James Teej began his journey into electronic music in 1995, in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, when a friend gave him a cassette tape, containing the first loops of House music he had heard. Already a classically trained musician who had been studying Piano, Guitar, Brass Instruments and Latin & Jazz Drums, James was instantly moved and had found his calling. He quickly saved up, bought his first pair of Technic 1200’s and mixer, and began collecting every record, tape and CD he could get his hands on.
Although infatuated with mixing records, his thirst for creating music wasn’t satisfied. He began to build his ever-growing production studio, starting off with a simple computer setup and some DOS trackers and samplers. James spent most of 1995 to 1997 locked away in his studio, learning the art of production, mixing, and trying to achieve his own production sound.
In 1997, James took his first stab at starting a record label, Reflection Records. The label produced one release, “Acidik” by James T. The release featured 3 original Acid influenced Techno & Breaks tracks, and a bootleg breakbeat remix of “Music Sounds Better With You” by Stardust. After pressing 500 White Label copies, James ended up distributing them all to DJ’s and producers across Canada.
Through his Reflection Records project, James Teej networked with the industry elite of Western Canada, and soon found he was playing across Alberta, British Columbia, and throughout the Rocky Mountains. From warehouse & afterhours, nightclubs, and 3000+ person festivals, he was now performing to public audiences on the regular. In 2003, James also established a weekly Thursday night that showcased talent from Canada & abroad, which lasted until 2005, and continues at the venue to this day.
In 2005, James decided to make the move to Canada’s main stage, Toronto, where he set up his first professional studio with long time friend, NITIN. Over the course of the next year and a half, James once again locked himself into his studio and continued to focus on developing his sound. During this time, he also had the honour of opening for artists such as Trentemöller and Steve Bug. He also found himself playing at respected clubs such as Montreal’s Salon Daome, and Toronto’s CiRCA, 99 Sudbury, and Footwork venues.
James was now ready to deliver his sound to the world. In 2008-2009, he set his production career in motion, having signed tracks to Connect Four, Tic Tac Records, Rekids, Rebirth Records, Rawthentic, No.19 Music, My Favorite Robot Records, and provided remixes of Trentemöller, Big Bully & Rufus, Patrick Zigon, A|Xus (Abacus), Carlo Lio, Solee, Limacon and more. 2008 also saw the launch of James Teej’s label Bad Concept Records, a “no-genre-specific” label launch alongside Toronto Electro producer Jedi.
In February 2009, James also took his DJing international, when he was presented with the opportunity to play alongside Radio Slave at Berlin’s legendary Berghain / Panorama Bar.
James Teej has a list of achievements that could even rival seasoned veterans in the electronic music world; and he has only just begun. 2009/2010 will see James expand his release schedule even further, and begin extensively touring internationally.
