CJ Bolland

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	The Analogue Theater
	The Body Gave You Everything (with Magnus )
	Where Neon Goes to Die (with Magnus)
	Best Of (with Magnus)
	Singles
	Sugar Is Sweeter
	The Prophet
	It ain't gonna be me
	Singing Man (Magnus with Thomas Smith )
	Puppy (Magnus with Tim Vanhamel )

Christian Jay Bolland (born June 18, 1971 in Stockton-on-Tees ) is a Belgian techno producer and DJ who is best known under his pseudonym CJ Bolland .

resume

British-born Bolland moved to Belgium with his family when he was three years old . At a young age he was introduced to music by his parents, who ran a club in Antwerp where Bolland's mother worked as a DJ. In his youth, Bolland was influenced by artists such as Jean Michel Jarre , Front 242 and Neon Judgment . From the late 1980s onwards, Bolland was heavily inspired by the onset of the acid house boom and turned to techno. From 1988 he produced his first own pieces, which were soon to be heard on the Belgian pirate channels . After these initial successes, Bolland sent demo tapes to various record labels. After a recording of one of his radio shows was sent to R&S Records , Bolland was invited and spent 32 hours in the studio with label founder Renaat Vandepapeliere on the first day . Shortly afterwards he was signed by R&S, which at that time was already playing a pioneering role in the techno scene. Bolland worked closely with Vandepapeliere and founded with him and other musicians the groups "The Project" and "Space Opera". The Projects piece Do that dance from 1990 is also the first commercial release that Bolland was directly involved in.

The EP Ravesignal III , released in 1992, made him known in the European techno scene thanks to the piece Horsepower . With The 4th Sign Bollands debut album was released shortly thereafter. A year later, the single Camargue was released , on whose production Bolland first collaborated with his sister Sian Louise Bolland. The piece became a dance hit due to the catchy and hypnotic melody and from today's perspective is considered an early rave classic.

At the same time, Bolland established himself as a serious DJ who was particularly successful in Great Britain. In 1995, Bolland was the first artist to create a mix for the music series DJ-Kicks , which is now one of the most famous mix series and a figurehead of the record label ! K7 Records .

His second album, Electronic Highway , was released in 1995 and was the last studio album for R&S. After Bolland was more and more influenced by the style of Dave Angels , he looked for new ways of expression. Vandepapeliere was of the opinion that this new style no longer suited his label. Bolland then left R&S and signed a contract for five albums with British techno label Internal. Bolland's third and so far last studio album The Analogue Theater was released there in 1996 .

Bolland's biggest hit so far was the single Sugar is sweeter , released in 1996, which reached the charts in several European countries, thanks mainly to a remix by Armand van Helden , and in December of that year also occupied position 1 on the US Billboard dance charts. The success of the piece had a rather negative impact on his further career. The pressure of his new record company made it difficult for him to produce more pieces of music and two albums that had already been produced were not released as planned.

Especially from the beginning of the 1990s, Bolland continued to produce countless remixes by well-known artists such as Orbital ( Lush 3 ), Tori Amos ( God ), Sven Väth ( Harlequin - The Beauty And The Beast ), The Prodigy ( No Good (Start the Dance) ) , Felix ( Stars ), WestBam ( Wizards Of The Sonic ), New Order ( Temptation ), UB40 ( Until My Dying Day ), BBE ( Flash ), Depeche Mode ( Useless ) and Moby ( James Bond Theme ).

Under the pseudonym “BCJ” he produced the piece Specter in 1997 for the soundtrack of the PlayStation game for the anime Ghost in the Shell .

After differences with his record company, Bolland founded his own label Mole Records in 2002, on which, however, only four singles, mostly produced by Bolland, had appeared by 2003. After that, Bolland produced a few records by other artists and various singles emerged in cooperation with other musicians, but since 2003 only sporadic releases under the name CJ Bolland.

However, he is still active as a DJ and performs regularly, especially in Belgium and the Netherlands. Bolland was also involved in the recordings of the 2005 album Pocket Revolution by the Belgian indie rock band dEUS , with whose mastermind Tom Barman he has been involved in the Magnus project since 2003 , which has since presented several publications.

Discography

Albums

1992: The 4th Sign
1995: Electronic Highway
1995: DJ kicks: CJ Bolland (DJ mix)
1996: The Analogue Theater
1997: Style - Stage 2 Into The Techno (DJ-Mix)
1998: Vol.1 (... Mutations) (DJ-Mix)
2009: 500 Euro cocktail

Magnus (with Tom Barman )

2004: The Body Gave You Everything
2014: Where Neon Goes to Die
2017: Best Of

Singles and EPs

1990: The Ravesignal
1991: Get Busy Time / Here We Go (Promo)
1991: Ravesignal Vol. II
1991: Ravesignal III
1993: Camargue
1993: Live At Universe 30-04-93
1995: Neural Paradox
1995: The Starship Universe EP
1995: There Can Be Only One
1996: Desolate 1 / The Tingler
1996: Sugar Is Sweeter
1997: The Prophet
1999: It Ain't Gonna Be Me
2000: Dark Side / Camargue
2000: Inside Out / Cyrus
2002: Prophet 1 / The Prophet
2002: See Saw
2003: The Digger
2006: Riot

Magnus (with Tom Barman )

2003: Summer's Here
2003: Jumpneedle
2014: Singing Man (with Thomas Smith )
2014: Puppy (with Tim Vanhamel )
2015: Slecht gaaan (with De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig )
2015: Catlike
2016: What It Is
2017: Look at Us Now

swell

↑ ^a ^b Chart sources: UK / Belgium (Flanders)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	CJ Bolland
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bolland, Christopher Jay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian techno producer
DATE OF BIRTH	18th June 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stockton-on-Tees , UK

[charts-1] Chart sources: UK / Belgium (Flanders)