Underground house and disco maestro Mark E makes a welcome return to Delusions following hot on the heels of last years Leaning Into The Light EP. The revered producer has been steadily doing his thing for almost two decades now, racking up releases on Running Back, Golf Channel and Spectral Sound to name just a few. His sound is a unique, sublime vision of US deep house which transcends the dance floor and he proves his salt once again on the four new tracks that make up this stunning EP. Title track Enchantment Under The Sea sets the mood with a minimal, low slung drum machine groove laying the foundation for layers of Rhodes and synth chords conjuring up images of a sub-aquatic vision of depth and beauty. Up next we have Zone Tonight, the epitome of a late night city scape driving track utilising heavily saturated drums, subtle acid line, distant piano melody and moody Detroit pads to draw you into its deep confines. Flipping over we have Vertigo which treads a similar sonic path as Mark effortlessly fuses rich harmonies and entrancing melodies, inviting listeners to lose themselves in its depths. Closing out this blissful journey we have Bodymap which drops the BPM a little more with simple understated drums, melancholic string line and pulsating bassline. The Zone Tonight EP is a testament to Mark E's unparalleled prowess in crafting immersive, uncompromising and emotive soundscapes for your aural pleasure. He also created the original artwork for this release. More

We’ve been loving underground UK house hero Mark E for time so it’s a great pleasure to welcome him to Delusions Of Grandeur for his debut release for the label. With killer edits and sublime releases on esteemed labels such as Running Back, Golf Channel, Ghostly/Spectral and his own MERC, Mark E has crafted a distinct and original sound that is uniquely blue collar and utilitarian classic, deep house, with a tinge of disco warmth. The Leaning Into The Light EP has more an LP feel and is definitely one for the heads, taking us on a deep trip across five stunning and expansive productions which will leave you well and truly spellbound. From the opener Swimming Through A Diamond with its raw and minimal groove, glacial FM electric Piano and naive synth melodies you know you’re in for a real deep treat with what’s to come. Compact Object treads a similarly subtle yet captivating path with a stripped back groove and entrancing synth pads and stabs which intertwine and bounce off of each other like light refracting through a prism. Heartaches loops up a live electric bassline and jazzy piano chords to brilliant effect, creating a blissed out mood and feeling of being suspended in the air, at once muted, otherworldly and contemplative. The title track follows taking us deeper still with majestic chords and a tone palette which calls to mind Larry Heard and the inimitable sounds of Black Dog, B12 and the golden era of ambient techno and IDM. Closing out this incredible collection of tracks we have Mirrored Cube, another example of Mark E’s mastery of his craft, everything sitting perfectly in its own space and perfect pace rewarding you with its simple beauty. Mark E also created the original artwork for this release. More

The 12-inch starts on a bone-chilling note with the titular track, a spartan warm-up that’s a creeping bass on the low end, wispy pads in the mids, and a scratchy looped vox sample on top designed to haunt your dreams. A freaky intro that unnerves as it allures. On the move now, Mark burrows deeper into a hypnotic groove with “Shelter,” a midtempo cyborg cut, half round, warm, organic percussion, half cold-tothe-touch synth chord sustains. The energy and urgency feels like new territory, but the execution is signature Mark E. On the reverse is a pair of more melodious tunes, the shuf?ing cyberpunk groove that is “M-54,” then the prickly “Shinkansen,” which has a sputtered and bleary-eyed thrust to make feet jitter and hips shake. A twist on the man's disciplined studio workmanship that we've come to know—arrow-straight arrangements, celery-crisp drums—that’s spiced with a few pinches of psychedelic, inside-out wickedness, devilishness to keep you wired, buzzing More

After a short hiatus the ever-dependable Mark E returns to his own Merc label with three new tracks in his own inimitable style
Displaying a depth and flair for aural innovation like no other, Mark plots a course through a heady trio of beautifully constructed machine-funk jams. 'Twilight Fade' leads us seductively into a slowly unfurling Sound Signature style voyage through the soulful circuits. 'Quarttz' is a super deep, all enveloping synth-led workout, while 'First Thing' on the B, stretches a few simple ingredients into a sonic banquet of heady dancefloor bliss.
This one's super limited folks, so we encourage panic buying ! More

