Marco Weibel
Marco Weibel spins the city and the globe with rich and emotive anything—he’ll coax the soul out of jazz funk to footwork, boogie to drum and bass. His diverse selections weave the UK-influenced styles he was exposed to growing up in Singapore with the New York, Chicago, and Detroit cuts he often surrounds himself with now, and so much more from around the world. He commands a club, opening ears to new musical moods, captivating with swelling basslines, and nailing the late night with sultry, spirit-stirring sounds, all mixed with the precision required for Marco’s level of genre-juggling.
Marco’s DJing is informed by his remarkable ear for what’s hidden, what’s rare, what’s timeless, and what’s new and noteworthy. He works to spread those sounds as a core member of the internationally respected Darker than Wax collective and record label and with his acclaimed six-year-running eponymous weekly Lot Radio show. His reflective mixes do the work as well, like this one for us at Social Studies, which opens with beautiful, sometimes soul-tingling instrumentals before it takes a clean tour of danceable tracks that offer a dynamic preview of what he’ll bring to our party on Friday, June 17th.
Marco is capturing the interest of everyone who knows music—the vinyl mavens for his reputation as a collector, the dance music reporters for his captivating playing out, and the engaged listener who regularly catches his radio show. Accordingly, he has rightfully been the underground’s version of a cover star recently, offering glimpses into his process and artistry in Resident Advisor, Stamp the Wax, and XLR8R. We highly recommend checking those features; today we’re sharing a conversation we had with Marco that reaches beyond sonics, because he’s a damn interesting guy. It’s honest—coincidentally, a thread that Marco often cites runs through his curation, DJing, and releases.
Interview - Azzeddine Elasri Editor - Sacha Madadian Photography - Filipe Zapelini Art - AlfredoFirst and foremost, congrats on the recent Resident Advisor feature. That's sick.
Thank you, man. Yeah.
How did it come about?
Actually, to be honest, they [initially] hit me up in December last year. And it's been over seven months of waiting on them. It's just how these platforms are sometimes. They hit me up to drop a mix in April. Then the week before it was supposed to drop, they were like, "so sorry but we double-booked you."
It’s annoying because as an artist you're such a slave to these platforms. I was considering planning a bit of a Europe tour based off that mix. Their oversight obviously affected me pitching to clubs, but I'm happy now that it’s out.
It’s interesting that you mention this increasing dependency on certain systems and platforms to determine the value or relevance of a DJ. More and more it seems like these platforms really determine the economics of a booking. You look at these huge festivals happening in Europe, and these lineups feel like they’re chosen based on social media followers, connections to fashion, or being heavily promoted by the media outlets specializing in electronic music. After a while though, it seems like it's just the same names over and over at every festival. Is it fair to say that's how the market works right now? Are we all just part of this hierarchical "Business Techno" model?
It is like that in many ways. You gotta know how to navigate these systems but also not get too caught up in them. Fostering and building a community is the most important thing and, honestly, a lot of these platforms don’t really have a community. It’s the artists that bring the community to them.
“You gotta know how to navigate these systems but also not get too caught up in them. Fostering and building a community is the most important thing and, honestly, a lot of these platforms don’t really have a community. It’s the artists that bring the community to them.”
I have been following your Lot Radio show for a while now, but hadn't had a chance to meet you until recently through Sean (Sato). Let's talk about the beginnings. Where did you grow up? I know you were born in Singapore.
Yeah! We’re six years strong with the radio show, every Saturday from 12 to 2pm on The Lot Radio. It’s absolutely crazy to look back on it. I appreciate you listening, and we do it for ya’ll, really, to foster community and give something back to the heads!
I grew up in Singapore. My mom is Singaporean. She's Nonya/Peranakan—basically mixed Chinese and Malay heritage. My dad is Swiss, but he’s been in Southeast Asia for a long time. He grew up in a small town outside of Zurich, but he moved to Asia when he was 20. He started working [as a chef] in the Philippines and Hong Kong, mainly with different hotel groups, working his way up in kitchens. He eventually stayed in Singapore and he’s a permanent resident there.
