Martinez - Man and Music Machine
These days it's not uncommon (if anything, it's almost expected), to find a producer or DJ simultaneously producing their own material, doing remix work, running a label and gigging it up around the world.
But with marketing and hype in many areas of the dance music industry setting new post-millenium levels by the week, it's surprising to find someone on the crest of a surging wave, who though already ensconced in all of the above, is looking at taking things back down a notch, rather than turning them up to "overdrive", in order to improve the coffers.
The man in question is Swedish DJ and producer Martinez, owner of Out of Orbit Recordings (more commonly referred to as Triple-O). Now based in Copenhagen and compiler of the first ever mix album on Steve Bug's Audiomatique imprint, Martinez finds himself in line to pick up similar plaudits to Danish star and friend, Anders Trentemoeller following a string of singles on Triple-O, his highly-acclaimed "Shadowboxing" on Audiomatique, a remix of Nathan Fake's "The Sky Was Pink" and even a track on Ministry of Sound's "Clubber's Guide To Ibiza '05"
Triple-O or should that be Triple-M?
As we discovered, Martinez (real name Martin Swanstein) is both man and music machine.
You know, when I first saw some tracks of yours, from your artist name I thought "Ah, some Latin or Spanish guy is doing all this cool stuff", but you're blonde and from Sweden! Does this happen a lot ie. people being surprised where you're from?
Yeah for sure, this happened a lot in the beginning when people didn´t know my face. Many people thought I was some Mexican dude living in Denmark. Nowadays people know me better from pictures, so they expect a Scandinavian looking guy. Funnily enough, people still insist on speaking Spanish with me when I am in Spain, maybe cause I have an artist name that is one of the most common Spanish surnames. I guess it's like if some Spanish dude was called Johanson we probably would think he had some connection to Sweden!
The story behind the name comes from an old nickname made up by a friend of mine for a party flyer way back. The name sort of stuck and has been with me since then.
You're based in Copenhagen, where you moved in 2000 from a small town in Sweden. How is it there, and what's the scene like? Did you choose Copenhagen for some special reason? Where would you recommend going for a good time there?
My Mother is from Copenhagen, so I was there a lot as a child. Also, Copenhagen is very close to Helsingborg -- only a ferry and 35 minutes by train -- and was the city I always went to for hunting down records.
The city has always had a very special vibe to me and the techno/house/electronic music scene and clubs have always been very good in Copenhagen (and let's not forget the beautiful Danish girls!).
When I finished school in Helsingborg I wanted to go to a bigger city and so I started studying at a school in Copenhagen about computers and music as well, but that didn't last long before the music making and DJing grabbed me full time.
The music scene in Copenhagen is very forward thinking (not only electronic music) and many talented and new interesting producers/labels here. For me it is a very inspiring environment. The best place for having a good time, clubwise, would be Culture Box. It's definitely the best place in town (actually one of my current 5 favourite clubs). Culture Box is a great forum for electronic music, they have anyone from superstars like Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills to local heros playing there, and a fantastic sound system. A super friendly vibe from the staff as well, which I really like; you really feel welcome there!
Pete Tong recently declared Denmark's Trentemoller, a "Hero" of 2005, and in the last few years, there have been some great new producers coming from places people might not expect, like Russia, Argentina, Chile, Poland, of course Sweden. Do you think we will soon see an even bigger explosion of talented producers and DJs from Scandinavia, or some other new place?
Could the Scandinavian scene explode any more??
I think Scandinavian music is bigger then ever nowadays and of course we will see a lot of development and new artists rising with this “hype”. I think though that there is really a lot of interesting producers come from the east, like I've heard some great music from Croatia, Ukraine, Russia and Poland. I recently played in Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine and the feedback for this music is really big there; I got like 5 demos from young and talented producers in that one night.
“I am the kind of DJ that believes that you can make almost any track sound good if you play it in the right context and have the right intention when you are playing it.”
No doubt people will get to know your name a lot more with the release of the new CD you've mixed for Audiomatique. Can you tell us about some of the tracks, how you put the mix together and how you feel it represents you as a DJ?
The mix for Audiomatique was a great mission for me as a DJ. I had only the Audiomatique catalogue to choose from and some new exclusively produced tracks for the compilations. It's really cool when you only have a limited number of songs to choose from cause it makes it a bit more of a challenge for you as a DJ. Anyone can select their 15 best songs in their collection and make a rocking mix, but it's hard to get a good flow out of a limited “pre selected” tracks.
