hypersongs

Mala

Mark Lawrence, a South London dubstep producer, half of Digital Mystikz and founder of Deep Medi Musik, whose 2007 single "Changes" is a dubstep landmark remixed by James Blake.

Norwood and DMZ

Mala is Mark Lawrence, from South Norwood in South London. In his 2008 Red Bull Music Academy lecture in Barcelona he said he began making music around 1999 or 2000 on a friend's laptop with FruityLoops, switched to Reason about 2000, which changed everything in his production, and bought studio monitors in 2002 and began taking production seriously. Before music was his living he spent about three years in youth work, teaching music production in a government-funded workshop, until the funding ended. With his friend Coki he is Digital Mystikz, and with Coki, Loefah and Sgt. Pokes he started the DMZ label in 2004.

The DMZ club night began in March 2005 at Third Base and moved to Mass in Brixton, with a slogan that told people to come meditate on bass weight. Digital Mystikz reached number 29 in John Peel's Top 50 for 2004. By Wikipedia's account the night's first anniversary drew a queue of about 600 to a 400-capacity room and was moved to the main room. DMZ003, "Da Wrath Souljahz VIP Mix" and "Twisup VIP", was his first official solo release. DMZ stopped holding events at its peak; a ten-year anniversary show sold 2,000 tickets in five or six hours, and he said it will return maybe not now, maybe not in the near future.

Deep Medi Musik

Mala founded Deep Medi Musik around 2006 as a home for the artists he worked with, including Goth-Trad, whose "Cut End" appeared in 2007, and Silkie, who had the label's most releases between 2008 and 2021. By 2018 the label reached its 100th release, and by June 2021, its fifteenth anniversary, it had over 130. The 2007 single "Changes / Forgive" (MEDI-04) is among its first records. His "Anti War Dub" was used in the film Children of Men, though not on the soundtrack.

Mala in Cuba (Brownswood, September 2012) came from a trip to Havana in April 2011 with Gilles Peterson, with Roberto Fonseca's band playing at 140 bpm, his one request; The Skinny gave it 5 out of 5, while FACT's John Calvert wrote that it simply doesn't feel like Mala was ever there. Mirrors (Brownswood, June 2016) was made after a trip to Peru and finished in April 2015, with Sounds and Colours calling it perhaps his finest achievement to date. He played the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix on April 13, 2013 and Boiler Room London in October 2015. James Blake has said that what got him into producing was going to Plastic People and listening to Mala.

Albums

Songs

  • Changes Changes / Forgive · 2007

    Mala's 2007 single on Deep Medi Musik, whose Harmonimix by James Blake circulated for years before release.

Sources

  1. Digital Mystikz, Wikipedia
  2. Mala: 5 dB to Perfection, Red Bull Music Academy (2008)
  3. Mala on making music in Peru, Red Bull Music Academy Daily (2016-06)
  4. Label of the Month: Deep Medi, Beatportal