Medlar
Medlar’s musical world is a diverse one, and over more than a decade he has established himself as a key character in the London scene: most of his hours are spent making, buying, playing or talking about music, which lends him the sort of knowledge and understanding that stands him apart, and means he has a unique perspective that allows him to join the dots between sounds and scenes from yesterday to today with a real sense of narrative.
Medlar is a DJ who can dig into the past and call upon proto-house oddness, post-rave madness and dub-weighted lushness, then link it with contemporary cuts that are equally special. He makes music that is just as untethered to time and tempo, meaning his productions take in anything from deep and Detroit to acid or downtempo. Meanwhile, by day, you will find him working as a cutting and mastering engineer at the cult Peckham Cuts Dubplate Shop or connecting people with the music they need in their life at the Rye Wax Records, as well as releasing on the shop’s own West Friends label.
It was now a decade ago that this UK artist debuted his first release before starting his ongoing relationship with Wolf Music Recordings in 2012. His ‘Tererell’ track was a perfectly warm house cut with throwback New York chords and emotive vocals that never fail to connect with crowds. Since then he has evolved into a uniquely eclectic producer who has done lush, rough-edged house with Dan Shake, percussive workouts with Ishmael and plenty of solo, post-disco flavoured grooves that brim with synth colour and authentic cosmic energy.
Jungle, garage, peak-time bangers and more thoughtful and intimate sounds all permeate his musical DNA after he first started out playing in bands in the early 2000s. He is now well versed in the sort of tasteful electronic music that connects with crowds large or small in the USA, India, Japan, Australia and even Reunion Island, and can take them up, down and round and round all over the course of a couple of well conceived hours. What’s more, his involvement with the Peckham Cuts Dubplate Shop means he has a rare access to a healthy amount of unheard and essential tracks from producers who use the service.
Right now, Medlar is branching out again by entering the world of artist production, as well working on a new live and studio collaboration with Dele Sosimi. “I change my mind quite a lot,” says Medlar, who for that reason remains a hard to predict and utterly vital artist.
