The Murkage Cartel is an arts organisation based in Manchester UK. The Cartel is made up of the band MURKAGE, and a culturally diverse assortment of DJs, musicians, photographers, film makers, designers and bloggers. They are best known for the work of the band, the weekly club night - 'The Murkage Club'- their DJ performances and the online presence of the collective as a whole. They have made a distinctive and sometimes controversial contribution to the regions underground music scene. The Murkage Club, the group has evolved over 4 years from an the original 4 man DJ lineup at The Murkage Club (then Monday Murkage) into a 23 strong collection of artists.
Contents
Members
Music
Both as performing artists and DJs, Murkage Cartels members are most strongly affiliated with urban music. 2014 release Can I Live was remixed by Mike Skinner of The Streets, the tune was not a commercial success but received some airplay.
Original Music
Murkage Cartel are best known for the emergent band MURKAGE, founder David Lewis describes their origins
“Murkage started off as a club night. As it grew it attracted various talented waifs and strays; DJs, MCs, bloggers, graphic designers etc,” “This evolved into what is now the Murkage Cartel. What started off as a few of us messing around in the studio ended up as the band people now know as MURKAGE"
There are many other notable musical projects undertaken by cartel members and their affiliates, these include:
Murkage Cartel DJs
The Murkage Cartel are amongst the most prominent and in demand underground DJs in Manchester with many of them holding residences on local and national radio stations as well as regional events. They play together on rotation at The Murkage Club every week. Both independently and as a group they have developed a strong following especially amongst the large student population in northwest of the United Kingdom.
The Murkage Cartel's Vol. 1 mixtape was chosen as being the mixtape of the month, in Mixmag Magazine(Sept 2009). They also later featured in Mixmag for the Boxfresh advertisement campaign. The Murkage Cartel's Vol.2 Mixtape was also met with critical acclaim. The Murkage Cartel are known for having presence on Twitter [1], Facebook [2], and they also contribute to the MURKAGE website blog [3]
Murkage TV
Documenting the success of the Murkage club night, Murkage TV was created. The episodes feature interviews from the Cartel and from other artists that have performed with the Cartel, such as David Rodigan AC Slater, Example, Seb Chew, Jack Beats and Mark Ronson
Tonga
After the Murkage Club came to an end in 2015 after 8 years in Manchester, the founder of Murkage, Murkage Dave collaborated with Mike Skinner on a new London event. The club night gained extremely quick recognition within London with guests such as Giggs, Kano, Big Narstie and Bonkaz all making surprise appearances at their events. Within their first year, they announced that they would be working on a 'Tonga Balloon Gang' EP with Jammer and Big Narstie featuring, which was due for release on November 14, which coincided with their first birthday party.
Outside of the monthly clubnight, Tonga also quickly gained recognition across Europe as being one of the most exciting DJ acts, incorporating Murkage Cartel members Klepto and Smith as well as Oscar Worldpeace, who was managed by Mike Skinner. In 2015 Tonga played Glastonbury and Bestival in the summer and also toured the UK and Europe throughout 2015.