Short bio · 60 words
Ida Nachtfeld is a live electronic musician from Leipzig. She plays long sets on six boxes of hardware she wires herself, with no laptop on stage, and records every show to tape. Her fourth album, Field Recordings for Machines, was made over four nights in a disused tram depot and is out on her own label, Nachtfeld Tonträger.
Long bio
Born in Halle in 1991, Ida Nachtfeld moved to Leipzig for a sound-engineering course she never finished. She played her first live set in 2014 in a basement in Plagwitz on borrowed machines and has not used a laptop on stage since.
Her 2016 cassette Night Bus Loop sold its run of 200 at shows. The debut album Catenary followed in 2018 and took the live set to 31 countries. In 2020 she started Nachtfeld Tonträger from a rented tram depot, which is now studio, rehearsal room and, twice a year, a venue.
Field Recordings for Machines (2026) was recorded live to quarter-inch tape in the depot’s inspection pit, tuned to the hum of the overhead tram lines.
■ Press photos
High-resolution, free to use with the credit shown. Please don’t crop the grain out.
01 · Night field, Leipzig
02 · Walking in, Plagwitz
03 · Channel four
04 · Booth, Tbilisi
05 · The modular case
06 · Test pressing
■ Technical rider
The live set runs from one table and four lines. Anything unusual, ask us first; the answer is usually yes.