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Hear it now
Press play.
This is BALIMORE — written, produced and mixed by Steven Ran Cohen. Full tracks, no sign-up, no download. Four minutes is enough to know whether this is your sound.
- Lane
- Melancholic melodic techno
- Tempo
- 118 – 124 BPM
- Signature
- Long melodic phrases, indie-dance DNA
- Vocals
- Occasional, human and unprocessed
Two things stated plainly before anything else. This page is not affiliated with the artist it discusses, is not endorsed by them, and sells nothing — no tickets, no merchandise. For shows and tickets, go to that artist’s own official site or their announced ticketing partner and nowhere else. And my information has a cutoff: labels, line-ups and rosters move, so read every name here as a direction to search in rather than a current fact.
Why it feels like a song
Sixteen- and thirty-two-bar melodic phrases. Most techno repeats a one- or two-bar figure. This lane writes a line long enough to have a beginning and an end — which is why you can hum it afterwards, and why it survives outside a club.
Actual chord changes. Not one minor chord held under a filter sweep, but a progression that moves and returns. That movement is what produces the melancholy; it is harmonic, not just atmospheric.
Indie-dance inheritance. You can hear late-2000s indie electronic in the choice of sounds — plucked synths, slightly detuned leads, drums mixed more softly than a club record would allow.
Vocals left alone. Where this lane uses a voice, it tends to leave it recognisable and human rather than stretching it into texture. That is the clearest audible difference from the Afterlife end of the style.
Where the lane continues
Tale of Us, Adriatique, Mathame and Innellea are the nearest neighbours. Stephan Bodzin for melody written as the lead instrument. ARTBAT and Kevin de Vries if you want the same harmony at festival weight.
What to search instead of the name
Melancholic melodic techno, indie dance techno mix, melodic techno 122 BPM, emotional techno extended mix.
And, in the interest of being straight with you
BALIMORE is my own project — I write, produce and mix all of it myself as Steven Ran Cohen. I am not going to claim it belongs beside the name at the top of this page; that artist has spent years in rooms I have not played. What I will say is that it is built in the same lane with the same arrangement logic, the player above is free, and four minutes will tell you more than any comparison I could write.
BALIMORE sets
Continuous 20–80 minute mixes, written, produced and mixed by Steven Ran Cohen.
- Best Hits Psytrance 2027 — The Last Light1:20 · psytrance
- No Borders After Darkafro & latin
- Techno House Best Mix 2026 — Project Xpeak time
- Tech House Mix — Time To Shine Againtech house
- YouTubeplaylist
Questions people actually ask
What genre is Mind Against?
Melodic techno with an indie-dance inheritance — around 118 to 124 BPM, sixteen to thirty-two bar melodic phrases, real chord progressions and vocals left recognisably human.
Why does some melodic techno sound sad?
Because the harmony actually moves. A progression that departs and returns produces melancholy; a single minor chord held under a filter only produces atmosphere.
What artists sound like Mind Against?
Tale Of Us, Adriatique, Mathame, Innellea and Stephan Bodzin work in adjacent territory; ARTBAT and Kevin de Vries for a heavier version of the same harmony.
Is this club music?
It plays in clubs, but it is built to survive outside one — the phrases are long enough to work on headphones, which is unusual for techno.