Electronic Music from Germany – Selected Links

The links below refer to sites directly related to Electronic Music. For sites that cover several different genres, check out our list of general linksto German music societies and institutions.

Genres and History

  • D>Elektro Site Complex web lexicon on the history of electro music in Germany.
  • Disco encyclopaedia Disco encyclopaedia with biographies and links to clubs and artists as well as acoustic samples of key classics.
  • Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) fan site Somewhat populist fan site on Neue Deutsche Welle, mainly of interest due to the extremely in-depth list of links covering all the key bands and labels, as well as a database encompassing 20 000 titles.
  • Krautrock Album Database Encyclopaedic database with compilations of all LP tracks.
  • Krautrock.com American site for Krautrock and Kraut-influenced music with wide-ranging discography and link lists.
  • Bonn Synthesizer Studio Historical information, some acoustic samples, about synthesizer development with text references to Eimert, Stockhausen, Moog, Kraftwerk and Conny Plank.

Studios and media art

  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für elektroakustische Musik e.V. (DEGEM) The "Deutsche Gesellschaft für elektronische Musik e.V." (German Society for Electro-Acoustic Music) not only runs a periodical and regularly publishes CDs, but has also recently installed an internet radio station.
  • Siemens studio equipment: permanent exhibition in the Deutsches Museum The Siemens studio equipment can now be found in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where the equipment is maintained for demonstration purposes.
  • Experimental studio Freiburg The experimental studio of the SWR in Freiburg has become one of the most important production studios for electro-acoustic music in Germany as a result of works by Stockhausen, Nono, Ferneyhough, Nunes and Halffter.
  • International Digital Electro-Acoustic Music Archive IDEAMA International archive of electro-acoustic music, which has been run in cooperation with the ZKM in Karlsruhe since 1990.
  • Media Art Network The media art network documents and discusses the historical requirements of a technified art form.
  • TU Berlin electronics studio website The TU Berlin electronics studio website not only offers insight into the history of this former university studio, but also has one of the largest and best-managed databases on electronic music in the form of the "Internationalen Dokumentation elektroakustischer Musik" (international documentation of electro-acoustic music).
  • ZKM - Institute of Music and Acoustics The Institute of Music and Acoustics at the Center for Arts and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, as an organisation which is financially and functionally independent, is considered the German equivalent of the French IRCAM.

Festivals

  • Club Transmediale The electro-musical section of the annual Berlin Multimedia Festival, also on the road with tour and special projects.
  • c/o pop The international usually five-day pop culture festival in Cologneaccompanied by a conference on digitalization and the creative industries. Concerts, club events, exhibitions and showcases.
  • Fusion Far removed from the usual daily grind, a parallel society of a very special kind forms up in Mecklenburg for four days: a world of music, theatre, cinema, installations, interaction and communication.
  • Juicy Beats A mainstay of the German festival scene for many years now, the who’s who of the international electronic scene perform on innumerable stages in Dortmund’s Westfalenpark.
  • Nachtdigital Cosy little open-air electro fest for experimental acts, DJs and international proponents of unadulterated bass drum in the secluded “bungalow village” of Olganitz (between Dresden and Leipzig)
  • SonneMondSterne The SonneMondSterne Festival (i.e. “SunMoonStars”, “SMS” for short) is one of the biggest open air electronic dance music festivals in Europe, though a handful of rock and pop acts also perform here. The festival is held annually on the second weekend in August at the Bleilochtalsperre near Saalburg-Ebersdorf in Thuringia.
  • Time Warp Multi-day event in Mannheim which, over the course of its 15-year history, has evolved from a breakbeat rave into an “International Electronic & Media Arts Festival”. Replete with readings, debates and electronica of all sorts.

