A tour through the sounds of Marc Mac’s Nu-Era project
Mark Anthony Clair aka Marc Mac should be no stranger to heads across the board, with a musical legacy that spans decades and has brought a mastery to a rich variety of genres.
Many will know him best for being one half of legendary London outfit Four Hero – arguably one of the UK’s most influential musical powerhouses since the early 1990s, who helped pioneer a litany of sounds under different monikers and give birth to Jungle, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Broken Beat and a whole range of House and Techno in between along the way. Their story is well charted and embraced among the dynamics of popular rave culture, renown for their ever forward thinking approach as innovative and experimental producers. Alongside being the driving force behind one of the most important and now legendary breakbeat driven imprints, Reinforced.
Whilst we are not here to even try and provide a commentary on the length and depth of 4 Hero’s work or influence. We do however want to pay homage to Mac’s wonderful work as Nu-Era, an alias which he first embraced as far back as 1994. A project which continues to surface periodically and has allowed him the space and time to roam into a whole other sphere in sonics he has long been connected to and with – namely, Detroit Techno.
In many respects staying true to his roots, Nu-Era is best understood as Mac’s Jazz fuelled outer-worldly explorations into the depths of his prized collection of machines synthesizers and drum machines. Which has repeatedly resulted in some quite stunning output and quite possibly laid down the blueprint for what eventually became ‘Broken Beat’ (or at least helped give it a direction).
Either way, we do encourage you to turn on and tune in to some absolutely marvellous machine magic, from someone who in many respects is part of the foundations of UK Dance music.
