After dropping two fine contributions to the Echo Beach Edits series, Pantai People main man Marc Roberts pitches up on Moton with four more ear-catching revisions. He begins by putting his stamp on a familiar disco favourite, looping up the most impactful orchestral sections before unleashing the original vocals (‘King of Nice Days’), before switching his attention to an early-to-mid-80s disco-boogie number on the glassy-eyed ‘Uno’. ‘Maia Amor’ is a tidy tweak on a summery, sun-drenched, Spanish language disco workout, while ‘Star Max’ sees Roberts successfully turn his attention to a polished, early ’80s AOR disco number of the sort that yacht rock fans will undoubtedly love.

MOTON RECORDS INC/ MARC ROBERTS / MARC ROBERTS EDITS/ OUT ON 15^TH APRIL

We had a chat with Marc just before the new EP dropped…

Please introduce yourself to our readers..

Hi, I’m Marc and I live on an island in the far east. I’m a single dad who DJs, makes tunes and is a partner in a DJ agency. I get to the pub once a week as well, but apart from that I don’t have time for much else.

Tell us where you are based and where you are from?

Originally from Sunderland but based in Bali for the last 6 years

Is there a sound that is Marc Roberts? How would you define that sound?

A veritable smorgasbord of noise. Disco, afro, latin, jazzy vibes and classic house

Who are the artists that have inspired you over time?

If I had to pick –  Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Gaye, Gamble and Huff, Frankie Knuckles, ELO, Talk Talk, Grace Jones, Donald Byrd, Juan Atkins, Larry Heard, Tony Allen, Tim Maia… it’s endless

If you had a pick a genre to ‘listen to’ over everything else, what would it be?

Shit that’s tough. Probably jazz

How did you strike up a relationship with Dave Jarvis & Darren House of Moton?

I asked Shine PR if they would send them over to Dave as I thought they were pretty Moton. The boys agreed, and it was a few pints on a trip to London last November and job done. Great as I’ve been a huge fan of the label for years – so was nice to see the music connect

Talk us through the EP a little

It’s a varied bunch – something for everyone. House and funk heads will go for ‘King of Nice Days, ‘4 Star Max’ and ‘Uno’ will keep the Balearic crew keen and ‘Maia Amor’ will keep the sunshine low slung disco mob shuffling away. The originals are all tracks which have a special moment in time of me.

This release is for lovers of …

Ooof that’a a tough one. Sade – Paradise, Isaac Hayes – Theme from Shaft, Chris Rea – Josephine. Not quite sure what would go with ‘Maia Amor’ – full mental block there haha

If someone wanted to get to know your taste, what album should they listen to?

Donald Byrd – ‘Street Lady’

Where should we listen to this EP and what should we be drinking?

A beach. Drinking Bintang. With an Arak chaser.

What you got coming up in 2022?

A few more edits coming out and finishing some of my own music and looking forward to getting on planes and playing music to people

MOTON RECORDS INC/ MARC ROBERTS / MARC ROBERTS EDITS/ OUT ON 15^TH APRIL