Antonelli

Stefan Schwander operates most prominently as Antonelli Electr., frequently shortened to Antonelli, and ranks among Germany’s most productive, respected, and versatile creators of minimal techno and house while serving as co-founder of the Cologne label Italic. Düsseldorf-based, he entered recording as a member of the Bad Examples, handling piano, Hammond organ, and guitar; the group’s first album, Slow Music, surfaced in 1995 on Ata Tak. Further band releases comprised The River, the Night, the Moon, Temptation and You in 1997, Elektro Tiki in 1999, and Profis Like Us in 2002.

Schwander inaugurated his solo electronic dance music work in 1997, issuing the Handclaps EP under the Antonelli Electr. name on Stewardess; the full-length Peng Peng Baby appeared the following year. He then partnered with Marc Knauer to launch Italic, opening the imprint via four 1999 EPs—I Don’t Want Nobody Else But You, Dubby Disco, The Source, and Automatic Music—plus the album Me, the Disco Machine that same year. Click arrived in 2000, accompanied by additional EPs.

Subsequent Antonelli Electr. albums encompassed Love and Other Solutions in 2002, The Blackout Quintet in 2005, and Soulkiller in 2008, among further titles. Additional pseudonyms soon emerged. Under Rhythm Maker he placed the 2001 album Landing on Background Records together with multiple EPs. As Repeat Orchestra he delivered Themes from Repeat in 2002 and The Original Dimensions in 2004 on A Touch of Class, plus assorted EPs. A Rocket in Dub yielded If Music Could Talk on Italic in 2003 and further EPs. The Swimmingpool collaboration with Michael Scheibenreiter produced Anything That Doesn’t Move in 2003 and Good Old Music in 2006 on Combination Records, along with EPs. Pop Up, formed with Jörg Burger (the Modernist), generated a handful of EPs on an Italic subsidiary.