Biography
Born April 29, 1972, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Anthony Rother developed into an electro-techno producer whose breakthrough arrived during the mid-1990s via Kanzleramt, after which he established multiple imprints, most prominently Psi49net and Datapunk. Kraftwerk and Detroit techno shaped his approach most directly. His earliest recordings occurred in the late 1980s as a member of T.F.D. Crew alongside Bernd Cyba and Jörg Mrowietz. The group’s sound echoed late-1980s British house outfits such as M/A/R/R/S, S-Express, and Bomb the Bass; its first release, the 12-inch Broken Hearts/I Want You, appeared on Cold Effect Records in 1988, and the track “I Want You” was later included on the 1989 Rough Trade Germany compilation Body Rhythm Dance.
Rother entered the techno arena in 1994 under the alias Notsignal in partnership with Matthias Geist, issuing two 12-inches on Kanzleramt, the influential electro-techno label co-founded by Heiko Laux. A one-off 12-inch with Laux as Sodiac followed in 1996. Rother’s solo career commenced the next year with the album Sex with the Machines on Kanzleramt. He then launched his own electro-techno label Psi49net, opening its catalog with two 12-inch covers: Trans Europa Express, reinterpreting Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express,” and Little Computer People, drawn from the 1985 Activision soundtrack for the Commodore 64 video game of the same name.
Between 1998 and 2003 Psi49net hosted an extensive series of Rother’s electro-techno output. Alongside numerous 12-inches, the period yielded the solo album Simulationszeitalter (2000), the Little Computer People album Electro Pop (2001), the compilation Anthony Rother Presents Electro Commando, Vol. 1: Welcome to Psicity (2002), the solo album Hacker (2002), and the live album Live Is Life Is Love (2003). In that same transitional year he also delivered the ambient albums Elixir of Life and Magic Diner on Peter Kuhlmann’s (aka Pete Namlook) Fax +49-69/450464 imprint and inaugurated his new electro-techno label Datapunk with the single Back Home.
Thereafter the majority of Rother’s releases appeared on Datapunk. In addition to numerous 12-inches the catalog includes the compilation In Electro We Trust (2004), the solo album Popkiller (2004), the retrospective box set This Is Electro (Works 1997-2005) (2005), the solo album Super Space Model (2006), and the two-volume compilation series We Are Punks (2007). He simultaneously operated the labels Stahl Industries and Telekraft Recordings, which respectively issued the albums Art Is a Technology (2005) and My Name Is Beuys Von Telekraft (2008).
Rother entered the techno arena in 1994 under the alias Notsignal in partnership with Matthias Geist, issuing two 12-inches on Kanzleramt, the influential electro-techno label co-founded by Heiko Laux. A one-off 12-inch with Laux as Sodiac followed in 1996. Rother’s solo career commenced the next year with the album Sex with the Machines on Kanzleramt. He then launched his own electro-techno label Psi49net, opening its catalog with two 12-inch covers: Trans Europa Express, reinterpreting Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express,” and Little Computer People, drawn from the 1985 Activision soundtrack for the Commodore 64 video game of the same name.
Between 1998 and 2003 Psi49net hosted an extensive series of Rother’s electro-techno output. Alongside numerous 12-inches, the period yielded the solo album Simulationszeitalter (2000), the Little Computer People album Electro Pop (2001), the compilation Anthony Rother Presents Electro Commando, Vol. 1: Welcome to Psicity (2002), the solo album Hacker (2002), and the live album Live Is Life Is Love (2003). In that same transitional year he also delivered the ambient albums Elixir of Life and Magic Diner on Peter Kuhlmann’s (aka Pete Namlook) Fax +49-69/450464 imprint and inaugurated his new electro-techno label Datapunk with the single Back Home.
Thereafter the majority of Rother’s releases appeared on Datapunk. In addition to numerous 12-inches the catalog includes the compilation In Electro We Trust (2004), the solo album Popkiller (2004), the retrospective box set This Is Electro (Works 1997-2005) (2005), the solo album Super Space Model (2006), and the two-volume compilation series We Are Punks (2007). He simultaneously operated the labels Stahl Industries and Telekraft Recordings, which respectively issued the albums Art Is a Technology (2005) and My Name Is Beuys Von Telekraft (2008).
Albums
Singles
