Four years ago the world was a very different place.
Temporarily imprisoned by an invisible viral enemy, the entire drum & bass community migrated online. Streams, friendships and even entire festivals became digitised. Many labels paused. Some never returned. Others began…
Take MO7 Recordings. A future-focused drum & bass imprint dedicated to cultivating and honing that stark, forward-thinking side of drum & bass, it was founded exactly at this time by Canadian-in-China Murcor.
He launched a brand new label slap bang in the epicentre of the global pandemic. Literally… Wuhan, the city where covid-19’s origin can be traced, is the closest city to Changsha where Murcor is based!
Unperturbed by the bleak circumstance, the young artist had his hopes beyond our temporary displacement and set his vision for a future where not only borders would wake up again… But a whole new club scene would start to take seed and grow.
His mission? To help push drum & bass culture as much as he could in his adopted home of China. Following the likes of Unchained Asia and scene OGs like Jane Siesta (China’s premiership D&B ambassador who is responsible for bringing most D&B artists over for their Chinese debut), Murcor embraces the country’s blank canvas and is excited about the potential for it across Asia.
Four years deep, his vision persists and his actions are getting stronger. At the start of 2024 MO7 dropped its biggest release to date – Revelations. It featured the likes of Dunk, Stranjah, Yatuza, Skorpion and Sceptre and continued to galvanise MO7’s stark sonic signature and profile. Now time for another pivotal moment: Murcor’s debut EP – Blind Spots.
Featuring UK mic craftsman and all-round don Madrush MC, and laced with a powerful sense of weight and tension, it’s another impressive move for the young newcomer as he pushes hard for his vision to become a reality. We called him up to find out more…
Murcor! Welcome to 1 More Thing. Look out of the window. Tell us what you see… Tell us about China and where you’re based!
Great to connect! Outside my window here is a world different from what most people have experienced. Both in terms of social culture and day-to-day living. At the moment MO7 and myself are based in the city of Changsha which is in Southern China’s Hunan province.
Despite China being a large country the music scene (especially underground music) is quite small and underdeveloped in comparison, your average person here has maybe a tiny idea about what techno or house is, but any mention of drum & bass or jungle and mostly you will get a blank stare in return.
That being said, there is a silver lining in the fact that it’s much like a fresh canvas waiting for colour. We’ve had the great opportunity of entering the scene as something people here haven’t experienced musically before.
A couple of cities have shown great promise in terms of underground music development though, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, all of which have their own collectives of bass music.
We’ve recently had an amazing label night in Guangzhou with a crazy energetic crowd and top-notch vibes , it’s nights like that that give hope for the rise of drum & bass in China.
You’re originally from Toronto. How did you end up in China?
You’re originally from Toronto. How did you end up in China?My journey to China began as an inner desire to refresh myself, a hard reboot if you will. I wanted to be fully thrown into the deep end of something new and away from my comfort zone.
I’ve found that pushing yourself this way encourages growth and discovery that otherwise would be hard to come by.
I ultimately decided to move here to China because everything about it seemed so far away from my life then. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to be away from everything that distracted me and have the time to work on myself as an artist and as a person.
That’s inspiring. Back to Toronto. It’s SUCH a strong D&B/jungle city! Tell us about your relationship with drum & bass and guide us from that first exposure to it to the point you’re now at running MO7…
Toronto is definitely the leading city in North America for D&B jungle. The pure vibe of Toronto’s D&B nightlife is something everyone should experience. The city has also given rise to many certified legends, such as Polaris, Stranjah, and Rene LaVice just to name a few.
We have a very interesting free rave culture in Toronto, large (sometimes not fully legal) outdoor events in which the true underground feeling of the city shines. These have taken place in local parks at night, under highway bridges, and just about any crazy place you can imagine.
These solidified what a rave should be in my mind, all about the music and enjoyment. Funny enough, when I first started going to raves in Toronto around 2010, I was big into happy hardcore. I loved the energy and bounciness behind it. After being exposed to Drum & Bass my tastes in the music eventually ended up doing a huge 180.
It happens! Any particular track or album that turned you that way?
The Lights & Wires album by Black Sun Empire ended up becoming one of my all-time favorites. Then Moving to China and discovering how little people knew about this kind of music sparked the idea for MO7.
After solidifying that idea, I reached out to my long-time friend from Toronto, Yatuza, and together we finalized the first release for the label Vexed. The rest is history, as they say.
Ps. If anyone is wondering why MO7 never credits the artists for the cover art … they are all done by me.
Oh cool. How about your production? Tell us about that side of your journey…
I started getting into music production on and off around 8-9 years ago after spending a few years DJing locally in Toronto. I took a break three years in, then went back at it full force once I realized that I had a real passion for it.
The production journey wasn’t without struggle and challenge, as I think most other producers can attest to. It took a long time for me to be satisfied with my output and get to the point where I was comfortable enough to release my work into the world.
Yeah it has to take a long time doesn’t it? Tell us everything about MO7!
MO7 at its core is all about passion and love for the music. We live and breathe the music we put out and want to be able share it with as many as we can, so we’re always on the lookout for like-minded individuals who share the same drive for what we do.
