A spearhead of the ‚Neo Progressive’ movement – that’s Martin Bley alias MATCHY , a leading synonym for modern deep and melodramatic techno and house. As the producing part of Matchy & Bott, Martin placed an incomparable stamp on the famous Katermukke imprint. Alongside more than 10 contributions on this label and establishing a firm spot in the Kater family, coups with a vigorous effect followed up on Coyu’s Suara Music or Oliver Koletzki’s Stil vor Talent. Moreover, imposing appearances were planted on top-class labels like Moonbootique, Hive Audio, Heinz Music, Bar 25, My Favourite Freaks, 3000 Grad Rec. or Lauter Unfug, just to name a few. Now he is back with a new stunning release on BeatFreak Recordings.

Hi, great to speak with you Matchy, how are you doing today?
Fine thanks, hope you too. Had a productive week and finally finished three Tracks for an important Demo I’d like to send out soon and which I have been working on for quite a while.

What artists were you listening to when you were first introduced to electronic music and are there any that you tend to include in your sets?
Back then Deep House used to be “the thing”, listened to a lot of Cadenza stuff or Traum Schallplatten like Dominik Eulberg for example. Deep House is not quite my style anymore, I have to admit but coming back to your question, I definitely like playing a little classic here and there like Oxia or Extrawelt e.g., especially then I play Sets of 4h or longer.

You just got back from your first Colombia tour. What special memories did you bring back?
It’s been amazing! Definitely won’t forget the night I played at BAUM in Bogota. As I had 1,5 hours playtime I played a whole set only with my own Tracks, including a lot of unreleased or even unplayed stuff. Actually trying this the first time, it was kind of an experiment but turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Thanks again everyone who was there… I could literally feel the power from the dancefloor and this night gave me great inspiration for recent productions. From the overwhelming feedback, I’d say this was probably one of my best Sets so far.. If you want, give it a listen on my Soundcloud

And what’s been some of your most memorable performances at all to date?
I’d never say this or that event has been the most memorable. I simply enjoy playing… wheather it’s a huge festival or a small event in an Off Location. As much as I enjoy huge Festivals and playing my music for thousands… You know sometimes the smallest parties are apparently the ones that are most memorable because those few being there solely came for the music. And there will always be a handfull of people going completley nuts, effecting the rest of the crowd.

Where do you look for inspiration before you get in the studio?
I believe I get my inspiration mostly from the people that come to my gigs. In my opinion electronic music is meant for the Club and only a club will teach you, what people actually enjoy. When you get these hands up moments and people

What are your essential pieces of studio gear currently?
Although I’m “only” 30 years old, I’ve been making music for around 15 years now and I’m really thankful for the technical development when it comes to studio gear. You know, there are so many powerful vst and tools out there today and I quite enjoy the freedom and mobility.
Just to give you a slight impression: for leads and pads I basically use Diva and synthmaster, sometimes Massive too. For powerful basslines Ultra analog and Tal are hard to beat, I’d say.

What does the future hold for you?
I’ll get a map, pinning every country I played in until I got them all haha let’s hope for the best!

What can we expect from Matchy in 2019?
My Cosmogony EP on Beatfreak is out now, including three strong dancefloor tracks. Also included them in my BAUM set and played them at my recent gigs as well, always being one of the highlights for me, when it comes to moving the crowd. The Tracks got great support from Artists such as Mark Knight, Paco Osuna, Stas Drive, Wally Lopez, Betoko and many more. Besides there will be a couple more EPs, I don’t want to talk about to much at this point in time and some lovely festival gigs. I believe this will be a great, maybe even the best year so far for Matchy.

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