Aptly dubbed the “Aki Kaurismäki of Techno” after a particularly impactful gig, Henri Puolitaival aka Halvtrak has always been drawn to the outskirts of art. Inspired in equal measure by the formative years of Detroit & Chicago as well as the underground cassette culture of the 1980s which permeates also to his hardware-oriented production and recording setup. What you hear has mostly been recorded very much live in one or two takes in Henri’s studio in Tampere; a city which is known for its industrial past as the former center of Finnish industry. In his own words, “it isn't too difficult to find empty streets and silence, and this kind of escapism is present in my music”. The idiosyncratic sound of Halvtrak releases clearly goes hand in hand with his DJ sets which rarely build around one easy template. True to his craftsmanship ethos, his vinyl sets maintain an old school grittiness with the overarching principle that the only thing flawless must be the selection! As of 2020, to accompany the long history of DJing, Halvtrak is expanding his work into the field of live performance.