Josh Martinez - Vocals
Production - Maker, Moves, Samix, Draftdodgers, Sichuan, Gordski etc.
Influences
Diamond D
Black Keys
Bruce Springsteen
Colleen
The Clipse
Lenny Bruce
Beck
Ghostface
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
Jackie Wilson
The Juggaknots
Kings of Leon
Oasis
Latryx
Awolrus
all of Halifax, NS
Portishead
Cream
JJ Cale
The Meters
Gypsy Kings
Maestro Fresh Wes
Patton Oswalt
Mitch Hedberg
Sounds Like
like butter on popcorn, like booze in the gullet, like the first kiss with a new girl, like staying inside eating chips and watching movies...like rap mixed with everything else ever made and still sounding new? maybe. but that's probably just conceit.
Josh Martinez is a machine. A well-oiled, straight-talking, globetrotting sex-machine, who’s traveled the world more than the avian flu, Martinez has built himself a devout following, addicted to his hopeful perspective, joie-de-vive and a live show that brings the heat like a Catholic school girl in a confession booth.
Martinez has never been easy to categorize. The People’s Champ is one of the most diverse artists in the music game, surpassing the limitations of indie hip hop by pursuing an “innovative and entirely unique hybrid of clever pop melodies and intelligent, layered songwriting that borrows from everywhere and sounds like nothing else.” (Spin)
As an entertainer, Martinez is in the upper echelons of the business, bringing a confidence, urgency and a comedic touch that has converted disbelievers and brought houses down, rocked to their very foundation. Having sold 100,000 copies of his body of work, Martinez has been at it since you were just a pup, a dirty glimmer in the mailman’s eye. Award-winning, quoted in college seminars, and creeping up from the underground like rats in the sewers, “Martinez brand of music is instantly identifiable and entirely unique.” – (Exclaim)
As an artist, Martinez has a rap sheet longer than repeat offenders, but as a businessman, he has only begun to polish his loafers. In the past ten years Josh Martinez has managed to tour 200+ dates per year all over the world, start his own label, Camobear Records, ink deals with European labels Bella Union (UK) and V2 (Europe), license records to distributors in Japan, Europe and North America and headline festivals and showcases worldwide. He recently started a publishing company, Camobear Publishing, which has helped license hundreds of songs to action sports videos throughout North America, Europe and Japan. Recently, the Chicharones: “Guys Like Me,” was featured in Interview, a 2007 Steve Bushemi/Sienna Miller film, which was arty. Sienna was hot.
And the press love him. Jaded Critics found themselves shaving their mustaches and abandoning irony to lavish his praises. Featured in Urb Magazine’s Next 100, profiles in Rockpile, Pitchfork, Magnet, Spin, CMJ, Exclaim, Incorucktible, countless weeklies and college papers, and reviews from all over, have only served to build the buzz to tinnitus levels. Now with Spectre Publicity onboard for North American college radio, and Score Press to handle viral and physical press, its clearly go time in the Martinez camp.
His brand new record, ‘The World Famous Sex Buffet’ (Sept 2008), is produced by Juno Award winner Roger Swan, and will feature A-list artists like: Devin the Dude, Pigeon John, Cadence Weapon, Moka Only, Mother Mother, Classified, Awol One, Sleep and Skratch Bastid. It is the best Martinez record by far, with a grown up sound that mixes solid production with the whimsy and sexy good times the big boys are known for. This record could share a room with Gnarls Buckley, Lily Allen, Black Keys and Beck and still get laid.
Josh has managed to find time amid all the deal cutting to develop not just his solo career, but that of two groups as well. Josh is a founding member of both The Chicharones and Pissed Off Wild. The Chicharones is Josh’s ‘Underground Pop’ project with rapper Sleep of Oldominion. Together they have released two full length albums since a chance meeting in 2001 between the two at SXSW led to the formation of the group. The Pissed Off Wild, (or the P.O.W.), is a live rock band which Martinez fronts. Musically the band draws more from artists like the Black Keys and Beck, than the hip-hop sounds that Martinez would generally be known for and should be ready for release in Winter of 2009.
