John Tejada

John Tejada is a Vienna-born, Los Angeles-based electronic music composer, DJ, and professor at CalArts. Tejada’s professional output of music began in 1994 and has never let up, including five albums for the revered label Kompakt, plus releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playhouse, Defected, and his own label since 1996, Palette Recordings. Tejada has also been responsible for remixing over 100 songs for acts including The Postal Service, Orbital, Télépopmusic, The Field, Bomb The Bass, Way Out West, Kevin Saunderson, Plaid Gui Boratto, Simian Mobile Disco and many others. Tejada is also half of the duo Wajatta, a musical collaboration with international star Reggie Watts, having released their debut album, Casual High Technology, in 2018 and Don’t Let Get You Down in 2020 on Brainfeeder. Tejada’s latest venture as Optometry is a collaboration with March Adstrum. In 2023 they’ve released a full length After-Image, and companion EP In-Visible-Distance

Tejada has traveled to more than 30 countries DJing and performing live at clubs—Berghain (Berlin), Fabric (London), Rex Club (Paris), Womb (Tokyo)—festivals such as Dance Valley (Netherlands), Decibel Festival (Seattle), Dekmantel Festival (Amsterdam), Detroit Electronic Music Festival (aka Movement), Mutek (Montreal and Mexico), Sonar Festival (Spain and Tokyo) and Sync Festival (Greece), as well as esteemed venues such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and twice at Walt Disney Concert Hall, both in Los Angeles.

Photo by Holly Parker.