John Selway Artist Bio

Selway received musical training from a very early age, beginning his 15 year study of the violin at the age of 4 and the piano at age 5. In addition to his classical training, Selway always found himself drawn to new and alternative sounds, spending hours searching the radio waves for anything that might catch his ear. He gradually taught himself to write and improvise music on the piano, and an early hands-on encounter with a Moog modular synthesizer during his pre-teen years got him hooked on the creation of electronic compositions. He also began to learn the basics of studio engineering through his work in making recordings for his family’s music education program.

In high school, Selway played in various bands and continued to develop his compositional and technical skills, trying his hand at creating different electronic styles from experimental or cinematic to alternative pop, new wave, industrial, and breakdance-era electro funk and hip-hop. In the late 80’s a school friend returned from travels in the UK and France with cassette tapes of acid house, detroit techno and UK rave music recorded from radio DJ mix shows – from then on, he was hooked on these new sounds in dance music and found his direction.

From the early 90’s to the present, Selway has built a high quality catalog of productions, both on his own and as a collaborator in various artist and label projects. From his first electronic band Chaotic Sound Matrix, to his major contributions to the early productions of Deep Dish; from his first success in the techno world as part of the seminal New York duo Disintegrator to the most successful of his collaborations, Smith & Selway, and his deep and minimal techno label CSM; from the intelligent electro-funk of Synapse and Serotonin Records, the electro and synth-pop of Memory Boy to the wild improvisational eclecticism of the Rancho Relaxo Allstars, Selway has created and helped to create one of the most stylistically wide ranging bodies of work in the world of electronic dance music.

In addition to his composition and production work, Selway is an accomplished DJ. Technically skilled and stylistically versatile, he cut his teeth at early raves in DC and NYC, hitting his stride as a world-class, world traveling DJ by the mid to late 90’s. Currently, he maintains two primary stylistic directions in his DJ sets: future-forward, grooving techno/tech-house and minimal and – as inspired by his love of early electronic dance music – dynamic, energetic and fun disco, italo, and electro.

Selway’s live performances, primarily in collaboration but also as a solo artist, have been as stylistically wide ranging as his productions, from Disintegrator playing hard techno in front of a 15,000 person rave crowd to vocalist and violinist on tour with the Rancho Relaxo Allstars. He continues to perform with Rancho, his solo techno live set and together with Christian Smith.

With an accomplished past to support him, Selway’s artistic versatility continues to be his strength now and beyond. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.