DB's No School Like The Old Skool: Marc Mac

DJ DB has been a fixture in dance music through every renaissance the style has experienced. His archive of DJ mixes and flyers from the '90s rave era are a time capsule of electronic music's first worldwide explosion, and in NO SCHOOL LIKE THE OLD SKOOL he shares some of these treasures. Hear new shit he likes here, or connect with him here.

Marc Mac is a founding member of 4hero and Reinforced Records, and is also known as Maximum Style, 2day & 2moro, Marc Clair, Natures Plan, Nu Era, Visioneer, and Manix, whose mix I have for you at the bottom. The Reinforced office, studio and home bases are all in an area of London that I first visited in 1992 called Dollis Hill.

I've never actually met Marc. He's such a cool music aficionado and credible heavyweight, I'm a little nervous to write about him for fear of fucking it up.

I believe Marc and his crew shaped some of the way dance music happened in the UK. I've always thought of them as something like the British equivalent of Detroit's Underground Resistance collective. While Manix was making people happy with loved-up pianos and diva vocals, his label Reinforced was responsible for some of the most forward-thinking and creative music coming out of the 90s, as well as possibly the straight-up darkest sounds ever put on vinyl. If memory serves, all of Goldie's very first efforts were on Reinforced. In 1993, we licensed the first release from Reinforced's 4hero for my first mix CD on Profile.

Here's the promo-only 10" for my CD that featured 4hero's track "Mr Kirk's Nightmare."

The buzz on the 4hero track didn't seem to be fading, so we made what we thought was a less scary version that could perhaps could get played on the radio in the U.S. Then we worked with some friends to make what turned out to be Hammer & Tongs' first video, who went on to become some pretty important people themselves.

I know I'm showing off a bit, but check out Reinforced's beautiful Enforcer series!

It's hard to pick a favorite, but the rush "Feel Real Good" still sends through a crowd when I mix it in possibly makes it the one…

Marc is still super active and actually just made a new Manix album. For those who love the old skool, you'll really love this! Sorry, picture disc and black vinyl versions are already sold out.

This mix is a perfect time capsule of the era.

Connect with him on Facebook.
Manix Discogs
4 Hero Discogs
Marc Mac Discogs|
Reinforced Discogs