About

Established in 2018, BeatCaffeine is an online music platform created by Berkeley-based DJ, vinyl collector, and writer TJ Gorton, dedicated to jazz, deep spiritual jazz, funk, soul, and global grooves for vinyl collectors, DJs, and anyone who wants to dig deeper into record culture. It serves as a discovery guide and archive, highlighting essential new releases, reissues, and archival finds through carefully curated lists like BeatCaffeine’s favorite recordings, compilations, and year-end roundups.

The site features in-depth write-ups on featured releases, shining a light on under-the-radar projects, independent labels, and historically important recordings that sit at the intersection of jazz, groove, and global sounds. BeatCaffeine also offers a wide range of mixes and playlists—including themed jazz-funk and jazz-dance sets, running mixes, and radio archives—designed to be both DJ-friendly and listener-focused.

BeatCaffeine Radio
BeatCaffeine also extends into broadcasting through the BeatCaffeine Radio show on Motion FM, hosted by TJ Gorton. The shows often spotlight jazz dance classics, “nu jazz” pioneers, and themed sets (for example, tributes to artists like Sun Ra, Gil Scott-Heron and others), with archives posted on the site for later listening.

TJ Gorton, BeatCaffeine Founder
DJ, producer, compulsive vinyl collector, caffeine consumer, and lifelong music seeker, TJ started BeatCaffeine as a creative outlet to share, explore, and champion essential vinyl recordings from past and present. With a strong focus on jazz and dancefloor-oriented sounds, his work spotlights records for music enthusiasts, collectors and DJs.

A longtime Sacramento native now based in Berkeley, CA, TJ serves as Marketing Director at SFJAZZ, a role he has held since 2015. In addition to leading brand, digital, and promotional strategy for one of the world’s premier jazz institutions, he has run two well-regarded music blogs, American Athlete and Village Dance Radio. TJ has also contributed to the highly acclaimed Music Is My Sanctuary vinyl website, and his record collection was profiled in The Vinyl Factory “Home Grown” series. He is a resident DJ with the jazz dance–focused Rebirth Jazz night at Phonobar in San Francisco, a monthly session that takes place every third Wednesday.

Outside of writing and sharing music, TJ (formerly under the alias Pat Les Stache) has also released eleven twelve-inch recordings on numerous labels including Cabana Disco and Kojak Giant Sounds.

In a lot of ways, my record collection basically helps tell the story of my life. Every record is tied to a discovery, an experience, or a moment in time, each one tracing back to a different chapter along the way.
— TJ Gorton