The biggest influences throughout years have been : Global Communication / Tom Middleton + Mark Pritchard / Jedi Knights / Reload / Cosmos / Chameleon / Modwheel / .... .... .... (undisputed no 1); Future Sound Of London / Amorphous Androgynous / Indo Tribe / .... ; Orb ; Omni Trio ; Orbital ; Vangelis ; Jean-Michel Jarre ; Depeche Mode ; Goldie ; Kool & The Gang ; Carl Craig ; Kraftwerk ; Adam F ; This Mortal Coil ; Pixies ; Sven Grünberg ; Thomas Newman ; Leftfield ; Serge Gainsbourg ; Giorgio Moroder ; Rolling Stones ; Towa Tei ; Coldcut ; Derrick Carter ; Michael Jackson ; Aphex Twin ; Nightmares On Wax ; Eurhythmics ; A Man Called Adam ; Zero 7 ; AIR ; Ian Pooley ; KLF ; 4Hero ; Doc Scott ; Zodiak ; MAW ; Blaze ; Juan Atkins ; Jeff Mills ; Jori Hulkkonen ; Seba ; JMJ & Richie ; Peshay ; LTJ Bukem ; Omar Santana ; Jazzanova ; Jill Scott ; Brian Eno ; Photek ; Source Direct ; Optical ; Intense ; Blu Mar Ten ; Aquasky ; Blame ; Bassline Smith ; Ed Rush ; Marcus Intalex ; Marcos Valle ; Minnie Ripperton ; Stevie Wonder ; Daft Punk ; Larry Levan ; DJ Trax ; Massive Attack ; Portishead ; Röyksopp ; Sao Benitez ; Tito Puente ; Eero Koivistoinen ; Ive Mendes ; Dave Angel ; SS ; Borax ; Suzanne Vega ; Julee Cruise ; Charles Webster ; Yukihiro Fukutomi ; Koop ; The Three Degrees ; Taka Boom ; Erick 'More' Morillo ; Sixteen Souls ; Essa ; Needs ; Jesper Dahlbäck ; Vitamiin ; Jan Hammer ; Fela Kuti ; Radiohead ; Suede ; Future Engineers ; Alaska / Paradox ; Equinox ; Digital ; Acen ; Danny Breaks ; J Majik ; Wax Doctor ; Armand Van Helden ; Idjut Boys ; Extended Family ; Technical Itch ; Roni Size & Reprazent ; New Phunk Theory ; Salt City Orchestra ; Terry Francis ; Larry Heard ; Kenny Hawkes ; Crazy Penis ; Schmoov ; Kenneth Graham ; Krafty Kuts ; Adam Freeland ; Hybrid ; Plump DJs ; Adam Beyer ; Robert Manos ; Robert Owens ; David Morales ; Astrud Gilberto ; Patife & Marky ; Grooverider ; Fabio ; Total Science ; Aural Imbalance ; Nemos ; Lacarno & Burns ; Kerri Chandler ; James Brown (RIP) ; Roy Ayers ; Terry Callier ; Hidden Agenda ; D-Bridge ; Deep Dish ; Vick Lavender ; Glenn Underground ; Paul Johnson ; Marshall Jefferson ; Romanthony ; Azymuth ; IG Culture ; Joe Claussell ; Nico ; DJ Trace ; Nookie ; Miguel Migs ; PFM ; Dillinja ; Alex Reece ; Concord Dawn ; Senor Coconut ; Ron Trent ; Brian Harden ; Joey Negro ; KATO ; Faze Action ; Wale Oyejide ; Paul Hester ; Cabaret Voltaire ; Incognito ; Two Banks Of Four ; Breakage ; Flytronix ; Stomu Yamashta ; Rachel Wallace ; Boards Of Canada ; Plaid ; DJ Suv ; Shapeshifter ; Mateo & Matos ; Krust ; Fila Brazilia ; Fred Everything ; Ennio Morricone ; Foul Play ; Earth Leakage Trip ; Rainer Trüby ; I:Cube ; Nick Holder ; Next Evidence ; Danny Tenaglia ; Blue 6 ; Julius Papp & Dave Warrin ; Man Machine ; Noel Nanton ; DJ Pulse ; Justice ; Garbage ; Bliss'n'Tumble ; Groove Armada ; Cypress Hill ; Public Enemy ; Jerome Sydenham ; Bob Marley ; Lee 'Scratch' Perry ; King Tubby ; DMZ ; Bandulu ; Amp Fiddler ; Jah Wobble ; Doctor Dub ; Mark Farina ; Richie Hawtin ; Neon Heights ; Theo Parrish ; Motorbass ; Daphreephunkateerz ; Claude Debussy ; Vivaldi ; Arvo Pärt ; Steve Reich ; Jazz Vandall's ; Jazztronik ; Andrew Weatherall ; Shy FX ; Minx ; Banaczech ; Zero DB ; Freddie Hubbard ; Winstons ; Pepe Bradock ; Man Parrish ; Alexander Robotnick ; Ty ; Laurent Garnier ; Francois Kevorkian ; Mad Professor ; Wagon Christ ; Out-Or ;
and even more of those whom I cannot recall at this time.
