Many consider Amsterdam to be the global capital of techno and few artists embody that notion more than Joris Voorn. He sits at the epicentre of the Dutch electronic music scene and is one of Netherlands’ most celebrated international touring acts. He is a perfectionist and an immaculate purveyor of high quality techno and forward thinking house.
A futuristic modern-art-meets-tech touring artist whose feet are firmly planted in the underground, Joris is also embedded in the worlds of contemporary art, photography and architecture. His attention to detail in the studio, on stage or in the presentation of his visual art and design are unsurpassed.
Born in the Dutch town of Tilburg, the son of a composer and a music teacher, Joris gained international recognition with his debut ‘Muted Trax’ EP on Keynote which was quickly followed by his universally acclaimed ‘Lost Memories’ release on Sino the following year. The follow-up ‘Lost Memories Part 2’ in 2004 included the standout track ‘Incident’ which became an immediate and firm fixture in the sets of many of his now-peers including Carl Cox, Derrick May and Laurent Garnier. Since then Joris has gone on to release four highly acclaimed artist albums, ‘FutureHistory’ (Sino, 2004), ‘From A Deep Place’ (Green,2007), ‘Nobody Knows’ (voted electronic album of the year 2014 by Billboard Magazine in the US) and the most recently ‘\\\\’ (Spectrum / BMG2019) which features an array of stunning collaborations including one with UK dance royalty Underworld. Joris has backed these up with dearly loved mix compilations for Belgian techno bastion Fuse, Australia’s Balance, London underground superclub Fabric and most recently 2020’s standout GU: Rotterdam where Joris effectively remixed over 100 tracks to form a truly mesmerising chapter in the iconic Global Underground story.
Joris’s celebrated abilities and skills in the studio have also led to many high profile remixes. The list is diverse, from global superstars Dua Lipa, Vintage Culture, SwedishHouse Mafia, London Grammar and Editors to electronic music icons Underworld,Orbital, Elderbrook, Röyksopp, Yotto, and Groove Armada or cult indie writers WhiteCliffs – all have called on Joris Voorn to interpret their works with his fresh, discerning – dancefloor perspective. Joris’s recentre mix of Eelke Klein’s ‘Transmission’ generated 36million streams on Spotify alone and saw high rotation day time radio play across much of Europe. An impressive feat for an instrumental record. In 2005 Joris founded ‘Green’ the first of three labels he runs with long-time collaborator Edwin Oosterwal. ‘Green’ provided a platform for Joris to release two albums, plus some of his biggest hits including 2013’s ‘Ringo’ and his 2016’s ‘LooksFake Obviously’.
His second label ‘Rejected’ offered an additional outlet–but this time for more straight-up house music aimed purely at the dancefloor. The Rejected catalogue includes many of Joris’s house hits including the‘Dusty House’ series o fEps. The label also released music from techno pioneers Deetron, Anton Pieete, Ian Pooley and Steve Rachmad.
These two labels represent the opposing ends of the ‘Spectrum’ of underground music Joris is proud to champion. In fact, this word is so synonymous with his wide ranging love of underground styles and sounds that it inspired him to launch his 3rd label project, brand, weekly globally syndicated radio show, event series and merch range-‘Spectrum’. Since its inception ‘Spectrum’ has gathered a myriad of fans from not only the dancefloor and radio airwaves but industry alike. Having hosted Spectrum events all over the world including at Amsterdam’s iconic Gashouder, at Ultra Miami and Off-Sonar the brand has become synonymous with the cutting edge sounds coming from melodic house and techno. Today Spectrum aims to present diverse, inclusive and unique events that showcase the cutting edge sounds Joris creates, performs or champions on his labels.
During the pandemic Joris found the extended periods of time in the studio a luxury previously impossible when touring so relentlessly. In that period he found himself entrenched in composing soundtracks for movies, scoring TV pieces and working on countless new material. Also in this period he developed a new live alias, VIRSION, whose driving, hypnotic and powerful sound is firmly entrenched in techno.
Today Joris is putting the finishing touches to his long awaited fifth artist album which will see a release onSpectrum/Armada in April. Having already released four singles including “You & I”, which features vocalist songwriter Nathan Nicholson, the blissful instrumental “Horizon”, the brilliant collaboration with Pig & Dan ft LIVI called “BeenThere Before” and most recently another collaboration, with Jan Blomqvist, calledFlora-the album looks set to reaffirm Joris’s position as a true pioneer of melodic techno and house. His recent sold out run of live shows in Amsterdam, London, Plock and Barcelona are a beautiful fusion of music and incredible visuals created and manipulated live by LiveFrame (Take of Us, Afterlife, Timewarp). These stunning test shows are a taste of what’s to come when the album tour begins in Spring.
Never sitting still, Joris Voorn is a sophisticated composer and performer of precise, powerful and emotional electronic music. An immaculate artist who stands alone in his unique approach to weaving underground music with carefully placed moments of emotive melody. He lives behind the decks and in his studio, but never forgets the education he gladly received on the dancefloor.