Answer Code Request

Berlin resident Patrick Gräser crafts strikingly original techno under the alias Answer Code Request, layering fractured rhythms, lush synth atmospheres, and ominous low-end frequencies. Although intended to ignite dance floors, the tracks frequently abandon conventional patterns and occasionally shift into reduced speeds. Raised in East Germany, Gräser was nine when the Berlin Wall came down. He later started visiting the reunited capital, immersing himself in its nightlife and shops while absorbing drum'n'bass, breakbeat hardcore, IDM, acid techno, and hip-hop. Minimal techno releases under his given name began appearing in 2008, yet he switched to the Answer Code Request name in 2011, at which point the music turned markedly more exploratory. The first Answer Code Request EP, Subway Into, came out on his own imprint that year. Marcel Dettmann’s label issued two further 12"s in 2012, the same period when Gräser contributed to an Ostgut Ton EP tied to the celebrated Berghain club. He soon joined the venue’s resident roster; after self-releasing the 2013 EP Crack City, Ostgut Ton put out the Breathe EP and the debut album Code in 2014. The subsequent EPs Calm Down (2015) and Neume (2016) preceded the second full-length, Gens, which surfaced in 2018 and delivered some of the project’s most shadowy and intricate material to date.