While the adage, “it’s a man’s world,” is entirely tiresome, it still begrudgingly has a hint of truth to it. While women and non-binary artists are gaining more recognition, it’s still difficult to avoid prejudgments based on gender, especially in the music industry.




Today we’re here to celebrate some of the industrious women of the genre. Some women on this list have performed under male-skewing monikers to avoid criticism and fight against harsh stereotypes. These women are an inspiration, not just for female producers but for all artists in the modern techno scene.







Stella Bossi



Stella Bossi is impenetrably cool. This German DJ is part social media star, part hard techno producer, and–most recently–part record label owner. With dark sunglasses permanently fixed to her modelesque face, she deadpans her way through joyous rave-kid activities on Instagram. Hot boxing inflatable bubbles, leading unicorns into the club, and napping in supermarket freezers are just a few of her specialties. Internet humor aside, her new label, The Beat Must Fuck has a truly innovative approach. She taps her virtual community to vote on which tracks will get a deal. All her releases, including her 2021 hit “Molly for Breakfast,” were released there.









Amelie Lens

Amelie Lens is a Belgian techno DJ, record producer, and owner of the imprint Lenske. She’s always had a broad taste in music but cites a 2006 festival as the start of her obsession with techno. She started immersing herself in the history of electronic music, clubbing regularly, and teaching herself how to mix. In 2014, she left her career in fashion to pursue music full-time. In 2016, she debuted with her Exhale EP on Italy’s Lyase Recordings. As a resident at Labyrinth Club in Hasselt, she began to curate her own club nights, also under the name Exhale. She’s since taken Exhale experiences to festivals around the world and recorded a mix for fabric London in 2019.







Lilly Palmer

Lilly believes that music is freedom. Well-known for the intriguing energy of her live sets, Lilly Palmer wants, first and foremost, to create a bond with her audience. She became enchanted with the hypnotic rhythms of techno when she was a teenager and said the more she immersed herself in the scene, the more she became addicted. Though this German DJ and techno producer only started releasing original music in 2017, she’s in hot demand these days. After a breakthrough performance at a boutique Netherlands festival called Hrfst introduced her to a slew of new fans, Lilly felt her career began to surge forward. Now based in Amsterdam, she’s touring around Europe, sharing the music that set her soul on fire.




Deborah de Luca

As one of the most impressive talents to emerge from the international techno scene over the past decade, Deborah de Luca is unrivaled in her determination and passion. Raised in one of Naples’ toughest districts, this young Italian came from humble beginnings. She talks earnestly of her early days as a nightclub dancer, telling young artists that nobody should tell them what they can and can’t become. In 2013, the industrious artist launched Sola_mente Records and began releasing music rapidly. In 2018, she celebrated a decade in the business with her first full-length album, Ten. Now regularly referred to as ‘The Techno Queen of Naples,’ Deborah de Luca has left an undeniable mark on the music industry.







Monika Kruse

The musical career of Monica Kruse spans more than 30 years. In the early 90s, she played a massively influential role in the early Munich rave scene, and she was among the first wave of German techno artists to begin touring internationally. While her earliest sets slanted towards hip hop and funk, she listened closely to the budding techno and house music from the midwestern United States. At the turn of the century, she moved to Berlin and started her label, Terminal M. In the quarter of a century that the label has been active, she’s helped to cultivate some of the genre’s strongest modern talents. These days, Monika is seen as techno royalty and is held in the highest regard by her peers.







Charlotte de Witte

Charlotte is a pioneer, not just for female DJs and producers but for all artists in the modern techno scene. Born in Belgium, she started spinning in 2010. A year later, she won a DJ contest held by a local radio station, giving her a performance slot at the massive Tomorrowland festival. At the time, she was performing under the alias Raving George, attempting to avoid negative presumptions against female DJs. Though she continued regularly releasing music, she didn't use her real name for another five years. Her hits “Doppler,” “Sgadi Li Mi,” and “The Age of Love”–written with her now husband Enrico Sangiuliano–solidified her spot as a trailblazer in the acid techno movement.