I think the mix represents me well as a DJ, though not all the tracks on there is what you normally would hear in a Martinez DJ set. I am the kind of DJ that believes that you can make almost any track sound good if you play it in the right context and have the right intention when you are playing it. Only using the most essential parts of the track and mixing at the right point will make it fit in the mix, and bring out a whole new aspect of the track that you might not hear or feel while listening to the track alone.
So in this way it was really exciting to do this mix with only Audiomatique material. I had to edit some tracks like Rob Acid´s “Lidia”, which was way too long for the mix but I just had to include it, cause its one of my favourite records ever. I also made a special edit of Trentemoller´s “Physical Fraction” to make it fit more into the mix.
I am very happy about the mix CD and think it’s a great record for the car, pre party or after party or just for nerds that love electronic dance music!
In the past you've called your music "Cosmic House". Does this still describe your sound?
Well, I would say that I have moved further away from the pure Cosmic House sound. Cosmic House was for me a mix of the spaceyness of early deephouse influences, German tech-house and elements from old trance music. But now I have been experimenting more with this sound and naturally gone more into my influences from techno music, the hook lines of the early EBM and the early Frankfurt sound, as well as taking in influences of the early Goa (not the tempo but more the baselines and sound efx).
But I guess there is still some “cosmic” influences left and you might just hear some real cosmic house groove on Out of Orbit in the near future!
From your bio it looks like your life has been nothing but music! You have 40+ releases including remixes, an artist album, your own label and you're still just 24. Have you ever felt like you missed out on anything, like, drunken university parties or studying for exams?
No, not really. I went to school like everyone else, but music was my thing, so I put more time and effort in to that instead of studying. Drunken university parties? Well I've been hanging in nightclubs instead and probably had more action then any drunken university student can dream of…
You had success as a producer very early on with releases on Deeplay Music and Guidance Recordings. Now you seem to be putting out more and more music every year. What's your studio set-up like? Are there any new studio tools you're really excited about?
My studio set up is pretty simple. I use one Virus B and one Micro Korg synth, a computer running Cubase for sequencing and a few efx and plug-ins. That is it. I sample myself a lot when playing around with sounds on synths or other things and then cut it up in a Wave editing program and use it as samples in Cubase.
Yeah I make a lot of music. Sometimes I am like a machine that just can't stop, but I am slowing down on the releases now and also working on lots of other projects under different names.
Right now there seems to be an interest in live performances, or adding a live element to a DJ set, like using notebooks and software such as Live. You also play three instruments and you obviously have good computer skills. Have you thought about including any of these in your DJ sets?
I am already doing this. I use one Powerbook G4 running Serato Scratch Live for DJing and one Powerbook G4 running Ableton Live version 5, synched together with various effects and loops on top.
I haven't done it as a live performance yet, but I'm working on it. It will be presented on my Australian Tour this year for the first time and hopefully some of the summer festivals.
Looking at your web-blog, you're pretty busy travelling around the globe and playing. What's your best airline, and your worst airline? And why?
Best Airline is SAS, Lufthansa and most of the Star Alliance members cause they are really comfortable and so easy about checking in. They also have nice lounges (and stewardesses!!)
Worst Airline is probably Air-Berlin, because they are always delayed. I am always minimum 3 hours late when I travel with them, so no more!
There seems to be a lot of interest in dance music in Eastern Europe right now. Have you had good experiences over there?
I have only played in Poland and Ukraine so far, but in February I will go to Russia as well. The feedback is amazing there though. I guess this kind of music and partying is pretty fresh to them and it's really great for me as a DJ! In fact my gig at Pudra in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, was one of the best gigs I've had so far.
We heard from another DJ that the girls in the Ukraine are the friendliest and most open-minded and the Ukraine is the best place to go for single male DJs. You've been there recently, can you confirm this (or not) for our concerned-DJ-readers?
It's SO true! :o)
They are extremely beautiful as well!!
“This minimal sound is very trendy at the moment, just like white jeans and leather jackets were in the '80s... but it's nothing new its been there for a long time”
OK, back to the music. In the last year there's been a lot of interest in the music from labels such as your Out-of-Orbit Recordings (Triple-O) , Audiomatique, Kompakt and so on. For example, John Digweed once played 3 tracks from your label on one of his Transitions show. Are you surprised by this? Do you think music like this can become popular enough to stop trance DJs like Tiesto or Paul van Dyk becoming world No.1 DJ again?!?!
At first I was a bit surprised to see Digweed playing my music, but when I heard his latest DJ sets it made sense. I think that this music is accessible to everyone from trance to progressive people to house heads -- and that why it's getting so popular. I really like that the music is more open than it was some years ago, you can´t really tell what is what these days. Producers are using trancey elements in house or minimal beats with classic progressive sounds, it's great!! I believe that it makes the music come more alive and is easier to develop this way.
