FEATURE: Spotlight: Lilly Palmer — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Lilly Palmer

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I do think that…

there are so many incredible D.J.s that some people do not know about. I have highlighted a few, but I feel women are the most talented and passionate D.J.s in the world. Lilly Palmer up there with her fellow queens. I am going to jump to some 2026 interviews with this staggering talent. I am starting out with Beatportal. They say how “From Zurich's underground clubs to a solar eclipse in the mountains of Spain, Lilly Palmer reflects on belonging, transformation, Bigger Than Techno and the power of music to unite strangers”:

“Techno was the first place Lilly Palmer felt she truly belonged. The German DJ and producer has become one of the defining figures of contemporary peak-time techno, commanding festival main stages across the globe with sets that balance relentless energy, melodic emotion and trance-infused euphoria.

Yet despite the meteoric rise, Lilly insists that the essence of what drives her has remained unchanged since the early days playing intimate clubs in Zurich. "Honestly, the core of what drives me has never changed," she says. "It's always been about emotion and connection."

Long before the sold-out arenas and festival crowds stretching to the horizon, she was searching for the same thing she seeks today. "When I was playing small clubs in Zurich to maybe a hundred people, I was trying to take them somewhere, to create a moment where everyone in the room felt the same thing at the same time. That's still what I'm doing on a festival mainstage."

While the scale may have changed dramatically, the mission has not. "The scale changes, the production changes, but that hunger to genuinely move people? That's never wavered."

That desire is rooted in her own personal experience. "I grew up feeling like an outsider, and techno was the first space where I truly felt like I belonged, where nobody cared about who you were outside of those walls. I carry that feeling into every single set."

It is a theme that emerges repeatedly throughout the conversation: connection, belonging and transformation. But for Lilly, techno occupies a uniquely powerful emotional space. "Music has always meant freedom," she explains. "The freedom to express, process and transform emotions."

"What techno does that nothing else quite manages is that it gives you all of it at once: the joy, the catharsis, the relief from anger or pain, the melancholy, the pure physical release."

Those moments on the dancefloor, she believes, transcend music itself. "When I say 'bigger than techno,' I'm speaking about this indescribable feeling that takes over completely in those moments. Those moments when strangers become family, when the pain becomes colour, when time seems to stand still and the beat carries you upward into something almost spiritual." Then she pauses before adding: "Techno has saved me, genuinely and I see it save people in the crowd every single night."

That emotional depth is evident in her performances. Her sets are known for combining aggression and tenderness, often shifting between pounding techno rhythms and soaring melodic moments that catch audiences off guard. "It's both, always both," she says when asked whether her sets are carefully planned or instinctive reactions to the crowd. "I go into every set with a kind of emotional arc in mind. I know the journey I want to take people on, from the first beat to the last"

Also in this interview, Lilly Palmer talks about Astral Plane. Taking place in Spain between 10th and 12th August, you can visit their website here. I have never been to a festival like this, but there is the temptation to maybe do it one day. To see such talent on display in a gorgeous location is hard to resist:

“The more Lilly speaks about Astral Plane, the more it begins to sound like a physical manifestation of the ideas explored throughout Bigger Than Techno. Connection. Transformation. Transcendence.

Asked whether the festival's emphasis on cosmic energy and collective experience resonates with her understanding of techno, her answer arrives without hesitation. "Completely and deeply. Techno at its best is exactly that. It's a modern sanctuary where genuine thriving happens through music and community."

In a world that often feels increasingly fragmented, she sees dancefloors as rare spaces where genuine human connection still flourishes. "I believe we reclaim our capacity for connection in an increasingly isolated world every time a dance floor comes together with true shared intention."

Then she paints the scene awaiting festivalgoers in Spain. "An eclipse set in a mountain range at 1500 metres, day turning to night, 10,000 people unified by the same cosmic moment and the same music..." She pauses, as if imagining the moment herself. "That's not metaphor. That's the literal version of what I try to create every time I play. I cannot wait”.

Two more interviews I want to cover off. Back in January, DJ Mag spent time with one of the world’s truly great D.J.s. I am going to throw it over to them and start with their header: “The Amsterdam-based techno DJ was voted into last year’s Top 100 DJs poll at No. 57, one of the highest new entries, but in truth she’s been honing her craft for well over a decade. Like her DJ sets, her debut album ‘Bigger Than Techno’ moves through a selection of harder styles. It’s also the name of her events brand, a nod to her belief that techno can and should be a tool for connection and social progress. In her cover interview, Niamh O’Connor speaks to Palmer about her journey so far, facing her fears, and finding strength through techno”. It is quite an extensive interview, but we pick it up in 2019:

“In 2019, Lilly released on labels like Senso Sounds and Natura Viva Black, and played in London, Madrid, Zürich, Hamburg, Dubrovnik, and Mumbai, some of which were headline bookings. She had up to 15 shows per month lined up for the last three months of the year. “I tasted blood in those months,” she recalls. “I finally understood what it was like to be fully booked and on tour, and I really liked it.”

