hypersongs

Objekt

TJ Hertz, a Berlin-based producer and DJ whose near-anonymous white labels and the Hessle Audio 12-inch "Cactus" led to the albums Flatland and Cocoon Crush on PAN.

Machine music

TJ Hertz records as Objekt and is based in Berlin. He told The Quietus in 2013 that he experimented with music technology, recording and composition in his mother's home studio as a child, became interested in dance music as a late teenager, had been a drummer, studied engineering, and worked for a few years at Native Instruments in Berlin, on Reaktor and Traktor. His first release, in early 2011, was a near-anonymous white label 12-inch, the start of the Objekt numbered series. He names Surgeon's "This Is For You Shits" as his first exposure to techno, a piece of factory machinery punching me in the face, and also Autechre and Dopplereffekt; in 2013 his gear was Ableton, a Machinedrum and a Roland 606.

"Cactus" and "Porcupine" came out as Hessle Audio HES019 in February 2012 (Bandcamp gives February 13), with "Cactus" at 5:56 and mastering by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis Studios in London. Hertz described "Cactus" as a Rusko pastiche in intent, and Resident Advisor's podcast notes describe his output moving from the dubstep-influenced "Cactus" to the techno of "CLK Recovery". "Agnes' Demise" and "Fishbone" followed in late 2013, his first release in about eighteen months, and he was booked for Hessle Audio's night at Fabric on December 6, 2013.

Flatland and Cocoon Crush

Flatland, his debut album, came out on PAN in October 2014, recorded between 2012 and 2014, with artwork by Bill Kouligas and Kathryn Politis and a concept of a world in which any scene can be seen from every angle at once. XLR8R's Steve Kerr called Hertz a control freak and the album the kind of release that's going to make a lot of producers feel inadequate. Cocoon Crush followed on November 9, 2018, four years later, with "Secret Snake" as the first single. The Quietus's Christian Eede noted that the approach doesn't come at the expense of human emotion, that his process is methodical to the point of being dogmatic, and that he is known for making more than 80 versions of a track; The Skinny's Michael Lawson, giving four stars, called him perhaps the most complete artist in electronic music today.

Resident Advisor's podcast RA.650 (November 12, 2018) is a 62-minute mix of no-kick rollers recorded on borrowed CDJs, two turntables and a Xone:92, and he said he finds most music on Instagram. Setlist.fm lists 49 sets from 2011, the latest at Dekmantel in Amstelveen on July 31, 2026. We could not confirm other claims from search summaries, including a birthplace and parentage, and an alternate name contradicts every page we read.

Albums

  • Cactus / Porcupine 2012 · single · Hessle Audio

    The Hessle Audio 12-inch HES019, with "Cactus" on one side and "Porcupine" on the other.

Songs

  • Cactus Cactus / Porcupine · 2012

    The A-side of Hessle Audio's HES019, written and produced by Objekt.

Sources

  1. Objekt, Bandcamp
  2. The Aesthetic of Machinery: Objekt interviewed, The Quietus (2013-11-21)
  3. Objekt, Cocoon Crush review, The Quietus (2018-12-14)
  4. Objekt, Flatland, XLR8R (2014-10-20)