Elise Massoni interview: from Shanghai’s underground to Paris and Rinse France, on feeling, boredom as a luxury, and her new label L0N3R Records.We talked interpretation, feeling above all, boredom as a luxury, and the cave allegory that holds the whole project together. An artist who “does things by ear and by heart.”
- Hi Elise, thanks for answering our paradoxical questions! 2026 has been a pivotal year for you with the launch of L0N3R Records. What have you been up to lately, between the label, productions and gigs?
Hi, thanks for having me first of all. Lately I’ve been kind of reconnecting with myself from 10 years ago, maybe because of the label but also because of life recently, where i felt less and less connected to my surroundings in techno and felt the need to go back to my roots. I dusted off my records and realized how I missed some of them. In term of production, I’m currently working on my second release on L0N3R and I just finished a remix for my friend Lawrence Lee that’s coming out in June on his imprint a7a and a track for XXLAB forthcoming VA on the way too. The biggest change is definitely the shift from analog to digital, both in the studio and in the DJ booth. Back in the late 90s, producing music required expensive hardware, and playing out meant carrying heavy record bags. Today, the tools are incredibly accessible. Anyone with a laptop can produce a track, which has democratized the scene but also flooded the market. The speed at which music is consumed and forgotten has also massively increased.
- Many artists describe their early classical training as something they had to “unlearn” to embrace electronic music. For you, was it more of a tension to overcome, or has it always quietly fed into the way you arrange tracks and build narrative tension in your sets?
To me interpretation is about the feeling something provide you and you want to share with the world about it . I just got bored by music that doesn’t make me feel anything. Although i can love a good techno tool, a good groove make you feel something, basically to me something has to touch your soul your body or your mind but i think the mind got reach after the soul and body. I think we’ve intellectualized everything so much, and by we i mean, the white people, that we forgot the main point of it all sometimes.
- You’ve often said “feelings come first” when it comes to your interpretation. In a techno scene that can sometimes feel obsessed with BPM, peak-time impact and social media moments, how do you protect that emotional approach?
It was an absolutely incredible experience. Returning to Japan after 20 years, I could really see how much the country has changed. Even though we are in 2026, it feels like the Japanese are already living in the future, haha! They still have a very deep respect for the artists and bring a unique, intense energy to the club. As for China, it was my very first time there and I only played in Beijing. I was positively surprised by the sound systems and the club scene. The people there truly live techno, are extremely attentive, and are just as incredibly respectful. It really showed me how universal the language of techno is.For several years now, I have been immersed in modular synthesis and its infinite possibilities. Through it, I explore basic and complex concepts such as FM synthesis, granular synthesis, and sound design. Sculpting new sounds and creating a sonic identity through sound sources seems truly magical to me.
- You’ve described your father telling you that boredom was a luxury. How does that idea — taking time, not rushing — translate into the way you work today, especially in an industry that constantly pushes for more output and visibility?
I think i’m someone who now love to be doing nothing. it is indeed a luxury that its hard to get these days but i burn out fast when i don’t have moment to watch through my window or just contemplate my cat. I’ve find a bit of peace recently by drawing again and also playing my old records. And I also accept the fact that, taking pictures for intagram will always makes me cry while just recording myself playing whatever and posting without overthinking the thing is what i’m gonna give the world today. i kind of don’t care anymore. i use not to care, i’m back to that.
- You spent 5 years in Shanghai, exploring its experimental scene with collectives like Acid Pony Club, Nahash (SVBKVLT), K.O.P 32 (Beyond the Bridge). What did the Chinese underground teach you that European scenes couldn’t have?
I believe Shanghai definitely left an open-minded imprint on me, while also making me miss the golden years of Concrete in Paris as I wasn’t there. I guess what I took from paris was more of a transmission from what was before that, from the big house years with djs like Gregory, dj deep to the Pulp that i was still too young to go there before it closed. Finally I was a berghain kids in 2015 even tho I was a truly Pano lover. Everything was about both floor back then and line up were so sick it was sometimes hard to choose which floor you wanted to be in and a weekend you could not go out. I’m kind of still in between these 2 floors I guess but with a curiosity that I got from shanghai.
