Tal Fussman

Persona in the Berghain garden

Seeing Âme play Persona in the Berghain garden was not a lineup accident, but the closing of a circle that Tal Fussman had pursued methodically. The Berlin-based Israeli producer builds an elastic house that slips into jazz, 80s disco, and dirty percussion techno, and he does so without asking permission from genre boxes.

The Block as a point of no return

He grew up in Herzliya, half an hour from Tel Aviv, with guitar and drums in rock bands. By fifteen, he was already DJing, first at a youth club and later at private parties. The turning point came at The Block, the club that pushed the Tel Aviv underground scene: there he heard Rødhåd, Âme, Seth Troxler, and Marcel Dettmann, and decided his place was in rhythmic electronic music. He bought a one-way ticket to Berlin.

Five years behind closed doors

In the German capital, he didn't jump straight into the booths. He completed a degree in audio engineering, isolated himself from the noise of Tel Aviv—a bubble too small for his ear—and spent up to fifteen hours a day in the studio. During the pandemic, he refined his own language, with echoes of metal, indie, and rock caught in the loop. In 2021, he got Dixon to listen to his folder; shortly after, Innervisions included his music in Secret Weapons. The EP The Unknown, released in 2022 on Diynamic, Solomun's label, acted as a detonator: Burning Bridges and the title track began circulating on dancefloors around the world.

Survival Tactics, home for what doesn't fit

That same year he founded Survival Tactics, a label and party series for electronic music that doesn't fit into any drawer. In June 2023, his debut album The Fine Line in Between arrived: Move Your Hips stayed in the festivals and Talk to Me topped Beatport charts. The EP Children of 95 on Innervisions (2023) and Focus on Drumpoet (2024) confirmed his house pulse. On Rekids, Radio Slave's label, he chained Definition, I Feel, and Walking On Mars; on Laurent Garnier's COD3QR he signed Higher!; on SEVEN he released the EP No Disco in 2025, with a remix by Deetron. Everybody, back on his own label, arrived with versions by KiNK and Elisa Bee. Frankey and Sandrino included his sound in a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix.

Open booth, label in motion

On the dancefloor, improvisation is the norm: he doesn't prepare closed sets and lets the room decide. HÖR Berlin has documented two long sessions, in September 2024 and March 2025. Support from Honey Dijon, Dave Clarke, Marcel Dettmann, DJ Hell, Binh, and Ben Sims places his records in an international circuit. In 2026, the calendar points to Panorama Bar during a Berghain Klubnacht, as well as dates in clubs across Europe and the United States. Survival Tactics remains the laboratory: a place for his music and for emerging names, with the stubbornness of someone who, after years of unanswered emails, decided that the next move would have to be made by others.