines. In its wake, her flourishing reputation – fuelled by compelling concerts in which her arms are often stretched either side of her as she plays multiple instruments while singing – led to performances across Europe with artists including Ólafur Arnalds and Max Cooper, as well as at festivals and prestigious venues, from Iceland Airwaves at the National Theatre Reykjavik to the Reeperbahn Festival at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Morgenstern has simultaneously made a name for herself with the variety of her collaborations. During the pandemic, she was hired to co-compose the score to one of Netflix’s forthcoming priority drama series, and additional studio collaborations with Casper, Balmorhea and Aukai have emerged since Chameleon’s release. Live shows with the renowned women’s Bulgarian Voices Berlin choir and, separately, the Munich Radio Orchestra meanwhile won further acclaim, with both institutions subsequently crucial to Morgenstern’s upcoming album, for which she also wrote the complex arrangements.

Morgenstern’s broad tastes no doubt have something to do with her upbringing as the independently-minded daughter of two orchestral musicians, one German, one Bulgarian. She began playing piano aged 5 before embarking on a promising ballet career, but when this was prematurely cut short by injury at the age of 15, she returned again to writing and performing music. A lingering love of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky was tempered by a youthful passion for punk, metal and, later, goth, and though it might be presumptuous to point to individual instances, each of these – along with a robust hunger for all sorts of other music, whether older or more contemporary – has in some way coloured her work since.

The forthcoming album, however, eclipses Morgenstern’s earlier work, as well as that of many of her contemporaries, by looking back to her roots with as much innovation and enthusiasm as it looks forward to the future. Incorporating a voice that’s haunting, compassionate and remarkably versatile into icy synth soundscapes, intense orchestral arrangements, delicate piano melodies and even the folk of her ancestors, it pursues a variety of associated yet rarely trodden paths to devise a dreamlike album of bold invention, sweeping drama and striking intimacy.

Electronic music legend Luke Vibert started his career in the early 1990s, releasing his first album (together with Jeremy Simmonds) on Richard D James’ Rephlex.
Over the years, Vibert has released music on other iconic labels, such as Warp, Ninja Tune and Planet Mu, under aliases Wagon Christ, Plug and more.
Now booking infamous DJ shows.

Lyra Pramuk fuses classical vocalism, pop sensibilities, performance practices and contemporary club culture in what can best be described as futurist folk music. Her debut album Fountain was released in 2020 on Bedroom Community.

Created entirely from her own voice, although often shaped and structured by electronics, Fountain is an emotional, sensual, and devotional journey. The title is derived from her family name, Pramuk, which is related to the Czech word for ‘well spring’ or ‘fountain.’ Often wordless, these songs evoke a new wholeness sustained by the ritual force of drowning, immersion, cleansing, and bathing – also referred to in the album artwork by acclaimed visual artist Donna Huanca. Fountain plays with the perception of music, rhythms, speech, body, and the relation between technology and humanity, exploring a post-human, non-binary understanding of life and the fragile ecosystems it depends on. The work documents a healing that is still in process, and a full circle-moment that reunited Lyra with her sound engineer twin brother, Ben, for the final mix, which they completed in tandem.

Where the voice is deployed most imaginatively and seductively for Lyra is just where the orbit of electronic music is conceived as a modular spectrum. Seizing on recorded work as well as performance to be a process of sampling and synthesis, genres are cross-pollinated and extended, returning all the while back to her formative impulse that storytelling is song, and song is a means of short-circuiting the structures we are sold as real difference in this world.

Mathew Jonson really is one of a kind. He’s developed one of the most distinctive voices in electronic dance music: when you hear one of Jonson’s tracks, you almost immediately know it’s his. And yet there’s no mistaking any given track for another.
His music offers a rare fusion of populist intensities and nuanced musicality. With a keen understanding for the needs of the dance floor and the universal laws of house and techno, he’s thrown out the rule book time and time again, sneaking tricks learned from electro and even drum’n’bass into the clubs, and loading up his B-sides with tracks that do what they damned well please. (No kick drum? No problem.)

His standards for sound and presentation are exacting. Both on stage and in the studio, Jonson’s fealty to analog equipment and real-time playing; as opposed to mere layback-serves as a standard bearer for a kind of electronic music that goes way beyond the drag ‘n’ drop world of digital composition. Jonson has always been eager to get his hands dirty, and the music reflects that in gnarled bass sequences and long, intuitive lines. His sounds have serious teeth. Despite his quick ascent through the ranks of the techno elite, Jonson hasn’t just stayed personally grounded. He’s devoted much of his energy to supporting his own close musical family, in the groups Cobblestone Jazz, Midnight Operator and the Modern Deep Left Quartet, and with his Wagon Repair label.

He studied classical piano as a kid, plus jazz drumming, and played drums in a marching band – thus laying both the melodic and the rhythmic cornerstones of his music today. Thanks to his father’s work as a musician, he also got his hands on synthesizers at the age of 9. By the time he discovered hip-hop as a young teen, he was recreating its electro-based beats on his own rudimentary setup at home.

