"Sam Barker asks more from techno. The artist, known simply as Barker, is one of electronic music's most consistently conscientious and curious producers, challenging listeners to question the norms we accept about our shared culture—whether it's the music that fills the room, the process behind it or the purpose of the space itself.
British-born yet based in Berlin since 2007, Barker forged a connection to many of the city's leading institutions, including Ostgut Ton, and over the course of a long and fruitful relationship, he carved out one of the more singular paths on the club and label's roster.
Not one for orthodoxy, Barker challenged the four-to-the-floor techno framework in favour of melodic experimentation. By decentering or completely stripping away the typical trappings of kick drums and claps, releases such as Debiasing and debut album Utility showcased his ability to craft music that's both light and immersive, buoyant in low-end presence and shimmering in weightless space. As Philip Sherburne wrote of Utility, "Barker [borrows] ambient's billowing forms and reinforces them for the needs of the dance floor."
Six years after Utility, his second album, Stochastic Drift, arrives on Smalltown Supersound this month. Shaped by pandemic-driven reinvention, it burrows deeper into harmonic twists and freeform drift. "At some point I became conscious of the process," he wrote of his latest album. "The only thing you can do is embrace the uncertainty and see every change, as a potential positive.""
https://pt.ra.co/podcast/982
