Lilly Palmer

Peak time at 150 BPM, ready for the big venue

Lilly Palmer's peak time techno is designed for the leap from a club to a stadium: dry kicks, tempos from 145 to 150 BPM, melodic hooks, and a booth that pushes forward without losing control of the journey. Mixmag has cited her among the most exciting names in the genre and, in 2025, she broke into the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs as one of the highest entries, at number 57. That leap was forged away from the spotlight: first in Zurich bars, then on Drumcode, and, by 2024, with a double contract at Armada Music and Kontor Records.

From Der Hirsch in Nuremberg to five hours in Zurich

She grew up in Schwabach, on the outskirts of Nuremberg, in a parsonage where her father's metal, her mother's classical music, and the piano she learned as a child coexisted. At 17, she discovered techno at Der Hirsch while watching Monika Kruse. After a stint in modeling and studying nutrition, in 2015 she bought turntables in Zurich, learned to mix online, and started playing deep house and melodic techno in bars, with five-hour sessions that served as her school. Karl Goedicke, from Goldroom Agency, became her manager after hearing her first mix. On New Year's Eve 2016, she debuted on Brainwash FM; in 2017, Natura Viva released Teaser, her first EP, still around 125 BPM.

Drumcode, Spannung, and the pact with Armada

Her sound hardened at the same time she settled on the Dutch coast, near Amsterdam. In 2020, she founded Spannung Records. On Drumcode, she released Amnesie as part of A-Sides and, in April 2022, the We Control EP, which topped the Beatport peak time techno chart in two days. That year, she recorded a two-hour Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1. In 2023, she took the main stage at Tomorrowland, broadcast a live set from a test chamber at the European Space Agency, and released You Are My Guide with samples from the ESA. The 2024 deal with Armada and Kontor kicked off with Hare Ram and extended to reinterpretations of Komodo by Mauro Picotto and Blah Blah Blah by Armin van Buuren, in addition to collaborations with Maddix, Vini Vici, and Space 92. In Ibiza, she has shared a back-to-back format with van Buuren at Ushuaïa.

Bigger Than Techno, on the festival circuit

In March 2026, she released her first album, Bigger Than Techno: sixteen tracks that traverse festival techno, hard dance, and trance nods, with guests such as Armin van Buuren, Gregor Tresher, Maddix, Danny Avila, and Egbert. Her recent calendar includes the sunrise closing set at EDC Las Vegas at Circuit Grounds, Ultra Miami, Sonus, and again Ushuaïa. She remains at the helm of Spannung and works from the coast of the Netherlands: a peak time techno circuit designed to make the rave feel bigger than the genre itself.