Jonson gradually began honing in on his own sound, both in his productions and his DJ sets, inspired by a deeper, weirder sound that had begun filtering into the Victoria’s techno parties. His first record, in 2001, was the first release on Itiswhatitis (a label Mathew bought from its original owner 11 years later). Another followed in 2002, and in 2003. That year, he also made his first appearance on Perlon, ‘Alpine Rocket’ – a track he recorded alongside Luciano during his first trip to Europe. And then, suddenly, Jonson was everywhere: Sub Static, Arbutus, Kompakt, M_nus – and every track an anthem.
“I had all that music saved up,” says Jonson, “and then, just by chance, released it all at the same time. People criticized me for it, said that it wasn’t a good idea. But it worked out for me. All the tracks did well. I wasn’t saturating the market with bad music.” He’s right there. In 2004 he was voted “Best Producer” in Germany’s Groove Magazine.

In 2005, Jonson co-founded Wagon Repair, and it’s been a blur since, a nonstop series of tours and recordings, solo and with his band mates. Seeming unstoppable in 2006 he took top spot as “Best Producer” and “Best Live Act” in the Groove Mag Leser*innenpoll. Crucially, he moved to Berlin. His studio here is jaw-dropping, frankly: a semi-circle full of gear, from old workhorses like the 808 and 909 and SH-101 to unique beasts like their Cwejman and Roland System 100m modular system. Tate’s Rhodes piano anchors one corner of the horseshoe, and everything feeds into a massive desk where tracks are mixed and recorded in real-time. His two hands have come up with some remarkable material. Having perfected his brand of earthshaking epic with tracks like ‘Marionette’ and ‘Decompression’, Jonson has increasingly turned his efforts towards more personal, introspective music. He never left the clubs behind though; his 2010 album, Agents of Time, featured a number of tracks that are as hip-winding wily as anything he’s produced yet, full-on tracks like ‘Girls Got Rhythm’ and ‘Thieves in Digital Land’. Equally physical was his 2011 drop on Richie Hawtin’s M_nus, ‘Learning To Fly’, and the well-received ‘Automaton’ on Crosstown Rebels. His 2013 album, On Her Blurry Pictures, too; here Jonson took advantage of the long player format to stretch out and indulge darker moods and slower tempos, but the core of the record remained rooted in a dancefloor context.

In 2015, Mathew fulfilled his long-standing ambition of contributing to Fabric’s esteemed mix series. Fabric84 is a recording of his set at the club’s 15th birthday, during which he played a number of his classic tracks and unreleased edits. The energy of the occasion and the particular way Mathew performs his material blend perfectly, capturing a singular and very special set on CD.

In 2016 Mathew released an album with Units and Measurements and another in 2019 as his new alias Freedom Engine entitled “A Box Full Of Magic”.

Continuing to tour his in-demand solo live show in 2021, which has consistently ranked amongst Resident Advisor’s top 20, Mathew has recently remixed Goldie, Rone, Joseph Capriati feat. Byron Stingily & Eric Kupper, (to add to his past work including Moby, Cybotron, The Chemical Brothers, Nelly Furtado, Inner City, The Martinez Brothers, Seth Troxler, and VCMG – Vince Clarke & Martin Gore).

In response to the pandemic Mathew founded an online educational platform alongside 7 hand picked professionals from the field that would accompany him as mentors. Freedom Engine Academy being a great success is about to start its second semester in 2022. This new incarnation of energy is giving back to the music industry in the best way Mathew knows how, sharing his love for rhythm, dance and collaboration.

Twenty years on from his debut release, ‘New Identity’, Mathew’s sound and reputation as an artist have developed as you would expect for someone so richly and widely talented.

LittleBig also represents Mathew’s other projects which include: Cobblestone Jazz, Mathew Jonson & Frank Wiedemann, Freedom Engine, Mathew Jonson feat. Isis, b2b w/ Dandy Jack.

FREEDOM ENGINE

Mathew Jonson lives and works in Berlin. He has been experimenting with electronic music since 1986 and now presents a new album as ‘Freedom Engine’, released on Dekmantel in October 2019.

Worthwhile albums tend to be as much about the process of making them as they are about the end products themselves. One can almost hear formal, technical, even philosophical questions being asked and answered on them in order to arrive at something personally and politically new for the artist. “A Box Full of Magic,” at once sprawling, cosmic, and psychedelic in the best of ways, follows in this album-making tradition.

It is a record steeped in off kilter percussive time, live recording, occasionally summer cloud-paced tempos, and lush, emotional, melodic instrumentation. “A Sunrise On the Front,” the final track of the record (and a composition crushing in its beauty), encapsulates much of this: recorded live on a Rhodes, the melody gives voice to the paradoxical sense of hope even during the pathology of war. Such conceptual ambition fits perfectly well within the capacious vision of Mathew Jonson’s Freedom Engine, a project whose very name seems to explore and allow for the conceptual paradox and complexity of approaching freedom through the engine of technology.

Freedom Engine on Facebook
Freedom Engine on Soundcloud
Freedom Engine on Instagram

Few have been so successful in interrogating and furthering the intersection between electronic music, visual art, technology and science in the past decade as Max Cooper. Working with collaborators and large-scale institutions like the Barbican, Zaha Hadid Architects and Dolby, Cooper has developed a mixed-media approach to creation. Whether walk-through light installations, groundbreaking use of immersive sound, or club-ready techno releases, Cooper’s output of electronic exploration makes use of available technology while referencing that which came before it, and does so in a human way.

