Born in Oxfordshire, England but growing up in Windsor, Ontario on the other side of the Atlantic, Hawtin was a pivotal figure amongst Detroit techno’s second wave in the early nineties. As the years have gone by - Hawtin can now lay claim to a career that’s spanned nearly three decades - he’s begun to focus more primarily on minimal techno, and he’s widely considered to be one of the genre’s key exponents.
Since taking on the name Plastikman in 1993, Hawtin’s penchant for globetrotting has deeply influenced his work; he’s lived in some of the electronic music capitals of the world, including Detroit, New York City and Berlin. His career highlights include producing a composition called ‘9.20’, a piece commissioned specifically for the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, as well as the gradual development of his M_nus record label. In 2012, he began to produce a revolutionary new club night in Ibiza, ENTER., which features a broad range of electronic styles over five specifically designed rooms, and has continued to do so every summer since; in 2013, meanwhile, he played a Plastikman set at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City; that particular performance, he said, went on to form the basis for his ‘Plastikman: Ex’ album.