Browse by Artist: STEWART, MARK

Artist:	STEWART, MARK
Title:	Edit
Label:	CRIPPLED DICK HOT WAX (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	CDHW 105CD

2008 release. A legend who left a lasting mark on the world of music returns with a new studio album: Mark Stewart. Created and recorded between London, Vienna, Bristol and Berlin, Stewart's sixth full-length release, Edit, marks a welcome return to his solo career after numerous collaborations with, among others, Tricky, Massive Attack, Chicks On Speed, Adult and Primal Scream. As teenage front man and mastermind of seminal Bristol post-punk legends The Pop Group (1978-80), Stewart already used his microphone as a weapon. In an era that saw public opinion and perception tainted by Thatcher, Reagan and the Cold War, The Pop Group emerged as one of Britain's most radical exponents of new music and quickly gained notoriety well beyond the British Isles. Their until then unheard mix of punk, funk, dub, jazz and noise, countered by Mark Stewart's scathing political slogans and lyrics ("We Are All Prostitutes"), easily counts among the most impressive, provocative and lasting manifestations of musical spontaneity seen, heard and experienced by the end of the 1970s. After the group's dissolution in the early 1980s, members of The Pop Group re-emerged in a flurry of new bands and guises: Rip Rig & Panic (featuring the then still unknown Neneh Cherry), Pigbag (with their surprise Top 10 hit "Papa's Got A Brand New Pig Bag") and Maximum Joy. After a short stint with the New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart decided to pursue a solo career as Mark Stewart & The Maffia. His friend, production genius and ON-U sound owner Adrian Sherwood, took care of production and mixed the Maffia on their various tours. With Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and drumming talent Keith Leblanc, Stewart recruited a truly exceptional rhythm section who had previously played with the likes of James Brown, Madonna, Africa Bambaata, George Clinton, Tackhead and many others. Considered seminal milestones by many of his peers and fans, the solo outings by this "godfather" of Bristol's eclectic music scene blend the most diverse of genres in a unique and unconventional mix of dub, funk, punk, techno, electro, noise -- spiced up with a generous dose of Stewart's trademark political lyrics and slogans. Albums like As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade or Learning To Cope With Cowardice have left a lasting mark on the current music scene: icons in their own right like Massive Attack, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Carl Craig, Asian Dub Foundation and Nick Cave call Mark Stewart's work a decisive influence. On Edit, Stewart adds some unusually melodious touches to his inimitable vocal delivery ("Loner," "Rise Again" or "Secret Suburbia"), slips in a smattering of his familiar, forceful cut-up collages ("Freak Circus," "Radio Freedom," "The Puppet Master") and gives us the almost delicate, abstract "Almost Human," plus a very odd and refreshing cover version of the Yardbirds' "Mr You're Better Man Than I" (featuring Ari Up of The Slits). The travel journal of an exceptional artist, Edit proves that Mark Stewart continues to defy all categorization.

Artist:	STEWART, MARK
Title:	Children Of The Revolution/Nothing Is Sacred
Label:	FUTURE NOISE MUSIC (UK)
Format:	7"
Price:	$7.00
Catalog #:	FNMSE 002EP

Mark Stewart, sonic visionary and pioneer of mutant music returns. Limited edition of 500, individually hand-painted and numbered 7" single for Black Friday. Double A-side. Each hand-worked sleeve constitutes one unique piece of Mark's bombart. Ultra-violently noisy and perfectly capturing the restless mood on today's global streets from London to Libya, these two non-album tracks come from recent sessions for Mark Stewart's forthcoming LP. The apocalyptic revamp of T. Rex's "Children Of The Revolution" sees Mark team up with The Bug for a jaggedly compulsive take on the glam classic. "Nothing Is Sacred" features Crass' Eve Libertine, Berlin electro monsters Slope and Pop Group bassist Dan Catsis -- a rabble-rousing clarion call and indictment of 2011 Britain.

