Born and raised in the Bronx, NY, The Martinez Brothers are two of the most consistent and recognizable names in the world of house.  Stevie and Chris continue to push themselves creatively in the studio collaborating with global and Latinx artists such as Rauw Alejandro, Fuego, Rema and Tokischa. 

In 2023, we find The Martinez Brothers in a moment of creative renewal, kicking off an exciting new chapter in their illustrious career. They continue to cast a wide net with their collaborations, stepping into the studio with a new generation of artists like Eliza Rose, Tommy Genesis and Mochakk.  

The brothers are furthering their love affair with Ibiza in their second year residency at Hï Ibiza voted #1 Club in the World, after 10 years as residents at Circoloco, Ibiza. Paying homage to the isle that catapulted them to stardom, it was in Ibiza that they met Riccardo Tisci who brought them in to do the music design for his iconic years at Givenchy (2014-2015). 

Last year, the brothers headlined London’s hottest show of the year at Beams warehouse alongside Skepta, who debuted his first house music DJ set in his hometown.  Alongside this, they played the Met Gala afterparty hosted by Dua Lipa and at LOEWE’s Paula’s Ibiza pop up at the Sheats-Goldstein home in LA. 

In 2023 stage hosts include Kappa Futur Festival in Turin, Italy, Panorama Festival in Southern Italy, Eastern Electrics, London, Fabrik, Madrid, Audio Obscura at Amsterdam Dance Event and III Points Festival, Miami. 

The duo are avid sneaker collectors and vinyl record collectors, from all eras of Latin salsa, disco, funk, soul, jazz house and techno.

A page dedicated to regular b2b house mixes

A globally respected and highly accomplished artist, label boss at the seminal Hot Creations, founder and curator of the worldwide Paradise event series and member of cross-genre band Hot Natured, Jamie Jones has achieved iconic status in the electronic music world. A trendsetter and seasoned tastemaker, the Welsh dance music superstar pioneered his own distinct sound, drawing on his deep knowledge and experience to cultivate DJ sets that weave through a range of diverse, complementary styles selected to energise and enchant the dance floor.

Discovering the best new music, curated by Annie Mac

Management: Humza@chxf.co  
Bookings: nick@meanwhile.nl
Music: promos@rossidj.com

For Rune Reilly Kölsch, Kompakt has become a great label to call home. In 2013 the German imprint celebrated 20 years of record releases at the cutting edge of electronic music, championed in June by one of the most genre re-defining albums and personal music projects for an era: Kölsch’s landmark long player, ‘1977’.

A melodic autobiography on black wax, the Kölsch project has seen 36/37-year-old Rune take stock of a diverse and successful production career and draw upon his own personal beginnings: a nostalgia for childhood, family, friends and the confusion of applying his split-cultural heritage to what it means to think of ‘home’. As Rune freely admits, “being half Irish, half German and living in Denmark – it was all one big messy period of my life.” 

Born to hippie parents in the freetown of Christiania (a commune-like autonomous borough of the Danish capital Copenhagen) his childhood was spent surrounded by creativity. His mother was an artist whose family had roots in German politics and his father a singer songwriter who travelled through Asia playing music in the early 70's. Kölsch, however, did miss out on building friendships and found solace in making up “this imaginary world that I would spend days in,” before the family moved to Germany – a period of memories, relations and characters from which ‘1977’ derives its titles.

For Rune, the tracks he began building from 2010 took in this personal reflection, his being “completely locked in to reminiscing about what shaped me as a kid and into the individual that I am now” – contemplating his unique past to form the brickwork of ‘1977’, one of the most future-facing techno albums of recent years.

Influenced by hip hop, pop and the incredible legacy of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, Rune started producing in 1995, embarking on a string of success stories. In 2003 he released the multi-million selling, saxophone-infused ‘Calabria’, that saw collaboration requests pouring in from artists as diverse as Nicki Minaj, Shakira and Flo Rida. He then set up Tattoorecs – releasing pioneering underground tracks with no titles, just tattoos for artwork, that garnered critical acclaim and support from minimal and techno trailblazers such as Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Tiefschwarz and Ricardo Villalobos.

