Joey Beltram (born November 6, 1971) is an American DJ and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, best known for his pioneering singles "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" and for remixing

Human Resource Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

's " Dominator".

Rave recordings

"Mentasm" (is inspired by the title "Acid Rock" by Rhythm Device released in 1989 and the title "Do That Dance" by The Project released in 1990), co-produced with Mundo Muzique and released under the artist name Second Phase in 1991, became iconic within

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

culture, as it was the track that gave birth to the "mentasm riff" (also known as the "

hoover sound Hoover sound refers to a particular synthesizer sound in electronic music, commonly used in rave techno, hardcore techno, gabber, breakbeat hardcore, trance, hard house and hard NRG. Originally called the ''"Mentasm"'', the name that stuck was th ...

"): a churning, dirgelike synth pattern that wormed into techno's communal

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

and has since been mutated and reused in thousands of records. The "mentasm riff" is also strongly associated with

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

, the

Belgian techno Belgian hardcore techno (also referred to as Belgian techno or rave techno) is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. This particular style has been describ ...

scene (with the titles "Le Seigneur des ténèbres" by Pleasure Game released in 1991 and "Destiny" by Insider released in 1991), and the R&S record label, as well as

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

hard house UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often features a speedy te ...

in their various permutations since 1992 (with the titles "Fuckin Revenge!" by Friends Of Django released in 1992 and "Cosmic Trash" by Vitamin released in 1993). Beltram was referenced as a pioneer in the late 1990s

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

scene by

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

, in their song "Teachers" off their 1997 debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed at home. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, Exercise (mathematics), math problems to be completed, informatio ...

'' and author, Simon Reynolds, credited Beltram with having "revolutionized techno twice before the age of 21," when describing both "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" in his book ''Generation Ecstasy''. Throughout the years, Beltram has continually toured at major festivals around the globe. He has also continued releasing techno, with his 1993 and 1994 tracks "Aonox" on Visible and "the Beltram re-releases" on Trax, the "Caliber" EP on Warp, and his 1995 LP ''Places'' and 1996 single, "Ball Park" on

Tresor TRESOR (recursive acronym for "TRESOR Runs Encryption Securely Outside RAM", and also the German word for a safe) is a Linux kernel patch which provides encryption using only the CPU to defend against cold boot attacks on computer systems by perf ...

counting among his work in the 1990s. He was also invited to release another album, ''Close Grind'', on Daniel Miller's Novamute imprint under the JB³ alias. In 1999, he launched his own label STX with Arena, while he continued to release under Code 6 and JB³, as well as headlining events such as Awakenings, Coachella, Nature One, Mayday and Dance Valley. Returning to Tresor in 2004, he released the album ''Rising Sun''. And he has kept up a busy release schedule ever since, with tracks on Womb, Harthouse, Drumcode, MB Electroniks, and Bush.

Selected discography

Compilation albums

* ''

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

'' (1996) *''The Sound of 2AM'' (1999)

Singles

*"Energy Flash" (1990) *"Mentasm" (1991, as Second Phase) *"Cop Car" (1994) *"Caliber" (1994; UK No. 96)Chart statistics of "Caliber EP"
Officialcharts.com; retrieved January 20, 2019 *"Game Form" (1995)

References

External links

Joey Beltram
discography at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...