Henrik Schwarz is a German DJ, producer and remixer from Bergatreute. Born in 1972, he works across house, deep house, classical crossover, minimal electronic music and electronica, and his music also draws on funk, disco, jazz, techno and soul.

Background

Schwarz has a background in jazz, and that improvisational approach shapes his work as a DJ and producer. He often performs by jamming live on a laptop rather than using a fixed set, and he treats selection, layering and contrast as central parts of a set.

Style and influences

His music reflects a wide range of older black American and club traditions, including James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Motown soul, as well as funk, house, disco, jazz and techno. He is described as working with a strong sense of style and sophistication, combining dancefloor material with more reflective or experimental textures.

DJing and mix work

Schwarz contributes a mix to !K7’s DJ Kicks series. The mix spans 23 tracks and brings together jazz, balearic pop, minimal techno, field recordings, Afrobeat, cosmic disco, Detroit techno and funk. He says he selects tracks and then plays them, focusing on the feeling of the mix and on creating emotions through extremes.

Productions and remixes

His productions are noted as including Supravision, Chicago, Jon and Leave My Head Alone Brain. Jon appears on the DJ Kicks mix, and Imagination Limitation is a track he writes especially for that project. His work attracts support from Gilles Peterson and from the Electric Chair scene in Manchester.

Selected tracks and collaborators

Within the DJ Kicks sequence, Schwarz places his own music alongside tracks by Moondog, Double, Robert Hood, James Brown, Jae Mason, Cymande, Drexciya, Arthur Russell, Womack & Womack, Rhythm & Sound with Sugar Minott, Doug Hammond and Marvin Gaye. This frames his range as a selector moving between dance music, jazz, soul and more experimental forms.