When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, it left the yet to be unified German capital with something no other European metropolis possessed at the time: vast, empty, unregulated spaces and the collective will to fill them. The warehouses and power stations of the former East Germany became laboratories for a new kind of club culture. One that took Techno from its home, Detroit, and ran it through a European sensibility. One that was colder, more minimal and built for longer nights.

Tresor, which opened in 1991 in a former bank vault, was the critical connection point. Detroit legends like Jeff Mills, Robert Hood and Derrick May played its inaugural years. Explicitly passing the torch to a new generation of German artists who were building the sound from the inside out. Future legends like Tanith, Sven Vath and Ellen Allien to name a few.

What followed was a sustained, decades-long experiment in what a dancefloor could be. German Techno – with Berlin as its spiritual home – is not background music or even spectacle. It is architecture; functional, immersive and designed to suspend time. The emergence of Berghain in 2004 in a former power plant hardened this aesthetic into something globally recognised.

That foundation has always been rooted in its Black American origins, a fact that François X holds at the centre of his practice. A Paris-based DJ and producer, François X navigates the intersection of club culture, Black electronic heritage and artistic innovation across every set he plays and every record he makes. His music draws from the rich lineage of Techno, House and Soul while integrating a forward-thinking European approach to sound design and performance. Through his music, sets and new project bound states – out now via his own label XX Lab – he proves that Techno can be both uncompromising and boundless. A tribute to the past while pushing the future forward.

We asked François X to trace the shape of the sound. “[Berlin Techno] was very influential to me,” he tells Mixcloud. “I was heavily drawn to the special era of this scene between 2006 and 2012. I’ve included a list of sets from that era that define the sound for me.”

Ben Klock – Berghain 04 (2010)

Ben Klock is as synonymous with Berlin Techno as any single artist gets. A Berghain resident since the club opened, his Berghain 04 mix from 2010 – when his Sunday afternoon sets at the club were must-see – is a document of the sound at its most self-assured. The set moves through tracks from DVS1, Rolando, STL, Levon Vincent and Klock himself. It has a variety that doesn’t stray too far away from its Techno foundation. Klock shows real finesse as he shifts through sounds and moods. The result is a euphoric masterclass that shows Klock as a curator as much as a DJ.

Marcel Dettmann – FACT Mix 150 (2010)

Another Berghain resident, Marcel Dettmann is one of the most recognisable figures in the German Techno scene. His contribution to FACT Magazine’s fabled mix series is one of the most thoughtful documents of the Berlin sound committed to tape. Rather than simply showcasing peak-time Techno, Dettmann works as a historian. He pulls in Cristian Vogel from 1995, CTI’s ‘Conquest’ from 1984 and Hecate & Kareem’s ‘The Payback’ from 1996. Alongside then-unreleased productions from Norman Nodge and Redshape. It closes with an Aphex Twin cut under his Polygon Window alias. The effect is of a DJ mapping the full scope of the music. As well as the desire, as the original mix notes put it, to “plough on forward and make the future happen now.”

Shed – BodytonicLive 06

Shed is a producer whose biography reads like a compressed history of the genre. Born in Frankfurt/Oder and raised in Berlin’s orbit, the Soloaction Records Founder fell in love with Techno in the 1990s. Then, he became a perennial part of the German scene. His Bodytonic session is deeply rooted in the triangle of beats, breaks and samples that has always animated the scene.

Silent Servant – mnml ssgs MX11 (2008)

Silent Servant is the alias of Los Angeles-born Juan Mendez. He’s one of the figures who bridged Berlin techno with more American industrial and Post-Punk traditions. Silent Servant is also a key cog of the Sandwell District collective alongside the likes of Function and Female. His mnml ssgs mix from 2008 is a masterclass in darkness deployed with intent. It’s bursting with immersive atmospherics, slow-burning tension and the sense of sound as something felt in the body before the brain registers it. Sandwell District’s entire approach — deliberately obscure, visually minimal, sonically relentless — represented a redefinition of what electronic music could be and sound like.

Function – Live at Berghain (24.10.2009)

Function is the alias of David Sumner, another core Sandwell District voice. In October 2009, he performed live at Berghain unleashing a set that draws on Milton Bradley, Shed, Tadeo, Marcel Fengler and Patrick Pulsinger. As a live performance rather than a DJ set, this is a different document: the architecture of the music exposed, its components made visible. Function’s productions have always sat at the harder, more industrial end of the Berlin spectrum. Hearing that sensibility realised in real time is a rare thing.

RA.177 – Sandwell District (Function)

For the 177th edition of its storied mix series, Resident Advisor handed the keys to Function. He didn’t disappoint. Ben Klock, Elif Bicer, Peter Van Hoesen and Marcel Fengler make up the core of the tracklist, alongside Function’s own productions. If you want to understand what people meant when they talked about Berlin Techno at the turn of the 2010s, hit play.

Follow François X on Instagram and check out his new EP, bound states, out now.