Dj Typhoon | ja

Typhoon is the name Minnesota born 27 year old DJ/Producer Anthony John has used to label his uniquely clever style throughout the past 11 years. Originally using the alias to hack with the early Internet, he soon began branding his first musical compositions with it. While growing up during the 80's & 90's he witnessed the birth of consumer culture and the information age spring to life, bringing computer technology to the masses. He began playing with early sequencing and sampling software, greatly increasing his enthusiasm for creating music, talent for computers and discovery of electronic music.

While attending the University of Minnesota he purchased his first synthesizers and drum machines to create live music, learned to DJ, found a club residency and performed numerous events in and out-of-state. He also created and ran a popular web site (MNRave.com) from 1999-2001 which allowed him the opportunity to speak with many national and international DJs every weekend, keeping him closely involved with the budding electronic dance music scene. If you looked on a Thursday he could often be found downtown at ‘Let It Be’ records snatching up new releases and building an excellent collection of trance vinyl. In 2002 he cut his first dub plates using a dark and progressive breakbeat track titled "F.Y.S.U.", which was produced using the alias ‘Scapegoat’ and featured a sample from the movie "Fight Club".

Heading in an interesting direction with nu skool breakbeats, 2-step and garage in 2003, he chose to be called ‘Smart-Aleck’ and often performed with MC Obliquity. Purchasing professional reference monitors and working intensely with programs such as FLStudio and Cubase yielded more dark breakbeat tracks like "Stronger", "Success" and "Solace" among others during 2003. His popular track "Medusa's Escape" was then produced in 2004 under the guise of Smart-Aleck but a choice was made to continue using the name Typhoon, which is the name the track bears today.

Smart-Aleck Entertainment was thus born from the name change and the web site (Smart-Aleck.com) began to reflect it's new mission of handling bookings and promoting Typhoon’s shows and music. Two notable Typhoon productions during 2005 were his remakes of The Cure's "Love Song" and Kosheen's "Hide U", both of which are done in breakbeat style. In December of 2005 he visited England, Holland, Germany and Mallorca (Spain) to experience the European electronic music culture, paying close attention to the similarities and differences he saw and could apply back home. Upon returning home in January he co-promoted two "Passion Night" events in Minneapolis before moving to Tempe, Arizona in March of 2006.

Continuing to define his style in Arizona by picking up many new and classic vinyl, he strayed from breakbeats and turned back to the trance and progressive genres he enjoyed so much. It was also a time to network and observe the much larger Arizona and California scenes, experiencing numerous desert parties and the incredible "Electric Daisy Carnival". The stay was short lived and he was back in Minnesota by July, very eager to start implementing the ideas he had while living in the desert and travelling Europe.

His major priority was to update web sites and utilize services such as MySpace, making sure to include as much content as possible to promote Typhoon. Then in December he discovered the awesome networking platform known as SecondLife, knowing instantly the power of a tool that most were calling a ‘game’. Using SecondLife he recruited the help of many new people from around the world, becoming friends with some DJs intimately involved in both the Rotterdam and Paris scenes. In April 2007 he launched his weekly two hour "Saturday Night Warm-Up" Internet radio broadcast, an endeavor which has and will continue to be an huge learning experience. June then brought about the first Smart-Aleck Radio "World Wide Broadcast" which was a 12 hour Internet radio event featuring both American and European DJs.

Continuing to promote himself in every way imaginable, the name Typhoon started showing up in the rosters of every DJ contest available to be entered. These times were feverishly spent securing votes on web sites, producing new music, creating graphics, fliers, mixes and whatever else was called for to win the competitions. Apart from generating a lot of new music, promotional materials and stirring the pot a bit he learned quickly that the contests meant nothing and only hard work was going to take him to the places he wanted to go.

During July and August of 2007 the simultaneous and single-handed production of Typhoon’s track and video "Can't Get Enough" took place. The track was first presented in whole live at Foundation in Minneapolis on August 31st, with the premiering of the video available online soon after. The amount of time, work and energy put into this project has been greater than any to date and the near future shall hold even greater challenges.

To sum it all up: Typhoon's blend of progressive trance, techno and house will first stab you with synths, freeze you with chilling bass lines and finally shatter you with kicks and snares! .