Gas

A cloud of sound engulfs the Hall as German artist and producer Wolfgang Voigt celebrates the 20th anniversary of his ambient techno project GAS.

As the moniker suggests, Voigt creates elemental and atmospheric music under the GAS guise. Padding beats are submerged by vaporous waves of sound, almost as if the samples he’s chosen have melted into air. Inspired by the Königsforst, a forest near his hometown, GAS marries ambient music and techno in an attempt to ‘bring the forest to the disco’ – a spirited, uplifting and enveloping evocation of the wonder of the natural world.

Bored by the generic pop and rock music popular in Germany at the time, a young Wolfgang Voigt found excitement in his eccentrically eclectic listening habits, taking in the Classical avant-garde, experimental rock and, crucially, the budding Acid House scene. This passion for new sounds led to the foundation of the record store Delirium in his native Cologne, eventually morphing into influential electronic record label Kompakt. A tirelessly prolific producer, Voigt has shaped and influenced the minimal techno sound through countless projects – notably with GAS, which he brings back to London here, in association with The Hydra, for the first time in eight years.

Tonight’s opening set comes from Brooklyn-based Huerco S, aka Brian Leeds. The Kansas producer and DJ has released music on labels such as Future Times, Proibito, Opal Tapes, and Software. Here he will present material from his more ambient-based 2016 album For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have).