Techno has always been about imagining the future and feeling the excitement of change and discovery. If anyone can claim to have lived up to this aspiration in recent years, it must be Stefan Goldmann. With every release and project he has brought a new edge to the table, creating some extraordinarily memorable tracks along the way. The uninhibited dirt of ‘The Maze’, the melodic craze of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ or the free-floating choir samples dominating ‘Lunatic Fringe’ have provided genre-shifting role models for countless DJs and producers. Macro, the label Stefan Goldmann operates with Finn Johannsen, has been called “the leading avant-garde techno label” and has a roster including Elektro Guzzi, KiNK, Peter Kruder, KUF, Patrick Cowley and Vladimir Dubyshkin.

From this position he has crossed over into art projects with an approach that remains essentially techno: investigating grid rhythm, sampling, vinyl culture or digitisation down to their cores. Commissioned works and one-off performances – ranging from intimate solo encounters at iconic venues such as Kyoto’s Honen-in Temple, Unesco World Heritage site Zollverein Essen or Los Angeles’s LACMA to large-scale compositions for music theatre, film, ensembles and dance – have become as much part of his presentation as DJing at clubs, festivals or at Macro label nights in Berlin, London, Paris, New York or Tokyo.

A special relationship has formed between Stefan Goldmann and Berlin’s Berghain club since his debut at Panorama Bar in 2006. He conceived the Electroacoustic Salon nights, opening up the club to experimental formats, and writes a column for its program flyer. He is also a co-author of Berghain’s 2015 book, “Art In The Club“. His own book “Presets” was published in 2015 and investigates automation and industry aesthetics in digital music production. While playing around with the boundaries of art and science, this techno renaissance man still feels most at home between two decks, communicating with the crowd through the beats he creates and mixes.