Christoph de Babalon is a German producer whose blend of hardcore, drum’n’bass, dark ambient and junglist motifs have earned him recognition as a vital figure in the breakcore underground.
Appearing in the mid-nineties on Alec Empire’s Digital Hardcore Recordings after releases on Fischkopf Hamburg and his own Cross Fade Enter Tainment label (founded with Raid and later operated with Paul Snowden), de Babalon’s solo work caught the attention of John Peel, who named ‘I Own Death’ one of his favourite releases of the year. In 1997, de Babalon released his full-length debut, the seminal If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It, an immaculate collision of full-throttle breakbeats and glacial ambience which remains his signature sound. The record even found its way into the hands of Thom Yorke, who championed it on BBC Radio and plucked him to tour with Radiohead in 2001.
Recent years have seen a resurgence of de Babalon’s work: new and retrospective pieces have surfaced on V I S, Alter and A Colourful Storm while collaborations with Polish audiovisual duo WIDT and Berlin-based producer Mark have embraced a new generation of listeners. He returns to Oto for the first time since his infamous 2018 performance.
