At the age of 9, Richie Hawtin moved to Ontario, Canada, where he would begin his inevitable journey to becoming one of the forerunners of the revival of the almighty Detroit techno scene.

After moving to La Salle, Ontario, from his birthplace in Banbury, England, his father started work across the river in Detroit at General Motors as a robotics technician. A fan of electronic music himself, Hawtin’s father began introducing him and his brother, also a musician, to electronic music through artists like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. By the age of 17, Hawtin was DJing his unique mix of House and Techno at clubs in the electronic mecca of Detroit. In 1990, he met Canadian DJ John Acquaviva, and the two started record label Plus 8. Hawtin began releasing as F.U.S.E. and running raves in the Detroit scene.

A man of many aliases, Hawtin has also released material under the names Concept 1, Forcept 1, Circuit Breaker, Robotman, Chrome, Spark, Xenon, and, most notably, Plastikman, born in 1992. Hawtin’s range of styles is staggering, demonstrating a flair for everything from the minimal Acid Techno evident in Plastikman’s early releases like “Spastik” to more ambient, experimental tunes found in his 1998 LP, Consumed. He moved to Germany in 2003 to immerse himself in the hotspot of music and technology that is Berlin.

Always well-respected within the electronic scene, Hawtin and his array of aliases have been recognized with multiple nominations and awards from DJ magazines and organizations every year since 1998.  He’s been known to push the boundaries of electronic music and those who listen to it. Amid a North American explosion of dance music in 2012, Hawtin embarked on a tour of colleges with fellow producer Loco Dice called CNTRL: Beyond EDM aimed at combining educational lectures on music recording and production with a show at night featuring artists and DJs on the forefront of cutting-edge electronic music.