Rebekah
Genre: Techno
Origin: United Kingdom
Pint-sized UK Techno producer, DJ and head of Elements Records, Rebekah has relentlessly championed the underground’s most ferocious sounds. Creating music since 2007, and DJing for many years more, Rebekah’s music merges genres, meaning whilst it can be deep, dark, and mysterious, she is also not afraid to deliver when it comes to the hard, direct, and more experimental side of things. Rebekah has carved out an infallible reputation as a consummate artist. Her multi-disciplined approach to music means she has a well-rounded, holistic understanding of the music itself and the culture attached to it. From her earliest forays into techno, she blazed a trail, setting the bar high when it comes to live performance and injecting the scene with an uncompromising sound. Her tireless work and natural talent led to her being named DJ Mag’s Best Producer in 2018 and appearing as their cover star in 2019. After an enforced break through the global shutdown, she has returned to the global circuit with a renewed perspective, driven by a desire to tap into the powerful, transformative energy of club music.
Raised on the infamous Birmingham techno scene of the 90s, where local heroes such as Surgeon and Regis were cultivating their own brutalist interpretation of techno, Rebekah immediately resonated with the harder, faster sound. Countless nights on the dance floor at venues such as the legendary Que Club sparked her ambition to one day be part of the techno world. Several years later she enrolled at college to study music production and embarked on the journey to becoming a key player in harder-edged techno. During the 90s, there were very few female role models Rebekah could look up to, but she’s now at a stage where young women look to her for inspiration. Through her avid #ForTheMusic campaigning, she has raised awareness of sexual misconduct in dance music, fighting the corner for countless victims of abuse. In her position as an influential artist, label owner, and campaigner, she has become an iconic figure for women, and men, across the world.
When it comes to the music, her remix for Matador of ‘Blond Slackers’ in 2012 boosted her credentials and led to a move to a city considered the home of techno, Berlin. 10 years on, Rebekah is now widely regarded for her exceptional production skills and transcendent DJ sets, often incorporating a controller so she can add effects and layers on the fly. This hybrid setup allows her to take charge of the ebb and flow of her set, with maximum energetic impact. Rebekah’s hybrid performances follow on from her highly successful live set, which she launched in late 2018 – named by Resident Advisor as one of the best performances of ADE 2018. Her innovation and commitment to pushing the boundaries of DJ performances has made her stand out from the crowd. No mean feat in today’s dance music market, with so much talent on offer.
Rebekah’s discography speaks for itself. Releases with influential platforms such as Soma, CLR, Modularz, Perc Trax, and Mord epitomize her no-nonsense approach to production, visceral and utterly unapologetic. The key to her creative output is sound design, ensuring the music she makes is anything but formulaic. Originality, fresh unique sounds, and maximum impact are core elements of her output, on stage and in the studio. It was through her own label Elements, where she really ventured into developing the sound she is recognized for today, a more punishing, hard, and fast-paced style of techno. Last year, she launched her Go Hard Or Go Hardcore project, a product of her unyielding artistic vision, pushing the hardcore sound into a more commercially accessible space. She kicked it off with a colossal 20 track VA, encompassing brand new music from a varied handpicked list of talent, some new and others already on their way to notoriety. Go Hard or Go Hardcore is a movement that pays homage to the 30-year-old legacy of hardcore, whilst fusing the raw intensity of hard techno’s futurist sounds.
The first GHOGH event was held in Berlin in April, with a special live stream with HOR, where she and Cancel did their first b2b set discovering their mutual love for industrial sounds. They have more b2b appearances booked for the remainder of 2024, including Rotterdam and Brussels. Elements has been long associated with helping the next generation of talent. During lockdown, Rebekah utilized the free time to mentor up-and-coming producers, setting them challenges, one of which was to create 10 tracks in 10 days. From these tasks, she ended up with a collection of tracks she decided to release on a VA. Looking ahead for Elements, we can expect Rebekah’s debut collaboration with Belgian producer Cancel, for their single ‘Bodies’ – the first single to be released as part of the GHOGH movement.
Unwavering in her commitment to techno, an innovator, and a fundamental figurehead for women’s rights in dance music, Rebekah combines a progressive mindset, with inherent talent and a consistently high work ethic. Now leaning to the toughest sounds within hard dance, it has seen the multitalented producer evolve once again as she continues to break down the barriers of what is possible and where different genres can be blurred, merged, and re-imagined for a post-techno revolution.