Then the pandemic happened. “For us, the world stopped. Many artists are partnered with someone who has a regular day job, but we were both artists — and together we lost everything,” she says. “It went from ‘We have these amazing careers’, to suddenly, zero income, and zero to do as well.”

“This is what techno makes me do, because I was this shy person with no confidence when I was younger, and techno gives me so much balls and so much strength.”

Too anxious to make music, Lilly and Egbert didn’t spend time in the studio and instead checked the news every day. A few weeks later, the couple decided, “OK, we can cry about it, or we can do something.” Lilly observed how, before the pandemic, videos and reels on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube had helped her to build an audience and fanbase. So the couple learnt how to set up a live stream, and Lilly recorded a mix from a beachside rooftop on the coast of Amsterdam. They uploaded the set and various clips on social media, and Lilly’s reach increased tenfold.

Egbert and Lilly occasionally produced music in their studio, but mostly, the couple remained busy setting up streams and took the concept further when they travelled to countries where a Covid-19 test wasn’t compulsory on arrival. This allowed them to record from idyllic locations in the Caribbean, Paris, and Iceland, all the while developing Lilly’s profile while clubs remained closed.

Their roving live-stream series ended when Egbert broke his ankle after a paragliding accident. It was December 2021, “the deepest point in the pandemic”, and feeling uninspired again, the couple downloaded the Age Of Empires video game and played it for one month straight. “We got really good at it,” laughs Lilly. “And then life got better after that.”

In 2022, Drumcode released Lilly’s EP ‘We Control’. Lilly and Egbert had produced it during the pandemic, using her own vocals on the title track. “At some point, we were like, ‘OK, we need a hit’ but without the pressure,” she says. “It was more like we were motivated; we felt, ‘OK, now we want to make a really great track’.” She sent the rolling techno EP to Adam Beyer, who recommended they hold oﬀ releasing it until clubs reopened.

On 8th April 2022, Drumcode dropped the EP and two days later, it went to No.1 on Beatport’s Techno (Peak Time / Driving) chart. Her booking requests multiplied. “It was my moment back then,” she says. “Finally, I could experience this real DJ life. I just really prepared for it. I was like a racehorse who couldn’t wait to do it.”

Since then, Lilly hasn’t looked back, and her debut album ‘Bigger Than Techno’ marks another pivotal moment. The 16-track collection pays tribute to the music and moments that encouraged her to step up and face her fears, from being an outsider oddball teen to playing F2F with Armin van Buuren at Ushuaïa Ibiza.

PHOTO CREDIT: Felix Rachor

“This is what techno makes me do, because I was this shy person with no confidence when I was younger, and techno gives me so much balls and so much strength,” she says. “So when I stand there on the stage in front of 50,000 people, and say, ‘Fuck it, have fun, live it and love it; this is bigger than techno’. I love this concept... it’s just perfect to describe the feeling of what music gives to me.”

Lilly’s album features collabs with Gregor Tresher, Maddix, Armin van Buuren, Danny Avila, Jose Bonetto, Space 92 and Vini Vici, plus a track with Egbert too. “In total, this album shows the full spectrum of the music which I love, and the people whom I love,” she says. “It’s very positive, and I can’t wait to release it.” Lilly and Egbert do not release tracks together too often, but they decided to collaborate on one for the album. ‘Rotterdam’ is the “super hard” track that honours the “roughness and realness” of the Rotterdam people, and Egbert’s hometown. It marks their first joint production since their rework of ‘We Will Survive’ by Warp Brothers, which Lilly released on Spannung Records in 2020, the same year she launched the label.

Speaking of which, Lilly says she has lined up releases by Nusha, Cristian Glitch and Jose Bonetto on Spannung Records, and she’d like to start curating label showcases again, but that won’t come until later down the line. As we carry on chatting on the call, we get to the subject of what keeps her grounded. Spending time with her horse and mucking out the stables tends to help. “Those animals, they just feel everything,” she says. “They know when you’re sad, when you’re stressed, and every other emotional sensation. So you can’t fake anything. You have to be authentic. You go there, and you just feel better.”

