Exclusive to Patreon supporters : Surge – More & More
“I am never bored!” declares Marvin Sorge AKA Surge, one of Hanzom Music’s longest standing artists. A sound engineer for news reports and political interviews by day, a whirling dervish of creativity by night, he strikes you as a man who never sits still.
“If I’m not writing music, then I’m making samples, if I’m not on the computer I play mostly jazz on the guitar.”
Other activities high on Surge’s to-do list include making cheeky bootlegs (see his firing turbo 4×4 twist of Technotronic) co-running LAUT Samples, operating as one half of emergent duo Bionyk or maybe, just maybe, he’s sampling a radio announcer’s voice. Which is how this VIP came to be…
“I had to use your voice in my VIP,” he says frankly. “Having my track played on Vision Radio, it was a milestone moment for me. When Hanzom Music asked me to make a VIP, I needed to give it a crazier sound and I needed a voice on it. I came to your speech, I stole it from the internet and I used it.”
I’m still none the wiser as to whether any human being can throw a nightclub, but I’m much wiser to Surge’s output, abilities and creative ambition. Currently at an exciting formative chapter of his Surge alias, the Vision Radio play was another bucket-list mission to tick off as he continues to experiment and find his sound…
One moment it’s sledgehammer dancefloor like the slug-it-out bruiser Beans, the next it’s a grungey, Bad Company flavoured chug-fest like the recent German Drum & Bass Award winning track Kernel. In future we are guaranteed to taste other ingredients and flavours in the Surge stew.
“The last 10-12 years has been many different styles of music for me,” he explains. “Before I came to Hanzom I made a lot of reggae music, acoustic music, goa, psytrance. Now in the last five years it’s been more focused on drum & bass but I’m always making lots of things.”
Dubstep has been the latest on his musical explorations and 1 More Thing has copped one of his earliest public 140 release as an exclusive for all top tier Patreon supporters. Fittingly it’s called More & More…
“I don’t have many releases so far,” says Marvin who has only released beats on Hanzom Music for now. “So when I do put something out, it’s been drum& bass. But I make so many genres and do what I like at the computer. More & More was actually my favourite of the dubs I sent you. Dubstep isn’t my usual music taste but I want to be able to make all styles of music.”
The industrial strength funk sludge, pulsating textures and playful drama of More & More belie his dubstep debutant release status. Plenty more will follow More & More. Next up on his all-styles approach is psytrance. “I love it,” grins the young German. “I make a lot of it but none has been released so far. I’m working on an EP to send to labels right now.”
Dubstep and psytrance are just two examples of Marvin’s great mixing pot of influences. It’s a mindset that always keeps him busy and fuelled by new ideas and can be traced back to a life-changing encounter in education.
“I studied music at Deutsche Pop Akadamie. It is there that I met Smeerlapp and I had a huge changing point in my life,” smiles Marvin. “Until then I made music only for myself but then I came onto Hanzom with Smeerlapp, and other friends like Borker Brothers who I used to live with, and I’ve never looked back. We’re always working on things. Every room in the house music is happening.”
Echoing his opening statement and compounding his never bored reputation, he describes the hectic buzz of the apartment he shares with other producer housemates and how upwards of three rooms can be full of people creating beats, sounds, samples and everything in between. Between his own solo material, his shared Bionyk creations and the creation of packages for their LAUT Samples brand, the creativity never ends and is pretty much round the clock.
“It’s quality stuff,” assures Marvin. “We had the idea just before corona but during that time it grew a lot. We are still growing the company but want to deliver the best sounds in every genre.”
This is the level of Surge’s output, abilities and creative ambition. And while he’s still celebrating milestone moments like Vision Radio plays, you get the impression he’ll have plenty more milestones to celebrate and maybe, just maybe, mark with ridiculous VIPs in the future.
“I wouldn’t rule anything out, I am always trying new things,” he smiles. “Music is the only thing that gives me fulfilment. It’s the biggest thing in my life.”
Beat the boredom: Surge – Club Thrower VIP is out now on Hanzom Music.
Exclusive to Patreon: Download Surge – More & More