It can be both a blessing and a curse to be married to the musical scene in one of the smallest metropolis of the world. Both aspects have been experienced in detail by the 44 year old Frankfurt based Pauli Steinbach. For almost a quarter of a century, Pauli has been present as a DJ around the globe in almost all major clubs. Pauli also has been working as A&R for some of the most influential record companies for electronic dance music; the history of techno becomes unthinkable without him.

The history of Pauli Steinbach cannot be told without the most known creator of techno world-wide: Sven Väth. In the early 90s, Pauli Steinbach and Sven Väth jointly built up the Frankfurt club Omen to become the most popular German address for techno music. Omen made electronic dance music to an international home for energy. Pauli’s tireless DJ vision of a cross fertilisation of European club culture, progressive house and tasteful techno inspired the aesthetics of the German clubbing scene far beyond Omen.

Hence it was only logical that Sven Väth built onto Steinbach’s musical instinct for trends when he founded his labels EYE-Q and Harthouse, after Pauli had already been working as A&R at Logic Records, back then Frankfurt’s most important dance music label. Until 1996, Pauli was responsible for EYE-Q and Harthouse and influenced the musical taste of a generation. Between 1996 and 1998, Pauli worked as DJ around the globe, including gigs in Mexico, Argentina, USA, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand and managed a club in the Mexican Caribbean (Espiral, Playa del Carmen) in 1998. At the end of the 90s, Pauli returned to Frankfurt. From summer 2000, he managed the label Cocoon Recordings, after first being at Frisbee Tracks for a short time.

Since then, Cocoon Recordings became one of the most important platforms for high quality and highly danceable electronic dance music in the new millennium. In all surveys, Cocoon Recordings is regularly established as one of the most popular German techno labels. For many techno and house producers it is a special honour to contribute to this story of success with an own release. This is not least the merit of Steinbach’s unerring A&R, who understands like no other to recognise at once musical aspiration and energy suitable for the dance floor. 

This extraordinary musical intuition also qualifies the DJ Pauli Steinbach. At the turntables, Steinbach stands for a life with and for music, which he was able to demonstrate in the last five years by DJ’ing at renowned festivals such as Nature One and Sonne, Mond & Sterne. Nearly 25 years experience with the dance floor characterise Steinbach’s ability to celebrate a holistic view of techhouse, far from dogmas and genre limits, where current techno tracks as well as the odd classic naturally go together. Hence it is only consistent that Steinbach still uses physical sound carriers and authentic DJ craftsmanship. Let’s be honest, are laptop DJ sets really sexy? If you’d like to experience a tonal multi-facetted night with timeless current electronic dance music between reduction and ornament, Pauli is your man for the job.