Beta Librae

Beta Librae takes her name from the most luminous star in Libra, and from her Brooklyn home she crafts techno with a distinctly celestial character. Releases such as the 2018 album Sanguine Bond unfold through sparse, hypnotic patterns that advance almost imperceptibly, drawing on deep house, ambient, Fourth World, and drum'n'bass traditions. With the 2023 album Daystar she shifts toward brighter, more melodic territory enriched by breakbeats.

Bailey Hoffman, who grew up in Kansas, moved to Brooklyn and began frequent DJ appearances at venues including Bossa Nova Civic Club in the early 2010s. Once her regular partner Umfang helped establish the Discwoman collective in 2014, the pair launched the monthly Technofeminism event series at the same club. Beta Librae's debut, the 2015 cassette Swope Park issued by 1080p, contained fluid lo-fi techno pieces. A self-titled cassette followed on Lillerne Tape Club in 2016. The Whisper Game EP came out on Physical Therapy's Allergy Season label in 2017. The next year her track "Short Circuit" featured on Physically Sick 2, a charity compilation from Allergy Season and Discwoman. Her first vinyl outing, the full-length Sanguine Bond, appeared on Incienso that same year. Subspecies, her most driving collection of club tracks, was later released by Allergy Season. She also supplied a remix of Yaeji's single "One More."

Hoffman stayed active as a DJ and live performer, contributing to numerous mix podcasts and appearing at clubs and festivals worldwide; she resumed her touring calendar in 2021 after the COVID-19 lockdown. Additional compilation contributions include a track on 2022's Air Texture VIII, selected by Anthony Naples and DJ Python. Beta Librae's full-length Daystar arrived in 2023, balancing forward-thinking production with dance-floor functionality and featuring James K on the song "Late at Night."