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Artist
Markus Nikolai
12+ albums
HouseelectronicmicrohousePerlongerman
about
Markus Nikolai has music in his genes. Since his initial love affair with all sounds electronic in the early eighties, he has conquered DJing and the live performance, but it is the production realm of dance music in which he has made his most significant contributions. Born in Frankfurt and raised in the city’s suburbs, Markus learned several musical instruments from his grandfather, a conductor. Though he was proficient in piano, guitar, bass, drums and other percussions, the accordion was his main interest. As a teenager in the eighties, he was exposed to nightclubs, dancing and the instrument of the era – the keyboard. In 1982, Markus left the accordion behind to pursue more alternative sounds. One year later, joined by two like-minded friends, he launched his first live project, Whetzon Churchill. Frankfurt embraced their industrial/electronic body music (EBM) and the group performed regularly in and around the city for several years. In 1987, Whetzon Churchill became the first live act to play a small venue called No Name, home of the weekly Techno Club, one of the city’s most legendary nights. This was also the year in which his first tracks were released and a time when Markus was gaining experience behind the decks. “I DJed back in the days of 1986 and 1987,” he says. “After a while, I realized that (with DJing) I could only play music which was already complete. I wanted to produce music that didn’t exist; new sounds, which nobody had heard before.” In Markus’ wor
