baretta is jeff allen, born in late 1960's in new york city, one of two sons of immigrant parents. he grew up in and around the streets of brooklyn. his early musical influences include classic rock artists such as pink floyd, steely dan and peter gabriel. never having an ear for disco, he was drawn to the more technological funk based dance music of the time, soul sonic force, grandmaster flash, crash crew, etc. his growing interest in the new sound of what was then coined electro & hip hop drew jeff deeper in to explore both early break dance as well as subway graffiti culture.
in his first year of high school he began hanging with various graffiti crews, listening to hip hop, smoking angel dust, vandalizing trains & buses, getting into fights, dropping out of school, vandalizing more trains & buses, getting into more fights, until he out grew that nonsense, by that time it was 1986.
then came the new sound of house music, particularly chicago, then followed by the detroit sound, which led him into those late nights with 98.7 kiss fm mix sessions. working various odd jobs he spent most of his time at late night parties dancing to this new fusion of electro beats, synthesizers, and jazz piano riffs.
as the acid house movement exploded, and then eventually rave techno, jeff found himself not at all into what was happening with dance music, and shifted his musical ears elsewhere. then he began to explore jazz & fusion music.
having played piano a bit as young child, as well as a little electric bass in middle school, he began jamming with some friends. then one day he had the idea to record these little jam sessions on a 4-track recorder he had borrowed. around the same time a friend introduced him to the artificial intelligence albums out on warp records. artists such as black dog, autechre & b12 renewed his interest in electronic music.
after picking up a copy of model 500's deep space for a mere 99 cents, his musical interests shifted once again towards ambient techno. a year after listening to what had become one of his favorite cd's he released his first ep as varathane. together with a friend he formed hydrant records and released two more records as varathane.
in late 1999 he formed sprout recordings along with an old friend who is an accomplished dj & graphic designer. this new label concentrated on cd-r releases. sprout, with it's cd-r format would allow him to release the first baretta ep. soon after the baretta ep he once again shifted gears towards hardcore idm with the release of the brittle ones ep, followed by the chipsett ep.
after hooking up with emanate records, jeff began working on tracks for a baretta lp. as of late he has been exploring more academic tools, such as granular synthesis as a means to make music with.