merlin has been dj'ing sporadically since 1996. his parents had named him merlin in the hope that it would open doors for him trance music industry. after some parental pressure merlin did eventually start playing at various goa trance parties, and after a couple of years, he was a regular at aucklandís outdoor party curcuit. his parents would have preferred him to be a bit more like sasha or paul van dyke, but they generally accepted his goa trance direction.

unfortunately merlin grew bored with goa trance, and started to buy music that relied less heavily on sound-bites from science fiction films. merlin started playing techno and house, but was somewhat hampered by the fact he had a trance dj's name. then his parents started making noises about sending him to israel where they show more respect to trance. he left the country.

after living in los angeles for 6 months, he was turned on to the ambiguous "west coast sound". this sound attracted him because of its deep, tripped out samples, matched with fat, funky drum breats and percussion. in london, he experienced a more minimal, cleaner style which balanced the muddier beats of the american sound. he appropriated this and other styles into his sets, and his sets today generally weave between deep, dubby, tripped out grooves and warmer funkier beats.

mcarter@askjeeves.co.uk