Steve Rachmad is widely acknowledged as the father of Dutch techno. The Amsterdam native was one of the first electronic artists to establish a connection between his home city and Detroit, and throughout a career lasting several decades, he's remained inexhaustibly productive, exploring various forms of techno, house, and electro under more than a dozen pseudonyms. He first broke through with releases such as 1995's Secret Life of Machines (credited to his most well-known alias, Sterac) which expanded upon the driving, melodic sound of Detroit techno artists like Derrick May and Carl Craig. He's additionally made electro and tech-house as Tons of Tones, dub-influenced techno as Parallel 9, minimal techno as Scorp, and several flavors of techno and acid under his own name, as on the 2006 full-length Neo Classica. He's also remained highly active as a DJ, incorporating his disco and electro influences into his techno and house sets. Born in 1969, Rachmad began collecting records and making cut-and-paste productions with an open-reel tape deck when he was a teenager. He started to DJ at age 15, initially spinning the disco and electro of the era, including productions by Jam & Lewis and Arthur Baker. Attempting to emulate his influences, he acquired his first drum machine, a Roland TR-808, in 1985, and continued amassing an extensive collection of mainly analog equipment. After being introduced to the Chicago house and Detroit techno sounds which were first making waves around that time, he began producing his own instrumental dance tracks. By 1993, he had started releasing material under monikers such as A Scorpion's Dream ("Aqua Dance," issued by May's Fragile Records), Rachmad Project, and Black Scorpion. Tons of Tones and Sterac first released EPs in 1994; the former issued a self-titled compilation on Urban Sound of Amsterdam the following year, while the latter released Secret Life of Machines (on 100% Pure), subsequently regarded as a techno classic. A proper Tons of Tones full-length, Platinum, appeared in 1997, including the sought-after electro track "Sheherezade." Rachmad continued releasing material under numerous pseudonyms, including Ignacio and Continuous Cool. He released his first mix CD, Emerging, under his own name in 1998. A second Sterac album, Thera, appeared the same year. He began releasing a series of stripped-down techno singles as Scorp in 2000, the same year he released Tir Na Nog under his own name. Music Man Records released his second mix album, fittingly titled In the Mix, in 2001. Rachmad's Neo Classica full-length was issued by Hong Kong-based label Sino in 2006. The decade was rounded out with EPs on labels like Delsin (Rond Bot) and EC Records (Surdosong). In 2012, 100% Pure released a remastered and remixed edition of Secret Life of Machines, with some of the tracks re-arranged at slightly slower tempos for greater DJ accessibility. He also released Magnetic Reversal, a full-length under his dub-influenced alias Parallel 9, through Music Man. A compilation of Scorp material was released by Token in 2016. As Sterac Electronics, his project inspired by vintage electro-funk, he released the full-length Things to Think About on Tom Trago's Voyage Direct label in 2017. Two Sterac EPs, 11 (Kanzleramt) and Aeras (Indigo Aera), both appeared in 2019. ~ Paul Simpson