- Paris has had a really strong techno momentum in the last few years with venues like Fvtvr, Essaim, Virage, Mia Mao. From the inside, how do you see the Parisian & French scene evolving in 2026?
I’m glad there is so many choices, although i started to really enjoy some queer warehouse parties and feel that it’s a freedom that’s sometimes hard ot get in parisian clubs. A lot of efforts are made in the right directions.
- L0N3R Records launched in early 2026 with a clear focus on “exploration and introspection”. What was the trigger? Why launch a label now, after years of releasing on labels like XXLAB, TemeT, Mama Told Ya and Man Band?
I always had that in mind and didn’t think it would happen now but the idea first came because I was, for the 100 times producing none club music, I start thinking that I already struggle sending my music so I thought, I’m not gonna waste time trying to release non club tracks. That’s how I thought of making a label dedicated to that kind of “music for loners”. Stuff you listen alone in your bed or elsewhere. Then i was in studio with Sam Tiba who is not in our industry and told him about it and he said something like “why you guys in techno are always so complicated ? just release everything”. And it clicked. Plus at that point François X was telling me that he could release my next EP a year later. I wanted to get my agenda back in my hands, even tho the first EP still came out one year later.. At least i didn’t spend months waiting but learning something new.
There are so many great ones out there right now! I definitely have to mention the whole Hayes team from Portugal—artists like Temudo, Norbak, Vil, and Cravo are doing incredible work. From Spain, Joton and the legendary Oscar Mulero are always on my radar. I also really like what SHDW is doing with the Mutual Rytm label. On the production side, artists like Dextro from Portugal, Voltaire (who released COD3 QR), Dario Mass, D-Leria, R.M.K and Aöcram are really catching my attention. And of course, I have to shout out my absolute favorite labels: MORD run by Bas Mooy, Klockworks, and the iconic Underground Resistance. There are just so many producers and labels making mega tracks right now. Keep it up!
- The name “L0N3R” is striking — it suggests something quite personal and almost vulnerable. What does that name mean to you, and how does it translate into the label’s artistic direction?
So L0N3R is for loner, just wanted to make sure nobody would use it too and yes it represents a loner as a producer can be, also as a listenner can be. Then it is also part of the storytelling I’ve built around it. Some kind of cave allegory that’s represented by who we are at different moments and places. Either an abandon child or a reference point. the loner can be both, although it’s always him, each one of them can’t loose the other one or they’re lost for ever. The abandon child is your soul and can’t be lost, the reference point is some kind of guidance to make sure we’re not getting lost. So yes it is vulnerable, it’s precious, it’s something I built up at a moment of my life when I was lost but I I knew I could also be lost for ever.
- How do you balance running L0N3R, your own productions, your Rinse France residency and your touring schedule? Is there a structure, or is it controlled chaos?
I guess it depends of the periods, it had been a year and half that I’ve had agency issues so I only played on requests, meaning half the gigs I use to have. At the beginning that was like a down vertigo but ended it up giving me space to go back to studio, produce a lot, building the label and find myself finally where I wanted to be. Although label is a lot to do i was excited to discover that new kind of job and understand why things take time. It really helped me calm down on many levels. I’m not a very organized person, actually i’m the opposite of organize but weirdly i function the best when I have a lot to do, i just do it. it’s just that things are divided into phases where i produce, i mixdown, i take care of the label and then i dig and play. Rinse is like one day per month but fortunately, this year is every two months, so i can do more podcasts or stream. As you can see I was late on sending this back to you and I’ve a rinse and a podcast I still didn’t share yet. But like I said, I do what i can but now i won’t make myself sick if things aren’t exactly what they should be. I actually recorded a podcast for Vault while being so sick I feel like i ruined it. just to be on time.
