Following the launch of the Marcus Intalex Foundation earlier this month, Marcus’s seminal label Soul:r is set for a brief and final return.
November 9 will see Soul:r put out its final EP: Mako’s edition of the label’s evergreen Fourfit EP series. Already signed by Marcus, mastered and scheduled for release mid 2017 the four track EP was postponed after Marcus sadly passed away last May.
On the label’s Facebook page, Soul:r state that it will be the last ever label release: “Without Marcus here to curate, direct, and propel the music he loved passionately on his label, it would be dishonest to continue to release records without him under the Soul:r name. Marcus was Soul:r, and Soul:r was Marcus, the two names were synonymous.”
Mako’s EP will drop November 9 and feature tracks Come Down, My Gift To You, Message Music (a collaboration with Marcus himself) and I Held You In My Arms, which as been premiered by DJ Mag.
Mako’s Fourfit EP will also be joined by a second release as Soul:r launches Vandelay Industries; a new one off label for another release that was already locked in the manufacturing process before Marcus died. The EP is a three track house EP by Marcus under a brand new alias Art Vandelay entitled Ballin’, it will be released on the same day (November 9) and is likely to be premiered this week.
“Marcus may have been wanting to keep Art Vandelay as a secret alias,” Soul:r state. “But we decided it would be nice for his many fans to experience this music knowing it was one of the last projects worked on.”
Whether Vandelay Industries will develop further following this release or not has yet to be confirmed. But as one of Marcus’s final releases, it’s a hugely significant dispatch that once again adds to the diverse wealth of music and inspiration Marcus gave us across the worlds of drum & bass, techno and house music.
The release is preceded by a Marcus Intalex Foundation event on November 2 in hometown Manchester at the White Hotel with Martyn, Scuba, Synkro and Blasha & Allatt. Full event details can be found here.
