Head To Head: Mark E Vs. The Black Madonna

Equally known for their ability to weave the familiar into intoxicating new territory and to resurrect the warmth and energy of forgotten white labels of yesteryear. Birmingham-based Mark E and Chicago Smart Bar creative director The Black Madonna have built careers on the ability to traverse through dance music's history and recontextualize the status quo into something weirder, deeper and ultimately more communicative. Mark E's exceptional edits of Janet Jackson's "R&B Junkie" radiates pure warmth as it gets lost in the sample's hypnotic repetition, and The Black Madonna's rework of the Celestial Choir's "Stand on the Word" injects a joyful urgency into the Paradise Garage classic that would make the late Larry Levan tip his hat.

Since both producers have the ability to jump between genres with the same ease that a thought rips across synapses, I contacted Mark and Marea in advance of their October 4th show together in Toronto and asked them to give us an idea of what we could expect—more specifically, if they'd be willing to conduct a "virtual" back-to-back set, in which both parties would choose tracks based on what the one before them had put on the table. The result is a YouTube-based grab bag of forgotten gems, revered classics and functional body-movers from both producers.

Mark: Ok, so you want me to make a back-to-back virtual set with the booker from Smart Bar in Chicago the home of House music? Ok, I'll do my best… what better place to start than with a track from Chicago itself? Mondee Olivers' "Make Me Want You," it's my favourite Gherkin release, and now, over 20 years later, it still sits in my own sets today, such a sexy soulful spaced out beaut. If I walked into a club and heard this, I know I'll be staying all night…

Black Madonna: Mark, you're not allowed to be so sweet and so talented. I'm coming back with "Can't You Feel It" by Time. Not only is the art for this record amazing, with some kind of cyborg/Luke Skywalker mash-up happening, this tune sort of sits at at the deeper end of Italodisco, but also includes some wonderfully awkward raps in broken English.

Mark: I've never heard that before, crazy track, Radio GAGAesque, and the awkward English rap is perfect Italo. Also check the English male vocal on Gaz Nevada's "Special Agent Man)," but I think Padded Cell's "Signal Failure" would ease out of your track beautifully, Rinder and Lewis sampled to great effect on this surger.

Black Madonna: Oh, this is outrageous and awesome. I love this and must find it immediately. I'm going to follow up with a record I often turn to—Supermayer's remix of Jolly Joker's "Alter Ego." The energy in this record is amazing, drawing on things I love about techno and Italo in a way that's really interesting and fresh to me almost seven years later.

Mark: Oh yeah, this is equally outrageous—I love how simple it is, gotta get this one. So, I'm going finish with a big favourite of mine which I've been playing for years it seems, would work with the previous lot, devastatingly simple but always kills thing on the floor.

Black Madonna: I'll close with a classic! Erik and Fiedel's mighty "Donna." Such a mental track, fitting as neatly with techno as disco. Raw power here. Thanks so much for letting us do this!

Mark E & The Black Madonna will play together in real life with Martin Fazekas on October 4th. You can follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_a