Guido Hoppe aka Typecell (Kassel, Germany) bought his first set of turntables and DJ equipment at the age of 14. He began practicing his DJ skills; at the time, he was interested in practically the entire spectrum of electronic music, from hip-hop to acid jazz. Techno soon became his favorite style, and this lasted until 1992, when a breakbeat mixtape from the United Kingdom fell into his hands.
Guido began playing both techno and drum and bass, and this was how DJ P.M.C. came about. This was a time when only a few people played D&B in Germany, and only a small circle of people were interested in this music. Guido decided that the German club scene was not ready for D&B and began playing exclusively techno and tech house. In 1994–95, the name DJ P.M.C. became known abroad, and Guido embarked on a world tour. In 1996, he founded the label Genetic Rhythm Records.
Genetic Rhythm became a platform for releasing his own material as well as supporting young, talented musicians. The label’s third release received a huge response—DJ P.M.C. – Planet Attack EP, released in 1998.
In 1997, his passion for drum and bass returned, and Guido adopted his second alias—Typecell, under which he released his drum and bass and techstep productions. Typecell built his reputation on the underground scene from scratch by releasing a series of mixtapes and CDs and distributing MP3 files over the internet. Once again, thanks to the internet, he gained fans, friends, and partners. In 2002, Typecell created the community Future DnB (futurednb.com) and regularly hosted the radio show Future DnB on Fusion Radio (fusion-radio.com) on Sunday nights. At the beginning of 2002, Typecell launched the label Protogen Records to release technoid club drum and bass; at present, the label is receiving strong support from DJs and producers around the world. At the end of 2002, Typecell, together with other DJs, organized the internet project drumnbassmix.com, where internet users could download DJ mixes for free. The musician’s best-known releases are the Bad Illusions EP and the CD Mind Traveller, released on Protogen Records. Typecell continues his work as a musician, DJ, and label head, remaining faithful to technoid drum and bass.
Translation: Yegor.
