Helena Hauff: DJ Chart

Hailing from Hamburg, Hauff is obsessed with riveting EBM, avant-garde electro and general psychosis. Here are eight of her favourite tracks

Feature by Helena Hauff | 09 Sep 2015

Helena Hauff's formative years as a DJ were spent in the shadow of Hamburg Fischmarkt, inside the much-lauded Golden Pudel club, under her own Birds & Other Instruments banner. Over the past five years the party has been graced by a veritable who’s who of mechanical experimentalism from all walks of life – Robert Turman, I-F and Luke Eargoggle to name a small handful.

On the production side, her first release came back in 2013 – a three-track EP on Werkdiscs – but she’s since made in-roads on a range of left-of-centre labels, such as Lux Rec, Solar One and Panzerkreuz. Now, the time has come for her debut LP which, at ten tracks long, is the fullest musical synopsis of Hauff’s mind on record. This machine music is more pulsing sinew than polished sheen.

Privacy – New Wake Trace [Lobster Theremin]
This is a new favourite of mine off Privacy's Hypertext EP. It's exactly the kind of jacking stuff that I'm into. Privacy is one of my favourite producers and DJs at the moment.

Mr Fingers – Washing Machine [Trax]
This old classic always surprises me 'cause it still sounds so fresh. I remember playing this for the first time on a loud club sound system and it sounded so fucking good. 

Africans With Mainframes – Can U Hear Me Now? [Crème Organization]
I'm a huge Jamal Moss fan; everything he puts out is just amazing. Love the rawness and weirdness about this one in particular.

Unit Moebius – Beat That Perculator [Acid Planet]
These guys from The Hague are probably my favourite electronic band of all time. This track, like a lot of their stuff, is simple and brutal!

Elec Pt.1 – Waiting For Armageddon [Bunker]
This came out on Bunker, which is actually run by one of the Unit Moebius guys. I'm very much into psychotic music and this one by Andreas Gehm really does it for me.

Gosub – Red Desert [Abstract Forms]
Electro is the music that always makes me wanna dance, and this track by Gosub makes me want to do just that.

Morphology – Manmade Woman [Abstract Forms]
This got released on Abstract Forms – like the Gosub one – which is one of my favourite electro labels. The label head, Deixis, also runs a sub label called Abstract Acid as well, and it's just as good. Love this track though...

Arpanet – Infinite Density [Record Makers]
Drexciya and everything Drexciyan is just my thing. I really can't imagine anything more beautiful than their music and this is a great example of that sound.


Helena Hauff's Discreet Desires is out now via Werkdiscs

http://handmadebirds.com