The last of Public Release’s single-digit records is the first from the British West Midlands’ most famous DJ and producer, Mark E. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. If anything, the fact it didn’t happen earlier should; Mark appeared as a remixer on Jeffrey Brodsky’s 2014 Public Release EP, which has earned him the status of esteemed member of the outfit’s inner circle and prime candidate for an extended play of his own. That little bit of context behind us, let’s move on to the actual music that’s been pressed to Sky Horn. The 12” kicks off with the titular track, an abrasive number built around a meaty, sawtoothed synth line that sits snugly atop a hypnotic beat. Happy Family’s remix—Happy Family, for the uninitiated, is Eric Duncan and Justin Van Der Volgen—is a more psychedelic reimagining of the original cut that’ll knock you into an exhilarating stupor. Speedy and demented, it’s an explosive, tantalizing cap to the first record. The second begins with “Midnight Equatic,” a tense yet propulsive number that’s somehow paranoid industrial, tropical disco, and prototypical synthwave all at once. The duo comprised of Dennis McNany and LCD Soundsystem’s Pat Mahoney, Museum of Love, wrap the four-tracker with their remix of the song, which zeroes in on the electro component so elemental to the original and runs with it, taking it into Depeche Mode Violator territories—before making a sharp left turn and exploring the wild sounds of the early 90s UK rave scene. A final hoorah for the party that is this record. More

Mark E has a vivid imagination and everybody knows it. This is his first offering for the ESP Institute. Laurentian Abyss undoubtably conjures narrative images from the depths of a man's soul, trudging through an array of rhythmic pulse, percussion and arpeggiation that resembles the inner workings of a grandfather clock, based on a disorienting 5/4 timing yet culminating in a singular stroke. On the flip side, the title track Emergency begins with the formula for which we know Mark E best, the ultimate tease winding us up for the big payoff, yet here we're forced into a cyclical trance which diverts our attention so effectively that we never actually receive what we've been waiting for, Mark's elusive drop. When a limitless producer such as Mark E, who's spread his talents widely across the face of dance music, seeks a home away from home in the ESP Institute, we consider it an honor to open our doors and present works that stray from not only his celebrated repertoire, but from reality in general.
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Producer Mark E hails from the West Midlands, an area of the UK that was at the heart of the industrial revolution and was also hit hardest by the decline of UK industry in the 1970s, and again by the economic crisis of our own time. It's an area with a distinct sound and atmosphere, one that manifests in the music of artists as diverse as Black Sabbath and The Specials, and one that plays into many of the ideas behind Mark E's 2014 full-length, Product Of Industry. Following that release, Mark E presents a late-year surprise with AVION EP. Featuring two new tracks from the producer plus remixes on two Product Of Industry highlights: "Bog Dance" and "Being Hiding". First up, White Material affiliate Alvin Aronson brings his minimal ambient productions to "Bog Dance" while the collaborate duo of Leon Vynehall and Christian Piers aka Laszlo Dancehall fire things up on "Being Hiding" to close out the EP. More

As the Autumnal nights draw in, Futureboogie show off a slightly darker edge to their ever expanding roster of artists, welcoming re-edit king Mark E to the fold. The Birmingham based DJ and producer has risen steadily through the musical ranks over the last few years, cropping up on a multitude of top drawer labels like Sonar Kollectiv, Running Back, Golf Channel, his own Merc imprint, and most recently a brace of albums for the US label Spectral Sound (home to Matthew Dear, Osborne et al). Title track, 'Activity' chugs at a house music pace but with plenty of techno swagger, bridging the gap between the two genres with ease. A simple and minimal beat is doused in a pacey acid bassline riff that's constantly morphing and transposing, layers of synths join in the infectious melody whilst soaring pads rise up with all the familiarity of a Detroit techno classic.

