Mala

Londoner Mark Lawrence, known to his fans as Mala had a teenage fascination with drum & bass and jungle, experience which later coloured his own experiments with rhythmn and bass. The cross-sampling of genres prevalent in jungle opened Lawrence's eyes and ears to the possibilities of using jazz, funk and reggae influences in his productions. After a spell as a DJ on the London scene Lawrence hooked up with Dean Harris (aka Coki) and formed production duo Digital Mystikz becoming prime movers in the dubstep scene. The duo came to the attention of well known club DJ and radio jock Gilles Peterson and a friendship developed which led to Peterson signing Lawrence to his Brownswood Recordings label. In a quest for artistic inspiration the two men set off to Cuba on an expedition to find their rhythm, during which recordings were made of various Cuban musicians. Upon his return to London Lawrence added his touch as a producer and in 2012 Brownswood released the album Mala In Cuba. Lawrence then journeyed to Peru for further inspiration and in 2016 the artist released the album Mirrors using sounds from unconventional sources such as pan pipes, animal bones and dried pumpkins.