Berlin resident Patrick Gräser produces highly inventive techno as Answer Code Request, filled with broken rhythms, enveloping synth pads, and sinister bass. While clearly designed to provide an exhilarating club experience, his music often deviates from standard beat patterns and sometimes dips into slower tempos. Gräser grew up in East Germany, and the Berlin Wall fell when he was nine years old. He eventually began traveling to the city and frequenting its clubs and record stores, devouring everything from drum'n'bass and breakbeat hardcore to IDM and acid techno to hip-hop. He began releasing minimal techno records under his own name in 2008, but he adopted the Answer Code Request moniker in 2011, and his music became far more experimental. ACR's debut EP, Subway Into, appeared on his self-titled label in 2011. Two more 12"s were released by Marcel Dettmann's eponymous label in 2012, the same year Gräser appeared on an EP released by Ostgut Ton, the label associated with the prestigious techno club Berghain. He soon became a resident DJ at the club, and following his self-released 2013 EP Crack City, Ostgut Ton issued ACR's Breathe EP and debut full-length, Code, in 2014. Following the EPs Calm Down (2015) and Neume (2016), the second ACR album, Gens, appeared in 2018, containing some of the project's darkest and most complex work yet. ~ Paul Simpson