Blind Observatory has always occupied a quietly singular space within electronic music. Since first emerging in 2013 with a release on I/Y, the German producer has been inspired by the complex dialogues that arise between sound and emotion on the dance floor. An instinct that led him to launch his own imprint, Gravitational in 2016, releasing a string of deeply personal records that mapped the outer edges of techno, ambient electronics and widescreen introspection. Even in those early years, his productions carried a rare cinematic depth, beautiful subtle melodies combined with a deep love for techno exploration.
After a split release alongside Dorisburg and Agonis in 2018, the inaugural outing for Taiwan’s revered Smoke Machine series, Blind Observatory largely took some time off from releasing music, with a collaboration with Dr Rubinstein on Bpitch and a track on a Music For Strange Creatures compilation last year being his sole official output. An ADHD diagnosis put him in a position of relearning habits, rebuilding creative systems and understanding how differently the mind can move through time, work and feeling. He calls it one of the most creative phases he’s had in years, with the journey finding expression in Entropy Of Me, his first solo EP since 2017. Released via Gravitational Multiplex, a new collaborative label with Vincent Neumann that merges their respective prior labels of Gravitational and Unitas Multiplex, the output is three personal tracks expanding on his otherworldly introspective style. ‘Forbidden Sea’s’ is easily one of our favourite tracks from the last year.
There’s something deeply inspiring in the way Blind Observatory approaches both art and life, patient, reflective, stripped of excess, always chasing the simple things that matter most. A dog, a train ride, a sketchbook, a perfect loop. That same sensibility runs through his Truancy Volume. The mix is a masterfully assembled hour, suffused with euphoria and guided by the kind of emotional intelligence that can translate music into fleeting feelings. It unfolds through elegant, subtractive ambient electronics before leaning into more breaky techno/idm/jungle. It’s a deeply immersive and emotive mix, balancing introspection with momentum, its sweeping sound design conjuring vivid memories of nostalgia.
Hey there! So how have you been recently? What’s the year been like for you so far? How was that Sprocki Festival you did back in July? “I don’t wanna say 2025 was great because I just had to let go of my dog by the end of 2024. So especially the beginning of the year had this sad chord ringing through it. But I also got the chance to adopt this goofball who was ” all over it which totally changed the tone. Did a lot of selfcare. Left a job that I loved at a friend’s workshop to sign up at train college and become a train driver. So it was one of those big years where everything is changing all at once. Happens to me very predictably every seven years. That’s my orbit I guess. You have this also? Anyone?
Sprocki was great! Very chill spot not far from a lake. That’s the kind of party I am craving lately. I think for me personally this mega rave and big club era is completely over. All I want is a cute venue with a small crowd. No industry dipshits. Just a bunch of dedicated kids trying to get away and come together. I also got invited to Kyiv in April to play Rhythm Büro. It’s just such a cool scene and its one of two places in the world where I get FOMO when leaving. Also, now that I think of it, the 20 hour train ride probably set some switches for me.”
On Insta on the promo post for your new EP you mentioned that you’d been thinking a lot about the records that got you into electronic music and what made them special. Can you tell us about some of them and the special part that had you reminiscing. It wasn’t so much about any particular record but rather the feeling I got when digging and finding cool stuff. This sense of belonging and that I had found my place. Now it’s all full of AI slop and digging just gives me the ick. Am I the only one that feels this way? When I tried to find out all I got was cringe interviews of some NFT enjoyers and crypto connoisseurs how it’s a really “exciting tool” to fulfil their “creative vision”. So all this clown shit made me wonder; if I was young today, would I get into clubbing and electronic music at all?
With the EP I tried to create something that I know I would have picked up and maybe taken home from the shop 20 years ago. Everything is made with intent. I made all the design and drew every squiggly line. I wanted to have as much fun with the process of making a record as possible and totally disregard thinking of the final “product”. You know.. like.. the way people with an actual creative vision tend to do it.
So 2025 seemed like a milestone year as it marked a first solo Blind Observatory release since 2017, and it comes as part of a new co-op label called Gravitational Multiplex launched by Vincent Neumann and yourself. Can you tell us a little bit about the long break first Absolutely! This was by far the most creative phase I had in years. I released “Entropy of Me” on the new imprint. But also had a collab track with Dr Rubinstein on Ellen Allien’s We Are Not Alone Compilation. And I wrote “Meridian” for Super Gloss’ label. So this basically is the most new music I have ever released within a year.
