Setaoc Mass

Setaoc Mass is an essential voice in techno and electronic music today. As a DJ, producer and label curator, his vision is bold and clear, rooted as much in techno as it is in IDM and experimental music. His sound—sleek, hypnotic, ultra-refined—is instantly recognizable, the result of tastes and techniques honed over 15 years of monklike dedication to his craft. Setaoc Mass records are routinely gobbled up by DJs lauded by shops like Hard Wax. His labels, SK_Eleven (a platform for his own music) and SK_X (an outlet for music from like-minded artists are among the best in techno. As a DJ, he is a regular on the world's most hallowed dance floors, from Berghain to Bassiani. Setaoc Mass is Sam Coates, an artist born in Manchester, long-since based in Berlin and now in Kyiv, Ukraine. He started DJing and making music after a simple experience that changed everything: a friend's older brother showing him a series of seminal music videos from artists like LFO, Aphex Twin and Autechre. Soon Coates was soaking up CLR podcasts and marathon techno sets in Berlin. The foundation for the sound of Setaoc Mass—driving, atmospheric and meticulously well crafted—was being set. In 2013, Coates moved from Manchester to Berlin and dedicated himself to music completely."From my morning coffee till I went to bed," he said, "I'd be in my small room with my headphones. No gigs, no cash, just exploring Ableton, Native Instruments, Reaktor, experimenting with different ideas, finding my sound, seeing what I liked and what I didn't like." The work paid off. In 2015, impressed by his sound, Spencer Parker tapped Coates for an EP on Work Them Records." Soon his records were in demand from institutions like Soma Recordings and Len Faki's label, Figure. But Coates was most interested in his own label, SK_Eleven, a "highly personal" project named after his home postal code that remains the primary home for his music. The sound of Setaoc Mass has always stemmed off in many directions, with ambient, electro and experimental scattered across his EPs. Then came 2022's Horror Vacui, a debut album that made a clear artistic statement: with Setaoc Mass, techno is just the tip of the iceberg. A devotee of his music's history with no patience for nostalgia, Coates has absorbed techno's legacy, and is dedicated to pushing it forward. Words by Will Lynch mayra@sourceartists.net