His fourth studio album Yearning for the Infinite was created following commission from the Barbican to respond to their annual theme of “Life Rewired ”, exploring what it means to be human when technology is changing everything. The project encompasses film and web media as well as Cooper’s typically lush and emotive sonics, brings to life our insatiable desire for more via impactful storytelling, abstract visuals and audio.

Synthesising his interests and presenting it in an accessible way that defies conventional format, Cooper explores concepts of emergence, identity and infinity to create an immersion of sound, vision and concept that can totally remove you from your normal experience of reality and put you somewhere new. At the core, Max Cooper’s mission as a musician, a DJ and an interdisciplinary artist is all about provoking a greater understanding.

“Album of the Day” One Hundred Billion Sparks – BBC 6Music

“A thing of groundbreaking beauty” – Clash

“Brooding, grinding, slow-burning emotional techno” – Resident Advisor

“Absolutely incredible, utterly enthralling…goosebumps” – Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC 6Music

Mouse on Mars, the Berlin-based duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, approach electronic music with an inexhaustible curiosity and unparalleled ingenuity. Operating in their unique orbit within dance music’s nebulous echosystem, the duo’s hyper-detailed productions are inventive, groundbreaking but always possessing a signature joyful experimentation. A genre-less embrace of cutting-edge technologies have ensured that each Mouse on Mars release sounds strikingly modern, a fact made more remarkable when one reflects on the duo’s 25 years of making music. New album AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence) takes Toma and Werner’s fascination with technology and undogmatic exploration a quantum leap further. Collaborating with writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, a collective of computer programmers and longtime Mouse on Mars collaborator/percussionist Dodo NKishi, the duo explores artificial intelligence as both a narrative framework and compositional tool, summoning their most explicitly science-fiction work to date.

From deep pools of ambience to the brain-feeding mechanisms of electro and techno, Nadia Struiwigh’s gift is in expressing herself with conviction through her machines. As an accomplished live artist and producer, her affinity for synthesis and sequencing results in a spellbinding strain of electronica drawn from a richly personal sonic space she has marked out for herself.

Struiwigh’s recorded output has appeared on labels like Central Processing Unit, Nous’klaer Audio and Dekmantel – albums and EPs which reach from crunchy sequenced beats to vast swathes of pure, melodic tones. Her roots in Rotterdam and current location in Berlin equally speak to her affinity for techno – propulsive, dynamic machinations which manifest in DJ sets as well as live hardware performances.

As a teenager enthralled with the Warp school of electronica and leftfield downtempo, Struiwigh was set on a path of discovery where the intricacy of production met with her impassioned, intuitive approach to composition. Her exacting approach to the technical aspects of the craft has earned her the knowledge to extract her own voice from any medium, but more importantly her music emerges from a very human need to communicate and connect.

That connection is best manifested outside the studio. Struiwigh’s live sets range from patient, beatless immersions to kinetic peak-time rushes, sometimes straddling the divide in line with her omnivorous passion for ambient and techno alike. At times she’ll present her released works in a more patient, listening setting, while for the sensory overload of the dancefloor she tends towards a more improvised, open-ended approach to techno and electro. The exact make up of her live rig changes from gig to gig, keeping her inspired and ensuring no two performances are the same.

High-profile shows in concert halls sit alongside strobe lit club sessions – she’s since become a resident DJ for Tresor to indulge her love of driving, psychedelically-charged techno, while warm-up sets give her the chance to indulge the deeper dimensions of the music she loves. The range of her tastes can be heard across leading platforms such as RA, Phantasy, Bleep and Red Light Radio, who have all invited her to their esteemed mix series’.

Plugged into the moment and constantly exploring new dimensions of her sound, Struiwigh champions electronic music as a springboard for possibilities. With an exquisite clarity which comes from both technical skill and clear-eyed intention, her music thrives on heart and experimentation, powered by machines with as much character as the human at the controls.

On the cusp of their 30th year with Warp records, now is the time to reflect on the massively important presence of Plaid, aka Ed Handley and Andy Turner. An institution since the late 80s, they’re monumental cornerstones for any self-respecting electronic music fan; mainly as Plaid, but also under aliases including The Black Dog and Balil – not to mention their work with Bjork.

Playful and wondrous, their 11 th album ‘Feorm Falorx’ is generally gentler than the dark angularity of its predecessor ‘Polymer’, but it’s no less deep, and maintains the melodicism for which they’re loved. It’s still highly rhythmic too – traversing ‘Set If Off’ hi-hats, digitised harpsichords, mangled mandolin, cascading strings, rude basslines, mercurial grooves and even a touch of goth guitar.

Keen advocates of technology, here they manage to sound cutting edge, but also warm, human and nostalgic – purveying a sort of high-tech-retro-futurism. As usual they’re ever
evolving, but there’s also line traceable right back within their own music. From their maverick early releases until now, they’ve embraced new methods of synthesis and explored diverse musical styles, maintaining a thread that spins through the early hip hop of their youth and beyond – to the sounds of the 60s and 70s that inspired it. Although not immediately obvious, on closer listen you can discern the influence of wigged-out grooves like Prince’s ‘Soft and Wet’, Bob James’ ‘Westchester Lady’ and Jethro Tull’s ‘Bourée’.