Artist:	STEWART, MARK
Title:	ON/OFF: Mark Stewart (Pop Group to Maffia)
Label:	MONITOR POP ENTERTAINMENT (GERMANY)
Format:	DVD
Price:	$27.50
Catalog #:	MPE 028DVD

Mark Stewart first made his presence felt as the front man for The Pop Group in the late 1970s. They were pioneers of the post-punk dance sound and had success with singles such as "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" and "We Are All Prostitutes." When the band split in 1980, Mark joined the emerging On U Sound crew as a part-time member of The New Age Steppers. He then went on to form his own band with Keith LeBlanc and Doug Wimbish, the rhythm section of the Sugar Hill Gang and guitarist Skip McDonald. With Adrian Sherwood and his production magic at the controls, The Maffia unleashed an awesome mix of styles that sounded like Bootsy Collins jamming over a bootleg Jah Shaka tape in an urban warzone. This incredible mix of funk, dub and electronic overload pre-empted techno and drum n' bass by years. Mark Stewart, often copied, never bettered. This film retraces the singer's steps and paths from the early days of The Pop Group right up to the present. Director Tøni Schifer, who followed Mark around for a full 3 years, has crafted a detailed, often intimate portrait of the artist, supplemented by interviews with, amongst others, Mark Stewart himself, Adrian Sherwood, Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald, Keith LeBlanc, Douglas Hart (The Jesus And Mary Chain), Fritz Catlin (23 Skidoo), Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges), Gareth Sager (The Pop Group, Rip Rig And Panic), Dan Catsis (The Pop Group), John Waddington (The Pop Group) Janine Rainforth (Maximum Joy), Massive Attack, Keith Levine (Public Image Limited) and many others, plus never-seen live recordings and music clips. Film: 82 mins; bonus material: 70 mins. Director: Tøni Schifer; Format: DVD10; Audio language: English; Subtitles: German, English; Format: PAL + NTSC, 16:9, Color, Region 0; Sound: Stereo.

Artist:	STEWART, MARK
Title:	Kiss the Future (feat. The Maffia & The Pop Group)
Label:	SOUL JAZZ RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	SJR 113CD

"This album spans the entire musical career of Mark Stewart, The Maffia and The Pop Group. Curated by Mark Stewart, Kiss the Future is a mixture of new material (with new collaborators such as The Bug, Sanjay T), classic material from the legendary Pop Group ('We Are All Prostitutes,' 'We Are,' 'She Is Beyond Good and Evil') as well as Stewart's groundbreaking solo-work from the 1980s to the present day with the legendary Sugarhill Records/Tommy Boy rhythm section (as The Maffia) along with producer Adrian Sherwood (On U Sound). With unlimited access to the vaults Kiss The Future also includes rare and unreleased material. Mark Stewart (at aged 17!) was the lead vocalist and revolutionary sloganeer behind the Pop Group, now cited as one of the most influential post-punk bands. In the 1980s and thru the 1990s he went on to form Mark Stewart and the Maffia releasing a range of heavily politicised, boundary-pushing albums fusing electronic, dub, twisted disco, and industrial-strength hip-hop into a unique ground-breaking sound. The music ranges from post-punk/funk to electro-funk, hip-hop and dub. Mark Stewart (with The Pop Group and The Maffia) brought black music influences into punk for the first time influencing a generation. This continues today with the punk electronic/dancehall/desi/dub experiments of the new material ('Radio Freedom,' 'Puppet Master,' 'The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum'). Mark Stewart is one of the most respected musical figures in music. LCD Soundsystem, DFA, The Liars, !!!, Radio 4, etc and the whole new wave of New York bands are heavily influenced by the sound. He has constantly surrounded himself with creative artists. His group The Maffia features legendary New York musicians Doug Wimbush, Keith Le Blanc and Skip Macdonald. From their early days playing alongside Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata and Sugarhill Gang the group have since played with everyone from Mos Def to The Last Poets, from James Brown to George Clinton. The co-producer of The Pop Group is legendary Jamaican mixer Dennis Bovell and for his solo career Mark to this day works with Adrian Sherwood (On U Sound) who himself has an incredible list of credits that include Lee Perry, Junior Delgado, Bim Sherman, Einsturzende Neubaten, Andrew Weatherall, New Age Steppers, Primal Scream and many more. As well as the original punk/funk outfit The Pop Group (which he founded) inventing what became The Bristol Sound and influencing the music of Massive Attack, Tricky (with whom Stewart collaborated) etc, Mark Stewart himself is the artists' artist: Two new recent Channel 4 TV programmes quoted both Nick Cave and Daddy G as choosing Mark Stewart as their favourite ever artist. With everyone from Carl Craig to Sonic Youth, DJ Hell to David Bowie (!) citing Mark Stewart as an influence, this album is the first to ever bring his musical career together."

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