“I have a tendency to always—no matter how the track is, I have a tendency to humanize the track, make a song related to some kind of human experience.” Joey Anderson
There are few artists I admire more than Joey Anderson. There is a spiritual weight and profundity to the man and his music that is vanishingly rare in our increasingly vacuous and disposable culture.
He vibrates like some ancient kung fu master or orthodox mystic perched on a mountain top with a direct line to the creator and a perspective as wide as the horizon and as deep as the Mariana Trench. He carves his rhythms from the depths of the earth, his melodies from the moon and stars. His raw material the very fabric of creation itself.
Like his close friend and collaborator DJ Qu, who I covered a couple of weeks ago, Joey started in this house game as a dancer. With Qu you get a real sense of the irrepressible party spirit of his latin roots, but with Joey the motivation seems different. Like a whirling dervish, perhaps, lost in the flow of life; dancing to get closer to God.
This 1996 clip from New York’s Fazil studios has something ethereal and dreamlike about it. Maybe it’s the graininess of the image, or the poor audio quality, but it reminds me of the kind of film you might find playing quietly in a side room at MoMa or the ICA. Real life elevated to the status of art.
It’s sometimes said that you shouldn’t trust a DJ who doesn’t dance. And while I’m not sure I completely agree with the sentiment (despite being a dancing DJ myself), it’s clear that Joey’s formative years pounding the floors during New York’s golden era of house music provided fertile ground for him to develop a creative vision that has made him one of the most singular and compelling artists to emerge in our culture in the past 25 years.
While many house dancers have little interest in the mechanics of how their music is created, Joey was paying close attention. Listening deep, feeling the music intuitively, then investing the time to unlock the mysteries of how those grooves were formed and cut in the first place. Jordan Rothlien’s 2014 interview with Joey for RA tells you what you need to know.
By the time he stepped onto the scene as a production talent in 2011 (already at that point in his mid-30s), Joey’s vision was fully formed, distilled and honed. He knew what he wanted to hear; the story he wanted to tell; what moved him both physically and spiritually. And he’s not deviated from it since.
“(Joey speaks) his own language. His music has its own characteristic of Joey that no one would be able to redo but him.” DJ Qu
Some choice cuts:
‘Party In The Kitchen’ - Organisms EP - Inimeg Recordings - INMR 001 - 2011
It’s hard to think of a way to stamp your mark more emphatically than this debut release on his own Inimeg recordings. Everything we know and love about Joey is here from the outset: the relentless groove, jet engine percussion, rim shots like lightning strikes and those haunting, off kilter vocals that will always be a hallmark of this crew of East Coast production talent.
In short, it is a timeless banger that still hits hard 15 years down the track.
‘Earth Calls’ - Deconstruct - DEC-04 - 2012
The moment when Joey was thrust into broader consciousness as the fourth release on Levon Vincent and Anthony Parasole’s short-lived but perfectly formed Deconstruct label. An epic, slow-burning, multi-layered masterpiece. One I hammered in the early days of Make Me.
‘3200 BC House Dancer’ - Until My Heart Stops - UMHS 01 - 2013
Relentless, optimistic and defiantly… weird. That laugh, like a comic book villain echoing across the dancefloor as Joey transports us with a tribal groove back to the very roots of civilisation.
‘Heaven’s Archer’ - Fall Off Face EP - DKMNTL015 - 2013
A taught, upbeat and athletic masterpiece layered with sublime pads from the heavenly realms. A truly beautiful track, perhaps in my top five of the past 15 years, and also featured on Joey’s exceptional debut LP.
‘Musical Tentacles’ - Diagram Solutions EP - Inimeg - INMR 003 - 2013
A true system shaker.
Menacing yet ethereal.
Imagine dominating DC-10 with this one.
What a tune.
‘Press Play’ - From One Mind To The Other EP - Latency 002 - 2013
A track that only Joey Anderson could have made. This i the laguage that Qu talked about - the tone, layering and density of sound. Off kilter brilliance for the absolute peak of peak time.
‘Tears Can’t Bring You Near’ - Head Down Arms Buddha Position EP - Tanstaafl Planets - TansPlan005 - 2014
A stripped-back, bubbling dancefloor bomb. Simple yet devastatingly effective.
‘The Vase’ - Avenue 66 - AVE66-03 - 2016
A sumptuous analogue sound bath of gliding and cascading synths that could almost have been lifted straight from an Aphex Twin release.
‘Drum Play’ - Release Sustain 029 - 2019
This one goes straight to my heart. Sublime, heads-down mysticism coupled with a next-level, multi-layered percussion work out. What a tune. Big up Gabi.
‘Nabta Playa’ - Invisible Switch LP - Dekmantel 2015
Can your techno DJ do this?
‘Monotheism’ - Exotic Sequence LP - Deeptrax Records - DPTX035 - 2023
A transcendent big room tribute to the creator himself.
Monotheism.
One god.
Forever loving Jah - (from Joey’s Top Favourites on his 19 year old YouTube)
In summary, what we’re dealing with here is the output of a true artist and visionary. For my money, probably the strongest and most consistent run of club productions put out by anyone on earth over the past 15 years.
Listen, feel and understand the power of this music.
This is the real stuff, right here.
Big up Mr Joey Anderson.
Oh, and finally - he’s also a master behind the decks:
Make sure to check out this set if you’re interested in next level selection, pacing and technique.
Until next time.
Peace and love.
Rubin