This time alongside a new festival that celebrates forward thinking artists from 9th to 10th of July at Europe's biggest coal mine complex under the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein. The project is exceptional at its core, bringing back excitement and inventiveness to the genre.

The project functions as a multidisciplinary ever-evolving experiment that brings different aspects together. Sampling, creating and releasing music made out of million years old inorganic materials which shaped and defined the Ruhr Area like nothing else. "Auf Kohle geboren - born on coal" stands for this region and the so-called "German Wirtschaftswunder".

The Stone Techno project wants to embrace the history of "the Ruhrpott" while looking into the future as well. Techno Music stands for upheaval and modernity, while coal is the symbol of the Ruhr Area. This unique project will lend audibility to the ongoing process of transformation in the cultural and natural history of this region. Science and museums crossing paths with contemporary electronic music culture.

The Stone Techno project is not shy of its obvious significance. World-famous Ruhr Museum and The Third Room collective mark a first of its kind of long-lasting collaborations between a techno brand and a cultural institution.

This time the project is conceptually going one step further: Before the final backfilling of the mine at Zeche Zollverein, the acoustic atmosphere of this significant piece of global mining history was recorded 1000 metres underground, not only as an irreplaceable acoustic document, but also as preparation for a new extraordinary sample library.

A luminary of the electronic music scene has taken on this mammoth task, the British artist Matthew Herbert, this summer Matthew has sampled rocks and coal seams from the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein to create a new sample library for STONE TECHNO from the soundscape of the underground world. The finite raw material provides the basis for new creative endeavours coming from previously featured producers alongside new ones.

This year's artists feature New Sample Library recorded and processed by Matthew Herbert and varied new takes on the rich sample library from Adiel, Ben Sims, D. Dan, James Ruskin, Julia Govor, Kink, Lady Starlight, Lokier, Luke Slater, Megan Leber, Out Of Place Artefacts, Perc, Setaoc Mass, Sterac and Tommy Four Seven together with new tracks from previously featured artists VNNN. and Ahmet Sisman in the series.

The Stone Techno Series marks the use of coal mines, its minerals as a boundless source for creative inspiration, artists displaying a vigorous return, enriching the sound and texture of a sometimes overlooked industrial force.