That aside, It’s not been an easy path to take, as xenophobia towards anything foreign-run is very commonplace here. Even among the non-locally run brands, there always exists some form of gatekeeping or nepotism.
Being able to look back on the literal blood sweat and tears that have got everything to where it is now is what moves the label forward.
I’ve heard from many people that if they were in my shoes they would have thrown in the towel long ago, personally that just fuels me to push even harder.
YES!
What motivates us as well, is the fact that we are some people’s first contact with this genre of music, it’s very empowering to hear that we’ve changed perceptions and music tastes.
We also have a great team of local and foreign artists on this side, some of the best performers I’ve seen in my life. Huge shout to them: Purrppl, 1n. and Dickey. And most notably our artist 51%, an absolute master behind the decks! He puts the rest of us to shame! He’s been digging deeper into his productions lately and I can’t wait to share more about him at a later date.
Labels such as Critical, Flexout, and 1985 have played a large part in shaping the music that drives us and the output of our imprint. As for what the word MO7 means, all I can say is that it relates to “MO”ving forward, the rest can be left to interpretation.
Ahhhh. Nice. You launched it in 2020. Tricky time in general, right? Even more so on your side of the world. What was the vibe like? And what were the challenges?
2020 was a challenging time for everyone, especially for people here in China. We launched right near the start of the pandemic in Wuhan, which is the closest major city to our city Changsha, so it affected us quite quickly. From late 2021 to 2023, things got really intense. While the rest of the world was already mostly free from any lockdowns by then, China was just starting to ramp up the intensity. It was one of the most challenging times of my life in terms of personal mental health, and for the label business side of things as well.
Nothing was open, traveling was heavily restricted, and some people were even barricaded in their own homes/communities and unable to purchase food or water.
It of course meant that any sort of entertainment venues were also not operating, nor were crowds willing to come out to any events for many months after the intense parts of lockdown even ended. I vividly remember we had an anniversary tour for our second year and traveled many hours on the train to the city of Kunming. We ended up playing to a room of maybe 4 people and the bar staff while also getting some sort of COVID-related symptoms after the show. Wild stuff.
You’ve worked with some great artists so far. Yatuza, Dunk, RMS, Skorpion and many others. Tell us about the label’s sonic remit and anything you personally look for from an A&R point of view…
Yes yes, we’ve worked with some amazingly talented artists! From Stranjah to Creatures, the impact they’ve had on the label is paramount. Tracks that deliver the message without going overboard in terms of elements hit the mark for us. Power comes from simplicity. Powerful dark sub basslines and stripped back drums also add points.
However, what I usually look for when deciding to sign a track is if I can vibe to it within that first listen. To me, the feeling you get from a song should outweigh the technical aspects/mixdown in importance.
Thinking about it from an average listener’s point of view, there’s usually only one chance to make an impression, so we take that heavily into consideration.
Yeah that’s so important! Especially when there’s so much stuff out there vying for your attention! You started the year off with a big VA this year didn’t you? Revelations. Tell us about that.
That’s right! The Revelations VA was our largest offering so far, featuring tracks from the likes of Dunk, Stranjah, Yatuza, Skorpion & Sceptre, and a couple of other great artists. I think it’s a great thing to start the year with such a condensed blast of music, really sets the tone and pace for future releases for that year.
Going forward the Revelations VA will be an annual release at the start of each year, really looking forward to showcasing the Revelations 02 VA when the time comes.
Oh nice. Back to the present and you’ve just dropped a new EP – Blind Spot. How did you find working with Madrush? He’s such a sick MC isn’t he?
Set Trend started out with a completely different instrumental and eventually fell into that cycle of listening on repeat only to not fully be satisfied with the work. The artist’s curse for sure haha.
The instrumental was rewritten a bit last minute but turned out exactly the way I had envisioned it to sound. Working with Madrush MC was an absolute pleasure. A truly sincere and humble individual, not to mention his control behind the mic!
He’s been a favorite MC of mine for quite a while, so linking up with him for Set Trend was an experience that made this whole EP even more meaningful for me.
Big ups the Madrush!
Tell us about the whole EP! There’s some great moments in there.
For my debut EP, I wanted it to have a deeper meaning and a connection to my personal life, thoughts about music, and everything that comes with being an artist. I didn’t want to just throw together a few songs that sound similar and call it a day.
The name of the EP “Blind Spots” speaks to the psychological concept of having a lack of awareness about some personal traits, behaviors, or actions that a person would subconsciously repeat. Hence Blind Spots in their perception of themselves.
Ah yes. We all have blind spots, right? How about Give It Up? That’s my persy…
The tune Give It Up specifically represents an inner monologue in which the person believes they are unable to achieve anything of value.
Ahhh. Many can relate!
It was also aptly named Give It Up because the whole project was very close to being tossed in the bin during the production process!
Ha! Glad it didn’t! What do you anticipate for the future of MO7 and Murcor?
As I see it, MO7 only has room to grow. We’re hugely anticipating opening up the drum & bass culture here in China and getting to connect with more wonderful people who share our vision.
Can say the same for myself as an artist, looking forward to what the future brings in terms of collaborations and connections.
Murcor – Blind Spots EP is out now on MO7 Recordings
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