In the Fried Archives: Mark Ernestus

Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes and Mark Ernestus, Little Senegal 116th St., New York 2019

Well, I’m at a loss at providing superlatives to describe the work of Mark Ernestus. Fitting, in that the taciturn man would probably wince at them himself. But if you are a head, that head has been concussed by kicks from the man in a way that might feel like enlightenment. In partnership with Moritz von Oswald, the two crafted projects like Basic Channel, Maurizio, Quadrant, Round One-Round Five, Rhythm & Sound, foundational to the sound of Berlin and the sound of dub techno. (Perhaps even more critical for me than the techno 12”s was their Basic Replay series of reggae reissues at the turn of the 21st century, which felt foundational to me as a recent transplant to New York City, hearing the gritty dubs from Bronx producer Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes and a stable of vocalists and musicians.)

After the two diverged paths, Ernestus released two albums that the force and intention of his previous works to the profound thunder of Senegalese mbalax. His evolution from techno to dub to the concussive force of bass at its most distilled makes for one of the most durable and dependable discographies in electronic music. Oh, and in establishing the record shop Hard Wax as the dust was still settling from the collapse of the Berlin Wall, he helped make Berlin part of the Detroit-London axis, making the city into the dance music Mecca it remains to this day. This interview was conducted near the end of 2016 via email and I met up with Mark again over the summer in 2023 and he was open to having this interview posted here.