As part of Bodytonic’s ongoing quest to see if we’ll all still have jobs in the future, we’re going to be asking leading heads in leading cities for their opinions on dance music’s direction. First stop, as usual, is Berlin.

Ellen Alien – DJ and Producer

What’s the most dominant sound in Berlin at the moment? Minimal.

What sound do you think is dying out right now? Trance.

What sound looks like taking over in the future? There’s been a run of big vocal tracks and deeper, atmospheric techno. Thomas Muller’s taking off. His live sets have lots of potential. The real futuristic stuff is coming from the Modeselektor boys.

Michael Matuschek – Booker at Tresor

What’s the most dominant sound in Berlin at the moment? Everything is mixing. Big digital productions and simple deep tracks. It’s all just one big mix at the moment.

What sound do you think is dying out right now? Unfortunately real deep house is playing for time at the moment.

What sound looks like taking over in the future? Even drier techno is coming. But I see music with heavier bass becoming more popular on the dancefloors in the future.

Dorian Mazurek – Manager Klangsucht Label

What’s the most dominant sound in Berlin at the moment? The dance mob want to be driven. Very minimal techno is what they want. So the music isn’t very progressive at the moment.

What sound do you think is dying out right now? Techno music is so minimal it’s almost standing still. The minimum wave will leave Berlin and make room for other facets of techno. It’s time for music that makes the party and isn’t just a monotonous background support.

What sound looks like taking over in the future? Old sounds are back again. Breakbeats will come back into fashion and some of the old Goa sound will influence techno. Techno diehards should watch out.