Joining us in the Lee Jeans pop-up studio at the Nexus Lounge, Amsterdam edition, we spoke with Tungevaag, learning all about his latest projects and getting to know him a little better through our weird and wonderful Take5 series.
Known for iconic tracks like “Wicked Wonderland” and “Samsara 2015”, Norwegian DJ Martin Tungevaag has built a substantial international fanbase for almost a decade. Ranking at #81 on DJ Mag’s top 100 list, Tungevaag’s sound isn’t always easy to pin down within the EDM genre, as he alludes to.
“In electronic music, you have so many different [subgenres]. I like almost all of them, and I’m always trying to explore new sounds. [I’m] changing every half-year, I would say.”
Of course, that willingness to explore genre and think outside the box has got him to where he is today. That attitude is still going strong in his latest track, “Heart For Tonight,” which he played several times at this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event, drawing incredible reactions from the crowds.
Of course, not every crowd is as well-behaved as the ones at ADE. Moving into our Take5 segment, we asked what the most unusual experience he’s ever had on stage was, and suffice it to say his answer came as a surprise.
“People throwing things,” he said with the calm air of a professional. Although he refused to say which country he’d been performing in on the occasion in question, he did share that he’d had cigarettes and even glasses thrown at him. It was a nightmare for a musician, though a rare event at least, and certainly not one you’d ever see at Amsterdam Dance Event.
Not that he’s against an active audience in general, of course. In fact, he said he loves when people sing along to his tracks.
“It’s so cool to see that something I made can make emotional feelings and make people happy.”
Now, when it comes to social media, everyone has their favorite platform, but for Tungevaag, it’s Instagram over TikTok all the way. Recommending it for its range of features and great community-building uses, Tungevaag described Instagram as “an essential platform” while cheekily suggesting that TikTok is for “people without patience”.
Throwing off a few more quickfire questions, we also learned that his ideal dinner party guests would be Michael Jackson, Obama, and Tietso, that, if he could, he’d like to travel back to ancient Greece, and that his most eccentric food combination is cheese and avocado!
Of course, if you’d like to learn more about Tungevaag, how he makes his music, and the genres he listens to outside of EDM, then check out the full, exclusive Nexus Radio interview.
