We are writing the history of 2007. For well over a decade, as TOMCRAFT, Thomas Brückner has been an important part of today’s electronic music scene and one of its most highly regarded ambassadors in foreign countries near and far. If you wanted to...

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We are writing the history of 2007. For well over a decade, as TOMCRAFT, Thomas Brückner has been an important part of today’s electronic music scene and one of its most highly regarded ambassadors in foreign countries near and far. If you wanted to sum up TOMCRAFT’s life in recent years in a couple of lines, they would look something like this: three albums, two children, two of his own labels, dozens of successful singles, a No. 1 hit in the UK, countless remixes for acts such as Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Simple Minds, Sonique and many more. Even that does not do full justice to this Bavarian DJ and producer.

TOMCRAFT is after all one of the early pioneers of electronic music and from 1995 to the present, with tracks like “This Is No House,” “The Mission,” “Silence,” “Prozac,” “Dirty Sanchez” and “Quelle Heure Est-Il” and the albums “All I Got” (2001), “MUC” (2003) and “HyperSexyConscious” (2006) he has built himself a fan base that continues to provide him with countless bookings – in particular abroad, from the USA to Japan. But the proverbial prophet is also very welcome in his own country.

His recognised hit “Loneliness” that was released in 2002 may have been responsible in part for this when it shot straight to pole position in the British sales charts. Whereas up to this moment TOMCRAFT had been better known among the initiated for his functional club sound, now, if not before, it became clear that mass compatibility was also possible in the club sector without it being seen as betrayal of the scene, as a commercial sell-out. Collaborations followed with Aggro Berlin front man SIDO, with whom TOMCRAFT remade the track “Sureshot”, Bloodhound Gang member Jimmy Pop, with whose microphone performance was created “Broadsword Calling Danny Boy,” and Xavier Naidoo who sang the vocals to “People Like Them.” Works like these and remixes for international artistes opened new ears, hearts and doors to him.

With this recognised status in the bag and his constant search for higher levels in his mind, in October 2003 TOMCRAFT set up his first independent label, Great Stuff Recordings, followed by Craft Music in 2005, on which national and international acts such as GusGus, The Egg, Rockers Hi-Fi, Lützenkirchen and Oliver Koletzki released records and the imprint with its high-quality tunes which went on to become the most popular in the world in the shortest possible time. The range is as varied and open-minded here as with TOMCRAFT himself and in this way the one-time trancer has long since become a musical polyglot with ambitions from Techno to Electro.

All this and the fact that TOMCRAFT has always remained as he was when he started his career and to whom the glitter of stardom is alien and his wife and children sacred, have made him a very popular figure in the German electronic music scene. His down-to-earth nature and his constant efforts to take himself and his music one level further guarantee many interesting developments to come – on both the decks and in the studio.

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