27.9.07

Marcus Intalex - the moodiest git in dance music




Contrary to the title of this post, Marcus Intalex is a geezer and a half. I first met him in 2000, in Manchester with his partner in crime Lee ST Files. For me Marcus is one of five d'n'b DJs I would bother listening to, and I LOVE drum & bass. Maybe I'm getting old, but 90% of the shit that gets played on a weekend drum & bass night is the musical equivalent of McDonalds - throwaway, lowest common denominator and unsatisfying - unless you've consumed 20 pills. Marcus is hilarious, a comedy northern git, he knows it too, and plays on it. If you like your d&b to be deep, musical and banging - basically a Detroit take on it - then his FabricLive 35 mix, is essential. It's the best d&b mix I've heard in half a decade. Here's an interview that appears in Newcastle Metro today, ahead of Marcus date at Turbulence tomorrow. At some point, when I have the time, you'll get the full no-holds barred version. Personally I'm in agreement, with 90% of what he has to say in relation to bass and drum.

Marcus Intalex at Turbulence

Marcus Intalex is one of the most unusual DJs and characters in dance music, let alone drum’n’bass: he loves golf, believing fresh air balances out working in dark, sweaty clubs; he’s among a handful DJs championing soulful, deep d’n’b rather than relentlessly battering dancefloors with formulaic basslines; and he says exactly what he thinks.

He appears at Turbulence tomorrow on a blockbusting line up also featuring Brasilian sensation Marky and Bristol’s rolling funk maestro Clipz. In drum'n'bass terms it’s an unusual, forward-thinking piece of programming that represents the genre’s full spectrum, and although Marcus is pleasantly surprised he lets rip.

‘Drum’n’bass needs more diverse line-ups but I do feel like the fall guy sometimes, the alternative DJ that everyone calls on - ‘Martyr Intalex,’ he laughs. ‘I won’t play obvious records, I don’t put them my record box. I think they’re fucking rubbish, so why would I stand up and play them?’

‘Too many DJs rely on rewinds to get a reaction on the dancefloor,’ continues Marcus. ‘It’s dance music, people dance to d’n’b so you don’t need to go crazy the whole time - but I like the challenge of trying to represent some good music in that kind of environment.’

Marcus moves dancefloors through patiently building sets with breakbeat that’s full of rich textures, and references soul, jazz, Detroit techno and Chicago house. It’s a sophisticated much-needed alternative to the usual ‘crash bang wallop’ d’n’b that’s saturatimg the scene. Marcus’ style is captured beautifully on Marcus Intalex FabricLive 35 CD, one of the most stirring, emotive and progressive d’n’b mixes since the genre’s experimental heyday in the mid-late 1990s, and the likes of LTJ Bukem.

‘There’s always been good drum’n’bass around and the Fabric CD is the perfect opportunity to showcase that good music,’ explains Marcus. ‘I could have done this mix at any point in the last ten years. I just offer this music to people, because it’s not being offered anywhere else - when other DJs get the opportunity to do a mix CD, they just think ‘what’s the biggest dancefloor smasher?’

‘Producers and DJs are trying to out do each other and beat dancefloors to a pulp,’ he continues. ‘It’s like happy hardcore, which is the worst music ever and now the music I’m involved with is almost on a par with it. That is pretty embarrassing as far as I’m concerned.’

‘Am I too old? Are we all too old? I don’t know - is the music supposed to just appeal to young people?’ asks Marcus, thinking out aloud. ‘In a way it is. But when you’ve grown up with drum’n’bass and care about it you don’t want to see it go only in one direction, there is definitely room for other styles.’

Tomorrow, Turbulence, Digital, Times Square, 11pm to 4am, £10 adv, £12 door. Metro: Central Station