Popof
Popof, born Alexandre Paounov, is a French DJ and producer whose career traces back to the mid-1990s French tekno and free-party scene. He became an original member of the Heretik System collective in 1995 and spent roughly a decade, from 1996 to 2005, playing hardcore and hard-techno sets across France's free-party circuit before shifting toward a more techno and minimal-techno sound around 2004.
In 2009 he launched his own label, Form Music, debuting it with the Serenity EP, and used the imprint to release a steady run of EPs through the following years, including My Toyz, The Chomper EP and Elektric Circus on labels such as Skryptöm, CR2 and Turbo. His releases through the late 2000s helped establish him within the wider European techno scene, and in 2013 he served as official patron of the Techno Parade in Paris for the event's 15th anniversary.
Popof's evolution from the harder tekno sound of his early years toward techno and minimal techno reflects a broader arc common to DJs who came up through France's free-party movement before moving into club-oriented programming. His catalogue on Form Music continued to expand with releases like Wax Machine and Blow Me Down, cementing his standing as a working DJ and label head within the French electronic scene.