Marek Hemmann

Marek Hemmann has spent two decades making a case for restraint in a genre that often rewards the opposite. Working out of Jena, a mid-sized university town in the German state of Thuringia that has punched well above its weight in minimal techno, he built a catalogue defined by warm, melodic production and a live show built as much around musicianship as mixing, long before "live act" became a standard billing on European festival posters.

From Jena's Techno Underground

Hemmann was born on March 14, 1979, in Gera, in what was then East Germany, and picked up guitar before electronic music pulled him away from it. He has said the limits of the instrument, rather than any grand plan, pushed him toward production in the 1990s, initially just for himself and a small circle of friends rather than with any performing ambition. Since 2005 he has been based in Jena, the same city that gave the wider minimal techno scene Freude am Tanzen, the label founded in 1998 by Gabor Schablitzki and Sören Bodner, the duo behind Wighnomy Brothers.

Freude am Tanzen turned out to be the launching point for Hemmann's career. In 2003, he and fellow Jena producer Mathias Kaden began releasing together as Hemmann & Kaden, putting out a run of EPs and albums on the label through the decade that established both artists as part of the same close-knit Thuringian scene. The partnership gave Hemmann a foothold before he had fully found his own voice on record, and by the time it wound down later in the 2000s, both producers were building solo careers that carried the label's melodic, groove-first sensibility with them.

Sound and Style

Hemmann's solo work has always leaned toward the emotive end of minimal techno, tracks built on rolling, dubbed-out percussion and layers of melody rather than austere functionality. His debut solo release arrived in 2006 on the Berlin label Raum...Musik, and it was 2009's "Gemini," picked up by DJs well beyond Germany's minimal scene, that set up his debut album, "In Between," released the same year. He followed it with "Bittersweet" in 2013 and "Moments" in 2016, records that kept refining the same core idea: techno as something closer to song-writing, with vocal collaborators like Fabian Reichelt appearing across several releases, most notably 2011's "Only Our Hearts to Lose."

Live at RTS.FM

Hemmann's connection to RTS.FM dates back to one of the earliest and most enduring recordings in the channel's archive: a live studio performance filmed in Moscow on June 5, 2009, right around the release of "In Between." It remains one of RTS.FM's most-watched archival sets, a document of Hemmann's live setup at a point when his melodic strain of minimal techno was reaching its widest audience yet.

Career Highlights

Hemmann's discography extends beyond his own albums into a long list of remix work for artists including Oliver Koletzki, Monika Kruse and Douglas Greed, and his touring history includes bookings at Awakenings, the Dutch festival brand built around Amsterdam's Gashouder, and Time Warp, the Mannheim institution long associated with the harder end of German techno even as its bill has widened over the years. He has continued releasing steadily through the 2020s, with "Five" arriving via Bandcamp in 2024 and new singles following in 2026, still working out of the Thuringian scene that shaped him.

FAQ

Where is Marek Hemmann from?

He was born on March 14, 1979, in Gera, Germany, and has lived and worked in nearby Jena since 2005, the city also home to Freude am Tanzen, the label where his career began.

What is Marek Hemmann's connection to Mathias Kaden?

The two Jena producers released music together as Hemmann & Kaden on Freude am Tanzen starting in 2003, building a shared reputation before each launched a solo career.

What is Marek Hemmann's best-known album?

"In Between," his 2009 debut album, followed the breakout single "Gemini" and established the melodic, groove-driven style he has built on with later records like "Bittersweet" (2013) and "Moments" (2016).

Has Marek Hemmann performed at RTS.FM?

Yes. He recorded a live studio set at RTS.FM's Moscow studio on June 5, 2009, one of the channel's most-viewed archival performances.

Does Marek Hemmann perform as a DJ or a live act?

Both. He is known for a live performance setup built around hardware and hands-on arrangement as much as for DJ sets, a format reflected in the RTS.FM studio recording from 2009.