Marco Bailey taught himself to mix on vinyl in 1988. He switched to techno in 1997, and was soon releasing on Intec, Carl Cox's label. He runs three imprints: MB Elektronics since 2001, plus Materia and Elektronik Zoo Sounds.
He throws his own festival too. Elektronik Zoo runs in the patch of forest behind his house, and he started it in lockdown with a tiny crowd and Belgian artists only. The September 2026 bill had Ellen Allien, The Advent and DJ Rolando on it. He has also had his own floor at I Love Techno, in front of 36,000 people. Deservedly so.
'The Impatient Heart' lands on Materia, and he spent two years on it in the gaps between tours. He is blunt about what he was after: "I never wanted to make an album that simply collects club tracks." It comes on wax as well as digital. He has a record on COD3 QR as well, the label behind our Electric Rescue premiere.
The album gets underway with a dubby organ stab echoing into skittering hi hats and thudding kicks, as ‘Deep Current’ pushes us back into our seats. The wailing siren that joins the fray seamlessly somewhere around the midpoint pulls us skywards in spirit where we are suspended by pads and hissing cymbals.
The looping intensity of ‘Organic Pulse Theory’ ensures we remain on that upward trajectory. Its increasing of the tempo sees to most of that enthrallment, but those strings surrounded by hyperkinetic claps are really something to experience.
Things take an aqueous turn next with the underwater techno opera that is ‘Fluid Drive’, which ratchets the tension with a progressively distorting acid stab. One for the sweatiest of hours, especially when those heavy kicks get going and that sustained drone pierces the upper mids. Wow.
‘Check Point’ serves as a shining example of how to layer techno elements; something Bailey really excels at. But holy shit you will forget everything you thought you knew about layers when that oscillating synth line whips you through about 45 dimensions following the vocal exclaiming “This is the checkpoint”.
We are left to float among those dimensions alone, as ‘Solace’ grips us next. FM whooshes pan from right to left as excitable guitar-pluck synth stabs draw in an incredibly haunting arpeggiating synth and choral pads. Those guitar-like synths really go wild in the final third of the track.
Sweeping pads are the order of the day in the late-90s wooze of ‘Vanta’, which instils a little more than simply one sense of nostalgia. Rather it is likely to trigger multiple senses as you’re transported back to the euphoric maelstrom of any given 90s techno dancefloor worth its salt.
‘Cellular Rhythm’ is a composition that develops almost organically, as its name might suggest to some. Tight, microscopically controlled top end percussion drives this track, while the deft synth work takes care of the mesmeric qualities the track possesses.
We head into the second half of the album with ‘Pulse of Harmony’. This is an exhilarating track; one that incorporates propulsive percs and a gradual rise in energy that gives way to a delightful release. A deep groove runs through the production here.
From the moment that synth starts snarling at you in ‘Dirty Lash’ you just know you are about to be flung around the room by something demonic. You are quite correct. The intensity in this track never lets up, instead building and building towards that fantastic first drop. Which simply serves to prepare you for the insanity following the second breakdown.
Steve Redhead joins Bailey for a double shot of hardgroove next. ‘After the Fog’ is an energetic riff boasting metallic grinds of industry alongside hydraulic percussion and ‘that’ foghorn sound that blasts into the soundstage for a neat breakdown tool.
The album’s second guest Sigvard broadcasts the ‘Night Transmission’ alongside Bailey. A strong build dominates the first half of this track before we break out into all manner of sonic mayhem as chaotic synth patterns sequence into multiple rousing crescendos.
‘Different Code’ proffers a broken, 90s breakbeat feel, and is absolutely dripping in futuristic dread. This is thanks to the dubby vocal sample and muted groans emanating out of the ether like digital spectres. “Different paths we ride through storms, control the mind, that’s the code” the Matrix’s mantra tells us in this cut with David Schwarz.
The narrative is almost at a close. Flitting wildly between the left and right channel is a wall of static that washes over the front facing breakbeat and high-pitched granular hissing. The cries of young people can be heard as ‘Youth Distortion’ grips our attention for a menacing penultimate production.
We close on the soaring synth of title track, ‘The Impatient Heart’, where we are baptised in strings and left cleansed after our journey with Bailey as our guide. Stellar work from one of the best techno producers our world has experienced.
Beatport has the digital, and Materia is doing it on vinyl as well. Get it.