You work with a lot of vocalists but two - Bembe Segue and Lady Alma - really stand out as people you have enduring relationships with. Tell me a little about the connection you have with them.

I first met Bembe when I did my first collabs with IG back in '98 but it wasn't until I started working on Tide's Arising that we really developed our creative bond, friendship and found our creative synchronicity. I had one track that I thought she'd sound great on and by the time the album was finished she was the main featured vocalist and biggest songwriting collaborator on there.

Mark de Clive-Lowe ft. Bembe Segue: "Heaven"

The Freesoul Sessions clubnight kicked off next and that's where we really got to have fun with it. She's a cosmic jazz and P-Funk head to the core and the flavors she'd bring to the improv vibe fitted like a glove.

We got to a point where we wanted to do a blatantly collaborative project which wasn't MdCL and wasn't Bembe Segue, and so The Politik was born. We didn't even know what it was going to sound like so it was a surprise to us even as it unfolded. We have a lot of fun in the studio and it wouldn't be unusual for us to get 4 or 5 songs done in a day. There's a huge amount of creative trust and support between us in studio and on the stage and that pretty much means there's nothing to worry about and yeah, let's have fun with it!

Lady Alma and I have a really similar musical relationship. She's so strong with what she does, I'm strong with what I do, and so to metaphorically leap of the cliff together not knowing where you might land is no problem. The first time we worked together we did 5 songs over maybe 3 days and that included the one that's my favorite of all my work with her, "Running for Nothing". It's funny, but before those sessions had happened I'd already worked on remixes which featured her voice, so it was great to finally get in studio together face to face and lay tracks. Alma's been featuring on a lot of my recent stateside shows and that's been fantastic. We did Atlanta last weekend with Lil John Roberts on drums. Raheem Devaughn got up for a lil vibe with us too.

I usually throw in a question about the digital marketplace and what not, but you're on more social networks than probably any person in the industry I know of. Have you gotten back as much as you've given in this regard?

Not to overstate the obvious, but the Internet is incredible. Apart from being a performing artist and a studio producer, it's one of the most important resources and tools at my disposal. I've been using ustream.tv a bit lately, streaming shows from Norway and studio sessions from Italy (ustream.tv/channel/Mashibeats). The technology is so readily available that it would be silly not to use it.

I'll openly put free downloads up for people to grab as they like - either things that I feel compelled to share instead of sell or sometimes back catalog releases of mine that you just can't find anywhere. The immediate effect is sharing music and people hearing stuff they dig that they may have never heard otherwise. The side effect is building community, the fan base and the brand. It all helps.

So you have like a dozen projects ongoing, from the FreeSoul Sessions to The Politik to remixes for Phil or Restless Soul to solo releases and producing for Lady Alma or Bembe (and I caught wind of something with Jody Watley...) What new stuff should we have on our radar now?

I've produced an album for Dutch trumpeter Rob van de Wouw called Tunnelvision. It's some Eddie Henderson '70s vibe meets my sound That's an album I'm really proud of and excited to see out and about (on Embrace Recordings at the end of October). There's also a new full length album I've produced for rapper Replife which should be out next year - he's a great MC and we had a lot of fun putting the album together. And there are singles coming up with Jody Watley, Sy Smith and Omar as well as collabs with Leon Ware, Ovasoul7, Karizma and so much more. The Politik remixed album is in the pipeline, as is Melodius Beats Vol.2 - a compilation of my remixes, collabs and productions. And to top it all off, I'm in the middle of working on Nicholas Payton's new album which is a dope project as well. Straight back onto that as soon as I wrap up these Australia dates!