John Tejada^US

Over the past two decades, the prolific producer, DJ, label head has made a career of synthesizing techno, classic house and ambient music into lush, timeless harmonies and taut, meticulously engineered grooves—demonstrating a deep devotion to Detroit, Europe, and a desire to strive for what’s next.

Growing up the child of an orchestra conductor and soprano singer, Tejada became a compulsive record consumer by the age of 12—with hip hop the early centre of his universe, followed by its faster electro successors. Eventually he began merging the drum and piano training of his youth into a deep passion for propulsive synth noodling and hardware manipulation. Developing his signature sound out of the experimentalism of ‘misuse of samplers’ in the 80’s, Tejada’s passion to achieve an original sound led to the creation of his own Palette imprint in 1996, as well as releases on essential labels such as Kompakt and 7th City. In addition to worldwide tours and collaborations with pop acts such as the Postal Service and euphoric techno counterpart Gui Boratto, Tejada is also faculty of the CalArts School of Music where he teaches on musical technology, intelligence and design.

A seasoned live performer, Tejada on the outdoor stage at MUTEK, delivers a DJ set that embodies the uplifting melodic techno sound, and understated groove that he has garnered international acclaim for.