Young Marco – Selectors 002
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Young Marco Selectors 002 Dekmantel

06.03.17

Dekmantel’s new Selectors series returns after last year’s debut, which was curated by Motor City Drum Ensemble and comprised of an unmixed collection of obscurities from the top-tier DJs’ huge record collection. Amsterdam native Young Marco, given his connections to Dekmantel and digger credentials, was the natural next entrant.

He does not disappoint. Part of Marco Sterk’s charm is his commitment to his own taste – the Selectors 002 press release admits that he’s cleared a few dancefloors over the years. And while it’s popular opinion that a good DJ should mould a set accordingly to the mood of a crowd, I’d argue that the sign of a great one is the ability to pull a crowd along, wherever it is the selector wishes. Across Selectors 002, this is the path trodden by Young Marco, who drags us from the N64-loading-screen funk of Danny Boy’s Diskomix (Disko version) through to Personal FX’s deep celestial roller Objects In Mirrors. Marco largely sticks to this sonic palette throughout: loose variations of house and disco, playful and dreamy in equal measure. Larry Heard’s ambient house cut Dolphin Dream, for example, drifts with an otherworldly cheek, evoking the retro-futurism of classic sci-fi like Logan’s Run. Ghostwriters’ Swizzle, too, carries more than a hint of mischief in its bouncy modular synth play.

While some of these records are going for hefty sums on Discogs, tracks like Green Baize’s Spick And Span or The Force Dimension’s chugging EBM number 200 FA (Extended Mix) are not beyond anyone with the inclination to obtain. In this way, Selectors 002 avoids accusations of functioning simply as a rarities repress (admirable though that can be). Of course, it can serve that purpose too; having this many gems on wax is well worth the price. But what makes this another worthy extension of this series is how it feels cohesive as a body of tracks while doing a great job of showing off Young Marco’s singular quirks, proving him to be an uncompromising selector who’s easy to enjoy.