Bart B More - A Little B More
3D’s Cyclone chats to Dutch producer/DJ Bart B More, recently in Australia plugging onelove’s latest compilation, Sound Machine.
Holland is the world’s power trance epicentre, but Bart B More is waving a flag for Dutch electro house. The DJ, real name Bart van der Meer, has just wrapped up a second Australian tour, even holidaying on the Gold Coast with his girlfriend. He’s plugging a mix-CD for onelove’s 11th compilation package, Sound Machine.
Bart, who lately relocated from Amsterdam to Utrecht some 30 minutes away, discloses the bare minimum of biographical information on his MySpace, but clubbers will recognise his productions, from So It Goes to his remix of Sandy Rivera’s Freak to that Finally ‘versus’ with Oliver Twizt. “When I grew up, my brothers used to listen to house music, so I got influenced by them,” he relates pithily. “When I was 15 or 16, I started to go to house parties. Quite shortly after that, I bought my first turntables and just started mixing. A year later, it felt natural to start producing, because I wanted to play some of my own tracks on the dancefloor.”
In fact, Bart’s contribution to Sound Machine – the 3am disc – encompasses many of his productions. “I think I have a bit of my own sound, and I really wanted the CD to have that sound but, of course, I also play a lot of tracks from other producers. So it’s a mixture of my own stuff, tracks that I really like to play out recently, and some tracks from talented guys who are on my label [Secure Recordings].”
Bart has assembled a compilation before, but it was only issued in the Netherlands. He is yet to listen to the Sound Machine CDs from the Australian contingent of Ajax and Adelaide’s Minx, but did enjoy the former’s set at Tank.
Bart continues to crank out remixes, turning his hand to Wiley’s Daft Punk-sampling Summertime. “Most people know me from my remixes, so last year I did a lot of remixes, [but] I really feel the need to show people I can do original tracks as well. I did a couple, but right now is the time to focus on my own stuff again. I’ve taken a break from remixing and I’m going back into the studio to do a lot of my own tracks.”
Meanwhile, Bart is fostering Dutch house by way of his Secure label. Indeed, the DJ, possibly the new Fedde le Grand, disputes the Netherlands’ status as Trance Central. “Trance isn’t huge in Holland – it’s all the big trance DJs are from Holland. But you don’t get a lot of trance parties in Holland. It’s only house music, actually. I think there’s a Dutch [house] sound because, when I’m here [in Australia], people seem to talk about Dutch producers a lot. There’s a buzz growing around the whole Dutch sound, which is really nice for us.” Bart himself is hard-pressed to define that sound. “I think the Dutch sound is more based around drum rhythms,” he proffers.
Ironically, the Netherlands was one of the first places aside from the UK to embrace Detroit techno in the late ’80s. And techno has crept into Dutch house. “That’s the sound I was playing when I first started DJing, so it really influenced my sound,” Bart affirms. “It’s a mixture between melodic, emotional kinda stuff and just loop-driven techno grooves. That’s what I like, basically.”
WHO: Bart B More
WHAT: Sound Machine through onelove / Sony
WHEN: Out now
MORE: onelove.com.au