Timo Maas

Timo Maas (born July 27, 1969) is a German DJ/producer and remixer.

Maas bought his first set of turntables at the age of 17, and played his very first DJ set in 1982 at a party in his friend's home.

The beginning of his career consisted mostly of gigs around Germany playing "top 40" records with the occasional techno record sneaked in, but it was to be another 6 years from his debut DJ performance before he would perform his first official all-techno set.

In 1992, Maas was introduced to the early German rave scene, and he went on to DJ at many different rave events both in Germany and elsewhere, earning a name in the electronic underground scene.

Gary D. also gained Maas a residency at Hamburg's famous club The Tunnel, between 1994 and 1996.

Through his British contact Leon Alexander, Maas played at the Bristol club Lakota and held a residency there for three years.

Maas also began to release records through record labels such as Hope Recordings, both under his own name and the alias, Orinoko, arguably the biggest record of which was titled "Mama Konda".

The track received wide support from DJs including Sasha, Carl Cox and Morales and reached the top 20 in both the UK and US charts.

Maas has also recorded under many aliases such as Mad Dogs among others together with his manager and friend Leon Alexander.

Maas' first record, "The Final XS", was released in 1995.

His second record release, "Die Herdplatte", was a collaboration with another producer, Gary D., which was a bigger success than his first.

A turning point in Maas's career was remixing Azzido Da Bass's 1999 single "Doom's Night".

Co-remixed with Martin Buttrich in a 3-hour session after Azzido Da Bass rejected their first attempt, it reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart and sold over half a million copies worldwide.

Following that, Maas decided to release a compilation CD containing only tracks produced or remixed by him, titled Music for the Maases, and having the remix of "Doom's Night" as its opening track.

The compilation also features a remix for Muse's "Sunburn" and has said to have been put together with the American audiences in mind.

His remix of Azzido Da Bass's single "Dooms Night" helped launch his career in 2000.

In its wake, he also released Music for the Maases Volume 1, a mix album consisting of many of his previous tracks and remixes.

In 2000, Maas began a residency alongside Deep Dish at the New York City club, Twilo.

In 2001, Maas and Buttrich started working on Maas's debut album, which saw its release in 2002 on Paul Oakenfold's label Perfecto, and was titled Loud.

It was generally well-received, averaging at 71 (out of 100) on Metacritic.

The first track, "Help Me", features vocals by Kelis and also contains a sample of the title music from The Day the Earth Stood Still, composed by Bernard Hermann.

The album features other guest performers such as MC Chickaboo, Martin Bettinghaus, and Finley Quaye.

After another mix album called Connected for Paul Oakenfold's imprint Perfecto, Maas released his own debut studio album Loud in 2002.

The album was produced by German dance music producer Martin Buttrich (also known for his work with Loco Dice), and featured guest appearances from Kelis, Neneh Cherry and Placebo's Brian Molko.

In a career spanning over 30 years, Maas has been collaborated with and remixed many artists such as Paul McCartney, Depeche Mode, Finley Quaye, Fatboy Slim, Garbage, Jamiroquai, Madonna, Moby, Moloko, Muse, Roger Sanchez and Tori Amos.

The 10th track on the album, "To Get Down", has been used in several film soundtracks and other mediums such as the 2003 remake of The Italian Job, Riders (now known as Steal) in 2002, a Budweiser beer commercial and the FIFA 2003 video game.

Maas has described his debut album as forward-thinking, bridging the gap between electronic and mainstream music: "It's not just about bringing dance music to a wider audience. I see the whole thing as something very open-minded. You hope alternative rock and dance can come together, and I think it's going to be really good."

Maas and Buttrich continued to do remix work, most notably remixing Tori Amos' track "Don't Make Me Come to Vegas", off her 2003 album Scarlet's Walk.

The track was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Awards in the non-classical remixed recording category.

The same year, Maas also remixed the Depeche Mode track "Enjoy the Silence".

In 2005, Maas released his second studio album, titled Pictures on Warner Bros.'s sub-label Hope Recordings.

It was co-produced with Martin Buttrich over a two-year period in their studio in Hannover.

The album featured many artist collaborations such as Kelis, Neneh Cherry and Placebo lead singer Brian Molko.

Over the coming years after their 2005 LP Pictures, Timo Maas and Martin Buttrich continued to work together on various projects, but ultimately the pair's musical direction went amicably in different directions.

Maas met his next production partner Santos in 2007 at a gig in Rome.

In 2008, Maas launched his own record label called Rockets & Ponies releasing productions from artists such as Wolfgang Haffner, Ricardo Villalobos, Maetrik, Nightmares on Wax and Addison Groove.

In addition to his productions, Maas has been a longtime DJ, having been a resident at the legendary Ibiza nightclub DC10 for over 15 years and having also played in clubs such as Ushuaia, The End, Twilo, Tresor, Tunnel and many more.

Together they formed a new alias called Mutant Clan, under which they proceeded to release several releases, as well as put together a double CD compilation for the acclaimed Balance Mix Series in 2010.

The pair worked on sourcing the tracks, recording special edits and track-listing for four months.

In 2016, Maas and his producing partner James Teej, received a Grammy nomination (the second in Maas's career) for their work on Paul McCartney & Wings' track "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five".