Bates Belk New Dance Studio Album “The Dark Spektrum” The music producer has written and produced a collection of songs with over 50 Berlin-based artists taking the audience on a journey from sunset to sunrise. BERLIN, Germany – Bates Belk today announces details of his highly anticipated début studio album, which was released on March 6, 2020 on BB3 Dynamics Records. “The Dark Spektrum” was written and recorded in Berlin with over 50 Berlin-based collaborators including the Stargaze Orchestral collective and was mixed by renowned music producer Gareth Jones at Strongroom Studios in London. The album was mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios in London. The new album features 11 brand new Bates Belk produced tracks including the singles “Euphoria”, “Dancing with Bullets” and the forthcoming single “Clever Criminal”.

The up-tempo and rhythmic album follows a cinematic storyline in a nighttime odyssey from sunset until sunrise. Themes experienced along the voyage of the dark spektrum on the album include danger, horror, power struggles, S&M, criminality, unrequited love, death, narcissism, dreams, illusions, ecstasy and freedom. The 11 songs sequenced on the album take the audience on a journey from “dark” to “light”. Says Bates, “The word ‘dark’ means many things. ‘Dark’ brings out both negative and positive feelings in people. ‘Dark’ can represent extreme unhappiness, anger and evilness. ‘Dark’ can bring on mysterious actions in people. ‘Dark’ can allow people to be freer, to be exploratory and to solve curiosities in the dark shadows potentially allowing those people to positive lives and experiences. ‘Dark’ can also represent nightfall which traditionally also allows people to experience higher levels of perceptions.”

ABOUT BATES BELK: Bates Belk (www.BatesBelk.com) is a global recording artist, music producer and DJ whose high energy, boundary-pushing songs and remixes have moved international audiences on dance floors in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and United States audiences in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami. In 2015, after 20 years of being based in New York City, Bates Belk relocated to Berlin, Germany, where he continues to operate BB3 Dynamics Records (www.BB3Dynamics.com). Bates Belk was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, USA. Growing up in a region of the United States not particularly known for its acceptance of the free-thinking outsider, Bates Belk found in music something that could help him make sense of the world and partially fill the void caused by the lack of artistic encouragement. He absorbed the music of such producers as Giorgio Moroder, Trevor Horn, Daniel Miller, Rick Rubin, Brian Eno, Nile Rodgers, Quincy Jones, Frankie Knuckles, Vince Clarke, François Kevorkian, Johnny Jewel, Philip Glass, Anne Dudley, Ennio Morricone, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kevin Saunderson, Daniel Lanois, John Carpenter, Hans Zimmer, Tony Visconti, Alan Parsons, Craig Armstrong, Steve Reich, major influences in the beats, sounds and remixes that Bates Belk performs and produces today. As a young man and later as an emerging performer, Bates Belk traveled frequently to Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia, freely embracing the progressive music, art and cultural scenes found there, which encouraged his own artistic expression. Like many iconoclasts who come to their chosen art later in life, Bates Belk did not initially set out to pursue music. He earned an undergraduate degree in finance at the University of Texas at Austin, and later an MBA at Fordham University in New York City. Bates Belk then embarked on a successful career in digital marketing, working for global publishing and financial services companies, which would span the next two decades. However, that’s as long as it would last. Says, Bates, “For a long time, I had been living two lives in New York City. The life of a corporate drone opposing others’ daily manipulations and negative energy. And a life that I brushed up against regularly, one of positivity and artistic creation, but didn’t live in fully yet. But because I’ve always been an adventurer and risk taker, creating music is now how I thrive. This is who I am. And my move to Berlin has taken my art new levels.” Bates Belk has given performances at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week NYC, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, London’s Factory 7, The Room in Tokyo and The Museum of Contemporary Art Miami.