Utopia Music's founder and bossman Mako has had a host of releases on Psylence's Ingredient's and Mars imprints over the last couple of years and since its inception in 2009 Utopia has built up a strong following of keen listeners with its catalogue of releases.  Mako himself is an interesting guy with a keen interest in creativity and his mind. 

He's not afraid to talk about spiritual aspects of his life and meditation in his interviews and he comes across as a guy who has certainly been on a journey and arrived in a place where he feels happy.  His focus when it comes to his production and also running his label is certainly admirable and it was for these reasons that I thought it would be worth asking him for 5 tunes which have influenced him through his life and still do.

Expect lot more talk of Utopia Music on Example magazine in 2012 as they have some top releases on the way in a couple of months.  Andyskopes 12" on Utopia in November finished the year on a high ready for them to pick up where they left off from now.   Anyway in the meantime have a listen to Mako's 5 tracks.

Bjork - Undo (from the album 'Vespertine' released on the label 'One Little Indian')

Never fails to make cry.  I love the sentiment of 'undoing'.  I built up a lot of unconscious resistance in my body and mind and needed to let go of the past.  It was only when I started to undo this that I had more motivation and energy to do the loving things I wanted to.  Undo, undo, undo :)

Mala - Alicia (white label)

Villem showed me this a while back and I fell in love with it straight away.  A great rework of an Alicia Keys skit.  I'm more of a Mala man than a Skrilex kinda guy :)  The beats are snappy and firm whilst the bass is warm and full with none of the shit mid 'bass' screechy plastic noise that a lot of dubstep seems to have.  Can this record even be called Dubstep?  I'm not sure, I'm not an expert on labelling, I do know that I love this tune though and its another record that helps me feel like i'm at one with universe.

Photek - The Fifth Column (from the album 'Modeus Operandi' released on Virgin records)

I must've listened to the album about 2,000 times.  Now this may seem excessive, but it was the best way of calming my mind.  This tune in particular zones me in on the pitch of the snares, the rhythm created by the pitch change and how deliciously crispy they are.  I love the ambience too, the subtle crackle, pops and atmosphere that compliments the breaks so perfectly.

Goldie - Sea of Tears (from the album 'Timeless' released on FFRR)

Pure vibes this one, for the whole 12 minutes.  Soft bass guitars, wave crashes and sick vocal samples.  This got me into using environmental sounds in my productions and showed me that I got more emotionally involved and affected by this kind of soundscape rather than DJ friendly whap whum tunes.  It got me sampling the outside world rather than looking on sample cds for breaks and bass.

Portishead - Roads (from the album 'Dummy' released on 'Go!')

I remember buying the album that this is on when it first came out and my mum telling me 'this is a bit odd for you isnt it?. Up to that point my mum would only hear Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine blaring out of my tinny speakers, with me singing loudly (and fairly badly) into one of them.  Ahhhh, thank god no one saw /heard that apart from my very non-judgemental mum.  If you're reading this then I send you my love, and I'm sorry for forgetting your birthday :)  The use of jazz samples and crusty breaks on the album record will inspire me to the end of my days.