This appreciation of the complete musical spectrum has gifted Rune with a devotion to groove and melodics and with it the dexterity to input real creative change to the genres he reveres, not least his beloved techno. “2010 was the year of the ketamine house wave, where the music was 118 bpm and everything was extremely boring”, reflects Rune. “I wanted some melodic techno, some energy back in this scene. People needed the energy to express themselves and go crazy for a bit.”

This notion faced opposition, even from within Rune’s close circles. But it was Kompakt founder Michael Mayer who had the insight to see what Kölsch was trying to achieve. Rune’s conviction that vibrations and melodics are the key to human response had tipped the balance, underlined by his experience as a hip hop DJ where he “needed something to catch me and drag me in. And that’s what techno should do!” Here too he drew on his love of Jeff Mills and Derrick May, recalling how “they used to make mistakes all the time. It would be a big mash of all kinds of stuff, but at least something was happening. That’s what I was missing and that’s what I’m trying to change with the Kölsch project.”

The result is ‘1977’, a personal collection of dancefloor destroyers that are continuing to send clubs and festivals across the globe into melodic supernova. Take this video of Kölsch’s set at Belgium’s I Love Techno festival, one of Rune’s 2013 highlights, where “people were doing sit downs, singing along to all the tracks”. Watch it. It puts the hairs up on the back of your neck. “The response was overwhelming,” said Rune in a recent interview with Mixmag (who named Kölsch as one of their ‘Stars Of 2013’), as “when you think about it, it was just a bunch of childhood memories with a kickdrum underneath.” 

Elsewhere he’s ripped up the airways with an acclaimed Essential Mix for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, delivered his incendiary soundscape to Singapore’s world-renowned ZoukOut Festival, boomed his live show through the heaving basement of London’s XOYO and played the hallowed Space Terrace – in his words “a boyhood dream since I started going to Ibiza in 1999. That was what I wanted from life!” So opening Amnesia in 2014 with Joris Voorn will be a bonus then...

While these are reasons enough to keep the beaming smile beneath Kölsch’s trademark black fedora, his humility remains just as striking. While tracks like ‘Goldfisch’ have taken pivotal positions in the set lists of world class DJs from across the dance music spectrum – traversing the underground with Seth Troxler, while simultaneously providing credible new euphoric highs for the likes of Axwell – Rune remains joyously down to earth. All despite producing, with ‘1977’, an album that has crossed as many cultural and musical boundaries as his own childhood past.

From the face-twisting melodic drive of ‘Opa’ and ‘Bappedekkel’, to the chord-surfing piano groove of ‘Der Alte’ and the euphoric crescendos of ‘Lorely’, ‘Oma’ and ‘All That Matters’ (all hits in different countries), the fact remains that whether in your living room, on the dancefloors of the world’s greatest parties, or simply in your headphones on your way home, Kölsch’s ‘1977’ has re-defined techno and become an achievement that speaks for itself. 

Words: Phil Dudman – Clubs & Live Music Editor, Mixmag


DJ, producer and label head.
@musiconofficial 

Marco Carola is a global ambassador of techno. From Napoli in the south of Italy, Marco was instrumental in the development of the electronic scene in the early 90s, he took the flourishing techno Napolitano scene to the rest of the world. Over twenty years later and Marco is still one of the most respected artists amongst the techno scene, widely regarded as one of the key factors in driving the genre towards worldwide recognition within electronic music.
 
As a revered producer and successful label head, Marco has spearheaded imprints such as Design Music, Zenit, Question, One Thousands and Do.Mi.No whilst releasing music on a selection of the words finest labels such as Minus, Plus 8 2M and Primate Recordings. In addition to five critically acclaimed albums, including his most recent Play It Loud, Marco has also been responsible for a clutch of seminal mix compilations. In 2006, his mix for legendary London club Fabric’s series was a lesson in sleek, future-facing minimalism. That was followed up by well received compilations for Time Warp in 2009. In 2010 Cocoon label boss Sven Väth asked him to mix the Frankfurt based label’s Party Animals CD alongside Nick Curly, which took Carola's dj taste and skills to new heights.
 
Famed for his energetic and impressive three-deck style of mixing and long journey set, Marco has remained one of the most in demand DJs on the planet throughout the last two decades. Favoring mammoth eight hour plus sets, Marco is predisposed to a subtle working of the crowd that has made him a favorite among fans from Ibiza to New York, South America and beyond.

Everything you're looking for: ffm.bio/cloonee

Label: @hellbentrecords

user555548873 is following