04/27/2026
Northern Parallels Podcast 008 - Karl Meier
SoundCloud link in bio ⬆️
A life-long devotee of electronic and experimental music, Karl Meier discovered Chicago House and Detroit Techno in the early nineties—and the rest, as they say, is boring. Determined to prove that dance music could be a serious art form and more than just escapist fare, he developed a style of DJing (opening for artists such as Surgeon, Monolake, and Jeff Mills) that looks to the future while connecting to music of the past, exploring the space between the physical and the cerebral, and emphasizing dynamism, subversion, and recontextualization.
During his time in Chicago, Birmingham and later, Berlin, Karl has held a variety of roles in a collapsing industry: as a buyer at the legendary Gramaphone Records; as artist and label manager at famed UK distributor Integrale Muzique; and as a performer at noted European venues and festivals like Berghain, Atonal, and Bratislava’s infamous U-Club.
In collaboration with Jonathan ’Stave’ Krohn, Karl has released original music as Talker on Downwards, Voitax, and The Stone Tapes. Currently based in Kalamazoo, Karl is also a partner (with Krohn and his brother, Ken) in the Standards & Practices imprint, home to artists such as Stave, Karim Maas, Kevin Drumm, Grebenstein, and Device Control.
