David August

David August, a classically trained multi-instrumentalist, shapes electronic music marked by continual shifts across ambitious and exploratory terrain. Early output centered on club-focused singles before the melodic house and electronica of Times in 2013, yet later phases incorporated the reflective minimalist ambient palette of DCXXXIX A.C. in 2018 and the progressive, cinematic architecture of Vīs from 2023.

Born in Hamburg into a musical household, August first encountered music through classical study, then gravitated toward production and DJ work during his teenage years. His initial outing surfaced in 2009 as the tech-house single Trumpets Victory, followed by further singles issued across several years on Diynamic and Stil Vor Talent. April 2013 brought the debut album Times, which signaled a turn toward experimentation as the sound migrated from woozy techno into downtempo electronica. A Boiler Room appearance in 2014 paired with the anthemic Epikur expanded his reach, prompting additional DJ and studio activity that culminated in a signing to Counter, the Ninja Tune subsidiary.

Two singles, J.B.Y. and The Spell, appeared on the label in 2016, while his range grew through live collaboration with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. The subsequent year found August withdrawing to Palestrina, the Italian town of his mother’s birth, to reconsider his direction. There he absorbed the rural setting, channeling its atmosphere into the second album DCXXXIX A.C., which inaugurated his 99CHANTS imprint. Released in 2018, the record stepped away from earlier house and melodic electronica to present an hour of experimental ambient soundscapes. Months afterward came the third album D'Angelo, fusing the newer experimental stance with the downtempo, melancholic electronica of prior work. A 2019 single assembled remixes by Rafael Anton Irisarri and Ron Trent, while 2020 saw the progressive, breakbeat-driven IDM track “Reminiscence of a Jewel.” Three years on, August resurfaced with Vīs, a four-chapter neo-classical suite informed by quantum physics and Middle Eastern mysticism.