Christian Morgenstern
Morgenstern’s music inspired a young generation of musicians who have grown up to become pioneers of contemporary techno and other forms of electronic music. It’s not easy to describe his style, as it shifted (sometimes drastically) from album to album – ranging from ghostly, ethereal, rhythmless electronica to hard-hitting techno that defines the 90’s techno scene in Germany. Despite his flexible use of genre though, it is clear that as time passed he gathered experience and inspiration through his releases and relentless experimentation.
While he is known for his influence in underground and experimental music, part of what makes Morgenstern’s work so important is its acceptance and even incorporation of pop music as well. Beginning with the hard 90’s Techno of his early Konsequent releases to the dark, moody techno of Miscellaneous (Kanzleramt, 1997) to the visionary Tech-House of Lydia (Forte, 2000) to the smooth Electro-Pop of Hawaii Blue (Forte, 2001) his albums continuously displayed an uncanny dedication to exploration.
Jay Denham
Over 30 years of career, Jay has recorded under aliases Blackman, Constant Ritual, Defenders Of The Ghetto, Fade To Black, Formula, The, Psychic Warfare, Que Sera Sera, and Vice, and has releases on numerous labels such as – Transmat, Fragile Records, KMS records, 430 West, Cosmic Records, Disko B, Federation Of Drums, Virgin 10 Records, Tresor Records, Cosmic recordings, Konsequent Records, Drought records, Parasound records, Sessions recordings, as well as on his own labels – Black Nation Records, sector 616 and slavery 2000. and has performed at festivals and clubs around the world – Movement Detroit, DEMF, Awakenings NL, Time Warp, Sonar festivals, as well as at Tresor Berlin, Rote Sonne Munich, Lost London, Nature one, Fuse, among many others.
Alexander Kowalski
Alexander Kowalski reflects back on a 15-year career that, beginning with the first baby steps in the Berlin underground, finds him today continuing as an internationally sought after producer, remixer, live act, DJ and successful label owner with unmistakable style and an impressive discography. His albums “Echoes” „Progress“, „Response“ and „Changes“ are regarded as classics, and all document the notable musical development of an artist who consistently and straightforwardly enriches techno music’s landscape. He belongs to the generation of German techno producers who were strongly affected by the social upheaval following the fall of the Berlin Wall and by the enormous sense of freedom in East Berlin during the ensuing years. In spite of the hazards, he successfully engaged in a musical career during the nineties, and today he holds the international scene in suspense with his productions.From the earliest stages of his career Alexander Kowalski acquired a reputation as an exceptional live act in which the dramatic development of suspense in his productions transposes powerfully at peak time on the stage. Deploying at times up to four decks Alexander Kowalski fuses his tried and tested live philosophy and digital DJing into a unique experience.
Maral Salmassi
Salmassi’s music career began in 1997 when she founded her first label Konsequent, on which she released music by artists such as Jay Denham, Christian Morgenstern, Fanon Flowers, and Alexander Kowalski, among others. In 1998 she co-founded the Cologne-based Techno and Electro distribution company Formic, which served as one of the most radical distributers of Detroit Techno and abstract electronica and was the sole European distributor for many underground labels. Additionally, in 1999 she formed the media label Art Of Perception, releasing music of artists like Jimmy Tenor, Alter Ego, Michael Mayer and Andrew Weatherall to name a few. In 2003 after the sudden and tragic death of Christian Morgenstern (with whom she shared a deep creative and personal relationship), she left the techno scene and all related projects to focus on expanding her musical repertoire. 2006 then brought the beginning of her Bass / Electro label Television Rocks, which showcased her obsession with flexible use of genre. Through her alter ego “Kali”, she developed a sound she calls “Bolly-Tech“ – a combination of Trap, Hip-Hop, and Ghetto-Tech influenced by traditional Bollywood and Maghrebian music. Now, after a long hiatus Salmassi has both relaunched the Konsequent techno label and begun to produce Techno again that through her wealth of experience in many genres, is as banging as the 90’s and truly unique in context of today’s electronic music scene.
Fanon Flowers
Fanon Flowers began to garner attention in 1994 when he appeared as Mode Selector on the „Elements of and Experiments with Sound“ compilation on Detroit’s seminal Planet E label. Subsequent EPs for such labels as Reference, Konsequent, Sheep, E-Com, and Holtzplatten established Flowers‘ reputation as a prominent American techno producer. In 1996, Fanon Flowers appeared under his Mode Selector alias on the „Detroit: Beyond the Third Wave“ Compilation. Released on Astralwerks, Flowers appeared alongside Detroit techno stalwarts such as Claude Young, Ectomorph, Sean Deason, and Anthony „Shake“ Shakir. That same year, Flowers started his own techno imprint, Mechanisms Industries (distributed by Triple Vision Holland), to showcase his unique and funky approach to techno. With over 50 records produced and released on various labels, Fanon Flowers embarked on several European Tours and One-off events playing in Slovakia, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Germany and England.
Diego Amura
Born in Naples in 1989, Diego developed a strong passion for electronic music as he was growing up around Neapolitan club culture as a teenager. He’s masterful use of abstraction and skills in synth architecture create wonderful chaos through method.