Helena Hauff

Based in Hamburg, Helena Hauff has developed since the early 2010s a distinctive approach to electro and techno, informed by EBM, industrial music and a club culture linked to the Golden Pudel, where she became one of the scene’s notable residents. Trained in fine arts, physics and musicology at the University of Hamburg, Hauff has gradually crafted a raw sonic language, often recorded in live takes, that emphasizes machine energy, saturated textures and angular rhythms. Her early releases brought her to the international stage, and the albums Discreet Desires (2015) and Qualm (2018) established her as a producer able to connect the heritage of classic electro, Detroit techno, acid synths and the darker sensibilities of new wave. Alongside her solo productions and DJ work she has undertaken duo projects — notably as Black Sites — and founded the label Return To Disorder, releasing her own records and those of artists close to her world. Her sets, built around electro, techno and more experimental forms, have taken her from Hamburg clubs to major European stages and reinforced her place in an electronic landscape that remains attentive to the physical, minimal dimensions of the dancefloor.