9 May 2026
Sam Paganini
Not many artists like the Italian Dj & Producer are lucky enough to release a track that defies genre classification and reaches into mainstream culture, with people enthusiastically embracing its melody and adopting it as if it were a football anthem.
His track “Rave” has become an instant classic, a timeless piece of music gaining more than 100
million streams (becoming the most clicked Techno track ever). Since 1996, a landmark year for him thanks to the worldwide success of his track “Zoe” produced as Paganini Traxx, Sam Paganini’s stylistic experimentations have gone from strength to strength, leading him to collaborate and release his music on several record labels like Plus8, Cocoon Recordings and Drumcode, reaching the highest spots on Beatport’s Techno Chart several times. His unique musical journey has achieved great success both on the underground circuit as well as on the mainstream channels.
In 2016 Sam founded his own record label JAM as a new platform to play out his vision of techno
music. At first an outlet for his own productions releasing 3 albums and nowadays also a platform to discover new talented Artists.
Beside his studio work and production time, Sam’s DJ appearances are among the most requested by promoters worldwide: his sets are characterized by powerful grooves and have been described as “Sexy Groovy Dark Techno”, which speaks volumes, literally, on what to expect from his performances.
He has taken the stage at legendary clubs such as Berghain (Berlin), Output and Cielo (New York), Rex (Paris), Fabric (London), Crobar (Buenos Aires), Exchange (Los Angeles), Fuse (Bruxelles), Stereo (Montreal), Pacha (Barcelona), Fabrik (Madrid), Amnesia (Ibiza), Privilege (Ibiza) and Cocoricò (Riccione) just to name a few, and at Festivals like Awakenings (Netherlands), Nature One (Germany), Mayday (Germany), Tomorrowland (Belgium), Sziget (Hungary), Sonus (Pag Island), Time Warp (Germany), Ultra (USA). KAPPA Future Festival (Italy), Dour Festival (Belgium) and Monegros (Spain).
Stephan Bodzin
At this stage, Stephan Bodzin is very much his own man. He knows his own mind and he goes his own way. What he has achieved in the past doesn't matter to him. When in the studio these days, he is on a mission to interest and surprise himself, to find new musical avenues and explore different perspectives. "There is no recipe," he says. As such, he continues to look forward to serve up the most thrilling live show in techno. This year, that live show is taken up a level with double the amount of gear as he takes his latest album, Boavista, out on the road.
The new album is a further statement of authenticity from Bodzin. It finds the German artist continue to explore new melodic realms, as he always has. He pushes himself throughout, all with the simple aim of telling stories with each track and painting musical pictures that conjure up very real emotions in the listener. It's an album that operates in its own world, like Stephan himself, who has never followed trends. Instead he makes his own.
The music on Boavista is bright and colourful. It can get you in a daze or blow your mind. It's stuffed with the trademark synth sounds that have long defined Bodzin's output, mostly on his own Herzblut Recordings label, but also more recently Afterlife. Each track starts with a feeling, rather than being carefully constructed in the studio. It is always an epic melody, a melancholic chord or a cosmic pad that gets him started. From there he jams in the studio and eventually crafts different worlds and alternative realities through sound.
The live show will find Stephan playing on an array of synths and music machine machines, playing melodies live and serving up interpretations of the new album at each show. Mesmeric new visuals have been developed for the show. They take their cues from the digitised album cover, the blurred lines between different tones and abstract beauty therein. All this makes the next chapter in Stephan's long and accomplished career the most exciting yet.