Labels

  • a-musik a-musik in Cologne is a record shop, label and distribution outlet that serves as a central gathering point for experimental electronics.
  • Areal Records A label for experimental techno now headquartered in Berlin. The best-known acts include Basteroid, Ada and Metope. Rounded out from 2008 by the IRR sublabel, on which DJ Koze, among others, has released music.
  • Ava A “Love-based House | Techno label founded by Damiano von Erckert”, reads the headline of this friendly post-house label in Cologne. Associated artists include Murat Tepeli, Lowtec, Prosumer et al.
  • Basic Channel The home of the legendary techno/dub/minimal labels associated with the Berlin record shop Hardwax and with Moritz von Oswald and Marc Ernestus: Chain Reaction, Burial Mix, M, Main Street Records, Rhythm & Sound etc.
  • Best Works A Berlin label, booking agency, publishing house, artist and event management. Participating artists include Jazzanova, Sonar Kollektiv and André Lodemann. The labels are Best Works and Best Seven Records.
  • Bpitch Control Berlin showcase label run by Ellen Allien, spanning the gamut of electronic music since 1997. Home of Paul Kalkbrenner and Sascha Funke, just to name two.
  • Cocoon Home of DJ father figure Sven Väth’s Frankfurt “empire”, which comprises a label, booking agency and the organizing of worldwide Cocoon events, e.g. in Ibiza.
  • Cómeme This multinational house label under the cosmopolitan management of German-Chilean Matias Aguayo is heavily linked into South and Central American networks.
  • Compost Records Michael Reinboth and Reiner Trüby’s well-known Munich label – from Acid Jazz to Electro Fusion and back again. Also hosting the sub-labels Blacklabel, Drumpoet Community, Compost Disco.
  • Dial Records Post-minimalist Hamburg techno label founded in 1999 by Peter M. Kersten (Lawrence) and David Lieske (Dave), among others. See also Smallville Rec.
  • Disko B This electro label spinoff from an independent label was started up by pioneering Munich DJ Upstart (who also runs Ultraschall, now called Rote Sonne). This is home on the web to Disko B, Chicks on Speed Records and Sub Up Rec. Best-known acts: Console, Patrick Pulsinger, DJ Hell
  • Etui Records Rooted in Dresden’s electronic scene, Etui promotes regional teams and producers like Soeren Matschiste and Insect O.
  • Freude-am-Tanzen “Nice Housemusic since 1998” is the motto of this family label in Jena, which handles internationally successful acts like the Wighnomy Bros., Matthias Kaden and Marek Hemmann and is closely affiliated with the Casablanca Club.
  • Get Physical Label set up by Thomas Koch, founder and ex-publisher of Groove magazine, for house and foot-thumpers from Berlin. M.A.N.D.Y., Catz N´Dogs and DJ T top the billing at this label.
  • Haute Areal Berlin indie at the punk/electronic interface with Werle & Stankowski, MIT, The Man No.9
  • Innervisions DJ Dixon’s Berlin flagship address for complex house music with Markus Worgull, Ame or Henrik Schwarz
  • International Deejay Gigolo Records A Instagram presence for DJ Hell´s IDG Records, which had a seminal influence on DJ style particularly in the 1990s, and his versions of dancefloor, electroclash and glamour.
  • Kanzleramt A techno label founded by Bernhard and Heiko Laux in Bad Nauheim in 1994. At the outset, Kanzleramt (which means “Chancellery”) published only 12" records in relatively small editions. It put out its first CD album, Reality to Midi by Johannes Heil, in 1998, the year it moved to Kreuzberg, Berlin.
  • Karaoke Kalk Berlin-based non-dancefoor label with roots in Cologne, founded in the late 1990s by Thorsten Lütz alias DJ Strobocop. Presents acts like Donna Regina, Wechsel Garland and Pluramon.
  • Kompakt Record shop, label, distributor, booking agency – for 20 years this electronic conglomerate in Cologne helmed by Wolfgang Voigt and Michael Mayer has ranked among the world’s most highly reputed addresses for the sound of Cologne.
  • !K7 One of the oldest and most internationally successful German labels, which gained worldwide fame with its DJ-Kicks compilation series.
  • Live at Robert Johnson A multidisciplinary label associated with the Robert Johnson Club in Offenbach. Run by Ata Macias, formerly known as Playhouse, who’s still a DJ legend.
  • Magazine A recently formed electronic and post-krautrock label in Cologne, associated with Kompakt, run by DJs/producers Barnt, Jens-Uwe Beyer and Crato.
  • Monika Enterprise Berlin label run by Gudrun Gut for electronic and refined pop with artists like Barbara Morgenstern, Cobra Killer, Michaela Melián or Quarks. Now only partially active.
  • Monkeytown This is the label of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary aka Modeselektor. Other artists include Moderat, Siriusmo, Otto von Schirach et al.
  • Morr Music Founded in 1999, Thomas Morr’s label and distributor in Berlin handles every variant of contemporary electronic music.
  • Musik gewinnt Freunde Hamburg-based label for fine electronic dance music, run by Nico Plagemann and Christian Hilscher aka Kollektiv Turmstrasse since 2006.
  • Ostgut Ton Home label of the Berlin Berghain Club for "classic" techno and house arrangements by Ben Klock, Steffi and Marcel Dettmann.
  • Pampa Records DJ Koze´s little family made up of Isolee, Robag Wruhme, Ada, Axel Boman et al. have evolved since 2010 into one of the most innovative and exciting new labels in Germany.
  • Pokerflat Recordings Steve Bug’s renowned long-standing Hamburg label for techno, house and minimal.
  • Running Back A neo-disco/house label in Darmstadt run by DJ/music journalist Gerd Janson. A stomping ground for international star producers from Todd Terje to Theo Parrish.
  • Shitkatapult Atypical techno concepts from label-makers Marco Haas (T. Raumschmiere) and Sascha Ring (Apparat) with Rechenzentrum, Phon.o and Das Bierbeben. Going strong for 15 years now and not a sign of fatigue.
  • Smallville Hamburg record shop and label from Dial Records’ artistic and social milieu. The main movers and shakers are Julius Steinhoff, Christopher Rau and Moomin.
  • Sonar Kollektiv Berlin home of groove-orientated DJ and producer team Jazzanova.
  • Staubgold Avant-garde label that started life in Cologne but has now moved via Berlin to France. Home of acts such as Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Harald “Sack” Ziegler or The 49 Americans.
  • TokTok DJ/producer Riley Reinhold operates the Cologne label group Traum/Trapez/MBF for minimal and more. This label is now only accessible via Facebook.
  • Toy Tonics Munich label for new house and futuristic electronic dance music that emerged from the label Gomma. Founded by Munk & Kapote.
  • Traumschallplatten For more than a decade DJ/producer and journalist Riley Reinhold operates the Cologne label group Traum/Trapez/MBF for minimal, techno and house. Home of Dominik Eulberg.
  • Treibstoff / WIR Network Since 1997 Marcel Janovsky and Rob Acid have been keeping the music hale and hard within the orbit of the Sound of Cologne.
  • Unique Records DJ Henry Storch’s freestyle label in Düsseldorf between downbeat, electro and jazz
  • Ware Mastermind Mathias Schaffhäuser’s old-established Cologne label for house, techno and a shot of pop with acts like Ziggy Kinder, Decomposed Subsonic and Markus Güntner.
  • Watergate Superbly curated electro club right on the banks of the River Spree in Kreuzberg
  • 50 Weapons A recently launched, essentially post-techno and dubstep-minded sublabel of Modeselektor’s Monkeytown platform.

Technology and software

  • Ableton Berlin software company responsible for the “Live” digital audio sequencer.
  • Handle with Care Established company specialising in the manufacture of analogue and digital sound media. From mastering studio to finished product.
  • Native Instruments Berlin software house that has specialised in digital instruments and computer-based audio production since 1996.
  • Steinberg This Hamburg-based software firm supplies essential audio software such as Cubase or Wavelab, using the motto “Creativity first”.

Current magazines and blogs

  • Berlin Mitte Institut Shows, parties, mixes, social media archives, news – a mixed bag of a blog about “better” electronic music from Berlin and from Germany in general.
  • club guide berlin An up-to-date and very comprehensive guide to Berlin's club scene.
  • Electronic Beats A series of high-calibre events and festivals brought to you by German Telecom.
  • FAZEmag Magazine about the German electronic music scene, available in print as well as in digital form on Apple Newsstand for iPads. The editors, with many years’ experience in music journalism under their belts, know their stuff inside and out and have an unfailing feel for new trends and developments in every domain of the scene.
  • Groove News and info site for the online music magazine on electronic music.
  • PARTYSAN.net An online magazine in blog format on the electronic music scene since 2014. This online magazine evolved from regional print editions. Partysan has been around since 1994.
  • Spex (Indie/Electro/Hip-Hop) Traditional monthly magazine covering pop (music) across genres from underground to mainstream. Operations have been ceased until further notice.
  • Stadtkind A blog about electronic music and Berlin: music, downloads, parties, design, photos and videos.
  • Technoszene:com The latest news about electronic music, lifestyles and nightlife.