Mala

Music, energy, culture and collaboration: Born and raised in South Norwood, South London, Mala has played a pioneering role in UK music since the turn of the century. Stirring dubstep's musical melting pot with its most primal ingredients before it even had a name, Mala was a founding member of DMZ, the crew behind some of modern bass music's most influential dances and the most highly prized 12s the movement has ever known. Almost 20 years later, his ideas and his creations continue to influence, push and fuse contemporary electronic music to unchartered places...

The man behind the agenda setting label Deep Medi Musik, Mala has continued to develop the UK bass blueprint, encouraging creative compositions from the likes of Skream, Swindle, Silkie, Commodo, Calibre, Goth-Trad, Truth, Kahn, Egoless and many more genre-affirming artists... Including Sir Spyro whose 'Topper Top' became one of grime's most the most iconic tracks in recent years.

The same can be said for his musical output: Thanks to Gilles Peterson, Mala has created two of the most critically acclaimed and forward thinking albums in UK bass this decade. Reflecting his foresight and ability to draw from the widest possible corners and bring people together, 2012's 'Mala In Cuba' and 2016's 'Mirrors' were explorations in collaborating, vibing and spiritually connecting with gifted musicians across two complex explorations of South and Central America. Blending, embracing and translating their art as he channels his own creative flow from places and energies unknown, these albums are truly singular experiences that join dots and make parallels between seemingly disparate worlds.

Beyond the albums are the seminal record releases (and countless dubs) he's given the world such as 'Changes', one of the most iconic, haunted and cult compositions in modern electronica. Remixed by fellow forward-thinker James Blake and sampled by both The Game and XXXTENTACION on 'Holy Water' and 'Look At Me' respectively, 'Changes' represents just how much of an influence Mala has had on contemporary music well beyond the confines of the speaker stack.

These moments can be found across Mala's history: John Peel playing Mala dubplates on Radio 1 as far back as 2003, Mary Anne Hobbs inviting Mala and his peers to propagate the paradigm with Dubstep Warz in 2006 or, much more recently, Akala requesting Mala to score his powerfully on-point TV-adapted theatre show 'The Ruins Of Empires'. That's before we get to the heavily demanded 'Anti War Dub', the soul stirring gumbo that is 'Don't Let Me Go' and the epoch-defining 'Left Leg Out' or his remixes of the most iconic names across the last four generations of music; Grace Jones, Sade, Moritz Von Oswald, Lee Scratch Perry, Fat Freddy's Drop, The Last Poets and more.

Decades deep and still at the very forefront, Mala remains in demand. Fusing the frequencies, bringing people together, and inspiring a whole new generation of talent, nurturing and developing a culture and continues to drive the most exciting corners of electronic music with energy, culture and collaboration. To be continued...