2011 is the year that Dance music arrived….well, at least finally in the United States.  Yes the ravescene was huge in the 90’s but this is the year that major media outlets had to put aside their feelings towards Electronic Music as a “lesser” art form and ask for a pass to join in on the party. No other subgenre has infiltrated the mainstream with Ninja likeprecision more than Tech House. All you Dubstep wobble heads, please calm down.  Proof is in the pudding as Yolanda BeCool struck mainstream success with “We No Speak Americano”, which sold millions of downloads, and producers like Alex Kenji (with the help of NadiaAli) became ubiquitous at major night club venues.  In the states, Dirtybird Records has carried the Tech torch high for nearly 10 years and along with founder Claude Von Stroke, the label owes much of its success to Justin Martin.

You may know Justin Martin from his 2010 beatport hit “Mr. Spock” which sampled Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot”.  A staple of the House scene in the U.S. since 1993, with dablings in the Electro world as well, his unique style issomewhere between Chicago and a strip club in the middle of the Miami hood.  It both grooves and bounces.  It’s smooth enough for Frankie Knuckles but with enough bass to make Lil Jon’s trunk rattle.  As his bio says, “Life is too importantto be taken seriously” (a quote from Oscar Wilde) and the same applies to music.  A credo he obviously livesby with each release that proves you can be a serious technician but have fun at the same time.

Prior to a big gig at Avalon in Hollywood for Control Fridays where he was booked to rock along with before mentioned duo, Yolanda BeCool, Justin gave us some time to talk. As I waited in the lobby of SBE’s Redbury boutique hotel and posh Cleo Restaurant I was amused by the typical Hollywood glam that wizzed past me every second.  Groups of model/actorsmeeting other groups of model/actresses before heading next door to Avalon for what was sure to be an amazing night. Finally, Mr. Martin arrived and here’s what he had to say….

HipsterOverkill: You are out in San Francisco, were you bornand raised there?

Justin Martin: No, actually I was born in Connecticut and I’ve lived in San Francisco for 11 years now… 12 years actually.

H.O.:  So you were born in Connecticut, moved to San Fran but was discovered by  Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl who is British.  How did that happen?

JM:  One of those lucky chances.  I had just graduated from college and was really passionate about music.  I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life so I just gave it a go and started producing and put together a demo CD.  My really good friend at the time, Claude Von Stroke, but back then he was Barkley Crenshaw, that’s hisreal name, was making this documentary on how to make it as a DJ and  I just followed all his rules, like you know, always have a demo on you. Always take every opportunity you can [in order] to get your music out there.  One of my demos just landed in Ben Watts’ hands just as he was starting Buzzin' Fly [Records], and the rest is history.  I got an e-mail from him a few months later saying he wanted to sign [the song] “Sad Piano” and I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me.  I was a huge Everything But The Girl fan so it was a very very exciting beginning for me.

H.O.:   A lot of your songs if you went on linewould be classified as Tech House. A lot of what you do and what you do with your brother Christian as The Martin Brothers and also with Claude Von Stroke [on Dirtybird Records] almost has a booty-bass kind of old school pop-locking sort of  feel at times. It’s House, but it’s also very bass oriented.  How would you describe what you do?

JM:  I’d say you sum it up pretty well with the booty-bounce.  Haha.  We justlike to make music that’s fun.  We all kind of have eclectic musical backgrounds.  I listened to a lot of Hip-Hop growing up and a lot of Drum-n-Bass.  There wasn’t enough of that going in House music when I started, and we just kind of wanted to put a different feel on the classic Tech House vibe and just make it different, make something a little bit more fun.

H.O.:  So basically what you’re saying is you spend a lot of time in strip clubs in Miami and Atlanta…

JM:  Hahaha…no comment…

H.O.:  A lot Hip-Hop aficionados [and producers] are in Dance music now.  Tell me your top 5 Hip-Hop groups.

JM:  Aw man…I’d have to say A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Wu-Tang, The Pack and uh….there’s so many… 

H.O.:  Well, you famously flipped a snoop track [on “Mr. Spock”] last year which really put you over the top right now.  If you could pick [any of the guys you just mentioned] who do you think could actuallycompliment a Justin Martin track?

JM:  To rhyme over?  Oh man… I’ve always been a Lil B fan since The Pack days.  I really like the stuff he does over those minimal kind of booty beats that The Pack used to have, so I think it would be fun to work with that guy for sure.

H.O.:  That’s what’s up man.  So what’s gonna happen for the rest of the year? Touring?  You [told me earlier] you were working with Switch [of Major Lazer] for the last week.  What can we expect?

JM:  I’m working on an album right now called Ghettos And Gardens and it’s gonna come out on Dirtybird Records in the Spring. It was supposed to come out in the Winter but nothing ever works out as planned.  Just making sure everything is perfect before it comes out.  And I’m touring like crazy over the next month [of November] and then I’m taking the rest of the year off pretty much after Thanks Giving to just finish up the music.  Lot’s of new stuff coming out next year,I’m really excited.  This year I didn’t have a lot of original material coming out because I’ve been saving it for this album release.

H.O.:  One last question.  You’ve been professionally releasing music  for almost 10 years now.  With everything climaxing in this past year and a half with the crossover crowd catching wind of what’s going on [in the Dance scene] and the Rave scene blowing up, how has that affected the subgenres like Tech House or Bass, and the types of things you do?

JM:  I think it’s great!  This last year… last two years actually, in the U.S. the gigs have been as good if not better thanthe gigs I used to play in Europe. I just think it’s great seeing the younger generation coming into the whole Electronic Music scene weather they’re like 16 year old Dubstep ravers, everybody starts off with… whatever gets you [and is] the ambassador to Electronic music, I think it’s a great thing.  When I was a kid, the ambassador to Electronic music and Rave music for us was Trance, you know, rocking out with our big JNCOs and climbing into bass-bin speakers and stuff like that.  So now it’s just great to see a fresh new young generation coming up and I think a lot of that is spilling over into our kind of small little Booty-Bounce niche that we got, so it’s cool.

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JUSTIN MARTIN  ::  BBC RADIO 1 ESSENTIAL MIX (07/03/2010)