The creatively emancipated, light-hearted nature of the sounds is reflected in the album’s concept, which finds the duo recreating a recent performance at the Feorm Festival, an intergalactic shindig held on the planet Falorx. In order to survive the Falorxian atmosphere they were converted into light so the traditional recording devices they’d taken on their spacecraft ‘The Campbell’ were not functional. Fortunately, having consulted Earth’s Space Agency, it was deemed safe to recreate the performance back in their London studio. Extensive testing of the resulting recordings have established a level of thought contamination deemed, “perfectly acceptable.”

The album artwork and press photos were created using a myriad of AI technology, Image Synthesis and OpenAI’s DALL·E, which can be seen in action here. Expanding on the same
theme using AI/AR mechanisms, these will be followed by videos and a graphic novel, building into a whole Falorxian planet. Plaid have toured extensively and collaborated widely over the years, writing for and performing with sonic researchers, percussion groups, solo artists and orchestras – most recently for the BBC Concert Orchestra. They have written for computer games and scored several feature films, one of which, ‘Tekkon Kinkreet’, was awarded the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.

Via his own Diagonal Records imprint, his work on XL Recordings and, most recently, the opening of audio/film platform A Folder [afolder.studio], Powell has firm footing in the contemporary electronic landscape. During a wry and obstinate musical life he has twisted myriad synthetic forms into shapes that explore and expand upon the districts of post-punk, techno, noise + computer music, and most recently he has released four albums of hi-def abstractions, each inspired by a formalisation of music proposed by Iannis Xenakis. In 2021 Powell’s strangely emotive new LP of synthetic computer works entitled ‘Piano Music 1-7′ was released on Editions Mego and continuing his expansion into electro-acoustic instrumentation, was invited to compose for and perform with London Contemporary Orchestra for their 24 event at the Barbican in 2022, the recording of which has now been released as ’26 Lives’ on Diagonal. ’26 Lives’ is not an album of electronics and orchestra, but one where the fusion of soundworlds is complete, with no clear demarcations between the two, and where it’s unclear whether sounds are produced acoustically or digitally, creating a living dance between synthetic and real-world instrumentation.

“You need to make it more stupid” is the advice, given by label boss Untold, that set Randomer on his path. You wouldn’t know it from his productions, which foreground his instantly-recognizable sound signature and are built on a foundation of esoteric and surprising techniques. Over the last ten years, his works have become some of the most indispensable in modern dance music. Tricky earworms and a blighty dancefloor sensibility and are woven through with jarring sound design and an infectious sense of play. As a DJ, these qualities shine through: slick and supple builds give way to monstrous moments, with an unwavering command of the crowd.

Raredub is a Sofia-based music producer and DJ. Known for his high-octane energy, he infuses every set with a distinctive and dynamic vibe, regardless of when he plays.

Well known for DJ sets and productions oscillating between dystopian aesthetics and illuminating energy, REKA has cultivated a very personal approach to heady electronic music. Demonstrating selections from contemporary techno to the genre’s prototypical past of electro and wave, her sets are a highly sensitive affair; maneuvering seamlessly through dance music’s multitude of permutations, blending together into a carefully narrated story that ebbs and flows with her artistic vision and prowess

Starting to collect records at the age of 10, Spanish native REKA became equally infatuated with science, and it was not until she finished her degree in genetics that she decided to pursue her artistic path. Her eagerness for knowledge and critical analysis can be felt through her wide-ranging musical journeys. Merely one year into her DJ career, REKA was discovered by DJ Hell and joined International Deejay Gigolos as part of the female duo leChic, releasing the critically acclaimed CD-mix “leMix”. Three years later, REKA was selected to participate in the Toronto edition of Red Bull Music Academy and eventually felt the desire to start her solo path, moving towards considerably darker and more experimental realms.

REKA, now based in Berlin, has toured worldwide, playing from clubs like Berghain, KHIDI in Tbilisi, and De School in Amsterdam to Movement in Detroit, Sonar in Barcelona and Vurt in Seoul and The Corner in Taipei, amongst many others. She also held a residency at techno institution Tresor from 2013-2019. Besides her duties as a resident DJ, REKA took on the role as a curator for several years, organising her own night, W.A.V.E.S., and hosting Tresor´s New Faces. REKA´s rich experience and broad musical range have rendered her remarkably versatile, delivering a strong performance at any time, stage or context.

Working alongside labels such as BPitch Control, Bite, Fleisch & Khidi, Reka released her debut EP Diving The Innermost on BITE, followed by the EP Todo Avaricia on FLEISCH in collaboration with Imperial Black Unit.

Richard Devine is an Atlanta-based electronic musician and sound designer, currently employed by Google. He is recognized for producing a layered and heavily processed sound, combining influences from glitch music to old and modern electronic music. Devine largely records for the Miami-based Schematic Records, which was founded by Josh Kay of Phoenecia. He has also done extensive recording and sample work with Josh Kay under the name DEVSND. As a result of praise of his music from Autechre as well as a remix of Aphex Twin’s Come To Daddy, Devine recorded an album for Warp Records which was jointly released by Schematic and Warp.

