Sterac is one face of Steve Rachmad, the Dutch producer who has been churning out timeless classics and dancefloor gems as Black Scorpion, Tons of Tones, Rachmad Project, Scorp, Parallel 9, Ignacio, Dreg, and Sterac Electronics for more than quarter of a century.

Whereas these other aliases exist for his dub, disco, and even house records, Rachmad uses Sterac for his excursions in the no-nonsense, darker side of techno. You’ll find Sterac records sprinkled across labels like Klockworks, Delsin, and Luke Slater‘s Mote-Evolver. Over the years, these sounds have been reinterpreted, remixed, and reworked by artists like Ricardo Villalobos and Vince Watson.

For this week’s XLR8R podcast, Rachmad has delivered a live set, recorded last month at Thuishaven in Amsterdam. With such unparalleled experience, few people know how to make people dance like Rachmad, and this set is no different, except that it comprises nothing other than Sterac material and remixes, including soon-to-be-released tracks on an upcoming Token EP. Press play for a set of ferocious, brooding techno from a master of the genre.

01. What have you been up to recently? 
Music, music, and music. I have made large amounts of new music during the pandemic. I also had some studio time with Speedy J in April, because we are working on a new project to be launched soon. I am very excited about it. Furthermore, I have been touring again for the past months. I am trying to do a gradual take-off, finding balance between time in the studio and being on the road.
 
02. What have you been listening to? 
To be honest, I haven’t been listening to a lot to stuff lately because I am so in my own music bubble that I barely take time to listen to other stuff. I am trying not to break my own flow. I think the last thing I might have listened to was the Arpanet album from a few years ago. No beats, and very cinematic electro stuff.
 
03. How’s 2022 going for you so far? 
I have to say it’s getting better each day. The agenda is filling up again and we can all finally do our jobs again. And, in between, I’m again trying to finish some projects which are keeping me occupied.
 
04. When and where did you record this mix?
This mix was recorded at the end of March on the techno special at Thuishaven Festivalterrein in Amsterdam. 

05. What made this mix so memorable for you? 
For me personally, that it is a mix with only my own work which I barely do normally. Lately, I’m seeing it as a challenge to fill a whole set with my own work while keeping it interesting. 
 
05. What do you remember of the night? 
I remember that people were really going for it. It was a magic evening; you could sense that people were really into partying again, and I was also totally in my flow!
 
06. This mix is full of your own material. Can you tell us about that? 
The mix is variety of new try-outs that I’ve finished over the last two years, older productions, remixes, and some edits. And I went back this time with lots of ’90s work which I haven’t played for years. I also played some music from my upcoming release on Token that is coming out at the beginning of July.
 
07. What’s next on your horizon? 
Coming soon, as I said, is a Sterac release on Token which is set to hit the stores in the beginning of July, then there’s a track for a Stone Techno compilation alongside a huge line of artists I respect, made entirely of samples extracted by Matthew Herbert from the frequencies of stones from the large collection at the Ruhr Museum, in collaboration with The Third Room. It’s a special project.

I also have a Steve Rachmad release coming up on Michel de Hey’s label. And, as I mentioned previously, Speedy J and I locked ourselves in the studio for a few days, which resulted in a few hours of material to be released later in the year. More information will come soon.

The rest is all under construction, but there is enough material for several albums!

XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to hear the podcast offline you will need to subscribe to our Select channel to listen offline, or subscribe to XLR8R+ to download the file. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.

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