Same with DJ sets. There were a bunch of them in 2025. The recordings from Sprocki and Loone, mixes on Deep Breakfast, NTS and Unrushed in late 2024 and now Truants that I recorded in winter. This also means I was digging way more in 2025 than the previous years. I remember I used to only manage one or two sets a year.
Forbidden Seas from the new ‘Entropy Of Me’ EP is one of my fave tracks released this year and is just soaked in that emotional layer that has been quite prevalent in your work. Can you talk to us a little bit about how the release came together? The press bio on Bandcamp says these are three very personal tracks. In 2018 I got diagnosed with ADHD which started a very long process of self discovery and healing. But also mourning, if that’s the right word. Another thing was of course the medication and how it changed the way I make choices or even how I perceive time. Things that I used to struggle with now came easy to me but also I had to relearn a lot of things that used to be second nature to me.
I used to work on the same project file for very long periods. They are some kind of diary that I come back to over and over again. Forbidden Seas I must have started in 2016. There is a folder of countless save states of this track. Sometimes with just minor changes and sometimes going into completely different directions. All my previous releases were basically just three different saves of the same project rendered on different days. If I remember correctly the title was a reference to a Moby Dick quote that Carl Sagan used in his Pale Blue Dot pep-talk that went like “As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.”. I think those noise stabs in the second half of the track might have been the carrier of a vocoder that I used on that passage of the speech but one day the file got lost and I thought the stabs actually work much better without. You know how it is with creativity through sloppy file management.
Entropy Of Me was the last track I finished before the diagnosis. I sent it to Vincent and he kept nagging me about it and really pushed me to get this record done. So that’s all on him actually.
After the diagnosis I was mostly working on music with odd meters and polymetres. There is an entire album of those tracks of which “Substanitia Nigra” is one of them. I might get around finishing the rest but for now I don’t wanna touch that stuff. It was very funny though to work for a year, eight hours a day in ⅞ and such and then go to a gig and mess up the first couple transitions and really struggling to find the downbeat on a techno track. Shows how much you can wire and re-wire your brain through music.
A lot of your music feels very introspective. As someone who is very introspective myself I often wonder what’s led people to make more heartfelt and deeply emotive music. Where do you think this comes from for you? Good question. Especially in the realm of dance music that is supposed to be designed for a single purpose and in most cases feels somewhat disposable with a very short shelf life. To go out and create something that you know will collect dust if it ever makes it onto a record store shelf seems silly. But then again… That’s the thing with “art-making” I guess. It’s an urge? An itch? That only doing it this one particular way can scratch?
I just can’t help it is what I’m saying. I can go to the studio as much as I want, clap my hands and say “So! Today techno! A banger. 4/4. Five minutes!” just to come out the other side three days later with tiny eyes, noodling on an endlessly winding ambient patch and rendering it into the “future dollar-bin gem” folder.
You’ve mentioned in past interviews that finding a trance-like approach to repetition as being one of your main focuses when starting or producing a track. Is that still the case? And how do you usually go about this? Yeah. Now in retrospect I can say this worked somewhat like a wheelchair for my mind. I would start working on something and there was a point when everything was right and my brain started to get “juicy” and I would slowly start doing things around the house. Do the dishes, fold the laundry, go back and fiddle some knobs. The silly part about it was the moment I felt it was ready to be arranged and turned into a track, I would hit “stop” and all the magic was gone. The shiny chariot turned back into a pumpkin and my spirit receded back into the attic again. So I always had trouble getting releases out.
This has completely changed. Instead of getting lost inside projects I now just render half a minute of it the moment I think there is an idea there. Once a month I will put all sketches into a demo reel and upload it to my SoundCloud and check in on it later or send it around if someone asks for material. It might sound stupid but getting there took a lot of training and this is such a big achievement for me.
Can you break down for us a bit on how you made your track ‘Meridian’ which also came out this year on the X-IZE – Music For Strange Creatures compilation? This one definitely feels more playful whilst still having that signature Blind Observatory sound. Meridian is the best example for this. Lina asked me for a track for her label and instead of getting lost in the studio and not getting back I could just send her a lil demo reel, she picked a sketch and I arranged it within three days. This would have never been possible without medication and learning tools to cope with ADHD.
It DOES feel more playful now that you say it! Thank you! I am still really happy about the kinda cute “bullet time” part towards the end. I used to have a small set of creative limitations that I established for my previous productions such as “if kicks are straight 4/4 then no straight 4/4 hi-hats on the off-beats” or “no swing on anything, no buildups nor drops, minimal transition effects only, no decorations”. This made all my tracks seem to be suspended in space. A bit like a lava lamp. Constantly in motion but never really moving in any direction. For Meridian I completely abandoned that and I think you can hear it.
