Because so many of my live techno sets from Spain were recorded, I didn't really feel much of a need to record perfect studio techno sets.  I feel like the best way to enjoy true techno is in a live setting, flaws and all.  Hopefully those recordings help recreate the feeling from those parties.  However here's a handful of occasions where I did feel the need to put something down in the studio.

Studio Techno Sets (1995-2002)

What was originally created as a promotional requirement for a small gig in Budapest became one of my more talked about mixes during the hard techno years.  I don't play like this anymore, but I can still appreciate the insanity.

In 2002, I wrote:
"this little promotional mini mix CD was given to the first 100 entrants into the coldwar party in budapest, hungary on december 14, 2002. it's unsettlingly hard."

recorded at tetanus studio, december 2002 - brooklyn 

AeoX - Nuclear Winter - Null 
Boss - Jahoda - Palica Vonzvreca 
Andreas Kremer - Rock Them (DJ Boss rmx) - Lifeform 
Dylan Drazen - Baba - Remains 
Simon Krach - Current Value - Null 
Polytechnique - Free Mind - Salpeter 
Next Level feat. Dylan Drazen - Doch - Unreleased 
Henrik B - Seven A - Illgo Rhythm

20 Minutes of Hell (2002)

In 2002, I wrote:

"67 minute techno mix originally recorded for dj dionysos's show on uk based pirate radio, broadcasted on 08.22.02. this is a spontaneous mix patched through the effects returns of my studio's mixing console, which gave the signal a strange compressed feeling."

recorded at tetanus studio, 08.07.2002 - brooklyn

Rob Acid - Mars - Shot Tools 
Mr. G - Mine U Bassbins - Duty Free 
Soultek - Chapter One - Kompute 
Smooky - Super Ugly - Electronik Weed Crew 
Mateo Murphy - Love Express (Umek rmx) - Turbo 
Hertz & Johan Bacto - Hektadrone - Zync Grooves 
Stanny Franssen - Object/Scene - Genetic 
Pounding Grooves - 26A - Pounding Grooves 
DJ Misjah - B2 - Mankind 15 
Invexis - Chrysanthemum - Kazumi 
Fabio MC - Prisma - BXR 
Mauro Picotto - We're Back - Sacrifice 
Fabio MC - Tortured - BXR 
Mario Piu' - Sensation - BXR 
Axel Martsch & Asem Shama - Drumfiles 2.0 - Spiel-Zeug Schallplatten 
Component - Memory Loss - Konsequent 
DJ Bold - Rooftop Views - Symbolism 
Component - Losing It - Konsequent 
Peter Dundov - Feelings - Musicman 
Component - Who Cares? - Konsequent 
Echomen - Truth (Weekend World rmx) - Hooj Choons

Blazin (2002)

This was a rare studio trancey techno mix that I felt like doing at the time.  A lot of my live sets those days were infused with these "rolling" kind of sounds, fueled mostly by my hero at the time Guy McAffer, the man behind the Raw and No Entry labels, and Geezer.

In 2001, I wrote:

"cd length tech-trance mix. something a little different for the kids."

recorded at tetanus studios, 09.03.01 - brooklyn 


Ian Wilkie - Guten Morgen - Polyester 
Tomaz vs. Filterheadz - More House - Traction 
Zzino vs. Filterheadz - Corrador - Traction 
Dave the Drummer - untitled - Hydraulix 6 
Geezer - Buff & Shine - Smitten 
Geezer - You've Just Fucked Up - Smitten 
Ice Pack - Ha-Ha - Cluster 
McAffer/Wightman - Nice Tits, Luverly Arse - Raw 007 
Trash Compactor - Put The Ham In - No Entry 
McAffer/Wightman - The Turnip That Loved Me - Raw 007 
Geezer - Shut Up - Smitten 
Andreas Krämer & Thomas Poradl - Lecker Mädche - Construct Rhythm 
Guy Geezer McAffer - Process Yellow - Minimum Maximum 
Max Graham - Shoreline - Hope 
S.O.L.I.S. - Dolphins - Alien 
Photon Project - The Inside - Black Hole 


Serius (2001)

In 1995 I was quite taken with trance. This is one of my very first attempts at making a mixtape. I believe it was recorded before dd01, just as trance was fully taking hold of our scene in the US. The audio is encoded off a cassette, but I did my best to remaster it back to life. I gave this mix to very few people. There is no track listing.

