Marten Hørger - Exclusive Interview for Breakzlinkz

German born producer / dj Marten Hørger takes some time out from his busy schedule to answer some questions for Breakzlinkz. Over the last year Marten Hørger has been publically hailed as the bonified hero of the Stanton Warriors, the Plump DJs and Krafty Kuts, and was slated to be the man to watch by DJ Icey! These praises have been backed up with commissions to provide official remixes for all three superstar acts. And all this while he´s in the studio with Leeroy Thornhill (the Prodigy) to record an Album as SMASH HIFI).

Currently Marten has a release out on Krafty Kuts Label Instant Vibes. Entitled Lets Get F*@ked Up (LGFU) it recently caused a stir and was taken down by Beatport for reasons unkown. The release is now back up on Beatport and you can go see what all the fuss is about via this link.

www.beatport.com/release/l-g-f-u/1149220

Check out the Soundcloud stream below for the full LGFU release

Thank you very much for your time and this interview Marten Hørger.

Always Ross!


For those new to the electronic/breaks music scene tell us a bit about yourself, where you are from, who you are and what you get up to in this electronic music world ?

I grew up in the countryside in south Germany. Close to our rather small village there was (in fact still is) this legendary nightclub called Douala. Being inspired by all the talent rolling through town I started djing in there at the age of 15 (they smuggled me in and I had to leave straight after my gig). Thats where i discovered that i wanted to do this for living. Not long after that I started to make records under various names and people seemed to like them.. so I kept on doing it.


Have you always been into breaks ? Are you influenced by other types of music ?

I've always loved Hip Hop, then the Prodigy came along shortly after that I was really into Drum n Bass. Because of where I live I´ve also been surrounded by a lot of Techno & Electro as well. And then I stumbled across "Breaks" which somehow magically combined the best out of all those things I loved. Awesome! This is still how I define breaks today. Multi Tempo, multi genre, good vibe music. Anything goes.. I love it!


What can we expect to hear at a Marten Hørger gig ? Do you always have a set list or read the crowd as to what tunes to play at the time ?

I´m all about playing for the people. Half the time that I spend in the studio I make tracks and edits for my dj sets to make sure it´s cutting edge and and special. There´s always stuff that you can't hear nowhere else in the world.

You seem to be constantly on tour around the world, what's some of the best places you have visited ?

I loooooove North America, everythings been great over there for me lately. And then there is Eastern Europe. The events over there are wilder than everywhere else in the world. Kazantip for example. There will also always be a big place in my heart for my hometown. I go back there every month. And then there is Australia as well. To be honest there have hardly ever been any places I went that I didn't enjoy.


Do you have any crazy tour stories ?

Just a couple of days ago went to play this crazy illegal rave in New York. When I turned up I found myself in a NYPD roadblock. Guns, bulletproof vests, the whole crew in handcuffs in a police van. For the first time in 5 years the party had been busted. While sneaking away, trying real hard to NOT look like "that german dj" on the poster I bumped into a few people that had not been arrested. They treated me to a great selection of local brooklyn brew. Happy times. I'll be back to play that show later this year. If you´re around the big apple check out Vitamin b. They are real heroes fighting for breaks in New York.


I know you have been of late working on an album with Leeroy Thornhill (formerly of the Prodigy) as SMASH HIFI. Any date set for release yet? What can we expect to hear from this Album ?

We´re still looking into finding the right label to release it. To shorten that time we have a little EP ready to release later this year. I love working with Lee. I feel there´s even less boundaries then in than in my solo music.


Tell us a bit more about the infamous "Stamina Club" and it's off shoot booking and artist management, ”Stamina Agency” ?

Stamina club has been going as a monthly club night at Douala (the club I started out) for 10 years now. And a couple of years later I decided to start Stamina Agency (that I run with my partner Norb) to take care of a bunch of amazing artists that I met along the way.


What artists are you into at the moment ? Any rising stars we should be on the lookout for ?

Apart from the big established heroes like Plump DJ, Krafty, Deekline and Stanton Warriors I really like the things coming from Mafia Kiss at the moment. And then there is so much good stuff from people outside of this scene. Its not called "breaks" but its super innovative and inspiring stuff. Look at Dog Blood or all the Dirty Bird guys. I can only encourage producers to take more inspiration from music outside of "Beatport Breaks".


What's in store for the future of Marten Hørger ? Could we still see you djing when your 50 years old ?

Hmmm… I´m not sure. I'm still young and right now I just love it more than anything else. As long as it stays like that I'll keep on doing it!


Here's Marten Hørger's latest mix, a tasty reminder of what we can expect to hear from a Marten Hørger gig.

Marten Hørger - Beats Volume 1

www.soundcloud.com/marten-horger
www.facebook.com/martenhorger
www.martenhorger.com