When Oscar Powell started releasing records under his surname, he was still very much connected to the then-active post-dubstep scene. Since then, the Londoner has continuously expanded his repertoire and increased his archive of practices and forms of composition. Celebrated as an innovative producer and live act, Powell combines current minimal music, the sound research of the Northern English label Modern Love, and his penchant for electroacoustic music into a virtual new music. Intended less for concert halls and more for the fringes of club music. At the BLAUES RAUSCHEN festival, Powell combines his hyperacoustic electronic compositions with real-time animations by filmmaker Michael Amstad in a new version of a ƒolder.

Powell’s breakthrough came with a loud bang: a viral marketing campaign by his label XL working with an email from grunge legend Steve Albini, who spoke out against “mechanized dance music.” A scandal? Not really, as Albini recognized the British producer as an adventurous and avant-garde sound researcher – and a kindred spirit. Since then, Powell has shown on three official albums and numerous other (unofficial) releases how he combines the legacy of British bass music – especially (post-)dubstep – and minimal music, places it on a modern foundation, and continually elicits new perspectives from this fusion. Most recently, 26 Lives, an album collaboration with the London Contemporary Orchestra, was released.