Bronx, NY · house · tech-house

The Martinez Brothers

1 festival played →

Bronx-raised house royalty — Ibiza residencies and a groove inherited straight from the Paradise Garage lineage.

Chris and Steve Martinez grew up in the Bronx, where their father gave them an early musical education, putting them in a church band alongside musicians decades older and having them play disco, soul, and salsa. He later bought the brothers their first turntables, pushing them toward dance music as a career rather than a hobby.

Their early break came when DJ Dennis Ferrer heard their sets and began mentoring them, using his contacts to get them booked at notable New York venues and signing them to his label, Objektivity. That relationship pulled them out of the Bronx and into the wider club circuit while they were still young.

As a duo they play long, groove-led sets built on house and tech house, drawing on the soulful, disco-rooted end of New York club tradition as much as on contemporary European club sound.

In 2011 Ferrer invited them to Ibiza for a residency at Ushuaïa, but the arrangement collapsed at the last minute. A friend, the booker Elliot Shaw, secured them a spot at DC10 instead, and they have held residencies there ever since, often playing extended back-to-back sets with other DJs that run well past the usual length.

Mixmag named them DJs of the Year in 2014, calling them the ruling figures of DC10. Around the same period they launched their own label, Cuttin' Headz, for their productions and those of other artists, co-ran the label Tuskegee Records with Seth Troxler, and produced the soundtrack for Givenchy's menswear and womenswear runway shows.

Read more

housetech-house