I think maybe Trentemoller's sound is on a poppy enough tip to stop Tiesto or van Dyk, but then again I think the music they are playing works so much more in a commercial and big room aspect. It's also about the way they play it more than what they play I think!
More seriously, do you think the wider acceptance of this kind of minimal and tech house tells us something about our culture or society? Is something changing, or is it simply a matter of musical taste?
I think this is simply a matter of music taste and definitely musical trends!
This minimal sound is very trendy at the moment, just like white jeans and leather jackets were in the 80s or more appropriately, like the Naked Music and Deep House sound, some years ago. The minimal/tech-house sound is very big at the moment, but it's nothing new it's been there for a long time just like all the other musical genres. I am sure there will be producers now that are taking for example Deep House or Jungle (or whatever) influences, and developing a new form of music from that.
Out-of-Orbit has been releasing more and more material recently - 15 singles and 1 album so far. Was it difficult to start Triple-O? How did you go about setting it up?
The idea for Out of Orbit had been in my head for years, but I never felt that it was the right time to start it until summer 2004, when I felt that I had a special sound and enough material to do it. It wasn´t very difficult to start because Intergroove distribution in Germany were kind enough to believe in it and took on the label for worldwide distribution. Rand Muzik, a pressing pant in Leipzig Germany, got me a very good offer for vinyl pressings, so that was it. Then me and an old friend of mine, Chris M, who is the other person behind Out of Orbit and who does all the art work, sat down and made a release schedule and plan for the label's first 5 releases and 6 months. Then we decided on a logo that Chris designed and we ready to roll…
Triple-O has released some of your own material in addition to artists like Jussi Pekka, Zvukbroda, Nima Gorji and Trentemoller. Do you have a policy on what you put out? Do you find most of the music you release through extended contacts or is it a case of doing some real A&R?
Yes of course, we have a bit of a policy on what we release. Our idea is to put out strong quality electronic dance music that is independent of the trends and market. It can be a bit trancey or pure techno or even vocal house. We like, and get inspired from many kinds of electronic music; especially the way it was before in the techno industry -- without websites and artist hype and producers being like rock stars. Back then you hardly knew the face of the artist so we are trying to bring back that feeling and also build a special Triple-O sound, always one track for the more minimal crowd and one for the more spacey/trancey crowd. Most artists that release on Out of Orbit are friends of the label, but sometimes we take on demos from outside if they are good enough ;)
“We are trying to build a special Triple-O sound, always one track for the more minimal crowd and one for the more spacey/trancey crowd.”
What's in store next for the label?
We just released an EP by Robert Leiner aka The Source Experience and then we have upcoming releases by Reynold, Robert Babicz, Felix Houzer and a follow up to “Borderline” from Phil Stumpf, including a remix by Rui da Silva.
I'm also working on a label compilation/album, release date not yet known, but it won't be before late 2006 or early 2007. It will be a very exclusive mix album where all of the Triple-O catalogue gets edited, remixed and mixed into a 74min long track.
As people grow in themselves and their abilities, they sometimes feel they have reached a new stage and what they are doing is special, or very new. Have you ever had that feeling? If so, were any of your productions associated with that?
Yes, sure. That happened with the whole Out of Orbit thing. I think my first release on Out of Orbit Recordings, “Arizona EP”, showed that something new was about to happen for me. I remember when I first played to track, “it’s a long way from Arizona to Mars”, to people here in Copenhagen, the feedback was massive. That was when I decided to start Out of Orbit Recordings for real.
Name your favourite track in 2005 and a track you expect will be big early in 2006.
Mathew Jonson – “Return of the Zombie Bikers”. Maybe not the best musically, but it was such a weird and cool record with those sort of monkey Chicago beats, a massive pure techno baseline and a really weird ethnical mellow feel on top. It blew my mind so I guess it would be the one for 2005!
Robert Babicz “The Cloud Painter” will be big in 2006 and also, Anders Trentemoller's debut album on Poker Flat for sure.
Finally, looking forward, what does 2006 hold for you? Any plans to attend the Miami Winter Music Conference in March?
I have an Australian Tour in May and the release of my mix CD on Audiomatique. There'l be more gigs touring all over Europe and also some gigs in the USA. I am not going to Miami this year unfortunately, but we are attending Sonar in Barcelona for sure!! We might even throw a Triple-O party this year!
I also have a few more single releases and an Out of Orbit Compilation release planned. That's about all I can tell you for now. For the rest you´ll have to wait and see ;)
Audiomatique Volume 1.0 mixed by Martinez is released February 10th, 2006.
| | |
