Biography
Jon started making music in 1988 or thereabouts.. Within no time he was achieving 'demo of the month' in Music technology magazine. Jon was awarded this accolade on several occasions.
Throughout the early 1990s similar awards were granted by the likes of 'The Mix' (including a track called '2000' given away on a cover CD), 'Melody Maker', and 'Future Music' (Including the track 'Electronique' featured on a cover cassette) magazines.
In 1993 Jon journeyed up to Manchester to visit sound engineer Mark 'Staggman' Stagg. During February of that year Jon and Mark produced 'Electronique'. Three versions were put together plus a more ambient track called 'Refrain'. Jon returned in the July with Andy Sturmey (now gig photographer extroadinaire) and the trio produced what became 'The Tanzmusik e.p). The tracks included; 'Optimum', '2000', 'Voice' and 'Sonar'. Desy Balmer's 'Nice and Nasty' label released this on vinyl in 1994.
In 1996 Jon was noticed by producer Pascal Gabriel. On buying a new sampler Pascal told Jon to 'go and record your mum's washing machine'! Pascal introduced Jon to Claudia Bruecken (of Propaganda and Act). He sent her cassettes of ideas for months and months until a simple demo was recorded called 'Play along'. That same year Jon met up with Holly Johnson who was to really inspire Jon to think about the structure of 'the song'. Jon got his own acoustic performances of 'Relax' and 'Love train' on a summer's day in London.
During 1997 Jon teamed up with a Danish vocalist called Eva Christiansen who Pascal introudced to Jon. They recorded 7 tracks together under the name 'Exhale!'. Jon spent the next few years upgrading his home studio and experimenting with making tracks which lacked the vocals he desperately needed to make anything commercial sounding.
During the early part of the new millenium Jon once again teamed up with Claudia Bruecken and also Paul Humphreys (of OMD and The Listening Pool) for their new 'Onetwo' project. Most of the time was spent with Paul in the studio producing backing tracks and a good team began to develop. Jon definitely looks back and sees Paul as a real mentor at that time. The first release was an e.p called 'Item'. Jon programmed on all five songs and co-produced/co-wrote 'Element of Truth' and 'Signals'. There then followed an album and Jon managed to co-write 'The theory of everything part 1 and part 2' and was extremely happy when Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk emailed to tell him that he thought the percussion programming was really good.It was the influence of Kraftwerk that brought Jon and Paul together for this new venture. Jon was responsible for almost all of the percussion programming with the tracks he did with Onetwo, as well as sharing synth programming duties, this included the track 'Cloud Nine' which features Martin Gore of Depeche Mode on guitar. A dream come true for Jon, a huge fan of Depeche Mode.
After 'Onetwo', Jon went to working on his own project and released the Kraftwerk-esque 'King of the Mountains' maxi single at the end of 2008. This followed his first live performance supporting 'Oppenheimer Analysis' in London for Brave Exhibitions. Soon new collaborators were found to work with. The vocals and lyrics of Iebole, Blue-Jean Muir, Deborah Lequoque and Marlonski were all added to the Jonteknik sound. The album 'Sounds From the Electronic Garden' was released and achieved album of the month at 'Soundmag.de' as well as album of the week from 'Poponaut' in Germany.
A new 2 track single was released early in 2010 and included 'Pride in Your Pocket' and 'Omnidirectional'. This from a new working relationship Jon forged with Swede Martin Philip.
The end of 2010 saw a collaboration with vocalist Martyn Bailey for a project of a-ha cover songs. Jon and Martyn started this project in 2005 but never finished it. They released a limited run of CDs which sold out.
The popular track 'Hollow' from the album 'Sounds from the electronic garden' was released as a 9 track remix CD and download to round off Jonteknik's 2010. In early 2012 a re-release called 'Sounds from the electronic garden (Twilight Edition)' was put out. This included some remixes as well as a demo of a new track 'Muckle Flugga'. A cover of OMD's 'Almost' was also made with Martin Philipon vocals.
In September 2012 Jonteknik released the brand new 12 track instrumental electronic album 'Giants under the microscope'.
2013 started with a new EP called Orientation and a remix for synth pioneers OMD on their single Metroland. 2013 also saw the release of a brand new album, a first proper CD release (factory-pressed from a glass master) 'The Satellites of Substance'. Selling out a week after the official release date, reviews were outstanding (10/10 and 98/100 to quote two ratings). It was compared to Kraftwerk, but the early Kraftwerk that Jon set out to emulate with the album.
The end of 2013 saw a remix album centred around 'People at an Exhibition' from the SOS album. Some outstanding remixes fill the 70 plus minute album, again on a proper factory-pressed CD, backed with a stop-motion video. Jon also teamed up with singer/songwriter Martyn Bailey as 'Apt' and finally released an electronic album full of songs. Once again, feedback was amazing, Energy, Light and Darkness is an album Jon is extremely proud of.
2014 saw Jonteknik back doing remixes; for Belgian duo Metroland on the Alpha Matrix label and also for IEuropean (featuring Kraftwerk 'classic lineup' member Wolfgang Flur) 'Structural' , Jon's next album got a March 2015 release. A limited edition featured a 3D printed case designed by HC Carbo. More guest vocalists featured.
2016/17 Jon worked on a new album called 'Skylines', a limited edition tin release instantly sold out. Production also started on a covers/reinterpretations project called 'Alternative Arrangements'. Jon joined forces with fellow artists to complete this project, it was mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London and was released in March 2018 on vinyl.
Overall, Jon has been fortunate to have his music featured on worldwide television (Discovery, BBC, Film24 to name a few) and also on a Japanese film and on many many radio shows .
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