Felix Martin is best known as a member of Hot Chip, the English band who have spent much of the last 10 years trying to blend “proper” dance music with various strains of pop, folk and experimental rock music.
This unique chemistry is reflected in Felix’s own productions, mixes and DJ style. Having compiled a sizeable collection of vinyl through many hours of second hand shopping during his teenage years, Felix spent several years running the record shop that was part of the legendary Warp Records label from Sheffield. During this time, his record collection spiralled to dangerously huge proportions, now infused with healthy amounts of classic Chicago & Detroit reissues, electronic rarities and plenty of more or less banging techno and house records.
DJ sets from Felix during these years were pretty wide ranging affairs, but somehow he found the common ground between Motown and acid house 12″s, and having put a lot of time in behind a set of 1210s and a mixer he was in good shape to help assemble Hot Chip’s well regarded entry in the DJ Kicks series. Despite giving up the day job at a record shop, Felix continued to avidly collect both old and new music as Hot Chip travelled the world, and exciting residencies at some nice clubs like We Love…Space in Ibiza followed on from that. After the success of the DJ Kicks release, Felix was central in compiling an Essential Mix for Radio 1 and helped put together the Bugged Out CD for the band in 2008.
Felix Martin DJ Set (Live) September 2011 by felix hot chip
2011 has been a year of very hard work for all the members of Hot Chip, much of it behind the scenes. As well as working on a brand new Hot Chip record (due out in 2012), Felix has produced his own album along with Al Doyle (Hot Chip / LCD Soundsystem), as New Build (www.newbuildband.com). They are due to release their first 12″ in late November on their own label Lanark Recordings, with an album and tour to follow in the first part of 2012.
Other studio work under his own name includes a slow house remix of the 2 Bears hit “Bear Hug” and a old school sounding remix of a track called ‘Tonight” for the Polish band the KDMS, released on 12″ in October on Gomma Records. He has also worked on a remix for long time friend Dominik Eulberg, to be released at the end of 2011.
Felix has also spawned a new pseudonym “Billy Lock” to pursue a long held interest in propulsive, heavy techno sounds by artists such as Mike Dehnert, Regis, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann and Sandwell District. The first release under this name will be a dark dancefloor remix of the track “Living It Out” for close friend and collaborator PLANNINGTOROCK, to be released by DFA in November 2011.
Felix Martin Remixes 2011 by felix hot chip
Alongside these productions, Felix has been working hard on his DJ-ing, collecting a lot of music and playing some very fun gigs in the UK, Europe, Mexico and Russia. He has been inspired by some of the excellent urban music coming out of the UK in the last 12 months, and is enjoying mixing some of these fresh styles with a deep collection of brilliant house, techno and disco tunes from the last thirty years. Felix also brings unique edits of his own material and that of friends and collaborators to the decks along with an open mind and a willingness to mix things up when the time is right.
Top Ten Artists / Producers October 2011
Vakula
Rustie
Blawan
Untold
Willie Burns
Drexciya
Fatima Al Qadiri
PLANNINGTOROCK
Kris Wadsworth
Gescom
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