Back To Mine with Marske

Can – Mother Sky

I went to Dekmantel in Croatia with my mate Nick. I spent the whole weekend listening to what I would simply call ‘dance music’, not really knowing the difference between the many sub-genres. It was fun but everything kind of sounded the same until someone played this and I got all excited and ran up to Nick and grabbed him and yelled in his face ‘THIS IS CAN!’. It was ace. 

Hellicar Crago & Lewis – Chicken Or Pills

I bought this at Rough Trade on Talbot Road back in the good old early 00s – a mad bluegrass song about taking too many Garys. I later realised that Pete Hellicar had a studio under mine when I was a graphic designer and I went down and told him that he had made one of my fave songs and he seemed pleased. 

Chicken or Pills - Hellicar Crago Lewis Lloyd and Friends

Cultural Vibe -Ma Foom Bey (Love Chant Version)

I tried to make something with similar vocal noises for a track I did. Actually sounded alright.

Cultural Vibe - Ma Foom Bey (Love Chant Version) (Easy Street Records)

Wham! – Freedom (Long Version)

Still can’t get over the fact that they had a fucking exclamation mark IN THEIR NAME. If only I had had the courage to tell the world I liked them when I was young. Maybe everything would have turned out differently. For both of us. 

Wham! - Freedom (Long Version)

Giant Crab – Hot Line Conversation

The ex-boyfriend of a good friend of my ex-wife gave me his spare copy of the seven-inch of this mad long-hair-heavy-freak-out-stomper. He was a bit of a tool, but he did used to be Bryan Ferry in a covers band called Proxy Music. 

Marcel King – Reach For Love

Sean Ryder’s favourite song on Factory. 

MARCEL KING. "Reach For Love". 1984. 12" New York Remix.

Donateller – Dominator

A cover of the classic R&S track by Turner Prize Winning artist Mark Leckey, Turner Prize Nominated artists Bonnie Camplin and Enrico David, and Ed Laliq (as yet unrecognised by the Turner Prize). I remember hearing someone play it before a Clinic gig at the Astoria. 

Glass Candy – Love On A Plate

One of the punk ones before they went all Italo.

Love on a Plate-Glass Candy

Earl Brutus – Navyhead

I had the honour of drinking two pints of lager with Earl Brutus in the Golden Heart before they played a gig at 93 Ft East. I was scared of Nick Sanderson onstage and off, but I somehow found the courage to run backstage after the show and blether into his face about how incredible they were.

Navyhead - Earl Brutus

The Bug vs The Rootsman – WWW

I came back to an ex-girlfriend’s flat in Little Venice after a protracted mission to Hackney to get some things and I was really unhappy about the fact that I’d gone to so much effort on everyone’s behalf and they were all dancing around to Like A Prayer, so I put this ear bleeder on and bummed everyone out. 

The Bug vs Rootsman - 'WWW' (feat. Mexican)

Marske – Hospital Corners EP (Ape-X)

Ape-X Records is the new label created by the people behind the Newcastle party of the same name. It debuts with a fantastic EP from mysterious spoken word musician Marske with production duties taken care of by esteemed North East artist and Ape-X label manager Man Power, plus remixes from Spencer Parker and Boxia. Ape-X has long been setting the benchmark for underground parties in Newcastle with intense atmospheres soundtracked by everyone from Amelie Lens to Andres, Robert Hood to Shanti Celeste. Luke and Gabe from the party describe the sound of the label as “attempting to capture the unhinged moment in every party where the energy remains high, but the vibe can turn weird. Where the excitement and emotion are both balanced enough to let the DJ move people’s minds as much as they move their feet”. In original form ‘Hospital Corners’ is as highbrow as it is lo-fi. It is a wonderfully hard to categorise track that draws on house, techno, no wave and beat poetry, with coarse percussion and low slung bass that bang, while Marske delivers his wry and personal observations on the modern condition Next to an instrumental and radio edit, Work Them boss and cult Berlin favourite Spencer Parker reworks the track into six minutes of hard hitting and raw techno that will blow up the club. Drumcode’s techno talent Boxia then reworks it into a more paired back but just as heavy wedge

Out Now: Marske – Hospital Corners EP (Ape-X) Cat No: APX1 Format: vinyl, digital