
Barker
also plays New York City — 1 night
Looking beyond the realm of 4/4 techno to explore left-field sound design and rhythmic complexity, the Berghain resident’s string of signature solo releases for the club’s Ostgut Ton imprint and Smalltown Supersound have explored the rhythmic functionality of pumping, twisting and constantly evolving modular electronics. These popular releases and live performances have earned Barker widespread acclaim from the underground to the mainstream and everything in-between, both off and on the dancefloor.
After an intense, fruitful period of experimentation and conceptual development, Barker released his solo debut EP Debiasing on Ostgut Ton in 2018, containing four hypnotic and kick-less dancefloor experiments based on research into behaviorism and cognitive bias. This was followed by his solo debut album Utility, a playful but intentional musical approach to translating a spectrum of transhumanist ideas, packed into a deeper exploration of the emotive potential of rhythmic ambient electronics and – once again – almost entirely without kick drums. Both releases were received by many as instant classics, helping to define a discrete category of ambient dance music. Utility made numerous Best of 2019 year’s end lists, including Pitchfork, The Quietus, DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and others. It also earned the title of Mixmag’s Album of The Year 2019. As Philip Sherburne wrote in his Pitchfork review: “For anyone who has ever fantasized about dissolving into the dancefloor, Utility is about as close as it gets.”
The rest of it — five more paragraphs
These releases were followed by two limited-edition white label EPs for Ostgut, BARKER001 and BARKER002. In 2023, he released the Unfixed EP on Smalltown Supersound, followed by another limited-edition white label 12" on the label in 2025, Cosmic Microwave / Stochastic Dynamics In Non-Linear Systems. In April 2025, Barker released his second full-length Stochastic Drift. Inspired in part by Euclidean and probabilistic patterns as well as the chaos and uncertainty of the preceding years, it emerged from a place of vulnerability that announced itself in the music's emotional impact. Boomkat celebrated the album as unfolding "like a galaxy-brained afters playlist…Barker's relentless research and development makes his music as fluid and mutable as his palette." In their Best New Music review, Pitchfork's Harry Tafoya described it as "his most dazzling and definitive statement to date." Stochastic Drift was also named Mojo Magazine's #1 Electronic Album of 2025.
Whether performing live solo or as part of a group, DJing on his own or B2B, Barker combines bass music, techno, electro, breakbeat, dub and ambient elements that coalesce into a distinctive, future-facing vision. He is one-half of Barker & Baumecker with longtime Panorama Bar resident nd_baumecker, with whom he has released multiple EPs, two albums and dozens of remixes. And his expansive approach to unorthodox musical exploration has led to ongoing live collaborations with the likes of Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske, alongside Speedy J, Rødhåd and Sebastian Mullaert in the shapeshifting live improv outfits Stoor, WSNWG and Circle of Live, installations developed with creative computer programmer Kay Sievers / Versio Duo, and remixes for the likes of Martin Gore, Tangerine Dream, JakoJako, and Planetary Assault Systems.
It's a perspective also reflected in his curation of the Leisure System label and Berghain club night of the same name, which held the longest residency in Berghain's history. Launched in 2008, with the label following in 2009, Leisure System has since released seminal works by the likes of Dopplereffekt, Objekt, JakoJako, and Visionist, among many others.
In addition to his recorded music, live sets, and DJing, Barker is an active instrument designer who combines coding skills with analogue, electric and acoustic instrument construction for his experimental archive and platform Voltek Labs. In the summer of 2020, he contributed a large-scale sound installation, Piano-1, to Berghain’s Studio Berlin art exhibition, featuring a self-playing piano performing generative serial compositions named Attune, which emphasize democratic harmonic relationships between tones. He has also delved deep into constructing his own MIDI-triggered acoustic instruments, including a prepared plate reverb and various percussion instruments, notably used to explore the resonant architecture of Detroit’s empty, abandoned factories with Underground Resistance’s Ray7. In August 2024, Barker collaborated with Kay Sievers / Versio Duo on the Discrete Ensemble installation, at the Neuenationalgalerie in Berlin, built around a set of eight MIDI-controlled mechanical string instruments called Viola-1. In September 2025, he performed alongside Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske for Atonal Festival in Berlin, with further live and studio collaborations for the pair on the horizon.
