Bleep

DFA is proud to present the long-awaited debut EP by London’s Marcus Marr, Familiar Five.

Influenced by classic soul, rock, disco, and acid house, the multiinstrumentalist, DJ, and producer makes spacy dance music, often including percolating synths, funky bass guitar, and vocals. Over the last few years, Marr has been releasing acclaimed records via DFA Records, including “Brown Sauce,” named in Pitchfork’s Tracks in 2015, and “The Music,” named one of the “Best Dance Tracks of 2013” by SPIN.

A regular at Berlin’s famed nightclub Berghain/Panorama Bar since 2014, the lifelong music obsessive’s first encounters with dance music were acid house records, which grew his vinyl collection of rock and soul, and attending all night parties under Brixton’s St Matthews Church. Traveling to Brighton’s famous Zap Club to watch DJ Harvey play a lengthy set, he saw the kind of power a DJ can wield over a willing crowd.

At last, Marr returns to DFA with a collection of elastic bassline stompers, reminiscent of early Daft Punk. The title track “Familiar Five” originally began with a rock riff, which he later repurposed as the backbone of a piece of slow, dark, dance music. Inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Faust, and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Marr explains that he wanted to make something spooky and simple – a song utilizing “very few elements, with a throb and synth vomit.” On the flip side, lead single “High Times” channels the electric guitar stylings of Nile Rodgers circa 1979, and makes good use of the producer’s trademark whizzing synths as well as vocals from collaborator Nandi Bhebe. “Love Release” and “Rocketship” are both equally effective tracks built for the dancefloor.