agreed to let Justin remake the track. “I asked him if I could get hold of the vocal parts but sadly, they’d been destroyed cos everything was recorded on DAT back then. So I actually had to do it bootleg style and take all the samples from the vinyl I had at my house. It’s a super honour to be able to remix that song and have it on my album.”
So did Goldie approve? “I met him [Goldie] for the first time last week in Miami and I had one of those life moments and got a little emotional behind my sunglasses. He pulled me aside and told me that he loved it, and I was completely speechless.”
Back to the microscope for a quick wiggle to see what else lurks beneath. Ah, here’s something... is that whale song we hear on heavy- duty filth-house thumper, ‘Molokini’? Yes, yes it is. And tropical birds now... who does he think he is? Danny flipping Tenaglia? “Molokini is a volcanic crater on this little island just off the coast of Maui that you can see from my parents’ house. In the winter you can see these whales jumping in and out of the water and teaching their babies how to feed and stuff, it’s like a whale playground,” laughs Justin. “My parents are like really avid whale watchers — they have all these field recordings that they get from their boat, so I wanted to do a song that was inspired by that view: the whales, the sounds of the ocean, the tropical birds [called Franklins], they’re all sounds that come from that view. When I listen to that track I can close my eyes and it takes me back there.” The man is nothing short of a musical David Attenborough.
PERSONAL Another wiggle. A personal favourite. Painfully addictive, slow- burn deep houser, ‘Don’t Go’. Health warning: Expect these beats to be ricocheting around your brain like a badly behaved pinball for days, perhaps weeks, after hearing — thanks in no small part to the ridiculously hot vocal that annoyingly refuses to arrive until you’re at least three quarters of the way into the track. Justin, you are a MASSIVE tease. “‘Don’t Go’ is actually inspired by my girlfriend, so it’s really personal to me. I wanted to make a track to dedicate to her so she knows how special she is to me.” Hey, whoever that is making that sick-up noise at the back, you have the cold, dead heart of a death metal fan. Fun fact: The aforementioned addict-a-vocal came from a session Justin recorded with Dave Taylor of Switch fame. The pair had got together with the intention of creating a track for Rihanna. Sadly, for whatever reason, RiRi decided she wasn’t interested, so Justin
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scarpered with the vocal and the rest, as they say, is history. “I learned a lot from that whole thing about how the mainstream music industry works. I wasn’t expecting anything out of it at all. It was really exciting that this track was going to be given to Rihanna and that maybe she would wanna sing on it, but in the end it didn’t work out and I was like, alright, let’s at least make something out of it — and I’m happier that it turned out this way because I love the track that it became. It might be my favourite track on the album.”
You can expect ‘Ghettos & Gardens’ to trip the light fantastic across a further cacophony of musical influences: From the full-on 808 assault of Bay Area hip-hop, to the tripped-out, downtempo dub of Austrian duo Kruder & Dorfmeister. And there’s a delicate tickling of jazz and classical music along the way, too. “I think I probably have ADD,” says Justin, by way of explanation. “Music is like my form of Ritalin. I’m self medicated with music.” The album ends (you’ll like this) at the beginning — with what Justin calls his ‘cherry on the top’. “‘Ladybug’ is actually a track I made about four or five years ago when I originally set out to do an album [for Buzzin’ Fly]. It never ended up going anywhere but it never really grew old for me either. I always said to myself, ‘If I ever make an album, this is the track that’s going on it last’ and sure enough, there it is.
The ultimate completion of my goal. I’m really happy with the way it [the whole album] turned out and I just hope everyone else feels the same way. It’s definitely me. It’s very, very Justin Martin.”
SEE FOOD DIET So what’s next? A worldwide tour, for sure, but then he’s going to put his feet up for a bit, right? Riiiiight? Wrong, he’s got self-diagnosed ADD, remember. This guy doesn’t know how to sit still. To say he’s already planning his next musical manoeuvre is an understatement. He’s only gone and started work on a highly top-secret EP project thingy with Bristolian bass monkey, Eats Everything, that he doesn’t really wanna talk about, but then we tickled him some and he totally spilled his guts. “We just went into the studio for about a week and it was so much fun — we were just laughing our asses off and coming up with some really great ideas. I’d say we’re completely on the same page right now in terms of our sound. Very heavily influenced by drum & bass house music but without being too heavy... stuff that makes people smile on the dancefloor.” Justin’s enthusiasm is so utterly infectious that we’re now quivering with reciprocal excitement like an over-stimulated clitoris (dear Ed: even I can’t believe I just wrote that). “Once I got in the studio with him it was just pure magic. I’m really happy with the outcome. We’ve finished one track but we’re not
“I met Goldie for the first time last week in Miami, and I had one of those life moments and got a little emotional behind my sunglasses. He pulled me aside and told me that he loved my version of ‘Kemistry’, and I was completely speechless.”
quite sure what we’re doing with it yet. We’ve made this little pact that we’re not giving it to anyone; we’re keeping it locked very, very tight until we have at least another track or two. The track that we just finished is called ‘Hold Tight’ but the rest is a secret project we’re working on for the winter which I can’t talk about just yet.” SQUEEEEEEEEEEE! When can we expect to hear this stuff, then? “What we’ve aimed for is something that won’t sound dated a year from now, so we’ll see. I’ve no idea how it’s all going to unfold.” And that’s not all. Like a man possessed, he’s also been in the studio working on a bunch of remixes and he’s also making moves to tackle the next item on his bucket list: to be the next Timbaland. “I would love to make some beats for artists outside of electronic music — for some pop or some hip-hop artists.”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Right now, we’re all about the tough love of ‘Ghettos & Gardens’ and so is JM. “This is such an exciting time for me — my tour schedule has never been so full. Every time I DJ is a chance to meet new people and get my music out there. This year has been the most exciting of my life by far.”
Colour us happily jealous. Justin, we’ll see you in 18 months. Where, oh where will you be by then?
‘Ghettos & Gardens’ is out on Dirtybird.
www.djmag.com
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