Rashad Becker^DE

Berlin-based Rashad Becker has become one of the most revered mastering and cutting engineers in techno-oriented dance music over the past two decades, working with Dubplates & Mastering (founded by Basic Channel in 1995) and collaborating with Pantha du Prince, Brandt Brauer Frick, Keiji Haino, Sam Shackleton and Holly Herndon, among many.

All the while, he’s been upping the ante as a producer, from remixing with Tin Man records and Burnt Friedman’s Nonplace label to releasing his first solo album, Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. I, on the PAN label in 2013. The album reflects Becker’s well-honed ear for precision in multi-layered, machine-made sound that nevertheless maintains a highly human element. He dedicates one side to “Dances,” the other to “Themes,” weaving distinct sonic stories out of surprising electronic concoctions and an overall organic playfulness – his synthetic rumbles and animalistic growls sound like the real thing, only just off-kilter and in some-far off, imagined place. Becker brings his sharply technical, personally expressive sound to EM15 for the first time in 2014.