Azzido Da Bass (born Ingo Martens, 29 August 1971) is a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
DJ and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
based in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, Germany.
Early life
Over the years, Martens was influenced by a wide range of music genres: as a youth, he first became interested in
hip hop and
break dance
Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...
; by the mid-1980s, he began collecting
electronic
Electronic may refer to:
*Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor
* ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal
*Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device
*Electronic co ...
and
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
albums from groups such as
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).
Depech ...
,
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize t ...
and
Nitzer Ebb
Nitzer Ebb () are a British EBM group formed in 1982 by Essex school friends Vaughan "Bon" Harris (programming, synthesizers, drums, vocals), Douglas McCarthy (vocals), and David Gooday (drums).
History
Initial releases (1983–1987)
The ...
; a few years later, it was
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...
and
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
groups. In the early 1990s,
Carl Cox
Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England.
Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and ...
gave Martens a cassette tape of various
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
es, which had a substantial impact of Martens' view on music, paving the way for his future career.
Career history
DJ performances
Further inspired by the performances of local and international DJs on tour, Martens began his own DJ career in 1996 under the name Azzido Da Bass. One year later, he would secure his first professional job in Hamburg, Germany. The performance was a success, opening the door to additional jobs in northern Germany performing in clubs, competitive events and private parties, and within four years, Da Bass was a significant player within the German techno music scene, with tours both domestically and internationally.
Record producer
Da Bass aspired to create his own original music after several years as a DJ. After meeting producer/songwriter Stevo Wilcken in 1998, Da Bass made the transition to record producer. The duo co-wrote their first original song "
Dooms Night", which was released in 1999 at the
Love Parade
The Love Parade (german: Loveparade) was a popular electronic dance music festival and technoparade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held annually in Berlin from 1989 to 2003 and in 2006, then from 2007 to 2010 in the Ruh ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. Although the song did well in Germany, it languished outside the top 40 of the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
until a remix of the song was released by
Timo Maas
Timo Maas (born July 27, 1969, Bückeburg, West Germany) is a German DJ/ producer and remixer whose career in electronic music spans well over 30 years. His remix of Azzido Da Bass's single " Dooms Night" helped launch his career in 2000.
In ...
in 2000. The remix's popularity sent the track to No. 8 in the UK charts.
Soon after, the song made major appearances around the world, including at the
MTV Music Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
in 2000, several American and European commercials, and in the movie soundtrack to
Angeled'.
Da Bass and Wilcken continued to produce a mixture of original songs and remixes thereafter, including a remix of the song "House of God" by Dimensional Holofonic Sound and their next hit "Speed (Can You Feel It?)" in 2002. The track peaked at No. 68 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
In 2005, Da Bass founded the
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
Luscious Sound. His goal was to allow music artists to create their material with a minimal amount of interference from above.
Discography
Singles
*1999/2000: "
Dooms Night" - UK #8, IRE #37, SWI #25, AUT #42, GER #43
*2002: "Speed (Can You Feel It?)" - UK #68
*2005: "Knightz of the Living Bassheadz"
*2005: "Strobelightz"
*2006: "Lonely by Your Side"
*2007: "So Wrong"
*2009: "I Want U"
*2010: "Music for Bagpipes"
*2010: "They're Killin It" (Malente vs Azzido Da Bass)
*2011: "Dooms Day"
*2011: "We Love Hamburg"
*2011: "Hunting" (Malente vs Azzido Da Bass)
References
External links
Official websiteLuscious Sounds Recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Da Bass, Azzido
1971 births
Living people
German techno musicians
German DJs
German record producers
Electronic dance music DJs