Devine also uses Native Instruments (NI) software and has used Propellerhead ReBirth RB-338 and Reason.[1] His favorite NI applications are Reaktor and Absynth. Devine has designed sound patches for Propellerhead’s Reason,[2] NI’s Absynth, Reaktor, Battery and Massive, along with providing sound patches to Moog Music’s award-winning Animoog app. He has also scored commercials for Nike, Touchstone Pictures and engineered and performed his own music worldwide.

Devine’s next album ‘Sort/Lave’ will be out November 2nd on Venetian Snares’ Timesig.

As a conductor, curator and arranger, Robert Ames has been a key exchange agent between the classical tradition and contemporary music. Robert works closely with many of the leading figures in new music including Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Bryce Dessner, MicaLevi, Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Parry, Terry Riley, Jonny Greenwood, Anna Meredith and Stevie Reich.

Recent collaborations include Vivienne Westwood, Nike and Alexander McQueen from the world of Fashion and with musicians who inhabit the pop/ electronic and film music world, including Actress, Frank Ocean, Jonsi, Little Simz, Alex Somers, Thom Yorke, Justice, William Basinski, Jed Kurzel, Jamie XX, Olafur Arnalds, Owen Pallett, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Darkstar, Radiohead, Rival Consoles and Labrinth.

Recent Conducting engagements include performances at The Royal Festival Hall, BarbicanCentre, Royal Opera House, De Doelen, The Brooklyn Academy Of Arts, Philharmonie DeParis, and the Sydney Opera House, as well as four appearances at the BBC Proms in the last three years. Robert has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the RotterdamPhilharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, L’OrchestreNational De Lyon, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish National Orchestra, RoyalLiverpool Philharmonic orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Moscow New Music Ensemble and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. He was the youngest ever shortlisted nominee for the Royal Philharmonic Society’sConductor award in 2019, is the co-Founder, Artistic Director and Principle Conductor of the London ContemporaryOrchestra and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.‘

The heroic virtuosity of the London Contemporary Orchestra under Robert Ames’sexuberant direction made a vivid impact in a packed Royal Festival Hall.’ The Times

After his time as one half of Vex’d during the ‘golden era’ of UK dubstep, Bristol’s Roly Porter, embarked on a solo career, composing epic, atmospheric electronic music alongside his brethren of Subtext Recordings with LPs including Aftertime, Life Cycle of a Massive Star and Third Law, sonically portraying the awe inspired by our inner and outer universes. 2016’s Third Law, released on Tri Angle Records, is a stunning mass of choral voices, strings, and synthesizers punctuated by pulverizing percussive bursts, almost attacking the listener at the most tension-filled moments, as if emanating deep from within the planet’s core.

In June 2020, Subtext released Porter’s fourth solo studio album, ‘Kistvaen’, exploring ancient burial rites from the moorlands of southwestern England, which features the work vocalists trained in local singing traditions. ‘Kistvaen’ contrasts primordial motifs with that of the 21st-century life in designed environments and an evolving virtual existence. The music blurs boundaries between field recording, folk instrumentation and digital processing, which although beatless creates a profound effect using dark ambiance, deep electronics, and immersive sound design. This otherworldly sonic necromancy, where long dormant spirits are evoked, is brought to life in front of audiences with the masterful film and light work of MFO and powerful performance of vocalist Mary-Anne Roberts.

Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and aesthetics. Ikeda has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. He elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations.

His albums ‘+/-‘(1996), ‘0°C’ (1998), ‘matrix’ (2000), ‘dataplex’ (2005), ‘test pattern’ (2008), and ‘supercodex’ (2013) pioneered a new minimal world of electronic music through his razor-sharp techniques and aesthetics. Ikeda has been working on long-term projects through audiovisual performances, installations, and acoustic music pieces. His books and CDs are released on codex | edition, his online source established in 2018. In December 2022, codex I edition and noton (DE) released ‘ultratronics’ his first new album in the past 10 years.

In 2023 Ikeda premiers his new audiovisual live set ‘ultratronics’ in Japan at WWW X Shibuya, MUTEK.JP and Fuji Rock Festival with European showcases at Sonar Barcelona and Pitchfork London at The Barbican. Touring is planned for 2024.

Shards is the vocal-led project of singer, composer and producer Kieran Brunt. Having recently signed to Erased Tapes, Shards formed in 2016 when the Barbican were looking for a choir to collaborate with Nils Frahm for their Possibly Colliding festival. Building on the success of the performances, Nils Frahm invited Shards to perform on his breakthrough album All Melody, they have since appeared on records by Michael Price, Masayoshi Fujita, Luke Howard and more.

Since forming Shards, Brunt has been keen to present voices in a non-traditional way. Rather than aiming for seamless blends or absolute precision, he is interested in highlighting the differences between voices, exploring and celebrating their unique textures.

