The Shortlist: DJ Marky | whynow
Published by whynow.co.uk, September 2021
Like a lot of people, my introduction to DJ Marky was the tune ‘LK (Carolina Carol Bela)’ – an infectious earworm of a track that hovers just above 170bpm. When it was released in 2002, my uniformed preference was for cheesy, euphoric trance so I’d never heard anything like it before. And when I did, it opened up a whole new musical world for me.
At the time, I’d just learnt how to drive and so I’d bomb about the country lanes near where I lived, speakers whacked up to maximum, not bothering to test the non-existent brakes on my clapped-out Mini and instead just driving straight through junctions, hoping for the best (sorry, Mum). That’s what makes drum’n’bass so sonically compelling. It’s a foot-to-the-floor, exhilarating, almost nihilistic rush of a ride, and DJ Marky has always been at the helm of it.
But the story starts long before the success of this definitive crossover track. Marky had been a feature on the UK scene since 1999 when he was invited by the legendary Bryan Gee to play in London after he saw him performing in his hometown of Sao Paolo. It resulted in residencies at Movement and, later, The End, and a popularity that bubbled with the potential for worldwide fame. But it wasn’t until the creation of ‘LK’ alongside DJ XRS that he was propelled into the relative mainstream. Using a sample from ‘Carolina Carol Bela’ by fellow Brazilians Jorge Ben and Toquinho, it reached number 17 in the UK charts – which was no mean feat for a high tempo track at the time.
Anyone who watched Marky’s genre-defying live streams during lockdown would tell you that it’s no surprise his most iconic track features a sample. He’s one of those DJs with a mind-bending knowledge of, and relentless passion for, music. When he talks to me about it over Zoom, he’s so animated he practically jumps out of the laptop, regaling tales so enthusiastically that you can’t help but smile and laugh along with him.
“My parents taught me everything about music,” he explains with a grin, his accent with only a hint of Portuguese. “I grew up in a house just surrounded by records. And even as a kid I was listening to everything from Marvin Gaye to Miles Davis to John Coltrane to Pink Floyd and, of course, lots of Brazilian artists. That’s why I’ve got such big knowledge of music. They had amazing taste, I’m very lucky.”
But music wasn’t the preferred career of choice for their son; his dad wanted him to be a policeman and his mum liked the idea of a doctor in the family, although she relented if Marky promised to have a backup plan. “But I never had one!” he chuckles. “I’ve always been a dreamer.” Instead, he followed his gut and started DJing while also working in a record shop. “By the mid-to- late 80s I was looking for something different to play,” he reminisces. “At that time I was really into hip hop. I had a passion for A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Monie Love and all those guys, and I loved hip house for its energy. But what changed my life was when I heard ‘Anasthasia’ by T99. It completely blew my mind.”
This tune was Marky’s gateway to the rave scene, but he was fortunate to also be receiving irregular cross-Atlantic deliveries of rave anthems at the record store he was working at. Releases from the likes of Altern-8, Bizarre Inc and Tronic House (Kevin Saunderson) stoked the ever-growing fire within him and before long he was weaving mesmerising sets with these new sounds.
“I was the main DJ playing all that stuff in Sao Paolo,” he explains. “Without myself and some other DJs [see: Patlife; XRS] there wouldn’t be a proper electronic scene there. We educated people.” That’s not to say it was easy. Without access to new records, Marky enlisted the help of a friend who worked at an airline. Flying via Rio, Copenhagen and London, he’d come back with bags full of music magazines that Marky would study to see what people were playing on the other side of the world. “Then I’d have to [make a vinyl] order in the dark because I didn’t know if the music was good or not,” he laughs, adding: “Sometimes it wasn’t!”
In spite of this, he laid the foundations for dance music to flourish in Brazil, eventually gained international recognition, and began a lifelong love story with the medium of vinyl. In total, he estimates that his personal collection sits at around 30,000: digging was, and still is, his favourite pastime. “I spend hours and hours and hours shopping in record stores,” he admits. “And there are still so many I don’t have yet. Finding one that I’ve been looking for after a long time is just the best feeling in the world!”
Along with contracting Covid back in March, this is partly why he found the pandemic so tough. The lack of gigging was problematic, of course, but it was being unable to get out there and experience a city, its nightlife and record stores that he found most challenging: “I don’t like to be home all the time,” he says. “I like to go out, to see friends, to go record shopping — that’s my life. Quiet places make me feel claustrophobic! It’s busy cities and people that inspire me.”
Now that the world’s metropoles are thriving once more, Marky’s in his element, doing back-to-back international gigs, hunting out vinyl treasures and releasing new music. His latest single, ‘Love Will Find A Way’ is a collaboration with the singer EvaBee, and was released in September.
On 5th November, he’ll be celebrating the release of Innerground 100, the one-hundredth release on his own label, a milestone he never considered reaching when the label was first launched. “I can’t believe it,” he says smiling. “The original idea was just to have a record with my name on it! I wasn’t looking at the business side of it. But having my own label to release my own music on has been amazing.”
There have been many memorable tracks from the label over the years, but for Marky there’s one that particularly stands out. “My favourite is ‘Waterlogged’ by Random Movement,” he confesses (a luscious, layered tune that stabs your heart like a stingray). “When I first played the tune, before the beat even started, I was like ‘what the hell is this!’ And suddenly I started crying. It was just the melody or something, it made me very emotional. I still don’t know exactly what it is about this track,” he adds. “But it’s my dream track, I want to make one like it!”
Back in Sao Paolo, the scene has changed since Marky first made an impact. Brazilian trap is the dominant sound these days, with flecks of country and pop thrown in. But the big clubs playing house and techno remain, and Marky is still a larger-than-life presence in the city.
“I do a party playing boogie, funk and soul,” he says. “And there’s a bit more underground stuff happening now too, which is great for me. The mainstream scares me — I don’t play obvious music!” Indeed, all that’s guaranteed at a Marky party is groove, bass and heart, and after an 18-month void, he couldn’t be happier about that. “I feel alive to be back gigging again,” he says. “That’s the only word I can use to describe it.”
Conjuring memories of racing about in my battered old Mini, I know exactly what he means.
Photos by Luke Pamment.
