He lives in London, plays live in Tokyo, his records are spinning in New York City… New Zealand's Mark de Clive Lowe has established himself as a global ambassador for what he calls Pacific Soul.

He lives in London, plays live in Tokyo, his records are spinning in New York City… New Zealand's Mark de Clive Lowe has established himself as a global ambassador for what he calls Pacific Soul.

Not yet thirty, de Clive Lowe's musical career already spans over a decade. He started out on the piano, establishing a reputation as one of our leading young jazz players. After travelling and playing through Cuba, Japan and the US de Clive Lowe returned to New Zealand with a head full of new sounds and ideas, and he's been breaking musical boundaries ever since.

In 1998 de Clive Lowe relocated to the UK, where he has been based ever since. Album releases followed: 1999's jazz/soul fusion Six Degrees (Kog) was followed by the hip hop styled Island of Nuvonesia (Universal Jazz), a collaborative album that saw de Clive Lowe working with compatriots King Kapisi, Manuel Bundy, MC Imon Starr and others.

Life now is all about recording alongside the cream of London's soul, jazz and funk producers, producing, remixing and writing tunes, playing gigs in the UK and Europe and touring further afield. Recent work includes a track on Verve/Remixed, a compilation from the legendary jazz label on which his remix of sits Shirley Horn's Return To Paradise sits alongside tracks from Masters at Work, Thievery Corporation, Rae and Christian and others. He's also been working on ‘a whole bunch of other stuff' with current projects including a new album under his own name, a second album from supergroup Nuvonesia and a compilation on Antipodean Records, his new label dedicated to connecting talented Kiwis with like minded souls in the Northern Hemisphere. Oh yeah, and, he's going to be a dad for the first time early next year…

The Big Idea: Hi Mark. You've been all over the planet in the last couple of years. Are you still living in London?
Mark de Clive Lowe: Yeah, still in Shepherd's Bush. I'm hoping to find a new place in the new year though - a bit further out west, with a garden and more space... enough of the shoe-box living style!

What are you working on as we speak?
The main focus right now is my own new album - it's going to be heavy on the soul vibe, eclectic on the beats and lush on the music tip. I've done one beautiful cut with Dallas for Our Girls, and people have been freaking out over the demo version, so I'm looking forward to getting the album rolling. I've also been doing a bit of writing for Nathan Haines' new album which Phil Asher is producing at the moment. And I've been working away at a few remixes and collaborations…

Do you have any plans to head back to New Zealand?
I'm hoping to get down sometime in the next few months to do some more recording for my album and promote the new compilation Melodius Beats Volume One (Antipodean) which should be out before the end of the year. It's basically a collection of tracks I've done since the last album, remixes and collaborations. That will fill the gap in New Zealand since the last album and before the next....We're behind schedule, but still hoping to have it out this year.

I hear you've also been doing some work with DJ Spinna from New York City. How did you link up with him?
The initial hook up came through the Six Degrees album - Universal Jazz asked who I wanted to have doing remixes and I asked for Spinna and Phil Asher (Restless Soul). Spinna had been bugging out on the West London broken
beat vibe for a while so it was a good connect. That winter I went on tour in Japan and he happened to be spinning a party in Tokyo – a ridiculous 7 hour set that covered hip hop, soul, house, techno, jazz.… everything. Totally incredible. Manuel Bundy was with me on the tour, and he was flipping out the whole way. I kept in touch with Spinna since then and when it came time for him to his new album we just made sure we hooked up proper.

What are you doing with him on the album?
I've written and co-produced three tracks for the new album. They're all vocal tunes, one with Shaun Escoffery who has a huge tune at the moment produced by Spinna Days Like This, one with ovasoul7 who is a dope soul singer from Philly and the third with Abdul Shyllon, a young UK soul singer I've been working with recently. I think we actually made about 12 tracks together, but those were the three that are going on the album. We've also done a joint remix of John cCutler's big tune 'Dawn' (DJ Spinna + Mark de Clive-Lowe Spacecadets remix) which is coming out real soon - he was saying that it's got people flipping out in NYC - Louie Vega and all the boys are caning it.

Sound like a blast...
For sure - Spinna's a heavy cat, he's so deeply rooted in jazz, soul, funk and hip hop, loves the soulful house tip, freaks out on the broken beat vibe. It's really a pleasure to collaborate with people when they're deep on music themselves. Sometimes Spinna would knock up a beat on the 3000 and I'd write all the music, sometimes I'd flip a beat and he'd jump up on the juno - just getting on a vibe really.

Lets talk about Nuvonesia. How would you describe the experience of making the first album?
Totally nuts. Manuel and I had obviously been making music together for a while and had just toured the Six Degrees live project through New Zealand. We hooked up with Imon Star at a gig at Studio 9 - he got up and freestyled over the live show. We were all feeling the vibe so it was just a matter of time until something new came of it. Imon came up to Auckland to jam a gig with me and Manuel, which was the first time the three of us dropped a Nuvonesia gig together. Manny and I had been planning out the concept but really left most of it up to the vibe on the night. The next day we went into RNZ's studio and let the tapes roll for 6 hours - nothing was rehearsed, nothing was arranged and pretty much nothing was written. Just some ideas on the MPC and we went from there. I remember we were all freaking out after each tune, the vibe was on from the start, one take all the way. I remember just before we recorded Hi + Dry I gave Manuel a Charlie Parker record I'd brought to the session - the horn cuts on there were what Manny dropped the needle onto. The whole session was raw from start to finish. I was thinking about going back into the studio to re-edit the recordings and flip the MPC a bit - that was the weakest part of the record for me, those beats were sketches done in the living room the day before - but it just seemed right to put it out as is, mistakes and all. A lot of people didn ¹t get it, but that's the way it goes sometimes, you just got to keep on doing your thing.

How has the Nuvonesia album played overseas?
There are people here and there round the world who know about it and I think it's got a growing following in Japan - whenever I'm up there doing press for my own stuff, the journalists are always like, 'so, tell me about Nuvonesia' - always surprises me that they know about it.

What's the lineup on Nuvonesia Volume Two?
Volume Two is still a little while off - the ideas are brewing and I'm working on my own album first. A lot of people are wanting to be part of the album like DJ Spinna, Capitol A (who was on The Roots' original album , Organix) and Daz I-Kue (Bugz in the Attic). It's going to be a global affair - the Nuvonesian mentality is a pretty universal concept - island mentality vs the corporate metropolis. There'll be guest spots by Cherie Mathieson, Dallas, J-Live (NYC), Ovasoul7 (Philly), Lyric-L (UK), Khaz tha Feelstyle - lots of friends and family.

So when do you think it will be out?
One thing at a time, aiight! :)

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