UK producer Mark E invites us to take a trip down memory lane and hands us an opportunity to get to know him a little better with his most recent EP, Black Country Roots. A release honoring the Industrial Revolution and his steel-mill working class roots from the English West Midlands, the melodic textures embedded in this four-tracker for Running Back resemble those of the UK’s greying coal mines and train tracks that made up Black Country.
“The Kings Heath” opens with a steady 115 BPM that motions the groove back to his other work as one half of Project E. Always creative on the keyboards, the musical elements featured are sure to tickle your earbuds in all the right places. Tracks like “Midland Nights” and “Black Country Roots” feel like the meat of this EP, with a disco/house subtlety that surely pays homage to the UK’s influential sound in music’s history. Rounding us up with the closing track “Sirens FX”, the sirens sounding off make a good end point for the industrial-house journey he takes us on. Black Country Roots is soulful, funky, and out now in both digital and 12″ formats. Go grab it!
Mark E
Black Country Roots
- Running Back
- 2013-11-04