As I was doing my research I couldn’t help but notice a picture on your Insta of some books where you had ‘The Art of Princess Monoloke, Moebius Arzach, Akira 2 and The Art of Space in your collection. Me and Taylor (who I run Truants with) are really into our art books and comics/manga so it was a pleasure to see those, especially with your own drawings dotted throughout your Insta. When did that interest start? What do you look for in your book inspirations? I have always been drawing and it’s my initial big special interest. I got into graffiti in the late 90s and from there into manga and then graphic design. When I was a teenager I had a subscription to an anime magazine and took part in a manga drawing competition and won a seat in a manga and anime master class at the convention they did every year. They had this guy do it. Tadashi Ozawa, who had worked on some of my favourite films like Akira, Nausicaä and Record of Lodoss War and whatnot. I think he was an inbetweener or animation-check or something. So the magazine would send him all the drawings and he would pick 30 kids for the workshop.
Later that year I signed up for design school and hatched the plan to learn all the technicalities needed to get into comics. You know… printing, typography, all the programs. Learning about the trade was so exciting that I kept on buying books explicitly about production design of manga, anime or movies. This was also the time I got into music and collecting records and would soon start working for labels and promoters doing covers or flyers. I got totally sidetracked and if you will the entire DJ thing was just a side quest that went somewhat out of hand. 2025 I have been drawing almost as much as back in those days. It felt really good to practice again and I now want to get back to it and maybe try fulfilling that dream and start working on a story.
Do you have any current faves you’d like to share with us? Does this include film too and other forms of media? I know you’re a big sci-fi fan too. YES! I got this Anime Architecture book. That’s basically all about background art of animes. Fantastic book and exhibition that I went to twice. They also are working with background artists to get some of them printed. I got a print of the background from that legendary Akira title sequence up on my wall. You can get these at riekeles.com
I got this NGE exhibition catalogue. I would think it’s from one of the later movies. Look at it! Just look at it! Those pencil lines. That’s the good stuff. That’s what gets the brain all juicy again. I haven’t had this out in a while but just flicking through it now gets me super hyped and I want to start drawing. You know what I mean? It’s the same with some records or DJ sets. You just get inspired.
Then there is a series of Otomo retrospectives that I really would love to get one day. Otomo – The Complete Works. That would be over 20 books filled with all he ever made. Original mangas but also his keyframes and finished cells. Backgrounds, storyboards, concept art, you name it.
How do you approach your sketchbooks and what you like to draw? I also loved the time lapse videos of you sketching out the artwork for your new release too. Is taking into digital a recent thing you’ve been exploring? Thank you! While I do draw digitally on an iPad with procreate for client work or my record cover, I mainly use drawing to get away from screens. So it’s back to just pen and paper. I started in the beginning of last year to reduce screen time to a minimum which turned out to be the most effective ADHD treatment after medication and caring for a dog. So much so that recently I got re-evaluated and lost the H and advanced to ADD. I do keep a journal and will also doodle all over it. Sometimes when watching a movie I will pause on a frame I like and take a quick sketch. Or do character studies, frame layouts or story boards for that comic I had in mind. Practicing inking with a brush or nib to get the muscle memory back.
Looking ahead, what territories, musical or otherwise, are you eager to explore in your upcoming work? What are you looking forward to most in the coming months? Music wise I will explore absolutely nothing in 2026 and am really looking forward to it. All my gear is in boxes and pushed into the farthest corners of my place. This year will be all about geeking out on trains and there won’t be much time for anything else. Every free minute I will be dedicating to my dog and I think I get a week of summer holidays that is aligned with this year’s Sprocki date so that’s the only thing music related this year for me. So it’s a bit of a sabbatical of my creative life.
Last, usual question from us, what was the last thing to put a big smile on your face and when was the last time you had a proper dance? My dog. All the time. I’m happy as a clam. Getting up every morning like it is Christmas. It’s the first time in my adult life that music is the least exciting thing of my day. Proper dance… as in wink, wink, proper.. def pre-pandemic. But I try to come early and stay late on every gig to dance to as many sets possible.
Blind Observatory: Soundcloud, Instagram, Bandcamp
You can download Truancy Volume 364: Blind Observatory in 320 kbps and view the full tracklist on Patreon here. Your support helps cover all our costs and allows Truants to continue running as a non-profit and ad-free platform. Members will receive exclusive access to mixes and tracklists. We urge you to support the future of independent music journalism—a little goes a long way. If you need any IDs though, please leave us a comment on the Soundcloud link and we will do our best to get back to you with the track ID :)