I grew up very Singaporean, very local. Because Singapore is quite a mixed place (Chinese/Malay/Indian cultures), and it was colonized by the British, there’s definitely a lot of cultures present and a western influence from all of the “expats” there. (It’s funny—we refer to immigrants in Southeast Asia as expats, almost as a superior term.)
A common misconception is that people don’t speak English—everyone in Singapore learns English as their first language in school and we learn our mother’s tongue as a second language. I learned Mandarin. Every male citizen in Singapore has to enlist in the army for two years. I hated that [laughs].
Oh, that's so interesting. I imagine culinary culture was probably a big part of your upbringing, but how did you get into music?
The food in Singapore is on another level. Everyone who has lived in Singapore is deep into the Hawker/food culture there. Everyone has their favorite dish, favorite spot, etc. To be honest, it’s one of the few cultural identities we have in Singapore. It’s such a young country and lacks unifying culture because of how mixed [it is], how fast things are built and change. But when it comes to food, we don’t mess around!
I was always into music. When I was younger, I played in a couple of bands and was surrounded by friends who were into punk and metal, etc. My dad collected records. I inherited his collection. It's a lot of soul and classic rock. My mom was really into CDs. She would play a lot of downtempo and lounge stuff, actually. A lot of Cafe del Mar, a lot of Sade. Big shout out to my sister, because she was listening to a lot of jazz and R&B and rap, which I hated growing up. My sister's 12 years older than me, so she always took care of me when I was younger. When I was in that rebellious pre-teen phase, I was just like, "Oh, I don't like this music that you're listening to." But it's really stuck around, and she put me on to so much hip-hop, soul, R&B. Missy Elliott to Jay-Z, Anita Baker and Dinah Washington.
That's funny. Tell us more about this rebellious phase. . .
[Laughs.] Yes, while growing up, I got really into BMXing. After school I'd be hanging out at the skate park. I think that's how I got into subculture—from sound to clothes—because a lot of the people at the skate park, the skaters, BMXers, punk kids, organized shows.
Then when we turned 17, 18, we started going out to the clubs where I started discovering more electronic music, drum and bass. There [was] a club in Singapore called Home Club. I used to hang there a lot. They would have drum and bass nights monthly called +65. They’d have Goldie playing there every six months or something because Goldie loved Singapore.
Eventually I started going to this other club called Zouk, which is a massive club. It had 3 rooms. It's still around, but it got bought out by a casino group and sadly musically it’s never been the same.
So this Club Zouk, is named after the Caribbean music genre?
Yeah, based off that sound. But it was very inspired by Ibiza. The owner, he'd been to, I think, Space a couple times and he was like, "I want to bring this vibe to Singapore." And so the early days of Zouk were amazing and fundamental to my musical upbringing. Gilles Peterson used to run his Worldwide Festival there once a year for, I think, six years [(2006 to 2012)]. I was catching people like Mala, Lefto, Floating Points, Dorian Concept, Dâm-Funk, Pearson Sound when he was still Ramadanman as well! I remember catching them very early on. And I was just having my mind blown.
Oh, yeah. I loved that Ramadanman project.
Like, "Oh my God, what is this music?" And so I just got deeper and deeper into it.
Then when did you move to the U.S.?
I moved to the U.S. in 2014. I was pretty involved with DJing and music at that point. I did my two years of army and then I was just freelance DJing in Singapore for two years. I had a residency every week at this PS Cafe in Ann Siang. I came here for [undergrad], but I also had the intention of growing the label (Darker than Wax), continuing to DJ, and staying out here.
Singapore is a dope place, but you can't do music fully. There aren’t that many opportunities. Everyone who does that there has a significant side hustle. In the U.S., you still have to have a side hustle for sure, but there's more opportunity out here, and there's more of an infrastructure. I've always wanted to be in New York, I guess, because it's the kind of city that allows that creativity to really thrive.
Speaking of the label, when did it start? I think I've seen many people involved in it.
