John Tejada

Born the son of a Vienna composer/conservatory teacher and an opera-singer mother, John Tejada joined Cosmic Baby and BT as classically trained techno changelings. Unlike those producers, however, Tejada's recordings for Plug Research and A13 emphasize the rougher, more melancholy aspects of techno inspired by Detroit icons like Juan Atkins and Derrick May. Raised on the West Coast, Tejada played piano and drums as a child, then began listening to hip-hop and electro, beginning his DJ career by playing out in those styles. After hearing the Detroit techno blueprints courtesy of recordings by Atkins and May, Tejada began producing; during 1996 alone he recorded two singles for A13 Records (as Lucid Dream) and an EP for Electric Ladyland (as Autodidact). Early the following year, his debut Lucid Dream album, Pure, appeared, followed by a single for Plug Research as Mr. Hazeltine. After the 1997 Plug Research & Development compilation earned kudos around the home-listening techno community, Tejada formed his own label, Palette Records; collaborated with Joe Babylon of Plug Research and Allen Avan as Frankie Carbone; and recorded on his own for Organised Noise, Ferox, and 7th City.

His first album, Little Green Lights and Four Inch Faders, appeared in 1999 on A13 Records. Backstock, a wrap-up of his Palette label recordings, was released in 2001, and his second full production LP -- Daydreams in Cold Weather -- followed one year later on Plug Research. From that point, Tejada kicked his release schedule into an even higher gear, especially when it came to full-length projects. He collaborated on a series of albums with Arien Leviste: Fairfax Sake (Playhouse, 2003), The Dot and the Line (Moods & Grooves, 2004), and Back for Basics (Palette, 2005). There were the solo discs The Toiling of Idle Hands (Immigrant, 2003), The Matrix of Us (Defocus, 2004), Logic Memory Center (Plug Research, 2004), Cleaning Sounds Is a Filthy Business (Palette, 2006), and Where (Palette, 2008). As I'm Not a Gun, he worked with Takeshi Nishimoto to produce three albums for City Centre Offices and a fourth for Palette, and he also mixed the 44th volume of the Fabric series. ~ John Bush, Rovi...

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