Joey Beltram is an American DJ and record producer from Queens, New York, born in 1971. He is known for early techno recordings such as “Energy Flash” and “Mentasm”, and for developing a distinctive sound outside any single city scene. He also records under the name JB3 and has worked under several project names, including Second Phase, Lost Entity, Program 2 Beltram and Final Exposure.

Early life and beginnings

Beltram grows up in Queens and is the son of a Mexican father and an Italian mother. As a teenager, he is active in graffiti and is known by the pseudonym “Poes”. He first stands behind a turntable in 1983, and by the age of 17 he records his first maxi single.

Early releases and breakthrough

His early releases appear on Nu Groove in New York, followed by records for Atmosphere Records, Easy Street and Trax Records in Chicago. Under the name Cold Six, he issues “Forgotten Moments” in 1989. That release leads to contact with R&S Records in Belgium, which signs him. In late 1989 he travels to Gent and becomes the first American musician to work there for an extended period.

With Mundo Music as Second Phase, he records “Vortex” and “Mentasm”. Under the project Direct, “Let It Ride” helps establish his profile in the United States. His international breakthrough comes with “Energy Flash” in 1990, a track that becomes one of his best-known techno recordings.

Albums, labels and later work

Beltram’s album Beltram Vol. 1 appears in 1991 and helps confirm his place in techno after the success of “Energy Flash”. He leaves R&S Records at the end of 1990 after musical differences with the label head. He then focuses on DJ work, touring in Europe and America while continuing studio work, with a two-year gap in new releases.

He returns in 1992 on Warp Records with the EP “Calibre”. From 1995 he has a long relationship with Tresor Records in Berlin, releasing the maxi EPs “Gameform”, “Instant” and “Metro”, as well as the album Places, which is later re-released in 1998. In the same period he issues the maxi “Ball Park”.

STX Records and later aliases

In 1999 Beltram founds his own label, STX Records, and continues to record there under his own name and as JB3. After six years without a Tresor release, he returns with “The Beyonder” in 2004 and follows it with the album The Rising Sun and a winter world tour.

Style and reputation

His music reflects personal experience, including conflict, confusion, survival and feeling, and he describes his work as needing its own sound. He remains associated with techno and electronic music, and is particularly identified with the development of early techno in the 1990s.