[Darker than Wax] is a core team of about eight of us. I think it's about 14 years old this year. I've been involved with the label since pretty much the first release. It's founded by Funk Bast*rd and Kaye. And Funk Bast*rd, he goes by Dean. Dean is one of my early musical mentors. I met him when I was probably around 17. And he was a big figure in teaching me about the culture of music, DJing, and digging. They started the label at that point to get their own productions out [(under Cosa Nostra)]. I was doing graphics and video stuff for their first few parties and releases because that's what I did in school.
Nice. The design of the promo materials for The Lot Radio show stands out. It's very clean.
Yeah. I mean, I just try to keep a consistent theme going. And I do a lot of the flyers for our parties in NY. I run a couple ongoing series. We have a residency at Le Bain, Ludlow House, and Good Room.
From there, [the label] just grew very organically. We started to sign a few releases. We put out some early music from Ta-Ku even! I think the sound at that point was very heavily influenced by what was going on on SoundCloud as well. So it was a lot of hip-hop, future beats, if that's what people called it, I guess. Trap and R&B. But everything, really, because Dean always collected everything from African music to Brazilian music to house music, soul music, jazz, etc. So, over time, the label evolved. And our idea for it was to never really stick to one sound. I think we're on release 70 now. DTW-069 is an EP from UK-based producer Cain, and that just came out end of April.
Oh, that's sick. I didn't know you had all those releases now.
I've had a chance to listen to a couple of compilations on Darker than Wax that I found super interesting. All over the place, but quality sounds.
Yeah, all over the place. But I think the common thread is just a raw, honest, almost soulful [sound]. But it doesn't have to be soul music—it just comes from a place. A deep place.
Outside of music, I know you're into fashion, you like street wear brands, and you’ve been close to skateboarding culture from a young age. Do you feel all of these things are interconnected and inform each other?
I feel they definitely inform one another. I grew up riding BMX and just being around a lot of skaters. And I think that all these subcultures intersect in different ways from music to fashion to skateboarding, BMXing to, yeah, just street culture.
In America, Skate Culture has been predominantly tied to counter culture genres like Hip-Hop and Punk. Do you think electronic music can have a space here in the same way Palace and Trilogy Tapes have made it for the UK?
Skate culture is just hip to what the streets are into. What’s bubbling in the underground, what’s the hot new sound that everyone’s feeling, what clothes people are wearing, etc. I think that more than ever the lines between genres are so blurred. It’s 100 percent embedded in the space. Look at OJAS for example. He designs speakers for Supreme’s stores out here but is also responsible for the sound system at Public Records.
Are there any brands or designers that have caught your eye recently?
Yeah, a lot of different stuff. I've always looked towards different things for inspiration. One big aspect of design that I love getting inspired by is architecture, actually. I found that love of architecture through Dean as well, who is an architect by profession. He's put me onto so many amazing designers. One that comes to mind is Ricardo Bofill. He's done a couple buildings in Barcelona. They're very colorful, a really inspiring use of public space.
Oh, this is beautiful. His architecture looks like a maze.
Yeah. When we were in Barcelona, me and Dean played out at this club called Razzmatazz and then we went to check out his project Walden 7. Completely mind-blowing in person.
Aside from architecture, what else is a big design influence on you?
[My partner] works heavily in fashion. She used to work at the CFDA, and they do an awards show every year highlighting emerging designers as well as people in the industry. She’s recently just started a new job at HYPEBEAST. She's always putting me on to new stuff. When I moved to New York, I think a big bunch of my friend group that I connected with early on all came from this Tumblr fashion bubble. A lot of them were Tumblr bloggers that were in menswear. I'm not super deep into fashion, but I enjoy it. And I learned a lot from these cats that surrounded me. Shout out to Ade, Noah, CJ. CJ, who was my roommate for 5 years, also runs an amazing brand called Tropical Futures Institute. It's a lot of DIY independent brands but operating on the fringes of just everything—music, culture, design. A lot of their references are based off research from these areas. Because everything great has been done before, right?
I'm looking at some of their work. This is interesting. Reminds me a little bit of the Total Luxury Spa design aesthetic.
