Selections: DJ Stingray

Welcome back to Selections, a series of exclusive artist-curated playlists from those in the know.

Hailing from Detroit and now based in Berlin, DJ Stingray (real name Sherard Ingram) cuts a formidable figure on the techno scene. The former tour DJ for Detroit legends Drexciya, Stingray has refined his dystopian brand of electro over many years, cutting his teeth at a North Detroit motorcycle club called The Outcast. Nowadays, he holds down a packed touring schedule, leading a resurgence in electro and coming correct with ideals that uphold a distinctly Detroit legacy rooted in futurism and hope.

“I might still have a dystopian view of the world, but I realise it is a vision that has been shared by others for centuries,” he said in an interview with Crack Magazine in 2017. “There’s always somebody proclaiming the sky is falling. I’ve realised it’s not our instinct to destroy ourselves. I’m hoping our instinct to survive overrules our instinct to fight each other.”

We’re honoured to have tapped one of Detroit’s most uncompromising selectors. Crafting an exclusive playlist for Crack’s Selections series, his chosen tracks continue the mood of his productions. Telling us via email that this is his take on “easy listening”, the playlist is comprised of contemporary sounds – Fractal Fantasy’s Zora Jones crops up on the tracklist, along with a seething mass of a track from Consumer Electronics and a cut from PAN signee Still.

DJ Stingray plays at Semibreve Festival, Portugal, 26-28 October. Now in its eighth year, the festival welcomes Grouper, Jlin, RP Boo, William Basinski and more for a three-day celebration of contemporary electronic music and digital art.