Merka

At last the long-awaited debut album from Merka is in stores! The fruits of lots of hours of being locked away in the studio can now be enjoyed by us all!

Merka, aka Mark Ford, first came to my attention on an outing on Re:Connect Records - a two track single "Holding On" and "Flabbo", the former featuring on the Freestylers' FabricLive compilation.

Since then his output has crossed the "club breaks" and almost "trip hop" stylings with pure precision, showing just how versatile and talented a producer he is.

On "Beserka" Merka takes us back to the heady days of big beat but from a very contemporary standpoint, with the ability to hit you when you're not expecting it with a deep driving bassline or thundering breakbeat. That said it's still a very accessible album for those not into dance music or in particular breakbeat, with some jazzier laid back moments thrown in there for good measure, but not purposely. The man clearly has a diverse range of musical taste and influence which shines through from start to finish, making the album almost beyond "pigeonholing".

Highlights for me are "The Steam Room", "Our Secret", and current single "What Now", although that said I can't fault the album at all.

Find out more information on Merka and hear audio clips at his website www.merka.co.uk, and don't forget to visit his myspace page too for gig details (an extensive list), more audio, and the usual myspace shenanigans.

Buy the CD at Play.com.
Buy the vinyl from Know How Records.
Buy the download from DJ Download.