A group of DJ's and producers from Poland who have been cooperating together since 1994. It was then that Karol Samocki and Marek Bigajski, who had been friends for several years, decided not only to work as DJ's, but also make and produce music tunes.
The beginnning was very tough for them though, because Poland belonged to those countries which did not develop in terms of music production. At those times there were hardly any people who could give them hints regarding elementary questions on necessary equipment, therefore it had taken them quite a while before they started making tracks.
Most of the time they spent on preparing tunes for other artists as well as they changed the names of their projects very frequently. The music market in Poland lacked independent
labels, so they had to count on the big companies called 'Majors'. However, the big ones were not too open to release new trends in music. The problem of the foreign language was also unsolvable. The record companies stated that in order to get to the Poles, tunes have to be made in Polish. The time was flying, the world was developing and they were hardly making any progress. They were too weak to compete with foreign producers and simultaneously too modern to make a success on the market. They would not quit trying though.
After some time Slawek Loboda joined the ‘squad’. Being a professionally trained musician and an English teacher, he could fit in the group easily. Since that time they have stuck together. In 1998 they got in touch with a German manager who had their vinyl released at House Nation. That recording charted the DDC TOP 200 at 93 place as a new entry. From a musical perspective, that was not something they could pride themselves in, but it was just a beginning. Not too many Polish artists managed to release their productions outside Poland. They were bound by a contract with the German manager, which restricted them on the one hand, but they were able to create tracks for foreign record companies on the other.
At that time they made remixes for Ron Williams, Harold Feltermeyer, Suzy Wong or Jocelyn Brown as well as they put out records through German record companies. Some time later they started cooperating with Voodoo Vinyl from Amsterdam and established their private minilabel called Loco Records. They went to New York to roll a video of their single ‘Feedback’ for their project of Karol XVII, which was screened by Viva and MTV.
Their tunes were very often aired by the famous Polish radio station ‘Radiostacja’. They were involved in remix-making processes for Polish artists and helped to record albums. After signing the contract in 2004 with Peppermint Jam Records-the record company established by the very Mousse T., their three vinyls appeared on the market: "Karol XVII-Funk This Beat" with a remix by Alex aka Martin Harmony "Karol XVII-Let's Get Together" with MB Valence's remixes and an EP by Soul Tunes composed of two tracks: "Gotta Keep That Feeling" and "It's All About House Music", which included a remix by Bionik Phunk also known as Sugar Caine. In the beginning of 2005 another track by Karol XVII’s another release was put out in March through ProgCity Deep Records. The track is called “Get Up” and is composed of three versions: original, a remix by WaWa and MB Valence.
On May 17th two other records with remixes by Karol XVII and MB Valence are being released. They’re originally made by Mateo & Matos from New York: Afro Vibes Pt I with MB Valence’s remix of “Hey Zulu”, and Afro Vibes Pt II with “Akara” - remixed by Karol XVII. In June their remixes of Ralf Gum's "Ordinary Girl" appeared on the market and in July one of their own projects was put out on the vinyl- Karol XVII "Rhythmobilizer", which contained remixes by Alius, Labtop & MB Valence.
At the beginning of August they released a combined EP called Polish Connection E.P. with the fo llowing tracks: Soul Tunes - I Like You (Martin Harmony remix), MB Valence - Fall In Love [With The Music] and Karol XVII - Keep Movin'. In the first half of September they made a remix for Steve Edwards's latest track "Thru The Night", who cooperated with Cassius ("Sound Of Violence"), Axwell ("Watch The Sunrise"), and Bob Sinclar ("World, Hold On") among others. After its release by an English record label DTPM, there was another contract they signed with an American Look At You Records, which resulted in putting out Karol XVII and MB Valence's "Drum In Peace" record, having 4 different mixes made by Mafia Mike and Martin Harmony among others. Their next E.P. called MB Valence - Secretive E.P. was released by an English 23 East Deep Recordings with 2 mixes of the original track as well as the remixes of: "Deep Love" from Martin Harmony and "Warm Inside" from Mafia Mike & Dominique. Another E.P. released by Aenaria Recordings titled Karol XVII & MB Valence Present Friends E.P. included 2 recordings: Parasoul - A Better Place (karol XVII mix) and Martin Harmony - Better Days (mb valence's dark & deep remix). Karol XVII and MB Valence appeared in a compilation called "Influences", which is one of the popular Bargrooves series with their remix of Ralf Gum’s "Ordinary Girl". Their tracks were also present in such compilations as “House Top 100 vol. 4” or “My Girlfriend Is Out Of Town” mixed by Jamie Lewis. They took part in recording of “Beach Soccer Makes Me Crazy” – a single played at the Beach Soccer World Championships. They finished working on their brand new project with participation of a female vocalist Paige Dedeaux.
