Artist profile
About
Helena Hauff is a Hamburg-based German DJ and producer whose sets and records draw on acid house, EBM, industrial music, electro and stripped-back techno. She developed her musical identity in Hamburg, including a residency at Golden Pudel Club where she hosted Birds and Other Instruments, a night known for uncompromising selections. Hauff studied fine art, physics and systematic music science, and that combination of visual, technical and sonic curiosity is reflected in the precision of her work. She builds tracks with analog machines, often recording live takes rather than relying on dense digital editing; the result is rough-edged, tense and tactile, with claps, distorted bass and metallic percussion allowed to remain audible. Her debut Actio Reactio EP appeared in 2013, followed by Discreet Desires on Werkdiscs in 2015 and Qualm on Ninja Tune in 2018. Later releases include A Tape, Living with Ants, Living with Ladybirds and Multiply Your Absurdities, while labels such as PAN, Lux, Handmade Birds, Return To Disorder and Tresor have carried different sides of her catalogue. Hauff has also curated the Return To Disorder imprint and contributes to the Black Sites project with F#X, whose R4 album arrived in 2025. Her recorded mixes include Kern, Vol. 5 for Tresor and Fabric Presents Helena Hauff, and in 2017 she became the first woman to win BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix of the Year. She has played major clubs and festivals around the world while retaining a deep connection to Hamburg’s underground. The appeal lies in the contrast: her selections can be severe and abrasive, yet they leave room for acid euphoria, electro funk and moments of strange beauty. Hauff treats the booth and the studio as places for investigation, favoring instinct, physical impact and a clear personal point of view over easy genre labels.