TuneAttic: find music, know music
TuneAttic: find music, know music
TuneAttic: find music, know music
TuneAttic: find music, know music
TuneAttic: find music, know music
TuneAttic: find music, know music
Joey Beltram

Joey Beltram is an influential American Techno DJ and Producer. His 1990 tracks ‘Energy Flash’ and ‘Mentasm’ shook up Techno music and set it on a new path.  Beltram is known for his tough, dark take on Techno and though he continues to DJ globally is now largely inactive as a producer.

Joey Beltram scales of success
Joey Beltram timeline

 

‘Energy Flash’
(R&S Records 1991)
‘Places’
(Tresor 1995)

Early Years: 1989 to 1999

Joey Beltram started DJ-ing aged just 13.  He started out mixing Electro and Hip-Hop but within little more than a year he was finding himself increasingly under the influence of the nascent Chicago House scene and then soon after that of the emerging Detroit Techno sound.

Beltram started releasing in 1989 and within a year he had achieved his breakthrough with ‘Energy Flash’ (R&S Records 1991).  ‘Energy Flash’ was no normal record, its dark throbbing bass line, syncopated 909 hi-hats, squelching acid and disturbing voice whispering ‘ecstasy’ was a quantum leap for dance music.  The sound was unprecedented and set a blueprint for the evolution of Techno in the early 1990’s.

Most artists aren’t lucky enough to produce even one genre defining release, but Beltram released another ground breaking track later the same year.  This time it was the turn of the track ‘Mentasm’ (R & S Records 1991), whose ‘hoover’ riff sound quickly l became one of dance music’s most used sounds, particularly in Hard Dance such as Commander Tom’s seminal ‘Are Am Eye’ (Noom Records 1995).

Beltram released his debut album in 1994 ‘Aonox’ (Visible Records 1994) and in 1999 set up STX Records.

‘The Scorpion’
(Drumcode 2008)
‘The Rising Sun’ 
(Tresor 2004)

Later Years: 2000 to present

In 2004 Beltram released his latest studio album to date - ‘The Rising Sun’ (Tresor 2004) – on seminal German Techno label Tresor, for whom he had recorded his 1995 album ‘Places’ (Tresor 1995).

Beltram continues to DJ around the globe, at events such as Dance Valley and Awakenings, however his production output has slowed almost to a halt.  

One of his most recent releases was the dark Electro-meets-Minimal Techno track ‘The Scorpion’ (Drumcode 2008) on Adam Beyer’s Drumcode label.

Joey Beltram’s early 1990’s releases made an indelible mark on Techno and dance music more broadly for the next two decades.  ‘Energy Flash’ goes down in history as one of the most important tracks of 20th century Techno and without ‘Mentasm’ Hard House would have been without a riff for the majority of 1990’s.  However following his early 1990’s peak Beltram’s influence has ebbed away with each passing year.

Krzysztof Pretkiewicz was born in Poznan, Poland in 1984 and as a youngster was influenced by artists including Depeche Mode, Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre.