Tiefschwarz are a pair of electro house producing brothers, Ali and Basti Schwarz, formed in 1996. Peter Hoff, who runs the Benztown studios in Stuttgart, joined later, and completes the Tiefschwarz production team. Their name means 'deep black' in German, and is a combination of the brothers' surnames, and their love of deep house.
Their earliest productions were released on the Continuemusics label in 1997, and their first taste of a well-respected label was with their Music track on Francois Kevorkian's Wave Music label in 1999. The team released their first album, RAL9005 on the Four Music label in 2001, which was later licensed to Derrick Carter and Luke Solomon's Classic Recordings label. Tiefschwarz continued to release on Classic until its untimely demise in 2005, as well as releasing on labels such as Fine and International Deejay Gigolos. Many of their tracks have been licensed to compilations, from the Stereo Sushi series, to compilations for Bugged Out!, Get Physical and Renaissance, and in 2006, they released a mix of their own for the Fabric (London) mix series.
Their sound is considered, at least by those who have followed the boys from their Classic days, to have changed somewhat over the last few years. Instead of their original deep, mellow house, Tiefschwarz now represent a gritty and edgy electro house sound, their more recent tracks gaining recognition from the likes of Ivan Smagghe, Touché, Sasha and Danny Howells.
Ali and Basti Schwarz have been travelling Europe as DJs since 1995, playing at major events and popular clubs all over Germany and Switzerland, as well as cities as far afield as Miami, New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Amsterdam, Sarajevo, London, Antwerp and Stockholm, as well as appearances in Ibiza.