Joaquin ‘Joe’ Claussell’s path moves through mind, body, spirit, lived, not stated. A Brooklyn native, he was raised inside a constant musical flow: brothers performing with Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente, a home where sound functioned as structure and necessity.
By the late ’70s and ’80s, his listening stretched across downtown Manhattan to the No Wave and punk at Mud Club and CBGB, early hip-hop, and ‘the dance floor as institution’ at The Loft and Paradise Garage. These spaces formed a working language.
Early production under Instant House, sample-based, layered, spiritual that helped define New York’s imprint on house music’s emergence. At Dance Tracks, a key Lower East Side hub, he built community and momentum, leading to Spiritual Life Music and Sacred Rhythm Music his labels threading Afro-Latin, African diasporic, and electronic forms. Much of what circulates now as Afrohouse traces back to that groundwork.
His remix and production work spans Cassandra Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Alan Parsons Project, alongside a noted reworking of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, that has appeared in many films and compilations.
As a DJ, his presence holds weight. With Danny Krivit and François K, he co-founded Body & Soul, a global touchpoint grounded in depth, duration, and collective listening.
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