Hardfloor

Hardfloor ranks among Germany's leading techno acts, made up of Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker. The pair formed in 1991 at the urging of a mutual friend, just as the country's acid and techno movements were coalescing around names such as Sven Vath, Pete Namlook, David Moufang, and DJ Criss. Already established as a DJ, Bondzio joined forces with the studio producer Zenker, and they soon issued the eleven-minute single "Acperience" after setting out to add greater force to the local scene. Drawing on approaches that later became standard, including extended melody-driven builds and intricate percussion sections, the track quickly turned into a club staple and established Hardfloor as a frequent choice for remix and production assignments.

Although they issued a handful of recordings on the Eye Q label, the majority of the duo's catalog appeared on Sven Vath's Harthouse imprint, which encompassed several full-length albums plus an ongoing series of 12-inches and EPs. In later work they departed from the simpler dancefloor tracks of their early period by folding in elements of hip-hop, electro, breakbeat techno, and post-acid house forms such as trip-hop and intelligent dance, yet they continued to center their sound on acid's intense core through heavy use of 909 and 303 timbres. Remix credits for Hardfloor extend to Mike Oldfield, the Shamen, and Mory Kante. Bondzio and Zenker also operate their own outlets, Jakpot and No Respect, for releasing material by themselves and others. Under the alias Da'Damn'Phreak'Noize'Phunk, the duo delivered the 1999 acid-breakbeat release Electric Crate Digger.