Her contribution resulted in making a single having different versions of the track called "Don't Forget" remixed by Martin Harmony or Scibi among others. Soon after that, a Dutch record company Clean Cut Records, being 99 Carat Recordings’ sublabel, released another vinyl with the track of “The Real Funky Sound”, which appeared with the name of Parasoul. Being producers, they were releasing more and more tracks as well as getting to know more and more people and at the same time they were gaining experience by promoting their own projects under different names.
As DJ’s, Karol XVII and MB Valence have performed with Grant Nelson, Copyright, Seamus Haji, The Beginnerz, Matteo Esse, Shik Stylko or M.O.D. At that time, their private label Loco Records began selling licences worldwide. They have got constant airtime at English SSRadio, American Chicago House Radio, German Radio 42, but also at Polish radios such as Radio Stylo and Radiostacja. At the beginning of 2007 they signed another contract with Look At You for the track called “Calabar”, and they also produced a remix to “High Energy” – a
single featuring Soraya Vivian. They started cooperation with Miguel Migs to make remixes for one of the tracks taken from Miguel’s new album “Those Things” called “Let Me Be”.
They took part in recording a music material for Kid Massive ("Te Quiero") and Juan Sunshine who goes under the name of MoD ("Body Language"). They also released their remixes for Martin Harmony's "The Essence" by means of their own label as well as their "Light The Sun" compilation made from tracks produced by Polish artists and a single "Is It House Yet" whose mixes appeared in compilations by Realbasic and Raisani Records. Moreover, they put out three other recordings: "I Believe" – a single supported by such house artists as Tony Humphries, CJ Mackintosh, DJ Meme, Born To Funk, 4Luv, C&M Productions, Miguel Migs or Brian Tappert; "Feedback” – an older track with new remixes included in many radio playlists; "Revolution 303” - a single containing 9 remixes produced by Kid Massive, Lincoln Six Echo, In Deep We Trust and Mafia Mike among others. The second half of 2008 was guite abundant in terms of remixes as they did a lot of them for such figures as Shik Stylko (”Claritty” - released by an American label of Witty Tunes), Scibi feat.
Robina (”Love Come Down” - released by Loopfreaks Records from Denmark), Quarrel (a track named „Silvan”), and Oscar P („Crispified”). Following the success of „I Believe” (licence for the single purchased by German Milk & Sugar, Swiss Universal Music, Spanish Extremly House Music and Essential Records, Polish Exotic Refreshment, but also an independent label of Discogalaxy distributed by Call-a-Records), another production by Karol XVII & MB Valence entitled „Who I Am” was released. The title obtained a lot of praise from many house DJs. Here are a few opinions: C&M Productions (truehouse.net): The original mix works veeeeeerrrrry goooood for me.....goes in my set this weekend...playplayplay...,
Mike Haddad (wittytunes.com): Amazing Release! Instant classics. I absolutely luv the Deep Mix and Parasoul Instrumental. I will be playing these for a long time...., Ernesto Altés (ibizasonica.com): Really love it!!!!! My favourites are. Original Mix & MB Valance's Dark & Deep Remix & Petersky Remix. Full suport in my radio station, Blacksoul (Blacksoul Music / TL:Records): Great release again!! Original rocks and MB Valences Dark & Deep is my favourite!!! Gonna play it in my next weeks radioshow :-), Bogdan Taran (Essential/Capital FM): I feel the serious work behind this production! I like MB Valence and Parasoul remixex very much". Soon after that, their EP called „Deep, Deeper, Deepest EP” was released which contained three different tracks: „Deep Beginning”, „Deeper Forest", and „Go Deepest". The EP topped the deep house charts on Beatport getting to the 2nd place of the chart and 51st of all the genres available at the shop. Also, it had positive feedback and support from such artists as Kid Massive, Make Haddad, Cristian Paduraru, Richard Earnshaw, Bamo (Spiritchaser), Bogdan Taran, Robert Owens, Hernandez Sousa, Sebastian Davidson, Jose Gonzalo, Ryan Loader, Oscar P, DJ Dealer, Dave Storm, Acos Coolkas, James Teej, Graham Sahara, Estroe, Agent Greg, Sergi Ribas, Jon Pierse (Da Wiseguy) or Keith Thompson. The licence to use tracks included in it was requested by Fullscale Music, ZYX, Diamond House, BigCityBeats, Reelgroove and Seamless Recordings – a label releasing “Bargrooves” compilations famous worlwide.
