1. My Spaceship
2. What Now
3. Steam Room
4. Champion Selection
5. Smugglers Cover
6. Wicker Basket Case
7. Yakumo's Ready
8. The Rising Sky
9. Our Secret
10. This Time
11. Act Now

PREVIEW / BUY THIS RELEASE

Sampladelic breaks masterpiece. 

In hip-hop slang, to ‘merk' someone is to defeat them, mash them, to triumph over your opponent. And Merka is aptly named, as his approach to breakbeat is so fresh, intricate and iconoclastic, that it makes most of his contemporaries look like new-born babes.
The man known to his mum as Mark Thruster is heavily influenced by the intricate beats and atmospherics of drum and bass innovators like Photek, but also by hip-hop, soundtracks, Detroit techno and old hardcore. What this means in practice is simply the maddest musical mélange this side of Jupiter, heavily sampladelic tracks that drip with attitude and funk, which will rip any dancefloor to shreds.
‘Champion Selection' bounces with breakbeat brio, and bowel-loosening bass waves, with nods to dub and 2-step: irresistibly booty shaking. ‘My Spaceship' is a rolling beatfest, like a halfspeed junglist epic, peppered with Blaxploitation string samples and layers of sound. Unlike many others in the breaks scene, Merka mainly chops up classic drum samples, rather than generating them on computer, which gives his sound an originality which can only be compared to fellow stargazers like ILS and Stanton Warriors. Easily one of the most complete records in the breakbeat canon, Merka has truly upped the ante. The competition are officially merked.

Mint Track: ‘Champion Selection' 

DJ Mag - 5/5   **ALBUM OF THE ISSUE**