Mark Hamilton, the man behind ?mark, has finally assembled something of a little personal gem of an album that he’s been handing out on burnt cds in plastic sleeves. A dear friend of mine, I did a brief interview with him asking him a few questions about his inspirations, his approach to music, and what he’s got going on right now and in the future.
S: Alright, who is ?Mark.
?M: The elusive one, escaped mental patient, abstract soldier, basically a bugged out cracker who loves digging for records.
What’s the most recent gem you’ve picked up?
African Dub, Vol. 1
For your own album, have you settled on a title?
Who the fuck is ?mark
What does it sound like?
I think it’s just a funk fusion album that’s heavily inspired by real hip hop producers.
Tell me a bit about the process?
Its really simple, I chop the records in audacity, make all the beats on the roland SP404 sampler and do all the sequencing in Garage Band, 95% of the sounds come from records I found, and each track is a collage of at least 10 different sources. I make my own beaks, I don’t sample entire drum breaks.
Process aside, what’s your approach to a song?
Discipline. Making beats is therapy for me because I certainly have trouble dealing with all the evil mentalities, I make music or I’m brought down by evil interests.
Musically, what is love?
When all the politics melt away and everyone loses control collectively.
Who or what are yours main sources of inspiration?
My mom, dad, and sister. No doubt.
Musically?
Dj Premier made me want to make beats, Madlib made me realize I could. For this album it was really just those real hip hop producers like Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, the whole DITC, Dilla, Rza, El-p, etc…
Tell me a bit about the new album, “who the fuck is ?mark”
I’m a little confused about what it is myself. I guess what I can say is that its drum music, bass music is really big these days, I love it to death, but my stuff still focuses more on drums than anything.
You’re doing something on the 27th?
My first DJ gig in over 2 years, my album release, positive vibes. Please, check all negative vibes at the door.
?mark - Stillism [mp3]
Details for the ?mark album launch night: Friday February 27th at the Global Village down at Spadina and King St. For more information about the album or the night, contact getonthegoodfoot (at) gmail.com
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Comments ( 1 Comment )
shift+1 (psdo!nmfo) added these pithy words on Feb 16 09 at 8:32 pmraw… measured! can’t wait to hear the album played out loud. peez famz