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Following on from the Carbon Electra LP by Davide Carbone which was supported by many of the worlds top artists including Hybrid Minds, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, Ray Keith and Carl Cox and featured across Apple Music Beats One, BBC Radio One, Beatport and Drum & Bass Arena - BS1 Records launches BS1025 featuring Markee Ledge of Kosheen fame and label boss Davide Carbone.
‘Nightlife’ is a born and bred in Bristol tune where both these artists met and spent their time forging a path in the drum and bass industry. Markee Ledge was involved in the legendary Ruffneck Ting nights at the turn of the century and also released a plethora of tunes before forming Kosheen who had a string of worldwide smash hits.
Markee Ledge is a deep drum & bass and dubstep DJ / producer with a long history in underground electronic music.
He did drum & bass as Substance in the 90s, releasing on labels such as 31 Records, Formation and his own labels Ruffneck Ting and Breakbeat Culture.
We have had the pleasure of speaking with him and this has been the result. Enjoy it!
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?
I’m from Glasgow, Scotland and grew up listening to indie guitar bands like The Smiths and Cocteau Twins and early indie dance stuff like Happy Mondays.
So many great bands around in those days, when you needed to have a group of people and hence more people’s input , for me, seems to have created a colourful and creative time in music.
How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now?
I’ve been developing as a producer and songwriter , and my production skills have become Bass skewed.
For the last 6-7 years I’ve been producing 140 deep dubstep stuff, and more recently started producing a more bass-music oriented type drum and bass.
How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners?
My vibe has always been deep and emotional, music for me is about touching feelings and that emotional response to music. So I hope that my emotions and vibes I capture in my music has the same effect on listeners , that’s all an artist can ask really.
What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job?
I’m working on my Markee Ledge project right now , 140 deep UK Bass and modern drum and bass, I’ve always been interested in the lastest movements in music and that has never changed, although the music keep on changing!
My last real ‘job’ ended back in 1994! before I went 100% into my music career , first doing club promotions and running record labels Ruffneck Ting, and Breakbeat Culture, in the late 90’s I also had a specialist drum and bass record store in Bristol called Breakbeat Culture.
Where are you and what have you been doing now?
I’m currently living in Prague and have converted a small garden building into a studio. My idea was to create a creative live space , so I can produce , perform and record live.
The equipment that has become available in recent years has made this possible; modular synths and 500 series modules have miniaturised the studio kit, I love it! One man (or woman) a guitar and a drum machine, can do so much now.
Has that sound changed a lot in recent years? What is your musical criteria?
I think the way I work has changed , but the ultimate goal of what I’m aiming for has not really. I’m always looking for a cutting edge , well produced sound , with a stinking vibes , that’s the main criteria.
Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound?
Definitely experimenting with sound and how it can be twisted and moulded, but i think have some kind of structure or parameters , gives you scope to get creative in new ways, otherwise things can become very abstract , very quickly.
We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity?
I think peoples attention span has certainly shortened , you know 10-20 years ago , you would have a decent length intro for the DJ’s to mix in, that has certainly changed it’s all bish bash bosh, straight in now, and that’s not a bad thing. I love how some songs , pre-dance era would launch straight into vocals , so maybe things are coming back around , everything is in cycles.
Can you tell us what your present and future projects are?
Currently working on my album ‘The Laws of Emotion’, this track is a taster, I’m planning for the release next year. I’m definitely embracing the digital age with some unique online performances and live studio broadcasts in the works.
SOCIAL MEDIA: www.bs1records.com https://twitter.com/DavideCarbone
