He rose to prominence musically in the hothouse environment of West London in the late 1990s, often as the man behind the scenes in the Brokenbeat movement. From his early collaborations with IG Culture, Dego (of 4Hero) and Bugz in the Attic, he emerged as one of the UK's top producers, particularly noted in the House scene for his collaborations with Phil Asher and Restless Soul. Mark has gone on to notch well over 200 releases, including collaborations with Lady Alma, Jody Watley, DJ Spinna and his fantastic project with vocalist Bembe Segue called The Politik.
Mark (or simply MdCL) now lives in Los Angeles but spends a considerable amount of time on the road, often performing live with featured vocalists and a full studio rig. In particular, The Freesoul Sessions - a roving clubnight built upon completely spontaneous, Parliament/Funkadelic-style improvisational jams - have drawn rave reviews in every city in which they've been held.
There are like a hundred terms for soul music today, and it seems like every time I read a review of one of your tracks I learn another one (Nu Soul, Nu Jazz, Nu House, etc). How do you characterize what you do?
I don't know what I call it. I don't dig the "nu-whatever" - that just sounds cliché. I guess people like to have a label to put on everything to give them a handle to grab it by. Whether it's in the studio or on the live stage, I'll go from Jazz to Hip Hop, to Soul, to Funk, to House, to Broken, to some abstract electronica... So it just seems pointless to me to try and brew that all down to one word. Or maybe a new term needs to be thought up...!
The MdCL live experience is really a LIVE experience. You play keys and program beats on the spot, correct?
I pretty much bring what amounts to a studio rig out for the live shows. The MPC3000 is the heart of it, then there's the Rhodes, clavinet, various synths and effects pedals... Every joint of every show is created from scratch. I just hit "record" on the MPC and build the beats, b-lines and keys however I feel it as it happens. I love the spontaneity which that allows me - I can flip it in any direction at any time and you'll never ever see the same show twice. Often I'll be the lone one-man-band guy with a featured vocalist joining me. Other times, I augment it with more musicians - a live drummer or percussionist working alongside the MPC beats, horn players with loop pedals, a guitarist... The biggest gig was with a 21-piece big band in Holland. It sounded like the bastard son of Duke Ellington and a House party! That was crazy fun.
We're talking about promoters and scenes that are built around DJs. They're used to flying in one, maybe two people, not having to supply crazy equipment and so on. When you bring in a band, the logistics go up exponentially. I love seeing musicians and live music, but I think what's key to it in this day and age is to have something truly unique to present in a live show. I know I do that, and it's a big reason why I'm pretty much touring as much as I want to be at any given time.
It's more than 10 years or so since we first picked up on the Brokenbeat scene in the UK. Is it like all scenes that we romanticize a decade later? Out of your early collabs, what are you most proud of?
Arriving in West London in 1998 changed my life. Plain and simple. I met this community of DJs and producers who were making music which combined everything I love, so many different styles, and amalgamated it all into a progressive sound that challenged the status quo while always respecting the history and lineage of music. There was nothing cynical about it and there were no rules.
There were a lot of collaborations then that I look back on and still love a lot - "3dom" with Seiji (the b-side to his classic "Loose Lips") which lead to the Kudu project with Seiji and Domu; a 4 track EP with IG which we made over 4 days at his old spot when we first met. That was crazy fusion-jazz-meets-the-SP1200. One track - the only one that was ever released, "Thrillseeker" under the moniker Dub Basement - even featured Bembe Segue before she had debuted as the artist we all know now. And I did a lot of tracks with Phil Asher that year. One of my favorites has always been his remix of Fini Dolo's "Blow" which I played the keys on. That was a great lesson for me in simplicity... Less is more!
Point me in the direction of a "hidden gem" you were involved with that maybe didn't get massive press but you think is lurking out there waiting to be discovered.
There are certainly some hidden gems - it's impossible for me to pick just one.... The remix of Terence Trent D'Arby's "Designated Fool" was a lot of fun. I did that with Aaron Ross and Nathan Haines in 2000 I guess. I don't know if it ever got released in any form, but if it's out there, that's one for the heads for sure.
I'm really proud of the Rasiyah 12" I produced - two head-nodding downtempo soul tunes - "U Better Run" and "Untitled (My Love)". For me, that's the best she's ever sounded on record. There's a joint I did with Phil back in '98 called "Locust" under the moniker 12-bit Rephugees. I remember we were bleaching it all night in Bugz' North Acton studio. Phil had done the beat while I was passed out on the couch. I came to, went over to the keys and laid down tracks of out-there abstract shit. It was on some Deathwish soundtrack vibe! And a more recent joint that not many people know I co-produced: Platinum Pied Pipers' "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover". That version has some serious flavor.
You know how Bob Dylan was asked in Don't Look Back how he saw himself and he said "Just a guitar player." How do you see yourself? a producer? musician? songwriter?
I'm a musician firstly, a producer secondly. If you look back at some of the greatest musicians who walked the earth - Miles for example - Miles was never credited as the producer, but in effect he really was, especially when it came to the late '60s and early '70s. His vision, energy and leadership brought very unique and special music out of the musicians he had in his bands. Those same players would go play the next day for a different band leader and it wouldn't have that direction, vision and energy Miles would bring to a setting, even when he wasn't playing a note. Bearing in mind that example, I don't differentiate too much between being a musician and a producer. I know what I like to hear and I guess applying that is what makes me a producer.
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.
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!
Mark has a huge online presence; for more info on what he's up to, check out his blog at mashibeats.blogspot.com, or myspace.com/markdeclivelowe, or twitter.com/mashibeats, or links to all of the above, video and more at markdeclivelowe.net.
:: posted dec 29 by terry matthew in features, november 2009 issue
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