John Beltran

A producer's credentials for recording Detroit-styled techno don't come much better than John Beltran's. Based in nearby Lansing, Beltran worked with Derrick May (as Indio) and released several records on Carl Craig's Retro-Active label (as Open House, with Mark Wilson). And his ear for melody — gained from a healthy enjoyment of world and new age music — has given his productions enough of a bite to feature for such home-listening-slanted labels as Peacefrog and Dot (as Placid Angles). After releasing singles for American labels Fragmented and Centrifugal during the early '90s, he recorded his debut album Earth & Nightfall for R&S Records in 1995.

The production on Earth & Nightfall was much more melodic than the usual R&S releases (or for that matter, the usual Detroit producer). One year later, Beltran's 10 Days of Blue LP for Peacefrog arguably bettered its predecessor. For 1997, Beltran re-upped his Placid Angles guise for an EP on the Swedish new-school electro imprint Dot, then followed with a Placid Angles full-length, The Cry (also on Peacefrog). Late in the year, Beltran released his fourth overall album, Moving Through Here, for the Apollo offshoot of R&S Records. In 1999, Beltran released a self-titled album on Transmat as part of the production trio Indio. He resumed releasing albums under his own name with two albums in 2002, Americano and Sun Gypsy, followed by In Full Color in 2004.