Carsten Jost (David Lieske) co-founded the techno label Dial with
Peter M. Kersten (
Sten,
Lawrence) and
Paul Kominek (
Turner,
Pawel) in Hamburg, Germany in 1999. Dial has released widely acclaimed albums by artists such as
Pantha du Prince,
Efdemin, and
Roman Flügel, and is one of the most highly regarded sources of atmospheric minimal techno.
Jost began releasing music on the label in 2000, and his early work was sparse and glitchy, offering a colder, darker take on the microhouse trend that was popular in underground dance music at the time. Following the EPs Elmenreich and Make Pigs Pay,
Jost's full-length debut,
You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows, was co-released by Dial and Ladomat 2000 in late 2001. Additional EPs followed for labels such as Klang Elektronik and Sender Records, and
Jost remixed tracks by
Swayzak,
Tocotronic,
Phantom Ghost, and others. By the middle of the 2000s,
Jost's music had evolved into a warmer, more melodic deep house sound, but with a melancholy undercurrent still present. In 2007, he released the single Atlantis 1 and 2 as well as a split 12" with
Efdemin. He seemed to disappear as a recording artist for a while before resurfacing in 2011, sharing a split single with
Lawrence.
Jost and
Efdemin also remixed "Stick to My Side,"
Pantha du Prince's collaboration with
Panda Bear. Following an even longer absence,
Jost collaborated with Robert Kulisek as
Misanthrope CA, releasing a dark drone album titled
Deathbridge in 2016.
Jost released his long-awaited second solo album, Perishable Tactics, in 2017. ~ Paul Simpson