Before we end the call, Lilly has two pieces of advice for emerging artists. The first nugget is related to saying no. “I think this is something that every artist has to learn,” she says. “Your team should not only be out pleasing others and saying yes to everything, because I noticed a lot of agencies have this problem where they have so many DJs that they don’t want to risk relationships with promoters when saying no; that actually doesn’t help you as an artist. The key is to source a tight team, a ‘shark’ who is not afraid to lose and to face confrontations.” But at the same time, knowing you can always “go back to the safety of a situation where you can say, ‘Hey, I really don’t want to do this so I’d rather say no’. Then you actually raise the demand.”

The second part of Lilly’s advice is about toeing the line between confidence and self-criticism, something she admits she’s still learning. To strike that balance, you need a core support system, sans yes-men. For Lilly, that means receiving guidance from the people close to her: first and foremost, Karl and Egbert, teams like Armada Music and Kontor Records, and influential personalities like Armin.

“So keep your team small, with people you can trust and are in there for the experience and the desire to build something,” she says. “I don’t need to be the world’s top DJ — I need that team feeling. When we can honestly say, ‘We built this together and now we enjoy the results’, it becomes real. That’s the best job in the world”.

I am going to wrap up with The Night Bazaar and their conversation with Lilly Palmer. This year has been a busy one for her. She released the E.P., You’re the One, last month. Her album, Bigger Than Techno, came out in March. Such a prolific artist and D.J., her focus, dedication and passion has seen her blow up recently. Without doubt one of the most accomplished D.J.s in the world:

“Your rise over the last few years has been massive, when you look back at the small club gigs in Zurich, what do you think has stayed constant about you as an artist?

Honestly, the core of what drives me has never changed, it’s always been about emotion and connection. When I was playing small clubs in Zurich to maybe a hundred people, I was trying to take them somewhere, to create a moment where everyone in the room felt the same thing at the same time. That’s still what I’m doing on a festival mainstage. The scale changes, the production changes, but that hunger to genuinely move people? That’s never wavered. I grew up feeling like an outsider, and techno was the first space where I truly felt like I belonged, where nobody cared about who you were outside of those walls. I carry that feeling into every single set.

Your sets balance aggression, melody, trance and emotion. Do you consciously think about storytelling when building a set or is it very much spur of the moment decisions reacting to the crowd in front of you?

It’s both, always both. I go into every set with a kind of emotional arc in mind, I know the journey I want to take people on, from the first beat to the last. But the crowd tells you everything in real time. Their energy, their body language, you feel it back as clearly as they feel what you’re putting out. My sets grew from a more melodic deep house foundation in Zurich, and that DNA never fully left. Even at 150 BPM, I’m always looking for that melodic moment that cuts through the intensity and makes someone close their eyes. The aggression and the tenderness have to live together. That tension is actually where the magic is.

The title of your album Bigger Than Techno feels like a statement. What does that phrase mean to you personally?

People sometimes read it as an ego statement, like I think I’m bigger than techno. It’s actually the complete opposite. Bigger Than Techno is about techno itself being bigger than anything. Bigger than a genre label, bigger than a scene, bigger than any boundary you could put around it. Techno creates transformative experiences, it builds communities, it inspires people on a level that goes far beyond the dancefloor into the very fabric of human experience. For me the album is a heartfelt declaration of that. It’s me saying: look at everything this music can hold trance, psytrance, hard dance, raw emotion, spiritual depth. This is sacred space. This is where authentic self-expression flourishes without colour or constraint.

As a female artist in a still male-dominated scene, have things improved since you started or do you still feel you have to prove yourself more than others?

Things have genuinely improved and I want to acknowledge that, there are more women headlining, more conversations happening, more space being made. But the doubts that get thrown at female producers didn’t disappear overnight. I’ve had people question whether I actually make my own music. My response was never to get angry, it was to show my work, to post my process, to let the music speak for itself. That’s the same integrity I’d expect of any artist. What I will say is that coming from the outside, being adopted, feeling like an outsider at school, finding my tribe eventually with the death metal kids, gave me a resilience that I now consider one of my greatest assets. I’ve never needed everyone’s approval. I need to be true to what I create”.

I will end here. Already a major name, I haven’t written about Lilly Palmer, so I wanted to correct that. I absolutely love her sound and admire hugely her skill as a D.J. and her incredible artistry. Her new E.P. is stunning, and, as we can see, she is the middle of a run of dates at the moment. She plays Creamfields here on 28th August. If you get a chance to see her then you really should. Lilly Palmer is…