There always has to be someone who pioneers the standards of music, those who create the genres and styles. Centuries upon centuries ago, cavemen invented the wheel. Now it is Joey Beltram who has helped formand create the house music style through his releases in America. Beltram is the pioneer of a sound which is iconic and always associated with the genre, something which many other artists have also incorporated into their releases. Beltrams style is so original and groundbreaking. One of his amazing musical inventions was that of the ‘mentasm riff’.
It would take a techno Einstein to be able to associate the sound with the term – but if you listen to techno music often (particularly the work of Joey Beltram), the odds are that you will have heard it before. It has been compared to a hoover sound from time to time, and this element of techno & rave music is so versatile that it has been applied to countless numbers of tracks which fit into this genre quite comfortably.
Joey Beltram, who comes from Queens in the US, is mainly associated with two pieces of work that received overwhelming success on the dance music scene – one of them being accredited with the original source of the ‘mentasm’.
The other main production was believed to be Energy Flash – and this was the eponymous track from Beltram which was released in 1990. For many, the days of house music which were seen in the 90s have been defined by the calming utterances of ‘ecstasy, ecstasy’ which are one of the main elements of the track.
There have also been many different releases of note by Joey Beltram since that include the collection of all of his classic hits in one compilation – similar to the ‘best of’ collections which are available on so many music shelves today!
One of the main dilemmas for the commentators of the techno music and electro scenes is this: there is no doubt that without the work of Joey Beltram, this genre would be nowhere near as innovative as it is today. Beltram has always had anack of pushingthisngs forward and helping to define genres However with this in mind, it could be said that it can be difficult to say where Beltram has brought value to the genre because of how his music can’t be pigeon-holed and described as one particular thing. The fact remains that Beltram was one of the people who actually developed the sound that we thing of as "Classic Techno".
The personal live of Beltram and his origins into the world of techno music come from New York where he once used graffiti to unleash his creativity – a feeling that his talent was suppressed because there was a lack of something to do. All of that changed when he was able to channel his energy through music, a passion which put him in the DJ booth in his tender teenage years. Not only that, but his experiences saw him gain strong connections to record labels in Germany – being one of the first American-based artists to grace the dance culture in the country for extended periods of time. With new sounds from Joey Beltram being released all of the time, there is no sign of him slowing down. A true master of the Techno Genre, if you are not fmailair with his work we suggest you check out his work under his various monikers (Joey Beltram, JB3, Etc)
Recent Discography:
Live @ Womb (CD, Mixed, Comp) Tresor 2005
Live @ Womb 02 (CD, Comp, Mixed) Womb Recordings 2005
The Rising Sun (12", Ltd, Promo, S/Sided) Tresor 2005
Trax Classix (CD, Comp, Dig) Trax Records 2005
Back2back Series Part 3 (12") Bush 2006
Code 6 (12") Tresor 2006
Coke DJ-Culture In The Mix (CD, Single, Promo) Not On Label (Coke DJ-Culture Series) 2006
Coke DJ-Culture Remixes (12", Promo) Not On Label (Coke DJ-Culture Series) 2006
The Alien Chamber (Beyonder Part 2) (12", S/Sided, Ltd) STX Records 2006
The Start It Up (12") Trax Records 2006
Fractals / Rock Bottom (12", Red) Kombination Research 2007
Orch7 (10", S/Sided) STX Records 2007
Future Groove (File, MP3, RE) Nervous Records 2008
Harthouse DJ Mix Series Vol. 1 - Lost In New York (CD, Comp, Mixed) Harthouse Mannheim 2008
Shaking Trees (12") Harthouse Mannheim 2008
The Scorpion EP (12", EP) Drumcode 2008
Dragon (12") MB Elektronics 2009
Live Mix (12", Promo) Logic Records (US)
