Balthazar & JackRock (BG)

Balthazar & JackRock’s music comes straight from the heart of Bulgaria – Sofia City. They began their career in the mid 90s and they have since become one of the most popular DJs in their country. Balthazar & JackRock have also performed in numerous clubs and venues all over Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Their sound is diverse and charged with energy. JackRock won the SeeMe award “Best South Eastern European Producer” and Balthazar was voted "Best Bulgarian Techno/Minimal DJ" in 2010/2011 and became #2 in 2012. Since 2004 Balthazar & JackRock have been producing music. Their official debut project was a 45-minutes set for a fashion show in Germany. Following year they composed the soundtrack for the DVD movie Clinique Noir #2. In January 2006 Balthazar & JackRock released their debut vinyl record Rockin' Dancefloor on TechHead Recordings. The single reached number 1 in sales charts and was played by many international DJs. A few weeks later Balthazar & JackRock released the top selling record Moonshine on the belgian label Magura, which was co-produced with the renowned artist Kobbe and was supported by star DJs like Carl Cox, Sander Van Doorn, Marcel Woods, Preach and others. Moonshine was included in the official Dance Valley 2006 CD compilation and was presented in Judge Jules’ BBC 1 radio show. Kobbe & Balthazar also released two remixes on the dutch label Patterns and norwegian Spilo. Later in 2006 followed a second Balthazar & JackRock EP on TechHead Recordings, Venus Delta EP on 8311 Music, 2 tracks for Primal Confusion and a few other CD compilations. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 Balthazar & JackRock released more than 30 original tracks and various remixes on different labels all over the world, including the single Tribalero on Muzik Xpress Uruguay, which reached top 20 in Beatport's house chart. Tribalero was also included in a few Tecktonik CD compilations, released by EMI and Universal Music. In 2007 Balthazar started a joint project with the dance band Deep Zone. Together they produced 2 smash hits: “Welcome To The Loop” and “DJ, Take Me Away”, which both topped many music charts in Bulgaria and its neighbour countries. The video of DJ, Take Me Away was also aired on MTV Europe. Only for 1 year Balthazar, JackRock & Deep Zone did 4 big club tours (20 dates each) with more than 80.000 visitors total. In 2008 Balthazar & Deep Zone took part in the biggest musical contest in the world – Eurovision. They won the national final and represented their country at Eurovision 2008 in front of 150 million tv viewers worldwide! Balthazar & Deep Zone also won awards for 'Best South-East European Track' (SEEME) and 'Best Joint Project' (Fan TV). Their videoclip of DJ, Take Me Away had nominations for a few other music awards as well (Mad TV, BG Radio, MM TV). In 2008, JackRock received the “Best South Eastern European Producer” Award from SeeMe, the largest forum for electronic music in Eastern Europe. In November 2009 Balthazar & JackRock were invited in Egypt for the DJ Academy in Cairo. There they taught DJ workshop courses on mixing and production. Same year they became owners of one of the oldest and largest venues for electronic culture in Bulgaria - Comics club (established in 1997), keeping alive the old school underground traditions. Back in 1999 Balthazar & JackRock started Renesanz - an agency for dance events. In the short time since their inception, the Renesanz parties have grown immensely popular and have become a trademark for Bulgarian techno culture. During the last few years, Renesanz has organized events with over 150 international artists and is managing exclusively in Bulgaria some of the finest international DJs. In 2010, Renesanz has also grown in an independent record label. As of February 2014, Renesanz Records has nearly 100 releases and many international followers. Last few years along with DJing and event / label / artist / club management Balthazar & JackRock started to concentrate more on their music production. They released over 40 tracks and remixes on respected labels such as 1605 Music Therapy, IAMT, Pornographic, Binary 404, Human Garden, Neurotraxx, Audio Elite, Bosphorus Underground, Land Of Voodoo and many more. Balthazar & JackRock teamed up with italian top duo Dandi & Ugo for the dancefloor filler "Bulgaro Business". The record was heavy supported by Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Umek, Mark Knight and many others, and one of the remixes hit #3 in Beatport’s chart. Their track "Dupka" (both Orignal and Ahmet Sendil Remix) also charted great and was featured at many radio stations worldwide. Also notable was the huge success of their releases Puerto Rico and Nu Nu Zaietz Maietz, which both received massive dj support and radio play worldwide, including Paul Van Dyk’s Vonyc Sessions show, Umek’s Behind The Iron Curtain show and Spartaque’s Supreme show. Puerto Rico was originally released on Binary 404 and later re-released on Umek’s 1605 imprint. Another collab track “We Love Bangers” – with swiss producer Schuhmacher – was also out on 1605 Music Therapy and made its way to the charts in 2012. For 2 consecutive years - in 2010 and 2011 - Balthazar has been chosen for "Best Bulgarian Techno/Minimal DJ of the Year" @ AwardsBG, the only official DJ poll in Bulgaria, and he became #2 in the same category again in 2012. Renesanz was respectively nominated for “Best Bulgarian DJ Booking Agency” in 2010/2012. 2013 was a busy year for Balthazar & JackRock, with festival and club gigs in Mexico, Egypt, Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Czech Republic. Besides the main imprint Renesanz they have created 2 more labels – Beast Factory Recordings and Textro Records. Their tracks and remixes were out on Beat Therapy, IAMT, Baptism, Binary 404, Stereo Seven Plus, Yin Yang and many other labels. In July 2013 Balthazar & JackRock released their debut album, featuring 12 collab tracks with artists such as Andrea Roma, AnGy KoRe, Spartaque, Daniele Petronelli, Dualitik, Tesla, Dandi & Ugo, NHB & more. End of 2013 they also started a brand new project: Unique Mastering Studio – a professional audio mastering service for labels, DJ's and producers. 2014 looks good already with confirmed gigs in Indonesia, Japan, Germany, Switzerland and France. Forthcoming releases will be out on respected labels such as Respekt, Driving Forces, Armada Music Bundles, Perfekt Groove, 19Box Recordings and many others.