Master craftsman: Remembering Marcus Intalex and his exploratory d'n'b

A 1990s innovator, his ’94 release ‘What Ya Gonna Do’ (as Da Intalex with Mark XTC on L Double’s Flex Records) is an early genre masterpiece of melodious jungle warmth and hardstepping breakbeat groove, framed by the Motor City synths he would explore for the next quarter of a century. Already presenting the Kiss / Galaxy 102 jungle drum ‘n’ bass show, Intalex moved to Manchester from his native Burnley in the same year, becoming a jungle specialist at record store institution Eastern Bloc and laying the foundations for one of the finest underground drum ‘n’ bass labels of all time: Soul:r.

Forged in 2000 in the thrilling fires of liquid-funk’s golden age, Intalex’s Soul:r label gave drum ‘n’ bass arguably its first ever boutique imprint: a thing of handcrafted beauty on every level, and an undisputed signifier of deluxe drum ‘n’ bass production craft. No self-respecting DJ’s box was not littered with those visually magnetic brown and green sleeves, each one a guarantor of some deep, musical, mystical, rolling voyage. Calibre’s ‘Fire and Water’, Mist:i:cal’s ‘Mistical Dub’, M.I.S.T. vs High Contrast’s ‘3am’ – those early releases joined the dots between jungle’s melodious basstones, liquid’s infectious sunshine and the futureproofed appeal of earthy, dense, rolling drum ‘n’ bass grooves. All were instant classics. All remain so – unlike many other liquid ‘anthems’ of the time.

In Soul:r, Marcus Intalex created something that stayed pure: a quality-over-quantity vision of underground drum ‘n’ bass, which famously showcased some of the genre’s finest young artisans including Lynx, Break, Marky, Klute, High Contrast, and latterly like likes of DRS, Chimpo, Dub Phizix and LSB. That both the label and its Soul:ution night exist today, and have continued to develop, is testament to Intalex’s enduring influence.

Always directing the focus elsewhere, the man who memorably dubbed Calibre the “Magical Musical Machine” was one himself. His fabriclive mix, and sole LP ‘21’, released without fanfare to celebrate his first 21 years in music, tell a story. No deliberate euphoric top-lines. No gimmicks. No trends. Just masterfully-crafted structures that fused a raft of signature elements: the twinkling light touches of liquid funk, the dense percussive energy of rolling snare patterns, the off-camera samples and effects of a techno-attuned artisan. Drum ‘n’ bass riven with an intelligent, exploratory, technoid aesthetic.

And then there was ‘Outerspace’. As close to an all-out club banger as he would ever have wanted to get – and even then an accidental one. Who could have predicted that an essentially mild-mannered liquid roller would become (along with Logistics’ ‘Together’ VIP) Andy C and Friction’s most effective ‘tease’ tune for years on end, out-lasting Andy C’s own signature ‘Titan’, Bad Company’s ‘The Nine’ and numerous other teased anthems of the era?

The secret, of course, was in the science – and the art. Released on Soul:r in 2003, M.I.S.T.’s ‘Outerspace’ remains, for many ravers and DJs, a tune and a dancefloor memory like no other. Those tumbling, cascading, pitched snares, forever a thing of beauty in the dance, fluttered like angels down to earth before that richly melodic, starbursting bassline arrowed upwards and kept going, galloping on and on, riding above the clouds. A highpoint of ecstatic release. A liquid tune? Not quite. A thrilling, joyous, energetic dancefloor voyage, uplifting and exploratory in equal measure. That was Marcus.

Through his music, through the artists he gave a home to, through the vibes he created and curated, through the dancefloors he brought joy to, through the global multitudes he inspired, Marcus Intalex will forever roll on.