JakoJako (aka Sibel Koçer) is committed to exploring the spaces that emerge between the technical and emotional sides of electronic music, fostering a relationship to sound that implements both rigorous knowledge and unrestrained intuition. Engaged in a constant dialogue around the use of hardware in music, JakoJako’s artistic output is informed by the tension and release of techno, but ultimately coloured by ever-expanding forms and structures that play with the contours of the genre.

Her debut album for Mute, Têt 41, is an expansion on these ideas. Recorded in Vietnam during the Tết Lunar New Year celebrations and made with a minimal hardware setup, the album taps into a deep understanding of machine-based music illuminated by references to her heritage. It reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core. From this simplicity emerge some of her most expansive, unworldly compositions to date.

As a live performer and DJ, she searches for spontaneity amongst the mathematical patterns of arpeggios and loops, locating kinetic energies that convert into moments of dancefloor catharsis. A resident at Berghain, her multifaceted approach has taken her from some of the most respected electronic music festivals in the world – including Dekmantel, Awakenings, and Fusion – to institutions of great cultural significance like the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican.

JakoJako’s exploratory spirit is rooted in her long-standing relationship with Berlin’s SchneidersLaden, where she worked for several years. It was there that she first met Mute founder Daniel Miller, and she remains a regular presence, engaging with new machines and ideas. Prior to her EP releases on Mute (Verve EP and Segmente EP), she worked with respected labels such as Tresor and Leisure System, and contributed to The Third Chimpanzee Remixed by Martin Gore, as well as New Order’s Be a Rebel remix 12″.

Ultimately, it’s the raw feeling of sound that has sustained a lifelong obsession with its intricacies and processes, and the compulsion to search for new energies in musical hardware continues to ensure JakoJako is one of the most intriguing artists in electronic music today.