Rhythm & Sound

Behind Rhythm & Sound are the Berliners Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald, active together since the early 1990s and also the originators of Basic Channel, a central project in the history of minimal techno and dub techno. Launched in the mid-1990s, Rhythm & Sound shifted their work toward a form more explicitly linked to dub and reggae, while maintaining a pared-down, slow, and deep approach to sound, characterized by spacious basslines, repetitive motifs, and carefully crafted echoes. The duo initially developed around collaborations with Paul St. Hilaire, also credited as Tikiman, notably on the 1996 single Never Tell You, before opening Rhythm & Sound to other voices from reggae and dancehall scenes. The project's discography has been built from singles and maxis released on Burial Mix, later gathered on several albums such as Showcase (1998), Rhythm & Sound (2001), w/ The Artists (2003), The Versions (2003) and See Mi Yah (2005). At the crossroads of Berlin techno, ambient, and Jamaican dub traditions, Rhythm & Sound developed a sober and hypnotic language that circulates as much in clubs as in more contemplative listening contexts, remaining closely tied to the sonic aesthetic shaped by Ernestus and von Oswald in Berlin.