Josh Wink

Philadelphia native Josh Wink operates as a producer, DJ, and label proprietor who assembles dance tracks across numerous electronic styles that range from frantic acid breaks to entrancing minimal house. During the early 1990s this Philadelphia-born artist issued numerous tribal house and acid cuts, among them several joint projects with King Britt, after which the pair launched the enduring Ovum Recordings imprint in 1994. Numerous international club successes followed, one of which reached the U.K. pop Top Ten in the form of the 1995 classic “Higher State of Consciousness.” The 1998 major-label debut album Herehear incorporated several selections that leaned toward rock-inflected big beat. Three well-regarded Profound Sounds mix albums came next, together with the leaner yet inventive techno and house statements 20 to 20 (2003) and When a Banana Was Just a Banana (2009). Later output, including joint releases with Truncate, has drawn strongly from minimal and Detroit techno, while the 2023 The Half Full EP offers a serving of summery deep house.

Punk rock first captivated Josh Winkelman in the 1970s; throughout the 1980s a broad spectrum of dance-oriented acts—from Depeche Mode to Kraftwerk to Run-D.M.C.—further shaped his direction, prompting him to begin working with a Philadelphia-based mobile DJ service at age thirteen. An encounter with fellow DJ King Britt at a party led the pair to start producing together. Their early effort “Tribal Confusion” by E-Culture appeared on New York’s Strictly Rhythm Records in 1990 and found favor within America’s burgeoning club and rave circuit, which Wink and Britt supported through nationwide DJ appearances. Wink had already placed material on the respected East Coast dance imprint Nervous as well as Belgium’s R&S prior to establishing Ovum Recordings with Britt in late 1994.

Ovum and Wink secured an international club success immediately with 1995’s “Liquid Summer,” which in turn opened doors for Wink to record for numerous European labels. That same year he delivered “Don’t Laugh” (as Winx), “I’m Ready” (as Size 9), and the particularly trippy and hard-edged “Higher State of Consciousness,” all of which reached the summit of European dance charts and registered on several pop listings. He also released his first mix CD, United DJs of America, Vol. 3: Philadelphia, PA. The 1996 debut album Left Above the Clouds, issued under the Winx moniker, gathered several of those hit singles alongside downtempo pieces and spoken-word interludes. Major labels expressed interest in 1997, leading Wink to sign both himself and the entire Ovum Recordings roster to Columbia. Herehear, his 1998 full-length, featured collaborations with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, poet Ursula Rucker, and Philly mod punks the Interpreters. The following year brought the mix album Profound Sounds, Vol. 1, which highlighted a smoother tech-house aesthetic.

“How’s Your Evening So Far?,” a 2000 single recorded with Lil’ Louis that reworked the latter’s classic “French Kiss,” preceded 2001’s “Evil Acid.” Another club favorite, 2002’s “Superfreak (Freak),” appeared on the acid-centric full-length 20 to 20 in 2003. Wink also issued Profound Sounds, Vol. 2, which included an unmixed bonus disc of singles and interview material. Profound Sounds, Vol. 3, split into “Subconscious” and “Conscious” discs, surfaced in 2006 and contained an official pressing of Wink’s widely circulated bootleg remix of Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place.” Further singles, among them releases on the minimal techno labels M_nus and Poker Flat, preceded the 2009 full-length When a Banana Was Just a Banana; a Remixed & Peeled collection followed the next year.

From 2012 to 2015 Ovum released a sequence of annual Winter Warmers compilations. Alongside those collections Wink continued to issue singles such as 2013’s “Balls,” 2014’s “Denial,” and 2016’s “Shoelaces” (on Boysnoize). 2017’s “Resist” received a remix from Truncate, who later joined Wink on additional tracks. “Aries on Mars” appeared in 2018, after which Wink contributed to Maceo Plex’s 2019 Drumcode single “Destination Mars.” He released “Feel” on Ellum Audio in 2020. Bedrock Records put out Wink’s “New Year’s Day Acid” in 2021, and he teamed with Truncate once more for the track “Be Aware.” 2022 yielded the Rekids-issued “Detroit Stab,” a further Truncate collaboration titled “Let Go,” and “Balls Back.” Another Drumcode release, Mind’s Eye, closed the year. The deep-house-inflected Half Full EP arrived via Freerange Recordings in 2023.