Yeah, Total Luxury Spa. Exactly. The designer Hassan Rahim has such an amazing eye. I believe he’s involved with that brand. I fuck heavily with his references and vibe, a lot of inspiration from skate culture, music culture, and car culture!
“Because certain venues obviously favor certain sounds and certain crews, [The Lot Radio] is a meeting place where everyone comes together. So spaces like radio stations, community spaces are super important, because that's where I meet the crossover. That's where you make the crossover happen as well. And as someone who is so into different sounds, I think that's a place that has really flourished the scene.”
How did you meet with Mawkus? He’s been your Lot Radio buddy for 5 years now.
Yeah, shout out to Marcus, man. We both moved to New York within the same two months. I had met this friend of his that goes by Foniks. He's an artist and DJ based out in Japan, but originally from California and he knew Marcus [Aurelius Rosario] from California. He was just like, "Hey, you guys know a lot of common friends, very similar music tastes." And at that point, Marcus was also very involved with the Soulection crew. So we just connected and I didn't really know anyone in New York, musically, so we just started DJing together and...
…And it just happened organically, I guess.
Yeah, just very organically. Just started playing more and more together. I had been used to always having a collective team around from Singapore [since] there's eight of us who run the label together.
Marcus recently moved to San Francisco. He works remotely for a New York company that's called Building Beats. It's a non-profit that's set up in after-school programs for kids to get them into DJing and music production. It's really dope. He's definitely missed out here. I've been holding down the radio shows now. We have him play the last show of the month.
Would you live outside New York in the future?
I mean, I've talked about it with Anna, my partner. I don't really see ourselves being able to because we just love being in the city so much, and we just thrive off the energy. But I mean, who knows?
As far as club culture, how are you feeling about the New York scene these days? I know there's a lot of stuff going on.
I mean, I'd say it's very healthy for sure. Half of the things that go on, I don't really even know about. There's so many different pockets of it, but I think that's a good thing.
Spaces like The Lot Radio are super important because that's where there's that crossover between the techno kids and the house kids and people who are in-between, people [who] are record diggers, gear heads, whatever. Because certain venues obviously favor certain sounds and certain crews, [The Lot Radio] is a meeting place where everyone comes together. So spaces like radio stations, community spaces are super important, because that's where I meet the crossover. That's where you make the crossover happen as well. And as someone who is so into different sounds, I think that's a place that has really flourished the scene. Any city that has that is golden. And to have an opportunity to do a show there weekly is great as well.
I think post-COVID, [the scene] has come back busier than ever. There's a lot of new faces. I think some people feel like, a lot of people don't know certain etiquette, which is true. You go to certain parties, it can be very rowdy. But it's just about educating people. At the end of the day we need these people to support these industries. We need to have these parties packed. Spaces that are pushing conscious things, where people are saying, like, "Okay, don't use your phone on a dance floor" and that sort of thing, help create a vibe. And I think that's becoming a norm more often. So I think that helps to educate the new crowd that's coming in. This whole music community is very tribal in that sense. Traditions are passed down.
“Big shout out to Wei’s Williamsburg. I used to practically live there…Get the soup dumplings, pea shoots, spicy chicken, salt and pepper shrimp, thank me later!!!”
We've talked a lot about your upbringing in Singapore and now about life in America. And food seems to be important in your life. Is there a place in New York that you can go when you miss home?
There’s a couple of places that are comfort food for me. Big shout out to Wei’s Williamsburg. I used to practically live there. They’re a killer Chinese spot with immaculate vibes—think amazing lighting, great sound system and playlist, friendliest staff. Get the soup dumplings, pea shoots, spicy chicken, salt and pepper shrimp, thank me later!!! Also love Nyonya, the Malaysian spot off Grand Street in Manhattan. And Bo Ky on Bayard is a killer Teochew spot serving Chinese/Vietnamese dishes.
Let’s do shout-outs before I let you go.
Shout out to ya’ll for having me on your platform, always lovely to connect with likeminded beings. I’m really looking forward to playing in Boston for your party this coming Friday!!! My first time out there!