Trance '95 (1995) (Part 1)

Trance '95 (1995) (Part 2)

No discussion of underground techno purism and technical DJ mastery would be complete without the mention of Dylan Drazen’s uniquely remarkable life and career, and the myriad of musical influences it has brought. Conforming to no one person, genre or entity, Dylan has fiercely charted his own path since his sonic journey began over thirty years ago.

With the outset of Drazen’s path arriving in the early 90’s at the age of 18, a crescendo would already manifest by the late 90’s when Spain took note of his visionary methods and pioneering sound during the earliest days of the Internet, and he quickly became an originating stalwart of its nationwide underground techno scene for years, putting in over a million air miles commuting from his New York base, crisscrossing the Iberian peninsula many times over, as fans couldn’t get enough of his relentlessly energetic, organic and authentic rhythms that were so novel to a generation of partygoers.

Yet at the height of all this in the mid 2000s Dylan became swept up in the worldwide poker boom and found himself at a crossroads with dual careers. Maintaining both for nearly a decade, he decided to relocate to South Florida in 2012 to take poker more seriously and music took a back seat. By 2020, Dylan’s poker talent would bring him over $1 million in cash and tournament winnings. Then the pandemic hit, the world ground to a halt and everything was reset as he noticed fans begging for his return, bringing him to yet another crossroads…

So let’s reset.

Dylan’s exposure to multiple forms of music began at the age of 16 getting his first job working at his local record store on Long Island, NY. He quickly gravitated to electronic music, heavily inspired by what New York’s FM airwaves had to offer well before the hiphop era would take over. That summer he would sneak out to NYC and into his first club experience, The Limelight, where he instantly fell in love with its debaucherous environment and DJ booth, which he vowed to get into.

By graduation in 1993 he was beyond hooked. Before heading off to college, he took that summer to intern at a few Manhattan based labels: Todd Terry’s Freeze Records, as well as Astralwerks and Instinct Records. All the while insatiably crate digging through NY’s various vinyl shops, Dylan’s teen self was already swimming in local contacts and influences.

But college awaited, and throughout his time at Boston’s Emerson College (obtaining a degree in audio engineering) he launched a weekly radio mix show called “Underground 88” on WERS 88.9 FM through 1997, working his contacts and continuing to hone his technical skills live on air. During these formative years Dylan maintained working at various vinyl shops in NY and Boston doggedly advancing his exposure to every genre imaginable, thus contributing to his encyclopedic knowledge of electronic dance music and all of the wide-ranging influences it would bring him. As a byproduct, his position enabled him to recommend tracks to and influence the taste of bedroom DJs and a myriad of luminaries alike.

Through these years, he even made good on his promise to play at The Limelight before it shuttered, as well as other infamous New York megaclubs like The Tunnel, Twilo and Save The Robots. And thanks to his stint as assistant engineer at The Looking Glass Studios where David Bowie was recording his latest album in 1997, Dylan was hired to DJ Mr. Bowie’s private 50th birthday party after his sold out birthday performance at Madison Square Garden.

But by the turn of the millennium it was off to the races and Dylan was spending more time on the road than at home, as he found himself in demand not only in Spain, but also in The Netherlands headlining the Awakenings festival three times, as well as other major events and festivals in Germany, Brazil, Japan, and Colombia, spreading his unique form of techno gospel one city at a time. 

Between journeys Dylan made the most of his audio degree by building out his own studio in Brooklyn, releasing a handful of original releases and remixes on some of America’s more influential labels of the era: François K.’s Clicktracks; Ascend; Blueline; Remains; and Ultra Records. Even after moving to South Florida in 2012, Dylan continued to work on remixes for other Spanish and European labels.

Then as Dylan began to go dark quietly diving head first into South Florida’s world of high stakes poker, he made sure to finalize the curation of his life’s work on his website and SoundCloud page, with that nagging feeling he would one day return…

That day arrived in 2021 when Dylan decided to look for work as a local DJ in Fort Lauderdale and its saturation of gay nightlife. His bimonthly residency at the legendary Ramrod helped pave his way back, growing just as comfortable in today’s booths as he did 20 years prior.

After a couple years of this and then launching The Techno Files podcast, he realized it was time for more. So in 2025 Dylan decided to relocate once again, this time to the birthplace of where it all began: Detroit.

Within his first year as Detroit resident, Dylan was already playing events for Detroit Techno Militia & Bang Tech 12, along with multiple appearances at Spot Lite, Spkrbox & TV Lounge.

New York-born, Miami-tested, now Detroit-welcomed: Dylan Drazen is primed and ready to return to the world’s electronic stage showing modern audiences how 30 years of sonic mastery, experience and musical influence can be put on brilliant display in a single set.