Detect Classic Festival has become known for dissolving boundaries – between electronic and classical, between stage and audience, between the expected and the improvised. Held each summer at the historic Schloss Bröllin in northern Germany, it invites artists to experiment in ways they rarely can elsewhere.
This summer, Berlin-based producer O/Y played the festival with a live set that’s always in motion. Minimal dub-techno, percussive rhythms, long evolving loops – his music is deeply rooted in his drumming background, but it’s also about freedom, exploration, and creating in the moment. Every set is different, and every performance is a way to challenge himself as much as the audience.
We sat down with O/Y at the festival to talk about his sound, how his live sets have grown over time, the struggle of finishing releases while touring, and what it’s like to perform in a space that encourages experimentation.
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Q: How would you describe your sound for someone who’s never heard you before?
O/Y: I think it’s hard to describe my sound, even to myself, but I’d say my music is very life-oriented, at least the live set. It’s something between minimal dub-techno and percussive, rhythmic, wavy electronic music. BPM doesn’t really matter, but rhythm is central because I’m a percussionist.
Q: Your earlier releases had slower tempos, like downtempo around 90–100 BPM, but now your music sits above 120 BPM with minimal, housey elements. How did that transition happen?
O/Y: It kind of happened by coincidence. I came from classical music and had nothing to do with electronic music. I wasn’t really exposed to it – except once, when I went to Fusion.When I came back to Berlin after studying, I wanted to make a track as a gift for my best friend. We used to watch The Jungle Book together as kids, and I used its intro as a starting point. It’s around 105 BPM, and I composed something to that. As a drummer, that tempo felt natural to me – lots of space for rhythmic layers and freedom.
I made the track, uploaded the set, and it spread around. I hadn’t planned to make music professionally, but I started getting booked. Very quickly, though, I felt a bit out of place with the stages and music I was booked for. I was being put into a category I didn’t really choose. Down-tempo was trending, so I got moved into that scene, but I didn’t fully feel at home there.
I still liked the music, but during the busy years, like 2019, I was booked three times a weekend, and I started feeling distant from what I was doing. So I made a kind of emotional cut. I needed to feel comfortable on stage and in my environment. It wasn’t about the people – the people were lovely – but musically, I just didn’t align.
I started exploring different tempos – faster, slower, whatever – just to free myself. I actively moved away from that scene so people wouldn’t place me too clearly anymore. I wanted flexibility. If you keep releasing similar tracks and sets, bookers start to box you in, and it’s hard to get out. I was scared of being stuck.
I probably moved a bit too far away from that part of myself at first, but now I’m actually really happy. I feel comfortable.
Foto: Sophia Hegewald / Detect Classic Festival
Q: Your drumming background seems to play a role in your music. How has it influenced both your slower and faster tracks?
O/Y: In the older, slower tracks, it was more physical drumming – I’d drum on kitchen stuff, anything that felt natural. At that tempo, it’s swingy, and there’s space for rhythms.Nowadays, it’s shifted more towards the theoretical part of drumming – polyrhythms and structure. With faster music, the bars get shorter, so the bigger sequences become more important. In slower music, what happens inside a bar is clear and crucial. In faster music, it’s about these longer structures and how they interact. That’s what fascinates me now – building bigger rhythmic sequences you can follow.
Q: It’s been a while since we had some original O.Y. releases. Can you tell us about that? Is there anything planned?
O/Y: I feel like the release part is one of my biggest problems right now, to be honest. I’ve been so successful with my live set, constantly evolving it and playing so much, that releasing music has kind of fallen behind.I was on tour for three or four months in the winter, and the live shows give me so much good feedback and resonance – everything I want from it – that I keep, not forgetting, but missing out on actually finishing stuff.
I was also disappointed by most of the labels I released with – not all of them, but the process itself. So I wanted to release everything myself. That idea of being in control of all the processes sounded great, but it also means I have to actually control all of them, and at some point I noticed that’s kind of impossible. I wanted to do the label, the design, everything. And when something gets stuck, you start thinking, “Okay, this isn’t happening, so I can’t release, so I’ll focus on something else.” There’s constantly some kind of excuse in your head. Then my laptop got stolen, with seven finished releases on it, and I hadn’t saved the arrangements. So again, there was another excuse. I feel like I’m procrastinating by playing live.
I spend so much time in the studio – I’m not lazy – but when you have something in your head that you have to do, you naturally gravitate towards something else. It’s so fucked up, and it still feels so great because I’m still doing music. You get positive feedback, you get booked. But it’s a little stain.
I can say it’s the biggest thing on my map right now. I’m moving very close. And the good thing is, because my live set has grown so big, there are at least 30 tracks that are completely finished. As soon as I just put them in order, it’ll be a quick process – ten albums.
Foto: Sophia Hegewald / Detect Classic Festival
Q: Your live sets are constantly evolving. How unique is each live set?
O/Y: Very unique. I could play three live sets in a row and there’d be no similarities. The material is huge – I could play for eight hours straight without repeating anything.If I feel comfortable on stage, it’s usually a mix of live gear and stems – sometimes 50–50, sometimes 70–30, or the other way around. Nothing is in order. Even the tracks are just long loops of stems I’ve recorded, sometimes during live shows. I constantly add new stuff, and it keeps evolving.
For me, it’s also about comfort. I’m not naturally drawn to being “on stage,” but I love creating on stage. I can’t play the same set twice because it wouldn’t feel like I’m creating anymore. It’s not even an artistic decision, it’s just what feels natural.
Q: Can you describe your set at Detect Classic Festival? What inspired it, and what was the vibe?
O/Y: First of all, I was really looking forward to this gig, because I feel like this festival has such a special atmosphere. The stage, the sound system – L-Acoustics is, for me, one of the best sound systems I know. The overall vibe made me want to play in a more sophisticated, deeper way. It might sound a bit cheesy, but I really wanted to play for the people who are slightly off the dance floor, somewhere I can’t really see them.
I generally felt very calm on stage at Detect Classic Festival, and the stage itself plays a big role in that. When you’re elevated and a bit distant, I tend to play in a more distant way. I find it hard to play in a way that feels very engaged and connected to the crowd. I often feel more drawn inwards and focused. But when I’m surrounded by people, I feel drawn outwards, I start moving more – it’s funny.
At Detect, though, I felt very comfortable being more inward-focused. Sometimes that makes me feel uneasy, but yesterday it felt really good. I loved the vibe on the dance floor and I enjoyed playing like that. If I played again today, it could feel completely different.