Tight-knit, tunnelling techno from the revered German selector

Known for hard-edged, high-octane sets that zigzag from noise to post-punk, Helena Hauff isn’t keen on the eight-hour marathon sets that cities like Berlin are known for. “I don’t think my music suits long mixes, because it’s very direct and in your face,” the German techno star told Boiler Room Radio. “I don’t tend to build up my sets slow and long. I go in and bang it out.” That makes her a perfect fit for our an hour with series, an exclusive partnership between Boiler Room and Apple Music. Hauff's mix—a relentless but immaculate blend of acid house, electro and industrial-tinged techno—is full of choice discoveries that are just as thrilling to hear through headphones as they would be in a packed club. “I just got this test pressing from [the recently launched record label] No Static / Automatic, as well as a Fastgraph track called ‘Prevail’,” she said. “These are brand-new records, so of course I had to include them. I love playing fresh stuff.” It almost hurts to imagine the immediate reaction that Exzakt’s funky “Sleeping With the Enemy” would elicit on a sweaty dance floor, but if it’s any consolation, Hauff feels it too. “I feed off of the energy and vibe of a room full of people,” she said. "I miss it so much.”