Initially known as the pioneer of trance music, BT has arrived as one of the most cutting edge artists and producers for a multitude of musical styles. Whether he’s crafting perfect pop hooks with Britney Spears or *NSYNC, composing intricate scores with eighty piece orchestras for films, collaborating with Sting or David Bowie or remixing tracks for Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Madonna or Seal, BT consistently balances creative and memorable songwriting, sonic innovation and the latest technology for cutting edge, yet organic, sounds.
BT, born Brian Transeau, grew up outside Washington DC, where he learned to master the works of composers such as Chopin and Bach by age six. His musical direction began to form when he heard electronic music as an adolescent. “This is what my heroes Debussy, Stravinsky and the like were looking for. Technology based music is the only idiom that packs such infinite sonic possibilities,” he says.
BT’s sense of individualism also inspired his scholastic decisions. He dropped out of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1990 to shop his electronic music in Los Angeles. Many doors were slammed in his face because few understood his new unique sound, but he refused to compromise his vision. He returned to the DC area and launched Deep Dish Records with Grammy winners Deep Dish, whom he knew from high school.
Within the year, BT’s first releases garnished the attention of English dance pioneer Sasha, who gave him his first taste of stardom on the British dance scene. “The first venue he took me to was a barn in Brighton, England,” BT recalls, “It was the most amazing party. Three thousand people were sweating and crying over my songs like ‘Embrace the Future.’ I had found my people.”
BT’s mix of epic and classically inspired journeys and beats quickly became a genre, trance, and became on the most popular and dominant sounds heard in clubs from London to Tokyo and New York. BT’s talent and persistence had finally paid off and he later released his epic albums “IMA,” “ESCM” and the wildly diverse “Movement in Still Life,” featuring the hit single “Never Gonna Come Back Down.” “Emotional Technology” spawned his biggest single, “Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved),” on which he sang. His latest project, “This Binary Universe,” is an audiovisual experience, recorded in 5.1 channel surround sound, with each track features an accompanying animated short film. The project has been hailed by Keyboard Magazine as “the first major electronic work of the new millennium.”
BT has also gained the reputation as a talented and versatile film composer. He scored movies such as the blockbuster hit The Fast And The Furious, Go, Under Suspicion and Monster. Next up for him is Sony’s Catch And Release and the independent film Surveillance. In 2005, BT added television to his resume, creating and executive producing Tommy Lee Goes To College, a reality show for NBC.
“To marry melody, harmony and memorable songwriting with the most bleeding-edge technology possible is my passion. These are the things that excite me.” -- BT
