Born and raised in Bodensee, Southern Germany, Henrik Schwarz is a veteran of the German deep house scene and his live shows continue to be in demand from every corner of the globe.
After moving to Berlin in the nineties to work as a graphic designer, he had already started to explore his love of dance music and was playing at clubs around the city. His interest with DJing soon lead to Schwarz producing tracks of his own and emerging technologies had fascinated him; it wasn’t long before his live laptop sessions became integrated into his sets.
His label Sunday Music was co-founded with Finnish electro producer Sasse, who incidentally had just released Schwarz’s first EP, ‘Supravision’ on his own label Moodmusic Records. One of the tracks on the EP, ‘Marvin’ piqued the attention of BBC host Gilles Peterson, who played it on his show and it wasn’t long before his next releases, ‘Jon’ and ‘Chicago’ meant he could trade in design for touring and producing full time.
His seminal track, ‘Leave My Head Alone Brain’ was one of the biggest hits on the Sunday Music label and it’s blend of jazz, techno and soul made it onto dance floors internationally.
In 2006, Schwarz was asked by the !k7 label to produce a DJ Kicks album for them and the result is considered one of the most successful DJ Kicks editions released. The label was so impressed it then released ‘Henrik Schwarz Live’, recordings of his renowned live shows from around the globe.
Schwarz’s fascination with technology lead to his development of his own music making software, and in 2010 released a max for live plug in called the ‘Schwarzonator’ that allows producers to find the right chords and notes in real time, software he described as “note twister”.
His interest in jazz hasn’t waned since his foray into electronic music and he has played with jazz legend Bugge, as well as Chigago based jazz trio Ethnic Heritage.
He is a frequent collaborator with German outfit Ame and their project with Dixon in 2009, an album titled ‘The Grandfather Paradox’ was an exploration of minimalist music and was received to rave reviews.
