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Marty Madsen DJ / Producer, Biography / Bio, Fall 2011 – IHM Music, IHM Canada
September 27

Marty Madsen Biography

As 2012 approaches, Marty Madsen looks set to step onto the international stage. Already a leading light on Western Canada’s dance scene, his recent collaboration with Mr Moreira, both in the studio and behind the decks, has been receiving the kind of attention that will propel the duo into the limelight.

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Marty has been a vital part of the city’s dance fraternity for over a decade. He cut his teeth on the city’s exploding rave scene in the late ‘90s. Spurred on by a fellow motocross enthusiast who was also a well-established local DJ and stuck at home through injury, Marty began practising on the decks, spinning hard dance at first before graduating to acid techno. Support sets for visiting DJs like Chris Liberator, Rowland The Bastard and Mark EG soon followed at after hours clubs and warehouse parties around town.

Marty also threw his own events, including a couple of large-scale raves, but by the start of the next decade he was looking for a fresh challenge. As house and electro took over from rave in Calgary, so Marty’s style developed. He grew up listening to everything from rock to hip hop and early house, and that wealth of musical knowledge has carried through into his current work.

Marty’s break into the club scene came with a monthly residency at Calgary’s legendary Habitat Living Sound where he played alongside major names like Sébastien Léger, Chris Lake and Z-Trip. At Habitat he could really flex his musical muscles playing from house and electro to progressive and techno. Word spread and before long Marty was playing at clubs and festivals across Canada as well as trips to Portland in Oregon to play alongside Wolfgang Gartner and Miles Dyson, the Winter Music Conference (WMC) in Miami and a recent seven-hour beach set in the Dominican Republic.

The natural next step for Marty was to head into the studio and it was a visit to the World Electronic Music Festival in Toronto in 2008 that kick-started things. He stayed on for a couple of weeks working with Wesley Gauthier in the studio before the duo headed back to Calgary to continue collaborating for another month. These tracks with Wesley became Marty’s first releases in 2008 and 2009, including ‘Nature of Forces’ and ‘I Don’t Think So’ on Play Digital, and ‘Bad Directions’ on Don’t Look Productions, several of which graced the Beatport charts.

All of which leads up to September 2010 when Marty met up with Chris Moreira otherwise known as Mr Moreira. Chris was another of Calgary’s most popular DJs and it was a logical progression for the two of them to collaborate. It was a case of opposites attract as they had such different styles, and the cause of much comment on the Calgary scene, but somehow it clicked and has flourished from there. Marty Madsen & Mr Moreira now produce and play together as one entity, and it’s been the ideal fit for both of them.

The guys have developed their own unique sound which is always growing and blends together several styles. “Chris comes from an electro angle,” explains Marty, “and my sound is more progressive and techno, so we bring it all together. I look for music that’s unique and for movement within a track. It has to have energy too. I’ve loved music since I was eight years old when I was the one in the corner with the record player and that’s never going to change.”

Behind the decks, it’s far more than playing back-to-back with Marty and Chris constantly working together in the mix. An ideal set-up would be to play off four decks and two mixers.

Since early 2011 the guys have also been locked away in the studio and have a bunch of new tracks ready to drop. ‘I Am Jack’ on Don’t Look Productions and several remixes including Jan Waterman’s ‘The Right Track’ on Big Fish Recordings have already been released as Marty Madsen & Mr Moreira, but the best is to come as they prepare to unleash a new alias.

Calgary remains a strong base for the duo with a weekly residency at Sal’s on 17th. The venue is currently being refurbished into a dedicated dance venue with Marty and Chris at the helm, while there’s also a monthly residency at the Whiskey Ultra Lounge in Fort McMurray. Another important part of the equation is their relationship with leading promoters IHM Music, and the guys will be play at IHM events across Canada and the international club circuit.

The collaboration between Marty and Chris has become the perfect meeting of musical minds, and interest is already building for them to play in Europe and beyond. Their DJ sets combine technical prowess with energy and stage presence, while they have a killer set of productions ready to drop. 2012 looks destined to be their year.

www.facebook.com/MartyMadsenDJ
www.martymadsen.com
www.soundcloud.com/marty-madsen


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