Barker’s musical focus continues to be on the peak-time dancefloor potential of ambient music as he works on another album and label. Operating on the periphery of club music, he continues to shift its centre.
Their Resident Advisor profile, in full and unedited.
SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Discogs ↗
Records out on Ostgut Ton, Smalltown Supersound, Leisure System, Air Texture, Krake and Unrush. — their own list on Resident Advisor
The nights
2026
- Sat 3 OctBerghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 8th night · OstGut GmbH
- Thu 24 SepZENNERfirst time
- Sat 15 AugBerghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 7th night · OstGut GmbH
- Sat 6 JunBerghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 6th night · OstGut GmbH
- Sat 25 AprBerghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 5th night · OstGut GmbH
2025 — 5 nights
- Sat 1 Nov 2025Berghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 4th night · OstGut GmbH
- Sat 11 Oct 2025Berghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 3rd night · OstGut GmbH
- Fri 26 Sep 2025Berghain | Panorama Bar | Säuletheir 2nd night · OstGut GmbH
- Sat 6 Sep 2025Berghain | Panorama Bar | Säulefirst time · OstGut GmbH
- Fri 1 Aug 2025Dark Matter Berlinfirst time
Their rooms
One tick a night, on the one axis this page has — Aug 2025, where the listings start, to Jan 2027, the last night anybody has announced. The shaded end has not happened yet.
- Berghain | Panorama Bar | Säulea standing night, most Saturdays · Sep 2025 – Oct 20268 nights
Once each: ZENNER and Dark Matter Berlin.
Who they play with
Ten nights on the books, and no name on more than one of them.
- Fri 1 Aug 2025Colin Benders · Patrick Franke
- Sat 6 Sep 2025Claudio PRC · LOLSNAKE · Marcel Dettmann · Sol Ortega · Truncate · Vera Logdanidi · André Galluzzi · Bennet (DE) · DITA (ID) · DVS1 · Eluize · Radio Slave · Sven von Thülen · Berghain · Panorama Bar
- Fri 26 Sep 2025Ignez · Lady Starlight · Peryl · Rødhåd · Berghain · Sara Clarke
- Sat 11 Oct 2025Colin Benders · Answer Code Request · Beste Hira · Mary Yuzovskaya · OPH · Reka Zalan · The Lady Machine · Christian AB · Gene On Earth · Hiroko Yamamura · Lakuti · Seth Troxler · Stella Zekri · Berghain · Panorama Bar · Norman Nodge
- Sat 1 Nov 2025AMORAL · Aöcram · BLANKA · DJ Nobu · Kwartz · Nastia Reigel · Alinka · Budino · Fadi Mohem · Gabrielle Kwarteng · Honey Dijon · Yes'in · Zombies In Miami · Roman Flügel · Berghain · Panorama Bar · Säule
- Sat 25 Apr 2026Rosati · Amanda Mussi · Anika Kunst · Developer · Dotdat · Steffi · Stojche · Claude VonStroke · DJ Dustin · Natascha Kann · nd_baumecker · Polygonia · Roi Perez · Vera · Berghain · Panorama Bar
- Sat 6 Jun 2026Chami · OPH · Dasha Rush · Don Williams · Maemm · Sonhan · Steffi · Lakuti · Moopie · Naomi (Berlin) · Sugar Free · Tijana T · Virginia · Yamour · Berghain · face 2 face · Panorama Bar
- Sat 15 Aug 2026Mathew Jonson · DJ Nobu · Ina Kacz · LYZA · Nastia Reigel · Rene Wise · Ryan Elliott · Annabelle Gaspar · Eden Burns · Eli Escobar · Loidis · Man Power · MAYURASHKA · Ogazón · Berghain · Panorama Bar
- Thu 24 Sep 2026machìna · suppport by
- Sat 3 Oct 2026abs8lute · AMORAL · Answer Code Request · BLANKA · Ryan Elliott · The Lady Machine · Biesmans · Barbara Preisinger · Carlos Valdes · Cormac · DVS1 · Mano Le Tough · PARAMIDA · Shonky · Berghain · Panorama Bar
98 people have stood on one of these bills; none has stood on two.
The nights, the rooms and the bills are the listings themselves. The biography, the labels and the photograph are Resident Advisor's. Nothing on this page was written for it.