Pete Oak & Notize “Merula” (Martin Roth Radio Edit)

At the hands of Pete Oak and Notize, Amsterdam-based Subjekt Recordings is set to serve up a delectably deep single at the end of the month. A royally clean cut, “Merula” takes you by the hips and lulls you into a dreamy dancefloor stupor. I personally blame the airy, inebriating melody lines for this, but it’s not like I’m complaining.

Coming off the wildly successful Anjunadeep tour, Martin Roth arrives with his first-rate take. Raising the bar ever so gently on the flip, the underground maestro ramps things up with an analog-fueled remix that’ll fit firmly in the club or an open-air affair. Roth rubs the tune in all the right places, pulling off enthralling rhythmic movements that play nice with pristine chord progressions and veering sub bass. It’s the type of sweet deepness that nests itself inside your head like a groove-excreting parasite.

Available February 22 via Subjekt Recordings.

Were you impulsive on this track or did you have a sketch in mind before you started?
The process of remixing is very similar most of the time. I heard the original version and liked many parts of it. I tried to discover if I was able to play with them and transform them into my idea of a working tune, and then agreed to do the remix. Then it’s mainly a thing that depends on the specific mood I’m in on the very first day I start the remix. Maybe it was already evening or dark outside, and I had been on this more melancholic, deeper and darker trip. I added and removed elements from the original, but also brought my idea and mood across. So the sketch was a weirder drum-programming groove with a few edgier synth lines added to it. In the end, everything came together quite nicely.

Describe the best setting/activity to hear this track.
I think it is something less to hear, and more to dance to… I hope.

Do you think advances in computer technology and gear have affected your creativity? How so?
Yes, but in a negative way, to be honest. After a while, I noticed that staring at a computer screens puts the focus way too much on the eyes and less on the ears—so you are not really listening anymore. It is more static, more repetitive, and less intuitive. You are doing things that you are used to do and the surprising, random human feeling spots disappear. That’s why I put the computer (mainly the computer screen) out of the focus, and I try to put use controllers or even analog gear more. I’m turning way more knobs again, closing my eyes or looking out of the window or a dark wall. Creativity is coming back to me. Also, I have started to limit myself again to fewer tools but with more quality. Less is more…this sentence still comes up every time.

How do you measure the success of a track?
Whether or not I am getting the feedback I expect when I am playing it out. There are many other ways to measure its success like charts, playlists, radio plays, sales, etc. But the most important measurement is how well it goes in other people’s sets, and how it works and sounds on the dancefloor.

What’s your favorite sound/synth/effect/etc. used here? And why?
The new Moog Sub 37. It’s just a warm, perfect, filtering synth—love it.