MAKOSSA & MEGABLAST
Marcus Wagner-Lapierre is deeply rooted within the Viennese DJ culture since the early 1980ies, he started spinning at clubs like the legendary U4 or the Camera Club. Italian Cosmic Disco, NYC Disco Punk Funk and British Electro Wave were the main influences back in these days. In his truly eclectic DJ-sets Kraftwerk would rub shoulders with Fela Kuti and Dub Syndicate, with some occasional Rare Grooves or Disco Funk goodies from the 1970ies thrown in for good measure.
Working at Vienna’s first DJ record store / label Dum Dum Records at that time, his aim was always to be a ‘musical teacher’ and not just playing the well known hits. The new hot records, he was the one to play them first. With his wide range of musical knowledge, intuitive feeling for the dancefloor and amazing mixing skills, he has influenced and animated many music lovers in and outside of Vienna. Early 1992 his own weekly radio show together with MC Sugar B, called SWOUND SOUND SYSTEM (formerly known as Silly Solid Swound System) started nationwide on main public radio station Ö3 every saturday night from 10 -12 p.m. In 1995 Austria`s famous independent youth radio FM4 was established and Makossa became head of the music department. Swound Sound was shifted to the new frequencies and some new radio shows like Sunny Side Up, Liquid Radio & Homebase were now supervised by him. He has compiled more than 50 successful cd compilations for FM4 (Soundselection, SSU) and others (Dub Club, etc) and the support of local music is still one of his most important goals. After doing a few remixes and productions for / with Uptight, Sofa Surfers & Peter Kruder in the mid 1990ies, he finally teamed up with long-time friend Megablast in 2004. As Makossa & Megablast the influences and experience all come together, with the debut release ‘Kunuaka’ a champion display of such a sentiment. It was unveiled at the Miami Winter Music Conference and proved an immediate hit with the likes of such luminaries as Gilles Peterson, Carl Craig, Laurent Garnier and Kenny Larkin. The title track of the album was nominated for Best track 2006 on Gilles Petersons Worldwide awards. Their futuristic remake of labelmate Tosca’s Heidi Bruehl track was a sonic highlight from Tosca’s remix album with a killer riff that made it one of the most floor friendly G-Stone releases of recent years. Further remixes and releases for labels like DJ Hell’s International DeeJay Gigolo, Compost, Man Recordings and Great Stuff as well as track contributions for around 50 compilations helped spreading the word around. In 2010 their highly acclaimed Ibiza anthem Soy Como Soy was released with remixes from Luciano, DJ Koze and D-Nox & Beckers, followed 2011 by the same titled second album. In the last years the artists known as Makossa & Megablast have travelled the world, supported by various vocalists and percussionists. They’ve regularely played gigs in Portugal, including beach parties with fellow grooveheads Booka Shade and Buraka Som Sistema in front of 20 000 people, and went to Brazil, Mexico, China, Japan, Bali and the United States, to name a few. The musical direction is Electronic meets Organic meets World meets Dance; with the styles extending over Afro/Ethno, House, Techno, Dub, Disco, Broken Beats and Hip Hop all complete with that celebrated and much welcome analog feel. Now we are looking forward to the 1000th episode of the Swound Sound radio show and possibly a new M&M album, both in 2016. |