Powell[UK]

With a diverse sound that incorporates New York no wave, industrial/EBM, post-punk, late 90s drum n’ bass, and ascetic European electronics, Powell's thoroughly emaciated, obtuse, and primitivist take on techno (merging club music, noise, and experimental electronics) has provided the foundation for his own Diagonal label and been tipped by the likes of Downwards founder Regis, PAN head Bill Kouligas, Raime, and Blackest Ever Black.

The UK producer and DJ (born Oscar Powell) established Diagonal alongside Jaime Williams in 2011 as a platform for releasing his first two offerings: The Ongoing Significance of Steel & Flesh and Body Music EPs. His subsequent output—which has included records on Liberation Technologies and The Death of Rave — is unified by elements of live instrumentation, destitute samples, raw synth tones, and quickfire bursts of analogue noise that vie for space around darkly muscular grooves and unconventional rhythmic skeletons. His most recent outing on Diagonal, 2014's Club Music EP, was described by The Quietus' Rory Gibb as "swift, predatory, and prone to upheaval" and gave rise to a remix 12" helmed by Ancient Methods and ex-Cabaret Voltaire frontman Richard H Kirk.

Having built a reputation for his breakneck DJ sets collaging jungle, post-punk, techno, and EBM, Powell has applied a similarly brazen and varied approach to A&R-ing Diagonal; the imprint has become a go-to for idiosyncratic, adventurous electronic music in its own right, with records from the likes of Russell Haswell, Shit & Shine, Skull Defekts, Prostitutes, and Bronze Teeth, the duo of Factory Floor drummer Dominic Butler and Richard Smith.

Powell returns to CTM with his first-ever live, following a DJ appearance at the festival's 2013 edition.

Rave Undead II

Berghain, Fri 01.02.2013, 23:00

Conor Thomas, Samuel Kerridge, Shed, Powell, EVOL, Andy Stott, Mark Archer (Altern 8), Lower Order Ethics