Beatport Hype: Transmit Recordings

A stalwart of the New York City club scene, DJ Boris has been forging his path as one of the city’s most reliable techno heavyweights for decades. Best known for regularly dominating the floor at NYC venues such as Roxy, Crobar, and Pacha NYC, his career has taken him around the globe, from the shores of Ibiza to ADE, The BPM Festival, and beyond.

A venerable powerhouse in the studio, his production prowess has landed him on labels like Carl Cox’s Intec, Dubfire’s Sci+Tec, and Paco Osuna’s Mindshake Records, while his own techno-focused label, Transmit Recordings, properly demonstrates how fresh and in-the-know DJ Boris’s taste, A&R skills, and productions are.

We caught up with DJ Boris to learn more about how he first got involved with the NYC club scene in the ’80s, how he transitioned from making more commercial productions to more underground music in the ’90s, and how he and his Transmit Recordings imprint has continued to embrace the future. In addition to this, DJ Boris has handed over an exclusive mix that features new tracks from the label and some of his favorite dance floor bombs. Check out the mix in the player above and dive into the interview below.

You’ve been a staple of NYC’s dance and club culture for decades. Tell us a bit about your origins and how you first got into DJing and production.

I started hitting the NYC club scene in the late ‘80s. A friend took me out when I was 16 years and I was instantly hooked to the music, the scene and people that were out. Not too long after that I had my parents buy me some turntables on my 16th birthday and started playing everyday. By going out to the clubs I managed to connect with a promoter who was starting a weekly party at a club by the name of Tilt where eventually I became a resident for two years. I wasn’t even old enough to be there let alone drink but here I was the resident. From there my DJ career in the NYC nightlife took off. In regards to the beginning of my music production I started with a partner by the name of Beck in the ‘90s. We mostly did commercial remixes for big artists like Pink, Gloria Estefan, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin etc, until we both went our separate ways and started producing more underground tracks, since I was the DJ and was the one more into the dancing scene. And here we are today, after over 100 records later, on many tremendous labels, and more to come.

How did you land on the decision to create Transmit Recordings in 2013, and how has it evolved over the years?

I wanted to create a label that represented myself and my sound, and release artists that I love and support.

Can you pick out two tracks on Transmit Recordings that hold a special significance to you? What’s the story behind them?

I would say the very first track we released, “Funky Beats,” remixed by Cocodrills and DJ Fronter. The release did great and set the tone along with many other amazing singles for the label to keep moving forward. The second one is the upcoming release by Loco Dice feat. Ghostface Killah, one of the most iconic names in the hip hop scene and a member of the Wu-Tang clan. The perfect match and the best recipe for our biggest release to date. It is a record we have been working on for a long time and I can’t wait to have this out.

Who are some key players/artists that have helped Transmit Recordings grow into the label that it is today?

Over the years we’ve had so many amazing artists and releases that it’s tough to pinpoint just one. We had great names like Carlo Lio, Roger S, Chus & Ceballos, Harry Romero, Cocodrills, Ramiro Lopez, D-Unity, Matt Sassari, Oscar L, Christian Smith, Eric Sneo, Sinisa Tamamovic, Frank Biazzi, DJ Dep, Level Groove, Mladen Tomic and many, many more.

You recently relaunched your label’s Re-Transmit series. Can you tell us about it? What else can we expect to see from Transmit Recordings later this year?

So the Re-Transmit series stems from classic or older tracks that were released on other labels or on Transmit and basically we aim to give them a new life from top remixers. For example, Ghostface Killah’s single was a release we did six years ago by the Cocodrills and now it gets a fresh twist from Loco Dice.

The same we did with the Method Man record we have coming up during this summer. Originally is a record that was released on Nervous years ago, and a track that was featured on one of my Nervous compilations that I got permission to use from my friend Mike Weiss, the head of Nervous, to re-release it with fresh remixes from Carlo Lio and myself. The Re-Transmit series is basically our special project that takes up a lot of time and work but we are always anticipated the final outcome.

Through the years, you’ve seen all sorts of music trends come and go, with many DJs falling into obscurity, but you’ve always managed to remain a steady and relevant force in the scene. What’s your secret?

I sure have, many have come and gone. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The secret is keep giving to your fans always fresh and relevant content, new music, new mixes, and always try to be original. And it goes without saying never try to copy a recipe that works for someone else ‘cause 100 percent it won’t work the same way for you.

Tell us about the mix you made for us.

I did this mix featuring a lot of the new tracks on the label as well as some of my favorite bombs that I like to play in my sets.