Shards’ debut full length will be a collection of short, sonic paintings, where each burst of colour adds to an overall picture of the emotional confusion of early adulthood: the uncertainty, the excitement, the terror and the relief. These pieces are about looking above, below and inside oneself, and about questioning our place in a world which is becoming more and more perplexing to comprehend.

Shards is Kieran Brunt, Lucy Cronin, Sarah Latto, Bethany Horak-Hallett, Kate Huggett, Chris Huggon, Jack Lawrence-Jones, Rose Martin, Augustus Perkins Ray, Oli Martin-Smith, Josephine Stephenson and Héloïse Werner.

Photo Credit: Oliver Chanarin

Slikback (real name: Fredrick M Njau) is an electronic producer from Nairobi, Kenya mainly focusing on experimental music, noise, bass and high intensity rhythms. Over the years his sound has morphed into various forms all meant to be an expression of different ideas and emotions. Unbound by any specific thing, his unique blend of sounds can be found in his multiple releases.

Soundwalk Collective is the contemporary sonic arts platform of founder and artist Stephan Crasneanscki and producer Simone Merli. Working with a rotating constellation of artists and musicians, they develop site- and context-specific sound projects through which to examine conceptual, literary or artistic themes.

Evolving along multi-disciplinary lines, Soundwalk Collective has cultivated long-term creative collaborations with musician Patti Smith, late director Jean-Luc Goddard, photographer Nan Goldin, choreographer Sasha Waltz, and actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others. In doing so, their practice engages in the narrative potential of sound across mediums such as art installations, dance, music and film.

A unique artistic approach to sound ties together the different forms in which Soundwalk Collective work. Whether in original composition or the use of archival recordings, they treat sound as material that is both tactile and poetic. This allows them to create layered narratives that address ideas of memory, time, love and loss.

Their latest original score for ‘All The Beauty and the Bloodshed’ (dir. Laura Poitras) won the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. In October 2022, they opened ‘Evidence’, a new exhibition with Patti Smith at Centre Pompidou in Paris that weaves an audio-visual journey from the work of French poets Arthur Rimbaud, Antonin Artaud and René Daumal.

Soundwalk Collective have performed and exhibited at a diverse range of arts and music institutions, such as Berghain, Centre Pompidou, CTM Festival, documenta, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Manifesta, Mobile Art Pavillion by Zaha Hadid and New Museum.

The Fear Ratio was formed in early 2011 by two substantial heavyweights of the UK techno scene, James Ruskin & Mark Broom. Originally an outlet project of studio sessions for them to combine their passions for electronica, hip-hop and dub beats beyond the parameters of 4/4 techno, The Fear Ratio is now on the verge of releasing their third album in March 2020.

The duo, who are long-term collaborators have created their own signature style with abstract synths, heavy basslines and experimental soundscapes that fit somewhere in between IDM, electronica and ambient.

Their acclaimed debut album ‘Lightbox’ was initially released in 2011 on Ruskin’s Blueprint Records, featuring remixes from Warp aficionados Plaid and Deadhand. Soon after they formed a long-lasting relationship with cult Manchester based label Skam, with the follow-up album in 2015 ‘Refuge of a twisted soul’.

2018 saw a four track ‘Live EP’ release made up of exclusive versions of their Autechre supporting slot at the Great Northern Warehouse in Manchester.

The Fear Ratio’s third album ‘They Can’t Be Saved’ was released on Skam on 13th March 2020.

Born in southern Sweden, Axel Willner spent his formative years living in Stockholm and Lisbon, studying both at a formal music academy and in the moshpit, citing bands like Misfits and Dead Kennedys as inspiration to pick up the guitar and play in punk bands. Enamored with the burgeoning electronic music scene of the mid-90s, he started composing and playing drone- and Warp-influenced IDM, followed by guitar-based ambient music that he released on his own imprint Garmonbozia in the early 2000s, using multiple pseudonyms like Lars Blek, Porte, Cordouan or James Larsson. Combining affinities for classic pop (Lionel Richie, Kate Bush), shoegaze bands (Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine) and 90s experimental ambient (Seefeel, Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas) , Willner’s background in punk and avantgarde electronics came to full bloom with his widely acclaimed The Field project: signed to Kompakt in 2004, this monicker saw him constructing ambient techno based on a stoic motorik and a perpetually rotating hook, with the debut full-length „From Here We Go Sublime“ receiving highest accolades from the likes of NME, the BBC or Pitchfork – who went on to place it inside the Top 200 records of the decade. According to Metacritic, it was the best-reviewed album of the year, tied with Untrue by Burial. Extensively touring the globe’s festivals and clubs, armed with just a laptop, Willner soon grew weary of his solo performances and incorporated a backing band, fostering a more organic evolution of The Field’s ever-expanding sound palette that can be heard on follow-up albums „Yesterday And Today“ and „Looping State Of Mind“ – both showcasing diverse influences from 1970s krautrock and Moroder disco to John Carpenter’s synth soundtracks or minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. A renewed interest in collaboration saw Willner joining Cologne Tape, a Germany-based collective including (among others) Battles’ John Stanier, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Barnt, Ada and Jörg Burger, whose iconic debut 12“ „Render“ marked the start of Cologne’s much-celebrated Magazine imprint. While turning in excellent work with side projects Loops Of Your Heart and Hands, Willner also released „Cupid’s Head“ in 2013, his fourth full-length as The Field, which has been hailed by Resident Advisor as „one of Willner’s most affirming and beatific creations to date“. It was also the first true solo production since The Field’s debut album – a restored focus that continues to the 2016 full-length offering „The Follower“. The Field went further than ever before in blurring the lines between concrete experimentation, body music and precisely laid-out arrangement, leading to one of the most rhythmically and texturally engaging listening experiences in Willner’s catalogue. Two years later, Axel Willner puts on his Field suit again to present his sixth full-length effort for Kompakt, ‘Infinite Moment’ – which sees him striding further across the deeper, richer rims of the hue cycle. In Willner’s own words, “the threshold of creating something new had to be broken”, as had been done with his past albums, including his acclaimed debut ‘From Here We Go Sublime’.

