Submitted By: antonbanks

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Dec 28th, 2005

Filesize: 60.00 MB

Total Downloads: 18

By day, Anton works as an Engineer in the aerospace industry for a company that produces jet aircraft engines. He graduated from Central Connecticut State University in May, 2000 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology and is currently pursuing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hartford. In his free time, Anton is a DJ and aspiring techno music producer.

In 1993 Anton Banks was a student at the University of Rochester and was into hip-hop and euro-dance pop music. He especially liked the beats and rhythms found in this music but became increasingly disinterested in the lyrics. Looking for something different, Anton borrowed a compilation CD from a friend. That CD was the seminal 'Moove Your Body' release on Tribal America Artists. Soon he was obsessed with all forms of underground dance music and broke all ties to the pop music scene. Anton found himself buying all the rave and house music he could find at a store called 'The Record Archive'. Also at about the same time Anton started going to a club in Rochester called 'Heaven' which was a stripped down version of New York City's infamous super club , the Limelight, as it was also built out of an old church. He only knew that he liked the music but it would be almost a year and a half later before Anton realized that he had been listening to early techno in it's heyday in the form of tracks like The Goodmen's 'Give it up', Jaydee's 'Plastic Dreams' and an assortment of music from early Detroit and Plus 8. The turning point came in 1994 when Anton first heard 'Psychotrance', a mixed CD by Mr. C on Moonshine Music. This CD and his experiences at 'Heaven' gave him a desire to learn to spin records.

In 1995 Anton transferred to Central Connecticut State University and joined the school's radio station, 107.7FM WFCS, as the student engineer shortly after that. As the engineer he had 24 hour access to turntables and an audience and used this opportunity to learn to mix records by taking advantage of dead air (which was and still is often at WFCS) to practice mixing. Through WFCS Anton met other people such as DJ Rockphonics- founder of Equinox and O.L.- the third hillbilly on 'Hillbilly House', who showed him the ropes and got me bookings. In 1996 Anton got his first booking at the now legendary Equinox weekly (Webster Theater in Hartford, CT from 1996 to 97). This turned into his first residency which gave him the opportunity to open for many touring DJs from New York City, Boston, and beyond.

Anton's first radio show, 'Spatial Distortion', was first heard on WFCS on January 18, 1995 and was on the air until May of 2000. In July, '99 Anton started a second show, 'Vault Radio', that now airs on 88.1FM WESU (Wesleyan University), as an offshoot of 'Spatial Distortion'. Anton is now one of a small number of people promoting non-commercial electronic music in Connecticut on a station that covers most of the state.

It has now been over 10 years since Anton began DJing and he has become one of the most versatile acts around. He has built up a musical repertoire of several thousand records that span from minimal house to techno to industrial and most styles in between.

Submitted By: antonbanks

Genre: Techno

Date of Set: Dec 28th, 2005

Filesize: 60.00 MB

Total Downloads: 18

Normally associated with his peers in Techno from Detroit, Europe and elsewhere in the US and the world, John Tejada has embraced electronic music as a personal frontier, expanding on his formidable resume as a Techno recording artist as producer and remixer, DJ, and label owner. With dozens of singles, remixes, some film and TV work and contributions to sample CDs to his credit, this recent expansion has born a slew of tracks deeply informed by his uncompromised aesthetic honed over years of diligent production which finds its roots in Detroit Techno but references a far broader range of music, both in and outside of electronic music. His musically formative years were steeped in Classical music, growing up in family of performing artists--his mother a soprano singer and his father a conductor which then widened to include hip hop, DJing and finally, electronic music.

Known for crafting a brand of subtle, musical techno, his recorded output ranges across tempo and genre lines, from chilled out affairs with spacious arrangements to pulsating, densely layered, deeply energetic tracks that work magnificently in the hands of DJs as well as on the home stereo. Earlier on, his music found release on labels such as A13, Multiplex and Generation R&S. Following on to those successes, he established his own imprint, Palette, in Los Angeles, in 1996, and has enjoyed seven years of steady growth and recognition. The label has served as an exclusive outlet for his own prodigious output but has recently begun to expand its roster. He has also continued to record for other labels such as Plug Research, Seventh City, Moods and Grooves, deFocus, Sino and others, often in collaboration with 12 year long collaborator Arian Leviste, and alongside these numerous singles, has also produced eight albums; two for A13, Palette and one each for deFocus, Plug Research, Moods and Grooves and Playhouse.

While most of his colleagues work on establishing a signature sound within one specific genre, John Tejada works in all genres simultaneously. Whether house, techno, electronica or drum & bass, every scene gets something from this multitalent, and Tejada manages to move within each field as if it were his own. Recently he surprised everyone by revealing yet another facet to his already impressive ability: he is releasing an album on the Berlin label City Centre Offices with Japanese guitarist Takeshi Nishimoto, under the project name 'I'm Not a Gun'. The album impressively demonstrates that Tejada can make a place for himself in post-rock circles as well, mixing electronic and acoustic sounds in the Tortoise tradition.

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