Helena Hauff Biography

Hamburg native Helena Hauff is an in-demand DJ as well as an acclaimed producer of gritty, hard-edged electro-techno. Her music draws from influences such as acid house, EBM, and industrial, and she records her tracks strictly using analog equipment, usually in one take. Her full-length debut, 2015’s Discreet Desires, contains some of her most melodic material, while 2018’s Qualm is more stripped-down but no less energetic. Hauff has released a handful of EPs, including 2019’s Living with Ants and 2021’s Futuros with the Exaltics.

Hauff made her name as a resident DJ at the Golden Pudel Club in Hamburg, where she hosted a night called Birds and Other Instruments. During the early 2010s, she spun at clubs throughout Germany and eventually the rest of Europe, along with artists such as Actress and Kyle Hall. She made her vinyl debut in 2013 with the release of the Actio Reactio EP on Actress’ Werkdiscs label. The same year, Black Sites (Hauff’s duo with fellow Golden Pudel DJ F#x) released their debut EP, Prototype, on Bill Kouligas’ Pan label. Additionally, Hauff joined James Dean Brown’s revamped Hypnobeat project, which had been producing improvised analog techno/industrial since 1983.

Hauff released several more 12″s in 2014: Shatter Cone on Lux Rec, Return to Disorder on Panzerkreuz Records, a split EP with Andreas Gehm on Solar One, and two more Black Sites records. During the same year, she also remixed tracks by DFA-signed group Factory Floor and Italian EBM pioneers Pankow. In early 2015, the Texas label Hand Made Birds released a collection (fittingly titled A Tape) of Hauff’s early cassette-recorded experiments. Werkdiscs also issued Lex Tertia, another EP in the same vein as Actio Reactio. Later that year, the label released Hauff’s proper debut album, Discreet Desires, which marked a shift toward more melodic electro but still retained the grittiness of her initial releases. In 2017, Dark Entries issued A Tape as a double LP, and Ninja Tune released Hauff’s EP Have You Been There, Have You Seen It. She closed out the year with the accolade of best BBC Essential Mix of 2017.

In 2018, with an ever-busier touring schedule, she managed to record the follow-up to her 2015 debut album; Qualm focused on fewer layers yet aimed to create something equally as effective as her previous material. An EP, Living with Ants, arrived in 2019. In 2020, Hauff delivered a continuous mix as the fifth volume of the Tresor label’s ongoing Kern series. Kern, Vol. 5 featured a plethora of exclusive tracks, mixed with personality and a curatorial insight by Hauff. She also collaborated with the Exaltics on 2021’s Futuros EP.

Helena Hauff Biography by Paul Simpson

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Amelie Lens Biography

Amelie Lens is a self-confessed control freak. Every step of her journey as a DJ so far has been the result of her own obsessive attention to detail and laser-focussed determination which permeates everything she does. Nothing is left to chance. The often-referred to ‘explosion’ with which the Antwerp native made her way into the global techno scene has been the result of a long-standing love affair with dance music, ignited by her first outing to Belgiu’s Dour Festival at just 15 years old. Techno had Amelie at ‘hello’, and she spent the rest of her teenage years crossing Belgium by train to attend gigs, hypnotised by the new world that was opening up to her.

Fast forward a few years and Amelie had started her own club nights in Antwerp, DJing under numerous aliases and learning to produce at the same time. “I started making edits for myself, like old-school tracks with a different kick.” That fusion of classic techno with a fast, futuristic edge helps define Lens’ sound today. “A mix of old and new strong techno records, tough but not hard, fast and throbbing, hypnotic and energised” is how Richie Hawtin described it after being blown away when hearing her for the first time at an ADE showcase.

Her debut release came on Italian imprint Lyase, and soon after a trio of releases on Pan-Pot’s Second State gave her recognition on a global level. Despite her measured and considered approach, the gigs came thick and fast. “Timing is everything to me – and a lot of times I’ve felt like it was too soon for me to play somewhere.” But it wasn’t long before Lens was sharing stages with the most respected artists in techno. From headline club shows to peak-time slots at the likes of Sonar, Time Warp, Awakenings and Movement Detroit, as well as the legendary Circoloco at DC-10, whilst featuring on the coveted Mixmag cover and recording her first Resident Advisor podcast in 2018. At the start of 2019 Drumcode marked it’s 200th release by asking Lens to remix the label head’s 2014 release “Teach Me” – a milestone in her career that speaks volumes about Adam Beyer’s admiration for his younger counterpart, who describes Lens as having “a unique pure form of timeless techno. You can feel the passion when watching her – there are only a few DJs with that energy, that ‘it’ factor.”

As a resident at Hasselt’s Labyrinth Club, Lens started curating her own nights under the name EXHALE and soon was inviting the likes of Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock, Ellen Allien, Rødhåd and Kobosil to play alongside her, often delivering her own all-night-long sets that have become the stuff of legend for Belgium’s adoring fan base. Lens has steered the EXHALE parties further afield, with regular showcases at the likes of London’s fabric club and colossal stage hostings at Creamfields, OFFSonar, Dour and Extrema Festivals and many more on the international summer circuit. Her aim is to showcase a new generation of hand-picked, up-and-coming talent alongside international heavyweights.

Lens has moulded her own imprint, LENSKE, in her image – driven, energetic and authentic. A handful of carefully curated releases from fellow Belgian’s Farrago, Milo Spykers and Paris-based AIROD fuse a highvelocity mix of uptempo 909 uppercuts, hyper-futuristic acid accents and evil-minded drops. The label’s tightknit family of artists help solidify Lens’ reputation as a curator and taste-maker as much as a master in the booth.

In just a few years Lens has achieved what many artists would dream of achieving in a lifetime, and her rapid ascent is something many find hard to grasp. “It just happened so fast – too fast. So I understand. It’s going to take me ten more years to prove myself, but I’m going to do it.” Rest assured that the Amelie Lens story is just beginning. – Author: www.amelielens.com

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