Martin Eyerer – Struktur LP

Struktur is the third artist album by Martin Eyerer and his most important so far.

It marks a new milestone in his life and is closely connected with the opening of the RIVERSIDE Studios that he established in Berlin along with his friends Tassilo Ippenberger of Pan-Pot and Jade Souaid from Beirut after several years of hard work. This is a remarkable studio complex right next to the river Spree where first-rate DJs, musicians and producers work on projects – for others, for themselves and often in collaboration with one another. When Martin is not spinning his latest music at one of the top clubs or festivals around the world, he is working every day in his spanking new Berlin studio with a killer view of the river side.

The tracks resulting from his hard and passionate work have been released on respected labels like Get Physical, Saved, Watergate, Leena and his own imprint Kling Klong. It has been five long years for fans waiting for the next solo album since Word Of Mouth (2008) and Tiny Little Widgets (2010). For three years Martin Eyerer has created the perfect working structure for his third album and probably it’s no coincidence that it is called Struktur and will be released in June 2015, of course on his very own imprint Kling Klong. It was important for Martin to sound organic and original: “I have worked with analogue devices extensively and utilized the diverse new possibilities of the studio. I took great care to balance the album between home listening and the style of club music that I represent as a DJ. I don’t like DJ albums with down-tempo tracks, since I also do not demand techno tracks from bands like AC/DC.” A great example for this approach is the track “Shadows”. The basic idea was provided by his African kalimba that Martin always wanted to use in a track.

Next door at RIVERSIDE, a track was being produced for Graham Candy (Alle Farben), so Martin asked him spontaneously for a collaboration. “I only used the adlibs from this recording session, but those were spot on and exactly what I was after.” It goes without saying that the creative potential of the RIVERSIDE Studios is a huge influence on Struktur: collaborations with Ruede Hagelstein, Princess Superstar, Boot Slap, the band ABBY and other great songwriters and instrumentalists from the RIVERSIDE Studios stable make Martin’s third album his true masterpiece. “I just had to produce something with ABBY. They also work at the RIVERSIDE and I’m a huge fan of the band. I wanted to do a song with an eighties feel, including an organic bassline.”

In this way every song on Struktur has its own story to tell and is inseparably connected with the RIVERSIDE studios. Take “Departed” for example: “This was destined to be the title track, because I wanted to call my whole album that. The starting point were those Radiohead-inspired recordings played by Oliver Laib on my Rhodes electrical piano that I had just received back from service. I worked a bit on the beats and forgot about the session for three months or so. Then, during a song-writing session with Kasmir from Helsinki, I asked him just 10 minutes before he had to leave for the airport if he had an idea for ‘Departed’. Oliver suggested that Kasmir should try something in Finnish and that was it. Kasmir sang perfectly on the first take and we were all stunned. Later I recorded the drum takes with Henne Müller from ABBY, because I wanted that track to sound very organic. The result is overwhelming for me and demonstrates how fantastic it can be to work with great musicians.” Other collaborations were planned and needed some time to develop such as “Intimacy” with Princess Superstar or “No Way Out” with Boot Slap, also good friends and tenants of the RIVERSIDE studios.

“Hey Hey” is based on the song “Hey Little Girl” by 80s pop band Icehouse and was not only sung, but also co-produced by Ruede Hagelstein. Martin decided to develop the song further by stripping it back: “It can be tricky to do a cover version and not make it absolutely cheesy. That’s why we wrote ‘Hey Hey’ without the chorus and many listeners did not even notice that it’s actually a cover version of an 80s hit.” As always Martin was not looking for perfection in the first place, but for that perfect moment: “My 120-year-old upright piano adds to the perfect imperfection of the track and sounds simply brilliant here.”

Other tracks were created very spontaneously; “Levels” was composed by Martin in one day and the new single “What We Fear” came about late one night. He was still working on the beats for this, when he heard a singer from New York doing a vocal recording session next door. Lyrics inspired by Muhammed Ali’s famous “Ima Show You How Great I Am” speech developed quickly, driven by a very strong arrangement. Just like “Navigate”, another single release. In Martin’s words: “What We Fear” embodies perfectly my style as a DJ – a bit melodic and powerful!”

Struktur is a successful mix of home listening and DJ sets that Martin plays all around the world. And the first single releases have already received great feedback from fellow DJs including Laurent Garnier, Anja Schneider, Joris Voorn, Thomas Schumacher and Pan-Pot. Add Martin’s immense experience gathered through countless DJ gigs and productions, coupled with the peace of mind that comes from working in the perfect setting – his self-created surroundings, his ‘Struktur’ – and there’s no question that he’s now better than ever before.

Martin will present Struktur on a global club tour in Asia, the Americas and Europe. His world tour is scheduled from April until August and will be featured in print and digital media.

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more info:

Martin Eyerer // Kling Klong