Gray Area Takes Over Spotify's Official Guest List Playlist

In dance music, some excel at DJing, others shine in production, and others still thrive with the authority and tastemaking know-how required to manage a label. And some, like Anja Schneider, do it all.

The German-born and -based multihyphenate is a DJ, producer, radio host, and the head of her own label, Sous Music. Along with being the primary home to her own discography, Schneider’s label hosts others, like Francesca Lombardo, Billy Turner, and Madben, who the artist has taken under her wing and woven into her distinctive and refined house and techno selections.

As a radio host, too, Schneider has found a platform to boast her curatorial chops. She’s become known for her show, “Club Room,” hosted by Berlin broadcaster Radio Eins, which makes a weekly habit of playing new and sometimes disparate tracks like Orlando Voorn’s remix of David Bowie’s “This Is Not America” and a Lost Heroes redux of All is Well’s “Sajkvfighosgo.”

As a musician, Schneider is globe-trotting, playing major festivals like GuteZeit Festival in Konstanz, Germany and Baum Festival in Bogotá, Colombia, as well as smaller, more intimate venues like Floyd Miami. Her sound brings a calm coolness to techno, somehow making it high energy enough for the club and low energy enough for an everyday listen.

In addition to her Sous Music release, Scheider’s remixes have been hosted on labels such as Universal, Tsuba Records, and Crosstown Rebels, among others. Her work has also been recognized in top-tier music publications like MixMag, and her first release on Sous Music—the nine-track LP, SoMe—was honored by DJ Mag as the November 2017 Album of the Month.