As a DJ and producer, Patrick Gräser, aka Answer Code Request, has finely tuned a hybrid musical approach that stand out in a world of uniform 4/4 techno. Melding pad-driven harmonies, intricate breaks and an industrial sonic palette, Gräser has occupied a unique space within the Ostgut Ton cosmos since debuting on the label in 2012 and becoming a Berghain resident shortly thereafter.
As a teenager, he shared the same passion for electronic music as fellow Fürstenwalde natives Marcel Dettmann and Marcel Fengler, eventually venturing out into Berlin’s post-reunification club landscape, which at the time was dominated by an anarchic, DIY-party approach and dance music which had yet to solidify into rigid categories. In the 90s he spent his days training to become a carpenter in a forest workshop near his hometown; weeknights were spent listening and mixing the cross-genre selection of records bought at Hard Wax and Delirium on the weekend. Unsurprisingly, it’s this broad musical spectrum – from jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, Detroit and IDM to UK bass – that led Gräser to develop his characteristic sound on his very first releases via Music Man and his own synonymous ACR imprint.
With various releases and remixes for Ostgut Ton, MDR, Dolly Deluxe and Monkeytown Records under his belt, Gräser continuously pushes the boundaries of techno, evident in his celebrated debut LP Code (Ostgut Ton, 2014), and his follow-up album Gens four years later which demonstrates an acute experimental approach. Expect sixty minutes of exhilarating and high-quality techno cuts.