Alec Empire

At the age of 8, this Berlin native learned to play guitar, before turning to breakdancing and rap at the age of 10. He became a punk and at 16 formed the band Die Kinder, before discovering the psychedelic charms of acid-house and its counter-culture. But in reaction to the apolitical nature of the techno movement and the racist attacks in Rostock, his band Atari Teenage Riot released the 1992 EP Hetzjagd auf Nazis (Hunting Nazis), which met with a veritable boycott. Certain statements by Mark Spoon and Dr Motte provoked a reaction from the man whose grandfather died in a concentration camp. This fierce critic of drugs and raves, which he sees as mere escapes, is a free electron who sees his music as a political act. A great manipulator of sound, his field of experimentation extends from the first acid EPs on Force Inc to the hardcore and metal fusion of Atari Teenage Riot and productions on his own Digital Hardcore Recordings label, via the dub and experimental ambient mixes on Mille Plateaux.

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