Tracklisting: 1. Activity 2. Night Heart 3. Shapes
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Producer Mark E hails from the West Midlands, an area of the UK that was at the heart of the industrial revolution and was also hit hardest by the decline of UK industry in the 1970s, and again by the economic crisis of our own time. It's an area with a distinct sound and atmosphere, one that manifests in the music of artists as diverse as Black Sabbath and The Specials, and one that plays into many of the ideas behind Mark E's new record Product of Industry. The album's title is a subtle nod to the producer's past and heritage. He explains, "The name lies in the manufacturing past of the area I grew up, [and] the manufacturing past of my family. [It references] how the decline of industry in the Midlands UK changed the landscape physically and socially — I'm now a music producer and DJ, and this is totally different to my grandparents who were truck drivers and sheet metal workers. [The title discusses] how things have changed, and it's also about how I came to be in this position, due to the current global financial situation. I lost my job due to it, [which led to me] trying out music — and here I am, a product of industry, both currently and historically." As befitting its genesis, there's something distinctly mechanistic to the music on Product of Industry — as Mark E says, "The music is grinding, continuous, heavy, relentless." You can hear this idea in the industrial clatter that underpins "Kultra Kafe," the grinding rhythm of "Bog Dance," the pounding beat of "Eganix." Part of this sound is generated by the album's reliance on classic machinery of a musical kind: "My approach was very different on Product of Industry compared to Stonebreaker," Mark E explains. "I approached it with an album in mind. The technique is [also] different — this is majority analogue, whereas Stonebreaker was 100% digital." But just as importantly, this reliance on classic analogue synths also means that the sound of Product of Industry is shot through with a certain warmth, a reminder that there's humanity at the heart of this industrial environment and this industrial sound.. The music, explains the producer, was designed to be "soulful and delicate," and in many ways its abiding warmth is a throwback to the classic sounds of Chicago house. They're firmly located on the other side of the Atlantic, though, and several tracks incorporate "vocal snippets of the language and accent of the West Midlands." The result is an album that's steeped in history — both musical and social — but also sounds utterly contemporary. It's a testament to the way the creative spirit can flourish even in the most adverse of circumstances, and also an album-long evocation of the idea that the machines we build are ultimately expressions and extensions of ourselves. More

When it comes to deep and jackin' Techno with a touch of funk, Jackmate aka Michel Baumann was in a league of his own. As a producer, working in the house-techno spectrum he was able to keep a level of high quality, always trying to push himself and never afraid to try out new ideas. You never new what he would do next and that was probably why so many of us kept following him, checking out a new release and playing his music.

One of the many projects he was working on before he sadly passed away was collecting and preparing a compilation of Jackmate music from his vast archives. The idea was to present tunes from back in the day, or as Michel called them 'Jackmate classics'.

The compilation would also include some of Michel's favourites which he reworked and of course new music, there was always a new Jackmate track waiting to be finished. This vinyl sampler contains all new Jackmate music plus a Jackmate rework of the Soulphiction classic "Masai Mara" More

The fourth release on 18437 features Nico Lahs using his NLXLB moniker...

On Dirty Vision he gives us those deep, deep stabs with a proper old-school feel, a blend between Detroit and Chicago, not too far from something Three Chairs would make.

First up we got 'Dazed Dreams', a deep and drowsy Motor City deep house jam. Next up is 'Dirty Vision', a dusty High-tech Jazz cut for the after hours and finally 'Synthetic Wars'.
Nico goes all in and delivers a gritty and intergalactic Techno track.

Label info:
18437 Records is a brand new label by focused on the outer fringes of house and techno. More

Repress!
Let's be honest. A record collection is hardly complete without a Soulphiction release, right?>

Michel Baumann's second release on 18437 is using his Soulphiction moniker and while 2021 is still young, he manages to pull off the one of the best house tracks so far with the opening track Ballin'
The phrase 'top-shelf material' springs to mind for sure.

Up next is 'What What ??!', an expertly constructed shuffling rhythm workout that fits neatly among a seriously funky bassline and piano hooks.
This is as close as you get sounding like a band doing their version of a Soulphiction track, from a one man band.
Finally 'Midi Funk' sounds like a dubbed out tribute to Shep Pettibone...enough said.

How deep can you go? More

New label 18437 lands with a bang as JACKMATE (aka SOULPHICTION) serves up a no nonsense 3-way of effortlessly effervescent emissions. More