21.2.2009 15 Jahre Cave Club, Cave Club, Salzburg Einstellungen

[Dave S.]

Jawoi!!!!! Die Party des Jahres!!!!

Der Beitrag wurde von Dave S. bearbeitet: 28 Dec 2008, 17:05

[derTobi]

Joey Beltram

Joey Beltram grew up in Queens, the second most populous of New York City's boroughs. Queens, crawling with energy and schizophrenically diverse, can be said to define America. And in some sense, Joey Beltram, in all of his aliases defines American techno too. He is a result of the environment he grew up in and an emblem of them: the clatter and locomotion of the subway to Manhattan shaped the driving, mechanical din of his productions.

And yet at the same time, Beltram stands distinctly apart from his of peers and his early domain. From the start, Joey's independent vision was nothing like the landscape of his contemporaries. The sounds of Joey Beltram's imagination reengineered the garden variety dance music of New York into a new model of hard American techno for the rest of the world to emulate.

Beltram began DJing in 1983 at the young age of 12 years old. At that time you would have found hip hop, electro and classic

B-Boy tunes in heavy rotation. He played roller rinks and block parties to help buy records, studio gear and decks. By 1989, still a teenager, he had already released his debut records for New York dance record labels such as Nu Groove and Easy Street.

In 1990, Joey captivated ears at the Belgian record company R&S and after releasing the single "Let it Ride" with them early that year, under the moniker, Direct, he was invited to Gent: his first trip abroad. Unbeknownst to anyone, he carried with him a track that would change the history of dance music. Joey had just completed "Energy Flash" one week previously. Released in September of 1990 on R&S Records and licensed to the ultra-legendary Transmat imprint in the US, "Energy Flash" took over dance floors around the world and was later aptly called the "Track of the Decade" by Muzik Magazine. Evidence of the tracks influence can be found in the names of dance record shops and books about techno culture which adopted the title of this influential record. In 1991, he followed up the classic with an impressive list of releases, which included "Beltram Vol. 2," in addition to his work as Second Phase "Mentasm" release (with Mundo Muzique) and "Second Chapter" as Code 6.

The Queens native found himself beginning to DJ all over the world, playing major events in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany and holding down a residency at the Limelight in New York.

By 1994, he easily joined names topping the lists of sought after producers, DJ's and remixers. His 1993 and 1994 releases such as "Aonox" on Visible Records and "The Beltram Re-Releases 1989-1991" on legendary Chicago label Trax had cemented his reputation globally. Demand from the most powerful labels in dance was at a high. It was then that Beltram encountered Rob Mitchell, owner of Warp records in the UK, at a show at the Orbit in Leeds. Rob approached him about doing a record for Warp. The result was "The Caliber EP," released in the spring of that year to international acclaim.

The following year Joey began his long and historic association with Tresor Records, in Berlin. They had contacted him about the possibility of him joining the label. Beltram was already working on a full length LP for Warp Records when he played the tracks for the Tresor crew. They were smitten. Warp was in the process of changing direction, moving away from the more club friendly sound. As a result, Joey ultimately saw the material as a better fit for Tresor. The LP, "Places" was released by Tresor in 1995 and was one of the biggest techno records of that year.

Riding high with "Places," the venerable Novamute came knocking. Joey would release his next LP with them under the JB³ pseudonym. "Close Grind," debuting in 1996, contained a number of memorable tracks, including the hits, "Believer" and "Forklift."

During the next few years, Joey focused his output on his own label, STX and played DJ dates all over the world. Beltram was found headlining events like Awakenings, Coachella, Nature One, Mayday and Dance Valley to name a few. In 2004, he released "The Rising Sun" with Tresor, a triple vinyl and CD that included some of that year's monster club tracks. Since then, he has also released the "Code 6" EP with Tresor.

Time has not slowed Beltram who, like a machine, is working furiously in the studio finishing an LP for release in 2008, and finalizing new works for STX.

Der Beitrag wurde von derTobi bearbeitet: 9 Jan 2009, 16:32

Angehängte Datei(en)

 CAR_1350.JPG ( 895.53KB ) Anzahl der Downloads: 7