Mysterious French producer BLNDR plied a deep, dubby, ambient kind of techno, releasing sporadically on labels such as Annulled, Silent Season, and Hypnus, which put out his debut album, the wholly ambient L'Observatoire, in 2018. Born Tom Huthwohl in Paris, he was inspired early by classic Warp Records IDM acts like Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and Autechre. His first, digital-only EP, 303 Jam, appeared in 2014 on Planet Rhythm, and was more in an acid techno style. He became one of the first artists to release on the fledgling Swedish label Hypnus after meeting its founder, Ntogn, on the MP3-sharing site where he had uploaded some of his demos. His debut EP for the label, 2014's The Untitleds, set the tone for the label's aesthetic with its deep, hypnotic, vaguely psychedelic techno sounds and became the first of several EPs he would record for them, gradually refining this style. Constantly playing out, he became popular as a DJ and as a live draw. He also put out records on Natch Elements, Annulled, and Silent Season, adapting his sound as appropriate; sometimes harder, sometimes dubbier, his productions nonetheless retained his core sound. In 2017 he contributed to Semantica's Arquitectura del Sueño compilation; the following year, Hypnus released his debut album, L'Observatoire. A relaxed, wholly ambient affair, it was influenced as much by artists like Air, Alan Hawkshaw, Actress, Burial, and Oneohtrix Point Never as any of his contemporaries. ~ John D. Buchanan