Civil Society, Inertia, VOID and Sydney Festival are proud to present the debut Australian performances of one of the most prolific and unmistakable outfit in electronic music, the legendary and mysterious German techno dub collective Rhythm & Sound – the creative force behind Basic Channel, Chain Reaction and Maurizio.

Mark and Moritz established themselves as pioneers of techno in the early 90s with Basic Channel and collaborations with Jeff Mills and Carl Craig et al. Basic Channel’s ground breaking aesthetic changed the shape of the genre. Rhythm & Sound is the realization of the collective’s desire to take the sound of Basic Channel to its next logical conclusion. This evolution developed the dub-reggae bass lines of their earlier techno work to create a new sound in dub. This new creative endeavour is challenging the norms of the dub in the same groundbreaking manner they did to Detroit style techno a decade earlier.

While still drawing on the techno elements from their past, Rhythm & Sound is a move from the dancefloor-orientated techno sound to a dub-reggae aesthetic – a move which signaled a shift in both the collective and in the wider European dub community. During this period of development Rhythm & Sound garnered the support of Dominican born, Berlin based vocalist Tikiman whose singular ‘broken’ voice has made him a highly in-demand artist in Europe’s dub and electronic music scene. Cited as a major influence on Dubstep by the leading lights of Dubstep – Burial, Kode 9, Pinch and many others – Rhythm & Sound have once again been able to carve a new niche for themselves and change the shape of a genre.

* Please note Moritz von Oswald was originally advertised as appearing for Rhythm & Sound at the Sydney Festival. Due to a stroke suffered in October 2008 Moritz is no longer appearing.