“I like to take bits and pieces from different genres, from Promoting and DJing led to production, and Martyn’s
different places around the world, and piece them all deep and soulful sound soon caught the ear of Marcus
together into something coherent,” says Martyn. “If Intalex, who in 2005 released Martyn’s debut single
people look at the tracklisting, it may even put some of ‘Get Down’ on the Revolve:R template.
them off, because there are so many different kinds of The increasingly hollow and bombastic drum & bass
music on there. I’d prefer people to not look at the scene, however, was beginning to lose Martyn’s
tracklisting and just listen to the music from the first attention.
minute to the last, and they’re going to hear a lot of “While I was making drum & bass,” he explains, “I was
different things, but hopefully they won’t even be always trying out different tempos and genres. After a
thinking in terms of genres after the mix has finished, while I was getting bored with drum & bass, and at the
y’know? same time really inspired by what was happening in
“But I’m honestly not so obsessed with that whole what’s now called dubstep: tracks from Kode9, Burial,
‘eclectic’ thing myself,” he states. “I don’t enjoy listening Digital Mystikz and so on. So I figured, well, I’ll try
to DJs who are eclectic just for the sake of being eclectic. producing tracks in that style — without even
But people do have to be more open-minded these days, knowing, at the time, that it was called dubstep.
just because music changes so quickly now: if you go to a “Revolve:R, who I was putting my drum & bass
dubstep night now, it’ll be completely different from a productions out on, they liked my dubstep tempo stuff
dubstep night a year ago. So people have to be more as well, so they decided to release it. And, all of a
open-minded, just because the music is moving so fast.” sudden, it seemed a lot of people were into my tunes
— and it was a completely different crowd from my
drum & bass audience. So, without really trying to, I
Vaults basically stepped from one genre to another.”
Given the carefully programmed and executed nature of
‘fabric 50’ it’s odd to learn that Martyn isn’t really much “I still check drum & bass stuff out,” he affirms, “but I
of a mix-CD aficionado himself. don’t really like DJing it any more. For me, the music’s
“I don’t really listen to mix CDs all that much. I might skip development just stopped. Nowadays, there are still a
through one, once in a while. But when fabric asked me few people who do really good stuff, but it’s a very,
to do this mix, I sort of went ‘back into the vaults’, and very small group. But I’m not saying, ‘Oh, drum & bass
found two mixes that I really did enjoy — a really old is shit’; it’s something I’ve done, and something I’ve
Stacey Pullen for the ‘DJ Kicks’ series, and one that loved, and obviously there are still things that I love
Waajeed did for Triple Five Soul clothing a while back, about it, but music has now taken me to a lot of other
which was a strange mix of hip-hop, ’80s pop music, equally interesting places.”
some Autechre-style stuff, Kraftwerk — all kinds of So what’s exciting him these days?
things. The Waajeed one influenced me in terms of its “Well, it’s nice to see a lot of young producers going
selection, and the Pullen one influenced me in terms of back to house music, and hearing their interpretation
the mixing.” of it, or their combination of house and dubstep or
Martyn insisted on mixing ‘fabric 50’ ‘live’ using decks, whatever. At the same time, you have that whole crew
rather than relying on the clinical accuracy of Ableton or in LA, spearheaded by Flying Lotus – those guys are
the after-the-fact slice-and-dicing of Pro Tools. making some really exciting music. And, obviously, in
“I’ve heard a lot of mix CDs that are done in Ableton, and Berlin you have the whole techno scene and producers
it doesn’t really sound to me like it’s a DJ actually playing working with that stripped-down, funky sound. There
tunes and making a mix. I assumed that fabric had asked really is a lot of good music around at the moment.”
me to do the mix because they enjoyed my DJ sets, so I
figured I’d do it completely live and not have software do
the mixing for me. Tt sounds a bit more human that way. Stronger
“The whole idea of the mix was to do a summary of the It looks like 2010 is set to be a bustling year for
music that I’ve been playing out over the last year, Martyn. Following his fabric mix, there’s the keenly
particularly the last six months or so. I got it down to anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed 2009 album
around 40 tunes, and then you get into the licensing and ‘Great Lengths’, released on his own 3024 imprint.
all that, and so eventually it got narrowed down to 26.” “I’ve started on my second album already,” he
confirms, “and I’m trying to get it finished for late
As stylistically varied as Martyn’s selection is, the one spring or early summer, but I’ll need to hurry up if I’m
thing all 26 tracks have in common is weighty, going to make that deadline!
bin-testing bass. “I’m thinking 3024 is going to be a bit stronger in
“Well, my roots are in drum & bass,” he says, “and music 2010, with more releases and also some new people
always has to be bass-heavy for me. That’s what really on the label — some younger talent that can benefit
inspired me when I first heard dubstep. Even within the from the ‘name’ that the label has right now. We did
UK funky sound, you can hear lots of producers working already in 2009, but I would’ve hoped for more
with really heavy basslines. It’s a real UK thing — that’s releases — that’s all just down to time issues,
what sets it apart from other corners of the globe.” though.”
Besides his recorded output, you can also expect
Hooked Martyn’s stature as a DJ to continue rising, as he
Those drum & bass roots stretch back 15-odd years, when graduates from second room to main room fixture.
a fresh-faced, Eindhoven-based Martyn first found Does he ever worry that those kaleidoscopic,
techno, and looks set to be the template for underground himself hooked on early jungle tracks from the UK. left-of-centre sets of his will leave a crowd utterly
dance music in the early 2010s. “At around 19 years of age, I decided to make some kind unmoved?
of a mark in music, instead of just being a consumer of it. “Not really. If you can keep a serious and convincing
A propulsive 26-track journey around the bleeding edges I started DJing drum & bass because I was really excited face while you’re DJing, and you look like you know
of contemporary bass-led music — featuring tracks from about that music back then. When you’re not very good what you’re doing, then normally you’re okay,” he
the likes of Hudson Mohawke, 2562, Zomby and Martyn at DJing nobody is going to book you [laughs], so we laughs. “But I do like to take risks when I’m DJing,
himself — ‘fabric 50’ (out 11th January) is one of the started our own club, called Red Zone, and it grew into and sometimes that works out well and sometimes it
most convincing cases to have been made for eclecticism something that ran for 11 years in various locations. The fails miserably. But then, taking risks is what DJs are
since Coldcut’s classic ‘70 Minutes Of Madness’ mix. last venue was a big one, with a 1300 capacity.” supposed to do.”
www.djmag.com
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