Martyn

I'm back after the painful 3000 word essay I had to write, I do apologise, it's a poor excuse and this will be prioritised over my revision to try and make up for the absence of blogs during the week.

If you haven't already heard of Martyn then you've been missing out. Martijn Deykers, born in the Netherlands and now based in Washington, is a producer/DJ of dubstep and drum and bass. For just under a decade Martyn was a drum and bass DJ in the Netherlands, where he began producing drum and bass tracks in the form of the 'Get Down' EP and 'I Wonder Why' EP released in 2005 and 2006 on the Revolve:r label. As I'm not a fan of drum and bass, I found it difficult to get into Martyn's earlier material, and it wasn't until his next release and following tracks that I would grow to love his form of dubstep.

In May 2007, after being exposed to and influenced by the emerging dubstep scene in the UK, with the underground success of big names such as Burial and Kode9, Martyn's first dubstep track was released, with an EP that included the singles 'Broken' and 'Shadowcasting'. This creation of an individual sound in the rising genre of dubstep led to new opportunities for Martyn, who's music has gone on to become an essential element of his own Netherlands based 3024 label. His first release on the label was the brilliant single 'Velvet' backed with 'Twenty Four', released in February 2008. This was soon followed up by what are probably his best know singles in the form of 'Natural Selection' and 'Vancouver', tracks which epitomise his penchant for combining dubstep rhythm with varying synth cords, as well regularly using a pulsating two-step beats and a number of layers of disembodied voices.

The success and quality of these two releases on the 3024 led to the opportunity of a release on the highly recognisable Applepips label based in one of the homes of dubstep, Bristol. From this venture Martyn produced my favourite of his tracks 'All I Have Is Memories' (backed by 'Suburbia'), released in November 2008. The tracks repetitive two-step beat, wonderfully constructed piano chords and harrowing vocals make for an incredible six minutes, and if you were to only purchase one Martyn tracks, I would recommend than you make it this one.

After this, Martyn began work on his first LP, 'Great Lengths', which was released on his 3024 label. The album brilliantly takes off from where his last few releases had directed him, with his new dubstep sounds also incorporating styles from techno and house as well on the album. The album is extremely well produced, with the first half of the album featuring tracks which are more uplifting in tone, with a couple of tracks featuring soulful voices and the most upbeat tempo's on the album in the form of 'right?star!', 'Little Things' and 'Vancouver'. The second half is much darker and atmospheric than the first, taking greater influence from underground garage and combining it with free flowing 2-step beats, making for brilliant tracks like 'Far Away', 'Hear Me' and 'Natural Selection'. The album is like no other and is a thoroughly enjoyable listen, I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of experimental dubstep or even electronic music in general.

'Great Lengths' Tracklist:

1 The Only Choice
2 Krdl-T-Grv
3 Right? Star!
4 Seventy Four
5 Little Things
6 Vancouver
7 These Words (feat. dBridge)
8 Bridge
9 Elden St.
10 Far Away
11 Hear Me
12 Is This Insanity? (feat. The Space Ape)
13 Brilliant Orange
14 Natural Selection

In January of this year, Martyn displayed his skills as a DJ in his creation of the Fabric 50 mix. During my essay writing I managed to listen to the 1 hour 11 minutes mix three times, and it grew on me further with each listen. In this mix he brilliantly fuses elements of differing modern electronic genres, with tracks on the mix raging from UK Funky and minimal electro to dub-house and techno. His selection of tracks is equally impeccable, picking the best in underground electronic music from the past year with artists such as 2562, Roska, Joy Orbison, Dorian Concept and Zomby. This mix rivals that of Scuba ('Substance mix), but I would probably give Scuba's mix the edge just because I believe the songs are mixed ever so slightly more intelligently, making transitions between songs smoother and less noticeable. But don't let me dampen Martyn's brilliant mix, which in my opinion is a must listen.

'Fabric 50' Tracklist:

1 Hudson Mohawke - 'Joy Fantastic' ft Olivier Daysoul
2 Alec Wizz `Drummin' - (Louis Benedetti Drumminpella)
3 Nubian Mindz - 'Bossa Boogie'
4 Maddslinky - 'Lost On Tenori Street'
5 Altered Natives - 'Rass Out'
6 Zomby - 'Little Miss Naughty'
7 Uncle Bakongo - 'Afar'
8 Zomby - 'Light Cycle'
9 Deepgroove & Jamie Anderson - 'The Clock' (Ben Klock's Timepiece)
10 DJBone - 'We Control The Beat'
11 Detachments - 'Circles' (Martyn's Round & Round Mix)
12 Joy Orbison - 'Brkln Clln'
13 Cooly G - 'Feeling You'
14 Martyn ft dBridge - 'These Words' (Roska's Speechless Mix)
15 Kode9 - 'Oozi'
16 Roska - 'Without It'
17 Martyn - 'Friedrichstrasse'
18 Levon Vincent - 'Air Raid'
19 Martyn ft Spaceape - 'Is This Insanity?' (Ben Klock Mix)
20 Martyn - 'Seventy Four' (Redshape Mix)
21 Actress - 'Slowjam'
22 Zomby - 'Mercury's Rainbow'
23 2562 - 'Flashback'
24 Martyn - 'Vancouver'
25 Jan Driver - 'Rat Alert'
26 Dorian Concept - 'Trilingual Dance Sexperience'

I thought I would give a bit of added trivia (this is what playing football manager everyday between the ages of 5-16 does to you) for you as well which I appreciated, with the fact that Martyn is the son of Gerrie Deijkers, PSV Eindhoven’s top scorer in their 1977-78 UEFA Cup-winning season. For more information on Martyn's live dates and new releases, check out his myspace page which can be found at www.myspace.com/martyndnb.