Marcel Dettmann

Marcel Dettmann maintains a long-standing residency behind the decks at Berghain, the storied Berlin techno institution, where his forceful mixing approach and understated creative flair in the studio have earned widespread regard. Working at Hard Wax, the landmark Berlin shop established by Basic Channel’s Mark Ernestus, he draws on deep familiarity with techno’s lineage; his forceful, high-volume selections consistently highlight the style’s Detroit and Chicago foundations alongside material from contemporaries on his own labels. Although his productions generally favor minimal, atmospheric textures, they occasionally deliver direct, high-impact grooves as well. Having grown up immersed in new wave and industrial sounds, he discovered techno in the mid-’90s and began selling records from his residence in a region lacking dedicated electronic-music outlets. Regular visits to Tresor and E-Werk soon followed, leading first to a DJ booking at Ostgut, then to employment at Hard Wax and relocation to Berlin. Once installed as a resident when Berghain succeeded Ostgut, he started releasing music on the club’s Ostgut Ton imprint—frequently alongside fellow resident Ben Klock—and launched Marcel Dettmann Records in 2006. His initial mix compilation, Berghain 02, appeared in 2008, with the self-titled debut album arriving two years later. Conducted, his second mix set, came out via Music Man in 2011, while individual tracks surfaced on Kontra-Musik and on Modeselektor’s 50 Weapons. Dettmann II followed in 2013, succeeded by the Fabric 77 mix in 2014 and the DJ-Kicks edition in 2016. In 2017 he and Klock issued Phantom Studies on Ostgut Ton.