Mall Grab is the Australian producer who made house music loads of fun in 2016
Releases on Hot Haus Recs and Hokkaido Dance Club have really elevated his worth
The producer made a mark in 2015 with material on Shall Not Fade and 1080p, but this year he really found his sound. The jazzy ‘Sun Ra’ EP for London’s hyped Church imprint was one of Phonica Records’ bestselling releases of the year, plus he was tapped up for a monthly Rinse show and launched his own Steel City Dance Discs label. Along the way, he unleashed heaters on Hokkaido Dance Club and DJ Haus’ Unknown To The Unknown (see the Eskibeat-sampling ‘I’ve Always Liked Grime’) and sub-label Hot Haus towards the end of the year.
Sound Pellegrino boss Teki Latex got him to DJ at his sweaty Paris session in May and was decidedly impressed. “He definitely carries the torch for sample-based grainy lo-fi house music at the moment,” explains Teki. “But contrarily to a lot of producers in that genre, his music is a bit more accessible; you can tell that he has a following that goes beyond lo-fi house/techno nerds.”
This accessibility is apparent when Mall Grab informs Mixmag he’s been asked to sign at least 25 copies of his ‘Sun Ra’ marble vinyl at European gigs this year. “Some dude commented on YouTube saying that it helped him through a really bad break-up, and I was like ‘fuck!’.”
