Age

Thomas P. Heckmann has issued material across numerous imprints while adopting an even greater array of aliases, all while remaining faithful to foundational techno production tools and techniques. In Germany he ranked among the earliest adopters of a sound that echoed the initial phases of Underground Resistance and Plus 8 Recordings, with his output driven by prominent 303 lines and straight four-on-the-floor patterns. The most widely recognized results appeared on his own Trope Records as well as Force Inc., chiefly under the names Drax and Age, though he has also recorded as Exit 100, Skydiver, Spectral Emotions, and Purple Plejade.

His first encounters with the genre occurred at age eleven, when an affinity for early KLF and 808 State guided him toward the second wave of acid techno. Several years later his debut release, Liquid, surfaced under the Exit 100 moniker on the fledgling Frankfurt label Force Inc. The 1992 single drew substantial attention to the still-young producer, prompting Daniel Miller’s English imprint Mute Records to license the track; Melody Maker Magazine offered strong praise, and the record reached number twenty on the French independent charts. Shortly afterward, working as Age, he delivered Trope, a track that achieved hit status and has since functioned as a core selection for trance techno listeners.

Early in the decade he departed Force Inc. for Labworks Records in Germany, adopting the Spectral Emotions name there. During the same period he joined labelmate Hoschi for a release on the Dutch label Djax-Up-Beats issued as Purple Plejade. Also in 1993 a selection of earlier Age material was assembled as the compilation Early Sessions and Outtakes. That year additionally marked the final Exit 100 single, Circuits. Its conclusion coincided with the founding of Trope Records and the emergence of the Drax persona; on the new label Heckmann released the widely praised Amphetamine, which, credited to Drax, returned him to the French charts at number twenty in 1994. The same year he launched the Acid Fucker Unite label, abbreviated AFU, oriented toward uncompromising acid techno, and recorded for it as Silent Breed and Electro Nation. He again used the Age alias in 1994 for The Orion Years. As the decade progressed he expanded his roster of names to include TPH, 8-bit Science, Stromkland, and Metric System.

After a four-year absence he resumed his association with Force Inc. as Age, issuing the 1997 single Return to the Force and the album Isolation in 1998. In 1998 he inaugurated the Welt in Scherben series. Its third installment appeared the following year as a twelve-inch that highlighted his customary expansive spatial textures, 303 sequences, and driving German club rhythms. In 1999 he set the aliases aside for two full-length releases under his given name: Raum in May and the fifth volume of Welt in Scherben in October.