Tim Hecker is a Canadian musician and sound artist, born in Vancouver. Since 2001, he has produced a range of audio works for labels including Kranky & 4AD. His works have been described as “structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”. More to the point, he has focused on exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive. His repertoire spans 10 albums over nearly two decades including the seminal and critically acclaimed Ravedeath 1972, Harmony in Ultraviolet and Virgins. He is frequently commissioned for contemporary dance pieces, sound-art installations and film scores & is currently working on a 5 part series for the BBC entitled ‘The North Water’ directed by Andrew Haigh, as well as independent film ‘Lucifer’ by Austrian filmmaker Peter Brunner. Both are slated for release in 2021.

Following a string of celebrated releases leaning on everything from kitschy euro sounds to deep funk and latin jazz, the relatively new to the scene Todd Terje has already made his mark within dance music circuits. Gems such as the cheese monster “Eurodans” and the latin disco-fuelled edit of Jacko’s “Can’t Help it” under his Tangoterje edit-moniker instantly made industry types and clubbers alike go bananas, and whatever the Norwegian puts his fingers on, it always comes out with that crucial blend of musicality and playfulness.

Growing up in the rural village of Mjøndalen, dance music influences were scarce, and no, there was never any Diskoklubb there. Not a lot of obscure disco or acid house in his milk either. However, during the early/mid nineties dance culture sneaked it way into even the most remote parts of Norway, thanks to the popularity of acts like The Prodigy and national radio stations filling prime time slots with underground jocks Olle Abstract and Pål “Strangefruit” Nyhus. On the more personal level, Terje’s sister was a close friend of the late Tore “Erot” Kroknes, and the tapes she brought home to the young Terje became a major source of inspiration. Playing around in his early teens on a crap PC together with his mate Dølle Jølle, Terje made his first attempts on house and jungle, which they played from cassette tapes on junior high school-dances. Maybe too young for old music back then, Terje reckoned that disco was all a bit silly – until Bjørn Torske’s “Sexy Disco” caught his ears in 1999.

Training to become a pianist Terje enrolled at a local music school, but to his disappointment there wasn’t much jazz being taught there. Gradually leaving the musical career path, he later moved on to studying physics at the University of Oslo. Although not longer aspiring to become a pianist, he was by no means over music. In 2001 Terje got in touch with Prins Thomas, who was at the time working at HS Records in Oslo. Thomas soon recognized his potential, and helped pushing Terje in the right directions. Oslo is a small place where like minded folks tend to join forces, and with his thorough musical understanding and nerdy like interest in old and new records spanning from that new Idjut Boys 12″ to experimental synth bands very few of us have ever heard of, he soon became one of the key players on the Oslo electronic disco scene. Besides working on his own projects, Terje’s played on some of Prins Thomas’ tracks, and not to mention his remix of the Lindstrøm 12″ “Another Station”.

Is it house, funk, techno or disco? Terje is speaks of catchy rhythms, dubby sounds, dreamy synth layers, cinematic moods, a playful approach and searching for that one nerve when asked to describe his music, and the resistance to being pigeonholed is obvious.

As a DJ, Tzusing’s sets mix streamlined techno, industrial electronics, non-western dance music, and contemporary club music. He adds to this a sincere belief in the redemptive power of pop music, ready to drop sophisticated, classic Asian pop into the middle of club sets. In his own productions Tzusing recombines these influences into aggressive, cathartic music, inflected with off-kilter half step rhythms, strange harmonic textures, and thick, unnaturally resonant drums. If glittering tuned percussion, reed instrument-like synthesizers, and the music’s imagery might evoke a sense of “Chinese-ness,” it is not to point to the site of “authentic culture,” but to ask what these signifiers mean and who they belong to, as diasporas mutate beyond national borders. Seeking fun and subversion in equal parts.

In 2011 Tzusing founded Shanghai’s Stockholm Syndrome night, hosted at the now-legendary Shelter, and was introduced to the wider world through a trilogy of EPs on L.I.E.S. Records beginning in 2014. He has since made appearances on Cititrax, Bedouin records and PAN. His latest album 绿帽 Green Hat was released by PAN on March 31, 2023 and is a critical exploration of masculinity and patriarchal heteronormativity in Chinese culture historically. It’s been lauded as one of the best dance music records of the year so far and his sets across Europe at events including Rewire, PAN15 x Bourse de Commerce, Nuits Sonores, Primavera, and CTM have reaffirmed his status as a masterful DJ like no other.

