Spencer Hardwick

A lifelong fascination with how human beings respond to sound inevitably led Spencer Hardwick to techno. After studying it for many years, the Portland DJ and producer now offers his own compelling interpretation of its artistic philosophy. Experimental yet true to form, Spencer’s style of electronic music teases out a cerebral tangent between lush, progressive atmosphere layers and artful, atonal noise. Groove remains paramount throughout, however. This keen balance between what techno is and what it can be serves as a north star — not only for his output as a producer, but also for his record label and event banner, VAST. It’s hard to put your finger on how Spencer fuses commonly disparate sonic elements to yield a whole greater than the sum of their parts. Perhaps that’s because