Martinez Artist Bio

For the Swedish band Martinez (Danseband /Dancehall) – see the biography page in Swedish!

Martinez, real name Martin Swanstein, was born in 1981 and raised in the southernmost part of Sweden. At quite early age he discovered techno and later house music and since he already played keys, guitar, and flute it was a natural development to start to produce dance music on his computer. He also got himself a pair of turntables and started to hunt records. At this time Martin was too young to attend the clubs. Instead he arranged his own house parties on the beach, often with himself as DJ.

Some years later, via a demo tape, Martin got a chance to develop his producer skills in the Wrong Steps studio in Stockholm. There he co-produced some of his own tracks together with French producer Manuel Perez. Martin at this time still went to school, so the work had to be scheduled around the holidays. One of these early tracks later appeared as `Late Night Groove` on Martins debut twelve on Swedish label Deeplay Music.

In 2000 Martinez moved from the small Swedish town to the much more open music climate in the Danish capital Copenhagen. This supported him to put even more time and energy in his music productions, and not long after he landed a record deal with the well reputed Guidance label in Chicago. First out was the ‘Laidback Grooves EP’ with its mix of deephouse and broken beats and so far he’s been releasing three twelve’s on Guidance. As mentioned above Martinez debut twelve was released on Deeplay Music and he’s also made some wonderful remixes for the Physics duo on the same label. His `Aquarium Jazz Dub Mix’ on `Don’t Deny Me Love` was a great success among audience, DJ’s, and reviewers around the world. Other remix work include Danish pop/house act Filur as well as Dalminjo, Silicone Soul, The Beard, Holmes ft. Dragonfly, Jussi Pekka, Dibaba and Spiro Projecto.

Martinez’s sound started in the deeper & jazzier fields of electronic music. In the middle of 2003, Martinez felt a stronger passion for the more techie and experimental sounds of house music. He started to work more with samples and electro base-sounds, as well as introducing something that he calls, “Cosmic House”; a spacey house sound in a mixture of tech, atmosphere and colorful melodies. Not long after this, Martinez got called up by Steve Bug for a release on his DeepHouse imprint, Dessous Recordings, which resulted in “Skywalker EP”, which was a huge success with many DJs around the globe. This opened up a whole new side of Martinez music, more edge and twisted. The more the better! Not long after, Martinez launched his own label, Out of Orbit Recordings. He has released three EPs by himself on Out of Orbit as well as 12inches from friends of his like, Trentemoller (huge success with Beta Boy/orb003), Zvukbroda and Jussi Pekka. Martinez also got two tracks signed to the very well repudiated Get Physical label out of Berlin.

Martinez’s great deck skills and impeccable taste has given him a strong DJ reputation and he’s often seen in the booth in various quality clubs and parties in Denmark and Sweden, where he’s been supporting among others Aqua Bassino. On his 18th birthday, he played at the big closing party for the Stockholm Film Festival alongside hot-shot DJs like Jori Hulkkonen, Elegia and Llorca. He also played at the Roskilde festival in 2002, at Ben Watts Cherry Jam in London, Brama Jazz Cafe in Poland, Otto Zutz and Macarena Club in Barcelona. Swedish and Danish national radio and Radio Nova in Paris have broadcast his journeys on the wheels of steel Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.