stage name
A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
Guy J, is an Israeli
progressive house
Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...
,
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
and electro music producer and DJ who has released three albums and over 15 EPs since 2008. His recordings are noted for their diverse and wide range of musical styles, while his DJ work is known for creating immersive "journey-like" live shows.
In July 2012, he founded the
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
record label Lost & Found, supported by the British DJ and producer
John Digweed
Thomas John Digweed (born 1 January 1967) is a British DJ and record producer. ''DJ Magazine'' voted him World No 1 DJ in 2001. As well as achieving success as a solo act, he has collaborated with Sasha as Sasha & John Digweed, and with Nick M ...
. Lost & Found serves as a vehicle both for his own work, and for producers he admires, including
Sahar Z
Sahar Z (born Sahar ZangilevitchBarreiro, Diego.. ''Moochila'', 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021) is an Israeli music producer and Electronic music DJ who specialises in "harsh" yet melodicNick Muir
Nick Muir is a British musician, songwriter and electronic music producer. He is best known as one half of the electronic music duo Bedrock, which consists of himself and DJ John Digweed, although he also found success as a solo artist.
Career ...
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, as of 2020 he is based in
Gozo
Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...
in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
.
Career
Guy J began DJing at 15 years, and released his debut album ''Esperanza'' in 2007 aged 21, on Digweed's
Bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
label. The album was described by ''
Resident Advisor
''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...
'' as a "classy, ethereal blend of progressive house,
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
."
He released his third LP ''The Trees, The Sea & The Sun'' in November 2015. Like a number of his earlier EPs, it comprises two separate parts, beginning with an up-tempo techno record side, followed by a series of down-tempo tracks. He has said that the reason for this division is that he writes for the dance floor as well as creating tracks suited to closer listening.
He has also adopted the alias "Cornucopia", under which he released the track “The Day You Got Older And Stronger”, a track used by Hernan Cattaneo to open his set at Burning Man 2015, and remixed Sahar Z and Guy Mantzur's track "Temporary Sanity" in 2016.
Style
Guy J is known for his diverse musical influences and styles. He cites the mixing techniques of Israeli underground techno
Guy Gerber
Guy Avraham Gerber (born 1974 in Holon, near Tel Aviv) is an Israeli electronic DJ/producer and musician who works in the underground techno scene. His projects range from collaborating with hip hop figure Puff Daddy, to starting a left-field n ...
and Canadian
minimal techno
Minimal techno is a subgenre of techno music. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition and understated development. Minimal techno is thought to have been originally developed in the early 1990s by Detro ...
DJ
Richie Hawtin
Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...
as influences, saying "both take you on journey. There are changes, but when you remember it, it feels like one track." Reviewing his 2013 double EP "Seven / Milestone" for ''
Dancing Astronaut
Dancing Astronaut is an American media platform founded in 2009 that primarily covers the electronic dance music industry. The website covers concerts and festivals, reports on entertainment news, reviews music, and publishes original content sy ...
'', Dan Roy Carter wrote that the release "epitomizes the journey-like stamina of his wide-ranging bodies of musical work".
virtual analog synthesizer
An analog modeling synthesizer is a synthesizer that generates the sounds of traditional analog synthesizers using DSP components and software algorithms. Analog modeling synthesizers simulate the behavior of the original electronic circuitry in o ...
. He still favors, where possible, using analogue equipment over software, describing the sound from analogue as "a bit dirty and warm".
He began his career using the
Ableton
Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pro ...
, and later switched to
Traktor
Traktor is DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It is also used as a sub-brand for Native Instruments' associated DJ hardware products.
History
Traktor was first released in 2000. The initial versions available were ''Traktor DJ'' ...
. He says that both programs allow him "to loop a lot and
ave
''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
some kind of flow in the set." His live sets tend to contain a large number of his own recorded tracks, as he sees himself primarily as a record producer, rather than a DJ.
Discography
Albums
* ''Esperanza'', 2007,
Bedrock Records
Bedrock Records is an English record label for trance, progressive house and techno started by Nick Muir and John Digweed. Its name comes from a long running and successful club night held in Hastings and also at Heaven nightclub, London - both ...
*''1000 Words'', 2011, Bedrock Records
*''The Trees, The Sea & The Sun'', November 2015, Bedrock Records
Singles & EPs
The following is an incomplete list:
*"Hazui" (with
Sahar Z
Sahar Z (born Sahar ZangilevitchBarreiro, Diego.. ''Moochila'', 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021) is an Israeli music producer and Electronic music DJ who specialises in "harsh" yet melodicRanaa), 2006
*"Esperanza", 2008
*"Shaman", 2009
*"Pleasurety", 2009
*"Shining/1000 Words Remixes"
*"Lost & Found", 2012
*"High/Pathos", 2012
*Soul In Arp", 2012
*"Seven / Milestone", 2013
*"Nirvana", 2015
*"Guy J Remixes", 2016
*"Aurora/Airborne", 2018Aurora/Airborne .
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
. Retrieved 1 January 2021
*"Day Of Light / Mind Of" (double A-side), 2020, Lost & Found
*"Beast Of Sea", 2020, Lost & Found