Steve Bicknell

Being part of, evolving and developing the scene since the beginning of the 1990’s as a producer, DJ, promoter and general creative, Steve Bicknell is a name often mentioned when you talk about techno. Whether you refer to his renowned and beloved club night LOST (that span for over 25 years) or one of his two labels – it is clear that Bicknell plays a very vital part in the game.

Steve’s sonic journey started as a teenager in London being heavily influenced by dub music, warehouse parties, the fresh sound of the pirate radio stations, reggae and even blues parties. The acid house craze hit him in 1988 and had a massive impact on the young DJ, leading him to the next natural step of starting to write music of his own. Together with Sheree Rashit, Bicknell started the LOST parties and he is proud to say that many of the DJ’s and acts they supported via the party are now seen as key figures in today’s world of techno. LOST was also the name Steve took on for his first recordings released in 1990. When launching his first imprint Cosmic Records three years later (also co-run with Rashit) a new musical shift took place. Cosmic has 40 releases to date in its excellent back catalogue, where almost half of these carries Steve Bicknell’s name as producer. In 1996 a special LOST “division” was set up within the label – a series of 12”s were released, containing material that Bicknell had produced with the club’s dance floor in mind, both as “secret weapons” but also as a celebration of the club. From the first label two more imprints spawned; Clubtracks, focusing on more Chicago house-sounding productions, and ID(entity) created to release hidden aliases’ of well established artists affiliated with the Cosmic label and LOST nights.

The kind of music that Steve Bicknell creates is blistering straight to the point techno. It for sure has alien elements piercing through the beats, and the feeling that is created is that he blends these elements with an intoxicating raw ferociousness taming them perfectly. Looking at Steve’s early work it is clear to see he has succeeded to still keep the same vibrant energy and curiosity yet sharpening and transforming it into something fresh and current for today’s big room techno spaces. His DJ-sets shares a lot of similarities with his productions, tying both these elements together. Vast cavernous deep techno is the main focus here leading you into busier more brainy territories.

Aside from his latest project LSD (a collaboration with longtime friends Luke Slater and David Sumner) released on Ostgut Ton in November 2017, he also activated his second label 6dimensions in 2016. Releasing both his own as well as other artists material, Steve describes the label being “an exploration into balance and imbalance of the human mind’s natural make-up, of love, fear, joy, hatred, boredom and sexuality”. Seeing it being something more than just a record label – an outlet for creatives, a platform for expression without boundaries, presented and revisited in various creative mediums whether they be music, installations, events, audio stories, soundscapes, visual art or performance”.