The bass shook through the mountain air as the crowd moved in sync. The Martinez Brothers were running the show.
Under the glow of neon, the brothers worked their magic, mixing Latin beats with deep house vibes that had the ski crowd moving as one.
They were part of The Après-Ski Music Series at The Snow Lodge—a weekly party featuring rotating DJs and performers each weekend. The month’s lineup included big names like Alesso and Sofi Tukker. I caught these Bronx legends, Chris and Stevie Martinez, as they tore up the place.
These guys are famous for their deep, soulful sound and have been key players in today’s Latin-influenced house scene. Summer after summer, they rock Ibiza’s famous DC-10 club, bringing their Puerto Rican heritage to life through Latin percussion and rhythms. You can hear this fusion in their tracks, where salsa, mambo, and reggaeton meet deep house beats.
Their story’s deeply rooted in both family ties and street culture, mixing hip-hop vibes with house evolution.
Growing up in The Bronx, they had a dad who was already in the music game, introducing them early.
“The whole DJ thing came from curiosity. We didn’t even know our father was involved in that scene in New York,” Stevie shared before their set. “We wanted to be hip-hop DJs, but our father led us into the route of house and electronic music that he was a part of at the time in the Bronx.”
NYC was popping back then, with hip-hop and house ruling the clubs. The brothers soaked it all in, looking up to legends like Sergio George, Johnny Pacheco, and Willie Colón. “We come from an era of arrangers who know how to assemble music,” Chris told me, adding, “We get inspired by real arrangements and real musicians. We avoid making music that sounds watered down.”
They blew up in the 2010s, dropping their label Cuttin’ Headz in 2014. They put out tracks from Fleur Shore, Art Department, Loco Dice, and others. Along the way, they created bangers with Rauw Alejandro and Mr. Naisgai (on the genre-mixing hit “Química”) and Tokischa (on the hypnotic “Kilo.”)
Not everyone was feeling their style at first. They caught heat for mixing in reggaeton—something others would later get props for. “We got a lot of pushback from underground purists,” Stevie admitted. “We come from that; we grew up with reggaeton. I guess it was always going to happen, but we reached a point where we said, ‘We’re going to do what we’re going to do.'”
They’ve also made waves in fashion, working with Dior in 2021 for their “Dior and I” campaign. It was a natural fit given their impact on youth culture, music, and style. About their fashion sense, Chris mentions “We also worked with Givenchy for two years on their music direction and much like the Dior campaign, it just happened organically because the head designers attended our parties, watched us play, and wanted us to work with them.”
With a new album dropping this year and Latin house music blowing up, the Martinez Brothers are just getting started.