Formed in 1993 in Oxford, England, Unbelievable Truth quickly emerged as a prominent force in the vibrant 90s British indie music scene. The band showcased a distinctive musical identity characterised by poetic, evocative lyrics and powerful melodies.

Unbelievable Truth’s debut album, “Almost Here,” released in 1998 to UK chart success, introduced the world to their individual English take on REM’s Automatic For The People-era classic songwriting, the quirky individuality of Throwing Muses and the ambient dynamics of late Talk Talk. With standout tracks such as top 40 hits “Higher Than Reason” and “Solved”, the album received widespread praise for its poignant songwriting.

The follow-up, ”sorrythankyou”, arrived in 2000, exploring deeper emotional territories, delving into themes of love, loss, and self-discovery – but with occasional hints of claustrophobia and frustration that made for a sometimes more challenging listening experience.

Unbelievable Truth’s music reached the hearts of fans and fellow musicians alike. Andy Yorke, Nigel Powell and Jason Moulster combined to create atmospheric arrangements, a powerful emotional connection and a mood that was at once both profoundly melancholy and strongly uplifting. Despite their split in 2000, Unbelievable Truth’s influence on the British indie music landscape endures, and their songs continue to resonate with listeners.

For the past 30 years, James Lavelle has been at the forefront of global club culture. Known as much for his eclectic DJ sets as for his production work with UNKLE, Lavelle has been lauded as a highly influential tastemaker and musical curator.

Alongside a successful DJ career Lavelle continues to produce albums under his UNKLE moniker, working with a myriad cast of musical collaborators including Thom Yorke, Michael Kiwanuka, Mark Lanegan, Massive Attack, Brian Eno and Josh Homme.

The most recent full length UNKLE album, The Road: Part II / Lost Highway topped the Billboard Electronic Album chart in 2019. With UNKLE, Lavelle has won the MPG Award for remixer of the year four times in the past seven years and has reworked tracks for artists as diverse as Beck, London Grammar, Radiohead and Wu-Tang Clan.

In 2014, Lavelle was asked to curate the iconic Meltdown on London’s South Bank, joining a long list of musical luminaries such as David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Massive Attack, Nick Cave and John Peel, amongst others, something he described as one of his career highlights.

Lavelle’s long interest in the visual arts led him to create the ‘Daydreaming With…’ exhibition series back in 2010. This celebration of creativity and innovation in all its forms, aimed to create a unique and multi-sensory experience pairing music with art in a wide range of disciplines, including film, photography, fashion, performance, painting, street art, sound, and sculpture combined under one roof to create the ultimate multi-sensory environment. One such incarnation saw Lavelle curate ‘Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick’, a blockbuster exhibition at London’s Somerset House in 2016, that featured contributions from artists such as Anish Kapoor, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Turk, Thomas Bangalter and many more.

2018 saw the release of ‘The Man from Mo’Wax’, a critically acclaimed documentary film about Lavelle’s career, that saw a major release with the BFI, as well as showings at several international film festivals.

In 2019 James, together with Punchdrunk creatives Colin Nightingale and Stephen Dobbie launched ‘Beyond The Road’, a ground-breaking immersive exhibition deconstructing an exclusive soundtrack and featuring world renowned and award-winning contemporary artists, filmmakers and photographers at London’s Saatchi Gallery, described by NME as an ‘album you can walk around’. The exhibition visited Asia for the first time in 2021, running in Seoul for four months. This hugely popular show was Korea’s first multi-sensory immersive exhibition, attracting over 85,000 visitors, despite the global pandemic.

March 2021 saw UNKLE release the first in a two-part mixtape project, Rōnin I, which featured the singles ‘Do Yourself Some Good’ and ‘If We Don’t Make It’, both A Listed at BBC Radio 6Music. The second part of the project, Rōnin II was released in summer 2022 and saw Lavelle re-team with regular collaborator Dorian Lutz, better known as Miink. With lockdown providing ample time for exploration, the Rōnin sessions proved to be fertile ground for the duo to experiment in terms of production.

UNKLE returned to touring in 2023 following the pandemic, with shows across Europe. Notably Lavelle curated, DJed and performed the UNKLE Rōnin show with bespoke visuals at Hydra’s closing party held at London clubbing institution Printworks before it shut its doors at the end of April, then in the Autumn of that year UNKLE took the Rōnin show across the Atlantic returning to the USA and Mexico as well as DJing across the globe.

2024 saw the band continue to tour with huge shows in China in early May, before returning to the UK to headline Brighton Festival. Next up they performed a spectacular version of the Rōnin Live show: Rōnin Live:3D:FX where they enlisted the expertise of Bristol natives Holotronica, world leaders in hologram effects, who provided their Hologauze technology enabling UNKLE to present the Rōnin Live visuals for the first time in Hologram form at Bristol Beacon.

The band are set to headline Secret Garden Party Festival this summer before shows in Germany and then a run of UK dates in Autumn 2024.

Meanwhile James is back in the studio writing his next album excited about what the next chapter for UNKLE will bring.