My advice would be to understand the roots, but don’t get trapped in the past. It’s crucial to know the history of electronic music to understand why things sound the way they do today. But never just blindly follow the current trends or try to copy what is number one on Beatport. The most important thing is: always stay true to your own style!! Find your own sonic identity. It takes longer to get noticed that way, but it’s the only way to build a sustainable and authentic career. And always believe in yourself! Don’t let anything bring you down. Into battle, Toreador!
- Your music navigates between fast techno, IDM, acid, breakbeat and electro — and your EP “Straight Is A Lie” on TemeT really embraced that hybrid identity. Do you feel the techno scene is finally more open to that kind of crossover than 5 years ago?
I think you red that from an old bio haha but no I mostly play techno. That was years ago that crossed over genres because I wasn’t ready to actually play techno. I used to love crossgenre stuff and experiment but i think that it was also because i wasnt ready to choose something and work hard on it. I was just scared to take things more seriously and to the next level.
- Do you have a precise moment in your career that you’ll never forget — one that genuinely changed your trajectory?
Actually at a release party for TemeT or Man Band I don’t remember, I was there with Simo Cell, Toma Kami and E Unity and someone said something like “the french UK scene is here”. And in my head I was like what? no, no way. I dont wanna pretend anything like this and it also sounded so wrong and far from what i came from initially. So that’s when i turned my back a bit from this scene to go more into techno.
Also years later, when i ended up playing before Blawan at XXL techno. Same, I was like wtf am I doing here, playing Armani’s tracks as it was the hardest thing I could give them, but truly I was like, this is not what i want or where i belong, at all.
- Your Rinse France residency since 2018 has been a real platform — both for your own journey and for the artists you invite. How do you choose your guests, and what role does curation play in your identity as an artist?
I’ve always had guests that I wanted to invite on the moment, from very different background also because my journey at the radio really started more as a radio thing and then shifted more to a platform i decided to use i what i currently play. i have invited djs or producers i loved from Truncate to Shiken Hanzo, Konduku, THC, Alpha Tracks, Toumba, Cora and more! It’s really a matter of envie and moment, I invites Illsee few years back who is a sick dj and selector from shanghai, of course my brother Nahash and KOP32 who now are both in very different direction, and lately Lobster who was playing in France so it was the perfect timing to have him.
- As a DJ, you must come across loads of promos. What do you think about the current state of techno production? Is there enough creativity and innovation, or does a lot of it feel formulaic?Your music navigates between fast techno, IDM, acid, breakbeat and electro — and your EP “Straight Is A Lie” on TemeT really embraced that hybrid identity. Do you feel the techno scene is finally more open to that kind of crossover than 5 years ago?
I think that’s where I’m the less professional but I almost don’t dig into my promo, I keep on digging and buying music I love. As much as some artists like Inox Traxx, François X, RMK, Ignez or Ribe & Roll Dann can impress me, a lot of actual stuff just really don’t appeal to me and I would rather dig in my old collection or into the artists and the label i love. I think you red that from an old bio haha but no I mostly play techno. That was years ago that crossed over genres because I wasn’t ready to actually play techno. I used to love crossgenre stuff and experiment but i think that it was also because i wasnt ready to choose something and work hard on it. I was just scared to take things more seriously and to the next level.
- What artists and labels are holding your attention right now in 2026? Any names our readers should keep an eye on?
XXLAB – François X insane dj but maybe underrated producer, be aware of his next release, it’s pure gold to me and it’s coming out soon. Inox Traxx, one of the most impressive producers I know, she really is so good, I’m always impressed by the variety and quality of her productions. Somov – Ignez, no need for introduction.
- Can you give us a glimpse of the future projects for Elise Massoni and L0N3R Records? Any releases, gigs or collaborations you can tease?
Next Release will come out in September or October, and during winter maybe a little hors-serie with some non-club tracks. All from me at the moment.
Thanks a lot ELISE, we hope to see you very soon somewhere, keep the good vibe on!
Love and respect