Anja Schneider: 20 years shaping techno culture
Two decades in, one of dance music’s most celebrated DJs, producers, label owners, A&Rs, broadcasters, and tastemakers has big plans for this massive milestone. The celebration of a career that’s seen her headline the world’s most iconic clubs and festivals, play grass roots parties and word-of-mouth raves, create vital platforms for new talent, and hold doors open for female artists to push through.
On June 21st and June 28th Anja Schneider will unveil an expansive remix and re-edit package on her benchmark-setting imprint, Sous Music. Some of her best-loved tracks are there in less familiar forms, highlights from a wide-ranging back catalogue comprising two albums, dozens of EPs, and singles amassing millions of hits on your favorite streaming platforms. So expect fresh takes from Anja and a wealth of heavyweights — Paramida, Radio Slave, Scuba, JakoJako, Julian Muller, Cassy, Deetron, Leafar Legov, Erobique, Jaymie Silk, Ackermann… a list that’s as intriguing as consistent.
“The project includes new versions of my favourite tracks from the last 20 years and remixers who have accompanied, influenced, and currently impress me. Each artist holds a special connection for me,” says Anja of a compilation boasting hits like ‘Sanctuary’, with Stereo MCs, the coveted single ‘Aura’, featuring Sophie Hunger, and updated classics from Sebo K collab ’Rancho Relaxo’ to ‘Belize’.
Anja Schneider’s new party series PuMp goes into its 2nd edition on June 15th after a successful start in April! Again taking place at Tresor’s treasured sibling OHM, where she’ll share duties in the booth with hand-picked guests, names nearest and dearest to, and most respected by the host. Starting at 4PM, the Sous Music artist and creative force behind the fashion brand Vertere, Basic Instinct, will join Anja in sharing the decks this time. A format which is tour-ready, with the right venue partnerships.
“It’s about ‘age’ in a positive sense: maturity. Being a raver from the heart for 20 years. Exploring how the evolved club experience juxtaposes with physical and familial structures. Always staying current but transforming the approach based on your life situation, and not going through this alone,” Anja says of PuMp. “There’s a reference to the club culture that was already significant in the 90s, which I was a part of and contributed to shaping. And the inability to let go, because you’re always looking for new ideas. PuMp aligns my past and present. So where, and in which city, could we do that better than Ohm, and Berlin?”
These new chapters continue Anja Schneider’s strobe-lit epic, which opened with her first flavour of Berlin’s nascent techno scene — Tresor, 1994. An experience that catalysed a relocation to the city, she quickly became immersed in its community. Studio and DJ skills were honed, lifelong connections made, networks established. Rising through the ranks, the journey today takes us across the globe, whether that’s bookings in Latvia or California, Indonesia solo or Ibiza with Solomun and Marco Carola. It could be Boiler Room or HÖR, open airs like Ultra Miami, Welcome To The Future and Love Parade, or Sub Club’s legendary basement, the heritage of Rex, Robert Johnson, fabric, Watergate and Berghain.
Anja’s early tunes landed on PIAS in 2004, spotlighting her as a pioneer of European minimal techno, and a year later she launched Mobilee, making space to develop a sound she describes as ‘Schneiderhouse’. Landmarks include her 2008 debut album, ‘Beyond the Valley’, the timeless single, ‘Dubmission’, and formative cuts from soon-tobe stars like Pan-Pot, Solomun and Maya Jane Coles. An archive marking the founder as a true selector. Ears-to-ground, tracking the most exciting sounds in any moment.
In 2017, she parted ways with the label for good to launch Sous Music. A new chapter and challenge, initially meant as a home for her own output, like 2017’s follow-up LP, ‘SoMe’, the underground smash ‘All I See’, released the same year, and 2021’s anthem, ‘Turning My Head’, it now also provides a home for other talent, established and emerging. And that’s only half the saga. We also need to mention Anja remixing magic for a slew of high profile artists, and dropping cuts on the likes of Knee Deep In Sound and Shall Not Fade.
Contributions to broadcasting are just as huge. Debuting on airwaves through Berlin’s Kiss FM, helping build the station up from 1993 to 1994, this storied side to her career has included the legendary Love Radio. And the landmark ‘Dance Under A Blue Moon’, which ran on Radio Fritz/RBB for 17 years. More recently, Schneider has focused on ‘Club Room’, which began on Radioeins/RBB, then moved to Apple Music and her online channels, with over 300 episodes and counting.
2021 – 2022 Anja hosted ‘Berlin Beats’ at Beats Radio/Klassik Radio a nationwide station broadcasted daily. Her industry-focused ‘Backstage’ podcast came to life, and lately in 2024 Anja hosted yet another one, ‘The Story of the Love Parade’. Premiered to 23 million via 90s90s Radio, this detailed account of the world’s most famous street party, and its Rave The Planet reincarnation, involves those who were and remain there. Another example of Schneider’s commitment to the cultures, communities, people and places that define the dance music phenomenon.
A person whose efforts supporting artists and spaces during Covid-19 won them the Berlin Music Commission’s Honour Prize for “outstanding impact”. A woman who has always been determined to do it better, for all the right reasons.
Anja Schneider – Reworks & Remixes (Part 1/2) – Release date: 21.06.2024
01. Anja Schneider & Sebo K – Rancho Relaxo (Paramida & E-Talking Remix) (OUT 17.05.)
02. Anja Schneider – Turning My Head (2024 Rework) (OUT NOW )
03. Anja Schneider – Rain (Jaymie Silk Remix)
04. Anja Schneider – Sanctuary feat. Stereo MCs (2024 Rework) (OUT NOW )
05. Anja Schneider – Rain (2024 Rework)
06. Anja Schneider – WMF (Scuba‘s D-U Mix)
07. Anja Schneider – Belize (Leafar Legov Remix)
08. Anja Schneider – Turning My Head (Cassy Remix)
09. Anja Schneider – Sanctuary feat. Stereo MCs (Erobique Remix) (OUT NOW )
Anja Schneider – Reworks & Remixes (Part 2/2) – Release date: 28.06.2024
01. Anja Schneider & Sebo K – Rancho Relaxo (Radio Slave Remix)
02. Anja Schneider – All I See (2024 Rework) (OUT 24.05.)
03. Anja Schneider – Aura feat. Sophie Hunger (Deetron Remix)
04. Anja Schneider – Dubmission (Julian Muller Remix)
05. Anja Schneider – Aura feat. Sophie Hunger (2024 Rework)
06. Anja Schneider – Belize (2024 Rework)
07. Anja Schneider – Secret Escapes (JakoJako Remix)
08. Anja Schneider – Something That’s for Life feat. Cari Golden (2024 Rework)
09. Anja Schneider – All I See (Ackermann Remix) (OUT 24.05.)
Stay tuned to the Techno Trip Tracks of the Week selection and Listen to Anja Schneider’s new music first
Photo credits: Kerstin zu Pan & FB
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