Marcel Dettmann
Ostgut resident at 21, Hard Wax clerk, Berghain 02 mixer and MDR label boss: Marcel Dettmann helped define the stripped-back techno of 2000s Berlin.
- German techno DJ and producer, born 26 October 1977 in East Germany.
- Resident at Ostgut from 1999, then at Berghain; mixed Berghain 02 for Ostgut Ton in 2008.
- Runs the label MDR; albums Dettmann (2010), Dettmann II (2013) and Fear of Programming (2022).
Marcel Dettmann’s techno is stripped back and heavy. It grew out of two Berlin institutions: the booth of Ostgut, later Berghain, where he has been a resident since 1999, and the counter of the record shop Hard Wax. Together they made him one of the defining DJs of the city in the 2000s.
Synth pop, Tresor and a first techno CD
Dettmann was born in East Germany in 1977. Before techno he listened to synth pop and industrial dance music: The Cure, Depeche Mode, Kate Bush, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb. At 14, a friend’s older brother handed him a techno CD. The same year he went to Tresor, Berlin’s pioneering techno club, and he soon bought turntables. He began by promoting and playing parties in Dresden and Frankfurt.
Ostgut, Hard Wax and Berghain
In 1999, aged 21, Dettmann became a resident at Ostgut, the club that preceded Berghain, and he stayed in the booth when Berghain took over. “Berghain is all that techno means to me… futuristic, anarchic and uncompromising,” he told The Skinny.
For about a decade, until 2012, he also worked at Hard Wax, the Berlin shop where Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus had formed Basic Channel. In 2008 he mixed Berghain 02 for Ostgut Ton, following André Galluzzi’s first volume. It was his first commercial mix, setting tracks by Redshape, Deetron and Radio Slave against Chicago and Detroit classics, and he called it his business card. A second mix CD, Conducted, came out on Music Man in 2011.
Records on Ostgut Ton and MDR
Dettmann began producing in 2005. In 2006 he launched his own label, MDR (Marcel Dettmann Records), with MDR 01, and released “Dawning” / “Dead Man Watches the Clock” with Ben Klock on Ostgut Ton. It placed second in Groove magazine’s Top 50. “Scenario”, again with Klock, followed in 2007.
His debut album, Dettmann, came out on Ostgut Ton in 2010, followed by Dettmann Remixed the same year and Dettmann II in 2013. In 2014 he mixed fabric 77 for the London club, and in 2022 he released Fear of Programming on Dekmantel.
The remixer
His remix list maps the Berlin scene of the period: Ellen Allien’s “Go” (2007), Modeselektor’s “Black Block” (2008), Junior Boys’ “Work” (2010), Fever Ray’s “Seven” (2011) and Moderat’s “Bad Kingdom” (2013). In 2008 he remixed “My Black Sheep” for Len Faki, his fellow Berghain resident.
For more from the same side of techno, read about Fumiya Tanaka.
FAQ
Who is Marcel Dettmann?
A German techno DJ and producer, born on 26 October 1977 in East Germany. He is a resident DJ at Berghain in Berlin and runs the label MDR.
When did Marcel Dettmann start playing at Berghain?
He became a resident at Ostgut, the club that preceded Berghain, in 1999 at the age of 21, and is a Berghain resident today.
What are Marcel Dettmann’s albums?
Dettmann (2010) and Dettmann II (2013) on Ostgut Ton, and Fear of Programming (2022) on Dekmantel.
