As a member of Kompakt since the early 90s, Reinhard Voigt has been a key player in the development and subsequent success of this legendary Cologne-based record label. Taking early notes from his infamous older brother Wolfgang Voigt (aka Mike Ink), Reinhard has refined and re-tooled his sound in a direction that has become unmistakeably his own in it's dirty, subversive (yet charming) minimal techno pop.
Thomas Brinkmann (born 1959) is a highly regarded German producer of experimental minimal techno music. Although experimenting with records since the early eighties, he gained wide reputation with his re-workings of material by fellow artists Mike Ink and Richie Hawtin released in the second half of the 90s. These productions were made by playing physically modified vinyl records on highly customized turntables with an additional tone arm.
The Advent may refer to the alias of techno artist Cisco Ferreira or the Christian metalcore band. aka Cisco Ferreira Longtime advocates of sonic terrorism even before banding together as the Advent in 1993, Cisco Ferreira and Colin McBean's assault on conventional techno flourished in part because of abundant glimpses into related styles, from electro and hip-hop to techno. Soon after leaving school, Ferreira began working as an engineer at Jack Trax Records, a job which enabled him to glimpse first-hand the work of such auteurs as Derrick May and Marshall Jefferson.
This New Jersey native was initially inspired by England's take on the sound of Detroit, but eventually tracked techno back to its Motor City innovators. When he began listening to music, however, it was the sound of early-'80s synth heroes like Devo, Severed Heads and New Order alongside early hiphop, jazz and 60's Hindi film soundtracks. Geist released his first 12" (via Dan Curtin's innovative Metamorphic label) while studying at Oberlin College in 1994.
Monolake was formed in 1995 as the duo of Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke, although on later albums the group consisted of Henke alone, with Behles focusing his time on running the Ableton software company. Their sound can generally be described as minimal techno filled with nice touch of fine tech dub, although the 1999 Gobi. The Desert EP, which contains a single 37-minute atmospheric piece, is a notable exception. Monolake first released an album and several 12"s on Berlin's Chain Reaction label, then on Monolake/Imbalance Computer Music, which is operated by Robert Henke.
Jeff McIlwain has been producing his visceral, melodic strain of abstract electronic music as Lusine for over 10 years now. Originally a Texas native, McIlwain met Shad Scott while living in LA and put out his self titled debut on Scott's imprint, Isophlux. He relocated to Seattle in late 2002 and began steadily releasing his music on Ghostly International. McIlwain has also contributed tracks to various compilations and remix releases on Mute, !K7, Kompakt, Asthmatic Kitty, and Shitkatapult.
Both Ed Rush and Optical are the co-heads of a drum and bass record label called Virus Recordings, based in London, UK. Both have earned acclaim separately, with Optical engineering tracks on Goldie and Grooverider's albums and releasing some excellent solo tunes on the likes of Prototype, 31, and Metro. Ed Rush also has countless releases, notably on No U-Turn, where he and Nico first emphasized the dark era of drum and bass with the masterpiece album Torque, and Metalheadz, where he produced such classics as "The Raven" and "Locust".
Being a hobby break-dancer back in the days was the first step for eleven year-old Martin Landsky to discover his passion for black dance music. Using the pause-key of his tape deck he started to create minimal loop tracks of early funk and rap classics for his performances on the street as well as in contests. His interest in manipulating sound was unstoppable. Young Martin Landsky spent all his money to buy a second tape deck and a primitive mixer.