In spite of being an incredibly adept producer, releasing records on the prominent ESP Institute and Rush Hour Recordings, as well as gaining much success with the critically acclaimed Gaussian Curve, Marco is best known for this ability as a DJ, in the form of his alias Young Marco. A product of the vibrant Amsterdam house scene, Marco’s eclectic taste and love for long-lost gems has earnt him a reputation over the last few years as one of the finest DJs on the circuit.
As a result, this has seem him contribute to the newly created Selectors series run by Dekmantel and now to assemble a compilation of Italian house music that dates back to the period of 1989 to 1993, a golden era of Italian dance music. This latest offering sees him hand-pick a miscellany of tracks with the intention of best encapsulating the unique sound that’s reminiscent of the time.
This variant of house music draws heavily on the original American house sound coming out of the New Jersey around the same time and heavily relies of fluid piano lines and deep, dreamy pads. Largely down to the likes of Marco and his contempories, it has experienced a renaissance over the last few years. The renewed interest has also resulted in the revival of the seminal Vibraphone Records, as well as the birth of labels such as Flash Forward, a label solely designed to reissue forgotten Italian house records.
The compilation not only covers the hard-to-find gems but also the more obvious classics from the likes of Dreamatic, Extreme and Morenas, all off the infamous Dance Floor Corporation back-catalogue. A personal highlight comes in the form of Q Base’s ‘II Sole (The Sun) (Deep Mix)’ a sun-soaked, deep groover with infectious vocals to match. A balance is certainly made to not just include sought-after tracks, however, the more observant of you will notice that a lot of the records have experienced a surge in prices of late on the second-hand market. Aqua Re’s ‘Holy Dance (Large Sound Mix)’ and Deep Choice’s ‘Fix of 4.38PM’ are just two examples, both readily available on the cheap in the past, but now commanding high prices as a result of Young Marco’s Boiler Room at Dekmantel Festival last year. Many, and myself included, will therefore be happy to get them in all one bundle.
Although it would be impossible to tell the whole story, the collection does however provide a wonderful narrative of a very special period in the history of house music and firmly disproves the critics that have previously labelled the genre tacky and homogenous. The compilation will be released on Marco’s Safe Trip on 20th March, released digitally in one single package and on vinyl in two separate volumes.
Vol 1: Listen | Pre-order
Vol 2: Pre-order
Words by Tom G