With 2009 upon us, Martinez is ready to blow. With a finished opus in the bank, the time has never been nigher. Before hipsters invented sarcasm, before coke rap and hip house, the Martinez lifestyle was there, giving the kids hope for the future, the feeling that all was not lost, that there could be intelligent relevant music that made you move in all the right ways. Its sex o’clock and the buffet’s calling. Get ready for the mustache ride of your life.
Highlights
‘The Sex Buffet’, Josh Martinez’ sixth solo album, will be available worldwide in September 2008
‘The Sex Buffet’ was produced by Juno Award Winner Roger Swan (K-os, Swollen Members, Busta Rhymes) and will feature Devin the Dude, Pigeon John, Mother Mother, Moka Only, Classified, Awol One, Sleep and Skratch Bastid.
Josh Martinez’ most recent solo album, Midriff Music, won “Best Rap Recording” at the 2005 Western Canadian Music Awards.
‘Skulldruggery’ EP is available online & on limited run vinyl and will include four tracks featuring Pigeon John, Sleep, Mother Mother & Skratch Bastid
Josh Martinez has played every major and most minor North American markets, playing over 1200 shows in the last 5 years with special focus on college markets
The Chicharones “Guys Like Me” was featured in the Steve Bushemi movie, “Interview”
Martinez songs have been on every kind of ski, skateboard and snowboarding videos, the featured music from riders from all over the action sports spectrum.
Headlined Southwest by Southwest (2001-2008), North by Northwest, CMJ, Nemo, Florida Music Week, Winter Music Conference
Performed on the 2003-2005 edition of the Vans Warped Tour and the 2004 US DMC finals at Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles
Quote Sheet
“Martinez litters his tracks with more melodies per square inch than any rapper on the planet. Once he gets his hooks in you, he’ll never let go.” - URB Magazine
“Magnetising audiences with his ridiculous stage presence and inimitable joie de vivre, Josh Martinez’s is a legitimate underground success.” – NOW Toronto
“His latest album, Midriff Music, is an opus of anthemic rap music, bullying topics all over the schoolyard, pushing the envelope of acceptable hiphop behavior and making one of the best rap albums at the same time.” – Ion Magazine
“Midriff Music is a must-have. Going from banger to anthem to summer jam and back again, this album showcases a colossal display of songwriting prowess, with Martinez guiding the feel and flow with effortless ease.” – DJ Magazine
“The best rhyme writer in the city, Buck Up Princess is Josh Martinez’s crowning achievement, a sprawling epic that finds him indulging in the many sides of his personality: the road weary battler, the tipsy raconteur, the passionate social critic and the lovelorn romantic.” – Georgia Straight
“Though comparisons can be made, both lyrically and conceptually, Martinez proves himself to one of hiphop’s best.” – Jockey Slut
“Youth may indeed be wasted on the young, but according to Josh Martinez, retirement is wasted on the elderly. The Halifax native is one of the best hip-hop artists in Canada, an articulate entertainer whose career has been driven by a single motivating theme: the unabashed pursuit of happiness.” – CBC Radio 3
“This is sureshot Summertime Rap for listeners looking to soften up the playlist for the BBQ or stoop even beyond the old-school classics - allhiphop.com
Hey thanks alot for the add! We can tell you like good music so please check us out! We recently won the Vancouver Fox Seeds competition (the same competition that launched Nickelback) and our singles "Summertime No Show" and "Rehab" are getting good radio play! Leave a comment and let us know what you think. Thanks Alot!
What's up "Josh"! Long time no talk. When are you coming down to Southern Oregon? I would love to see a great show sometime soon. You are an inspiration...
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MESTIZO,DIRTY DIGITAL,ROBUST SHOW CANCELED
OCT.30th @ the BLACK LODGE.
JUST GOT WORD THAT THE G4 CREW CANT MAKE IT
(THERE CANCELING THE TOUR)PERSONAL/MONEY STUFF.
THINGS HAPPEN:.
OWELL.
ILL KEEP YOU CATS UP TO DATE ABOUT NEXT SHOW:.
HAVE A SAFE SAMHAIN:. PEACE~IS.RA.EL.