Marika Rossa

Marika Rossa is not afraid to experiment, even if it risks causing a bit of backlash. She comes from the harsh underground of the Ukrainian techno scene, but she’s not held down by any mold. Her daring self-expression shines in her music and style, and it seems to be working. This bold producer, DJ, designer, and businesswoman has already garnered an army of loyal fans worldwide. In 2010 she joined the label Italo Business with the track “Loppestein,” produced together with Dandi & Ugo. Recently, she started her label Fresh Cut. In true “coming out swinging” fashion, Fresh Cut’s first release charted on the Beatport Hard Techno top 100 in less than a week.







ANNA

DJ Mag once said about ANNA, “DJing feels not so much like something ANNA does, but something she is.” If said about anyone else, it might feel a bit cliché. But for ANNA, it feels fitting. Born in Brazil, she grew up in her father’s popular local nightclub. From a young age, she developed an irrevocable connection to music and permeated herself into the clubbing atmosphere. On the production front, she’s dropped critically acclaimed music on nearly every significant label in techno. In 2019, a richly deserved slot on BBC’s Essential Mix distilled her 20 years of experience into one remarkable masterclass in great techno.







Nicole Moudaber

Nicole Moudaber is more than a DJ. She’s also a record label founder, event promoter, radio personality, philanthropist, and advocate for the electronic music community. She began her career as a party promoter in Lebanon before she moved to London to establish herself as a DJ. In 2009, she caught the attention of legendary techno producer Carl Cox, who signed her to his label that year. She’s since started her label, MOOD Records, in addition to her award-winning radio show In The MOOD. With nearly 500 episodes, In The MOOD is broadcast weekly in over 50 countries to over 20 million listeners.



9 Women in Hard Techno You Should Know

For those who are dying to know what keeps ravers coming back to the shadows of the underground, gather around and lace up your combat boots: let’s talk about hard techno.


Before we begin, let’s make sure we’re up to speed on the basics. Techno music originated in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, establishing itself in US cities including New York, Detroit, and Chicago. Growing out of European dance music and becoming an unstoppable force of its own, techno has enraptured the global music market even beyond electronic genres.


Marked by thumping 4/4 kick drums and synths that can sound equally nostalgic and futuristic, this is the sound that powers the underground and influences countless subgenres across the electronic spectrum.




So, what about hard techno? Some may believe good, old-fashioned techno is intense, yet it’s nothing compared to its ferocious counterpart. Born in the late ‘90s, the Schranz movement— led by industry veteran Chris Liebing— saw techno producers dish out even harder kicks and ultra-fast tempos reaching and even exceeding 150 beats per minute. This style is what we know now as hard techno, and it’s become a sweeping movement in dance music like never before.


When we call this music ‘hard,’ we refer to the hardcore influences that act as the foundation of this sound. If you’re familiar with genres like gabber or uptempo hardcore (200 BPM, anyone?), you understand why this genre is aptly titled. Crushing kick drums and heavy distortion are the trademarks of hardcore and its many subgenres, including the sound of hard techno.


In 2019, journalist Annabel Ross penned a piece for Beatportal titled Why Techno Is Harder, Faster and Angrier Than Ever, exploring the emerging trend of techno DJs playing harder music. “Subgenres that were once considered fringe, or even garish, like gabber and hardcore, are suddenly everywhere,” she wrote, “and purveyors of these styles, and of harder techno, are often enjoying a sudden and unexpected boost in status.”




Ross investigates a few reasons why this has become a trend: the natural ebb and flow of the genre’s popularity across generations, rising tensions among nations and individuals worldwide, and simply just the fun of dancing like a maniac to mega-fast beats. Whatever your reason, there’s sure to be a style of hard techno just for you.


Made for aggressively stomping on the dance floor inside an abandoned warehouse at 3:18 a.m., hard techno is best complemented with minimal production when it comes to the setting — you won’t find 20-foot LED walls or confetti drops at these shows. Some of the best hard techno parties are nestled in a dark alley on the city streets, powering the dance floor with just a DJ setup, speakers, and maybe one all-consuming red light or strobe. This music is for dancing yourself clean of all sins, basking in the drama and the terror of the kick drum as you try to keep up with the DJ.