Mark Slavin, born 1980 in Estonia, got caught by music at the tender age of three, when he started listening to various vinyl records his parents had, on his own - mostly rock and 70ies disco. Already in childhood he developed a strong taste of his own, carefully picking the sounds he liked from quite limited record collection. Later the taste went more electronic way, sufficient to name Depeche Mode, Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis as his favourites at age ten, soon to be overwhelmed by the likes of KLF, Marusha, Westbam, Orbital, and in early teenage, by digital hardcore and gabber, especially Terrordrome and Thunderdome compilations.
In 1996, he got bitten by the nasty bug called drum & bass, thanks to the track by one of Estonian d&b pioneers, and currently his partner in crime at Jus'Fine Formation event series, Dzheimz - Orient Express. Because Mark didn't have a CD player at home at that time, he started spending all his money on drum&bass vinyls, and in 1997, debuted as a DJ on his friends' small event which was still broadcast by local TV station Kanal 2 as a feature. About at that time Mark also started fiddling around with music creation software such as FastTracker 2 and discovered a passion for melodic, long, haunting pads, influences of which can be heard in nearly every set since. It is no coincidence the tracks he played could be called either "deep and atmospheric", heavily influenced by Good Looking sounds (which is still one of his favourite labels) or "rough and tough" as a remnant from his digital hardcore/gabber period, such as Technical Itch. The same year he also met To-Sha, who currently runs a weekly drum&bass show and event series Tjuun In with other Estonian leading d&b deejays and fellow friends L Eazy and Qba.
By the year of 1998 he already had several gigs on his account, and got hooked by deep house sounds, which became dominant in his sets - although he still kept spinning drum&bass. In 1999, he helped organizing the first two d&b events called Tjuun In, and got his own house music radio show at a small local radio station with his good friend DJ Lorenzo. The show was called Soulheaven, which was taken from a '97 event series Lorenzo organized in Pärnu. At that time his musical taste widened even more and he started to buy and play various jazz/funk/deeptech records, not to mention his biggest passion - ambient. A huge role in that was played by Global Communication albums (Remotion, 76:14), and pretty much anything Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard had done, so their creations can be called the biggest musical influence in Mark's life; also Orb and FSOL.
Mark was also signed to the international DJ (Estonian based) agency Macadam Music, which is run by DJ Widenski. In 2001, Mark, Lorenzo and Widenski moved their shows to a radio station called Energy FM, where Mark participated in two weekly shows (one Macadam house show with Widenski, other eclectic show with Lorenzo, keeping the name Soulheaven - nothing to do with UK event series!) until 2005. Mark also got invited to play abroad - Oulu, Finland being the first gig outside Estonia. About at the same time Mark re-discovered drum&bass, and once again, this style continued to gain bigger part in his sets.
In 2003, Mark was invited to play at Tallinn's most glamourous club Privé to play alongside DJ Patife, and this event was a prelude to a monthly event series called Jus'Fine at the same club, with Dzheimz and Mark Slavin as residents. In 2004 the event series joined forces with DJ SS and Formation records, so the event's name became Jus'Fine Formation and it was the first drum&bass event series in Estonia which brought (and is still bringing) over A-list DJs on a regular monthly basis - LTJ Bukem, Pendulum, Bryan Gee, Adam F, Fresh, Shy FX, Fabio, Grooverider just to name a few for starters. Mark has also shared the stage with Kevin Saunderson, Total Science, Sub Focus, A-Sides, Mampi Swift, Physics, Muffler, Seba, Marky, Moving Fusion, Dom & Roland, Hazard, Makoto... the list goes on and on.
Currently Mark is one of the residents at Jus'Fine Formation event series and he also has a weekly atmospheric/liquid/drumfunk show every Sunday 7-9 GMT on Energy FM (www.energyfm.ee). Also, Mark has been lately busy producing and already has received positive feedback - in 2005, his drum&bass track Kauksi was voted into top 5 of Estonian d&b tunes (himself being voted to no 2 Estonian d&b DJ) and his house tunes have been smashing dancefloors in several clubs in Estonia, not to mention airing on national radio station R2. He has been playing in Latvia's biggest club Essential, in Finland and in Lithuania, and playing every time at Estonia's biggest events Sun Dance Music Festival and 5th Element. Lately he has been given the honour to represent Estonian massive at Offkey recordings night, starring Raiden, The Sect, Proket, Panacea and Glitchswitch.
To sum up, Mark Slavin is a true jack-of-all-trades both as a DJ and a music lover. He can still be heard spinning house, techno, drum&bass, electronica, jazz, funk, oldschool hardcore and ambient all over Estonia and abroad. His main motto can be summed up with one word only - "FUN", so that's one reason he hasn't really limited himself by sticking to a certain music style. Also he regards DJing as a form of art, a journey through moods and sounds, blending one into another. The bottom line, however, is, that Mark wouldn't have achived anything without good friends and is deeply thankful for all the chances to get started and evolve (you know who you are!).
