Calibre

Dominick Martin, better known by his stage name Calibre, is a Northern Irish drum and bass music producer and DJ from Belfast. He is highly regarded for his influence on the liquid funk style of drum and bass, which was partially named after his distinct production style. but has also released on labels such as Hospital Records, V Recordings, Creative Source and Soul:R. However, according to Fabio, Everything but the Girl were interested in remixing "Deep Everytime" from his debut album Musique Concrète in 2001, but by then he'd either destroyed or repurposed any recordings related to the song.

In 2019, Martin was awarded Critics Choice in the Drum&BassArena Awards 2019.

Career

Martin was introduced to jungle and drum and bass by his brother in the early 90's. Initially not catching on to it, he started producing drum and bass in 1995 after being inspired by artists such as Goldie and LTJ Bukem. His first single was released in 1998 under the now-defunct Quadraphonic record label,

During this time, he gave a tape demo to LTJ Bukem, who never sought an official release after reaching back out to Martin.

Through Quadraphonic, he came to the attention of drum and bass DJ Fabio, who described all of his productions as "liquid funk" and signed Martin to his record label, Creative Source. Fabio would play dubplates of Martin's works on his BBC Radio 1 show and at Swerve nights at The Velvet Rooms.

The 12" single "Mystic / Feelin" soon released in 2000 on Creative Source, which "helped take sample-based drum & bass into the new millennium with agile two-step rhythms and laidback nostalgia sourced from funk, soul and reggae records," according to Beatport.

His debut album Musique Concrète released in 2001, named after the musique concrète compositions of John Cage, whom he was influenced by while attending the University of Ulster in Belfast. He was also influenced by French house production techniques. Although 21 songs were chosen for the final release of the album, between 200 and 300 songs in total were created by Martin during his time with Creative Source, most of which he claims to not remember making due to his alcoholism. Due to his prolific nature, he was asked to stop sending new tracks during the planning of the Musique Concrète album due to Fabio feeling overwhelmed with his output,

In 2003, Martin would set up his personal label Signature Records after being influenced by Marcus Intalex & ST Files.

In 2004, he released Mr. Majestic, a collaboration with High Contrast. It was made in five hours (along with "The Other Side", featured on the B-side) after a set in Cardiff and has since then become a "cult tune" in drum and bass. In the same year, another anthemic release "Drop It Down" would be released. According to Martin, "this came about because of A-Sides. He was always telling me to work with MC Fats, who's on this track. He sent me a CD of some vocals he'd done from tracks from a couple of years ago that hadn't worked. There was just this one little 'drop it down' line in there that stood out for me. I put it on this track I had, which was made up of me sampling my own playing."

In 2007, he released the first Shelflife compilation, a handpicked collection of some of his unreleased works up to that point (most of which were created earlier in his career), as a way to look at his growth as an artist retrospectively. Songs are usually picked on a gut feeling and more recent Shelflife compilations (as well as other self-released albums in general) feature paintings from Martin as the cover art.

Remixes In 2003, Martin was commissioned by Warner Music Group for a remix of "Put That Woman First" from Jaheim's Still Ghetto album (2002). Despite Jaheim's disapproval of the remix, 1,000 limited-edition white label vinyl records were pressed with permission from Warner due to the underground popularity garnered by the remix. In 2023, the remix was included on a compilation album for purchase on digital storefronts.

In 2019, a remix by Martin was included in an extended play of "Swan Song" by Dua Lipa.

Discography Albums

EPs Year Title Record label Release date 2003 Just Fine Creative Source 2003 2006 Late Night Squeeze Signature Records 24 April 2006 2006 Corner Dance Signature Records May 2006 2006 Deranged Soul:R 23 October 2006 2008 Roundhouse Signature Records 11 September 2008 2008 Don't Mind Signature Records 22 October 2008 2010 Judgement Day Samurai Red Seal 7 June 2010 2011 Hummer Samurai Red Seal 29 August 2011 2012 Renaissance EP Footprints 19 November 2012 2015 Strumpet EP EXIT Records 18 May 2015 2015 Fourfit EP Soul:R 31 July 2015 2015 Dreamz Dub EP C.I.A 18 September 2015 2015 Break That EP The Nothing Special 18 January 2019 2019 Cowper Street EP Signature Records 5 July 2019