Despite the often rigid instrumentation across hard techno, there are plenty of opportunities to feel the groove and a sense of release in this music. With artists like Krl Mx influenced by the galloping percussion of psytrance and others like Vizionn pulling inspiration from classic trance of decades past, the spectrum of hard techno contains multitudes.




If you prefer the bouncier styles of hard music, there’s no shame in dabbling in the uber-fun genres like donk and hard house to work your way into the hard techno dungeon.


Visiting the catalogs of storied producers such as Fatima Hajji will be your key to the vast world of hard techno. With releases spanning back to 2008 available on digital streaming services, Fatima’s anything but traditional hard techno fare serves as a fine, diverse guide for new fans.



There’s more hard music on mainstream music festival lineups in today's electronic music scene than ever before. Take this year’s lineup for EDC Las Vegas, for example, which features hard techno acts Deborah de Luca, I Hate Models, Charlotte de Witte, and even hardcore acts Mad Dog, DJ AniMe Rob Gee. Now accessible to a broader audience, the potential for hard techno’s global explosion seems all but inevitable. We’ll see you on the dance floor — and don’t forget your stomping boots.



Let's Talk About Hard Techno

The reigning queen of Italian techno, Deborah De Luca will rock a hometown stream on July 5th, 2021. In partnership with Beatport, she will DJ from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy. The event will stream via her Facebook page. Located only a stone’s throw from where she was born in Le Vele, Scampia, this is sure to be a passionate set for the Italian DJ and producer.

De Luca’s hard-hitting techno reverberating through the massive 54,000 seat stadium will undoubtedly be a sight to behold. The stadium is the third-largest in Italy. And it holds a special place in De Luca’s heart as it’s where her home-turf team Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, affectionately known as Napoli plays.

De Luca hasn’t slowed down one bit over the last year, despite COVID eviscerating the dance music industry. In 2020 she released her acclaimed album “She Sleeps” to rave reviews from the techno world. She also continued to release singles and EPs at a breakneck rate on her Solamente imprint. 

This isn’t the first stream for De Luca from her beloved Naples. Back in 2020, she streamed from atop Vele De Scampia. The housing project where she was born and spent her early youth. It was made famous in the critically acclaimed crime drama Gomorrah. De Luca’s stream was meant to shed her suburb in a more positive light and showcase the urban beauty as a gorgeous backdrop to her heart-stopping beats.

The live stream event may further prove that returning to the dance floor won't stop the streaming game. Utilizing fantastic vistas and well-known locales for streaming events is a trend that allows artists to highlight their favorite places to audiences that may never get a chance to experience them. And for De Luca it lets her share her pride in her home.

Tune in to the stream live via Facebook on Monday, July 5, 2021, at 11:45 AM.

Deborah De Luca Will Drop A Special Hometown Stream From Naples, Italy

Hailed by BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong as “the techno queen of Naples,” Deborah de Luca commands any venue she plays as if it were her kingdom. Her trance-like beats, elegant demeanor, and compelling samples place her on a throne in front of any crowd. Watching her perform is an undoubtedly powerful experience, and one that is surely deeply moving for dance music fans and aspiring DJ/producers alike.

Her stage presence and technical prowess aren’t the only thing about her that inspire, either. The venerable musician’s origin story, too, is deeply motivating.

de Luca was born and raised in Scampia, a community just outside Naples that is infamous for high crime rates and mafia activity. Always highly motivated, de Luca worked hard to rise above her surroundings, first working as a waitress and a dancer in local nightclubs. When she was 18, she moved to Northern Italy to pursue a career in fashion, but quickly realized that her true passion was in the music industry.

She received early career support from fellow Naples-based DJ Giuseppe Cennamo, who mentored her and provided key opportunities that built the foundation for her long and illustrious career. In 2013, de Luca took a landmark step by minting her own record label, Sola_mente Records, to use as a platform for her own releases. From here, her work slowly built steam until 2018, when she released her debut LP, ‘Ten.’

And since then, the steam has continued to build and de Luca’s music, fanbase, and career have continued to grow. She’s graced stages worldwide, from Lebanon to Paris and in 2020, she was ranked as #93 in DJ Mag’s top 100 DJs. In 2019, she held a residency at Eden Ibiza, and she still plays frequent sets on the island.

Deborah de Luca

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