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Music

Crate Expectations: Justin Martin

This Dirtybird co-founder shares with us his favorite tracks.

What's the first song you ever loved?
That's a tricky question, because my parents' music has been a big part of my life since before I can even remember. But the first song that popped into my mind is Verdi's "Requiem." My dad used to blast it on Sunday mornings and the whole house would shake.

What are the first two songs you ever mixed together?
If you don't count me scratching my Sesame Street records over the Beasty Boys when I was super young, then it would have to be Ltj Bukem's "Demons Theme" and Aquarius & Tayla's "Bringing Me Down" off of the Logical Progression vinyl compilation on Good Looking Records. The first few attempts were complete train wrecks of course.

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What is your worst guilty pleasure song?
"Pop Goes My Heart" by Pop or "We Like Pizza" by The Pizza Kids.

What song have you had on repeat in the last month?
Fka Twigs' "Water Me." Her music is so cool, I would really love to work with her someday.

Which track of your own do you love the most?
"Sad Piano," for a lot of reasons, not only was it my first release which opened a lot of doors for my career in music, but it is also very sentimental to me because of what was going on in my life when I wrote it. It came from the very, very bottom of my heart.

What track of your own do you hate the most?
There are quite a few that I will never play and almost all were songs that were rushed to meet a deadline. If I feel it could have been better, I'll never play it. I'm kind of a perfectionist.

What track are you most excited to drop in a set?
Right now, I love playing the new single that Eats Everything and I just did on Dirtybird called "Steven Jello." It's vibey.

What's your favourite track that you wish worked in a set?
I wish I could just play all of my old intelligent drum and bass records, but people don't really seem to have the attention span for it these days.

What's the last song you want to hear before the lights go on?
Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher." I just went on tour with the Smalltown DJs, and they would close out each set with that song and there wouldn't be a single person in the room not smiling ear-to-ear and dancing.

What's the last song you want to hear before you die?
"Stairway To Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.