BIO: Experimental in both his sound and style, John Mork has made a habit of pushing the limits of his creativity through music, art and performance. As one half of the Chicago new-school house duo The Sound Republic, Mork and then-partner Frankie J took house music on a wild ride of sample-heavy, funk laden beats, and set new standards of audio dissection all while managing to remind audiences it was once again OK to smile and enjoy itself.
2009 marks a new beginning for Mork, who has taken his performance and production career solo again for the first time in more than six years. The Chicago native, who came up through the obligatory ranks of raves and one-offs in the mid- to late- ’90s, looked at house music through a more layered lens when he began collaborating with drum n’ bass producer Frankie J in 2004. Frankie’s deep engineering skills provided a rich back drop to what would be become The Sound Republic’s signature sound, drawing heavy influence from what Mork refers to as "the first wave of the new-school" including artists like Jacob London, Brett Johnson, JT Donaldson, and the "Texas" sound, Derrick Carter's groundbreaking Classic Recordings, and the surgically funky DJing styles of jocks like Diz and DJ Heather. Mork opened Frankie’s eyes to such new-school influences, and in turn Frankie's understanding of complex drum programming proved to be the ideal and missing link for the new sound John envisioned. It was through the combination of these two incredibly different backgrounds that they began fashioning their own brand of quirky funk that helped to define a genre.
As a result, TSR would go on to release more than 30 slabs of vinyl and become seminal players in the growth of what (much to their chagrin) became known as "Jackin' House", a term that TSR would never be quite comfortable with. Much of their early success also came from working with DJ Mes' then-fledgling Guesthouse Music imprint, which eventually grew to be one of the U.S.'s most esteemed underground house music labels. The success they found releasing music on the labels of their peers would lead the creation of their own imprint, Spatula City Records, which continues to be dedicated to simply releasing high-quality vinyl by some of the most innovative artists in the underground, both established and up-and-coming, including Troydon, KiNK, Jacob London, Scrubfish & Laurence, Jason Hodges, Lamanex, and of course, The Sound Republic, to name a few.
As a production duo, Mork mentions several milestones for TSR, including the success of “Just a Little Oven” and “Uncle Freak” (as Francis Jilla and Johnny Drama) at the 2005 Winter Music Conference, working with Aroma Recordings and label head Raoul Belmans on their remix of Ricardo Rae's "Where the Love Goes", and remixing one of their favorite artists, Jacob London, not once but twice - both tracks appearing on Justin Long's 2020Vision-offshoot label, .dotbleep. In 2008, TSR released a track on Mork's favorite label of all time, the Inland Knights' Nottingham-based label, Drop Music. “It Ain’t Hot” would go on to become part of the label’s critically lauded “From Dust ’Til Dawn” 10-year Anniversary compilation.
Now in 2009 Mork has taken those influences of old, the wealth of experience gathered in the years since TSR began, and heaps of the engineering insight gleaned from his time with TSR to launch the next phase of his music career. Taking on a more genre-defying sound, Mork’s new direction in the music scene embodies a headier and more experimental growth of sound + vibe with deeper and techier shades. As an artist, Mork says that "it's tough to be experimental or unformulaic when you're working on music with a clearly defined framework, like house music has. But if you can manage to pull it off, it feels damned good. Also, I'm starting to realize that sometimes subtlety and understatement can often be far more effective than always trying to slam the listener over the head."
Mork continues to draw parallels between his music and art. Already an accomplished designer and visual artist, his art direction of Guesthouse Music and his own SpatulaCity Records, as well as his countless flyer designs, has played a large part in helping to define the "look" of the scene. The recent launch of his new website, sizzledchicago.com, has generated a buzz among underground house audiences while showcasing contributing musical and writing talent from around the world. The site is run in conjunction with his monthly Chicago residency Sizzled (formerly Grizzled) at the legendary Lava Chicago, where he performs solo as a resident with fellow producer/dj and friend Karl Almaria.
As a bonus, Mork always provides plenty of free bacon to guests. In the wider scheme of underground house, what could be more experimental than that?
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France Dance - Jorge Jaramillo & Sue Cho (Lectro Chik Records)
Sue's "Punked out L.A Vocals" compliment Jorge Jaramillo's signature "Who Da Funk" style electro indie nu disco production! Climbing the charts at Beatport. Click the picture above to download.
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