In the meantime, Karol XVII & MB Valence aquired airtime in a greater number of radio stations, e.g. DFR Radio, Full House Radio, Motion Fm and Radio1 Rodos. They produced another tune called “Real Addiction” inviting Dave Storm or the projects of In Deep We Trust and Quarrel to do the remixes. They released a second part of “Deep, Deeper, Deepest EP”, which had more positive feedback than the previous part in the music industry. Tracks included in it “Jazzified”, “Equilibrium” and “Anxiety” were supported by such figures as Richard Earnshaw, Yves Murasca, Robert Owens, Shur-i-kan, Dean Facer, Nils Nürnberg, Florian Kruse, Sebastian Davidson, Davidson Ospina, Jeff Craven, Oscar P, Kid Massive, DJ Mannix, Matt Masters, Bamo (Spiritchaser), Dave Storm, Ernesto Altés, Mike Haddad, MrCenzo, Spin Science, Cristian Paduraru, Matteo Esse, Christian [C&M Productions], Bogdan Taran, Tom Pasanec (Blacksoul), Darin Epsilon, Graham Sahara, Luca Ricci, Eelke Kleijn, Marco Smith, Ziv, Raul Blanco, Hernandez Sousa, Kevin Yost, Ross Couch, Groove Cocktail, Danilo D'Andrea, Slider [4Luv]. The first half of 2009 was abundant in new events.
An industrial magazine DJ Mag announced them as the best polish DJs of 2008. They received an invitation to na Sunrise Festival, Sensation White and Coke Live Festival.. They travelled a lot and played their sets during various events, however the demand for their music made them work at the studio all the time. The third part of the series „Deep, Deeper, Deepest EP” was released then and gained a lot of positive feedback. The EP, similarly to the former ones, was composed of three brand-new productions: „Drooling Mouthpiece”, „Somewhere In Abha” and „Area”.
They signed contracts for releasing their tracks with some distinguished labels, and thus „Mushroom Soup” with a remix by Rulers Of The Deep got to Peppermint Jam Records, “Capa Torera” was licensed by Open Bar Music, “Shameless” and its remixes made by the projects of Hauswerks, Mark Lowry and Paronator went to Seamless, “House Me” and its versions prepared by Hipp-E and Jevne were reserved by Onethirty Recordings, and finally "Voices" together with "Doped" and remixes from Salt Sweet and Da Funk were taken by Acryl Music.
They produced some successful remixes signed as Karol XVII & MB Valence: Nivek Tsoy (“Feeling Loose”), Martin Brodin (“Deep Shit”), Elastic Sound (“Panorama”), Divided Souls (“Housemusic Is Life”), Ross Couch (“A New System”), DCM (“7 Days”), Groove Cocktail (“Say Goodbye”), Anton Lanski (“Not Enough”), Dirty Culture (“No Matter How”), Echofusion (“Beyond Infinity”) and Yofunk (“J City”).. Their independent label Loco Records got supported by such recognized artists as Jimpster, Aki Bergen, Scope, Eelke Kleijn, Shur-i-kan, Florian Kruse, Nils Nürnberg, Gorge, Fabien Kamb, Soul Minority, Quentin Harris, Tom Budden, Richard Earnshaw, Osunlade, Agent Matteo, Cristian Paduraru, Matt Masters, Spin Science, Ralf Gum, Fred Everything or Spiritchaser. Also, Loco Records released productions with participation of some great artists, e.g. Kevin Yost, Sebastian Davidson or Milton Jackson. Karol XVII & MB Valence had most of their productions released by means of the label.
The epilogue of the three „Deep, Deeper, Deepest EP” series was composed of remixes by Ross Couch /Body Rhythm/, Nacho Marco /Loudeast/, Sebastian Davidson, and after only three days got to the top 10 of the deep house charts on Beatport. They invited the house icon - Robert Owens to take part in the recording of their „Gone Too Far”. The single and its remixes from Milton Jackson and Nivek Tsoy reached many playlists on various radio stations. In Virtual Music Magazine, it became "Tune Of The Month" within the house genre. Their remix of "No Matter How" stayed in the top 20 of the best selling tracks of the Beatport deep house charts for almost three months and so did their next EP entitled "Minor Chords EP", which not only appeared in various artists' top 10 picks, e.g. Tom Middleton's or Hideo Kobayashi’s but also reached 9th place of the Beatport deep house charts, 1st place of the Stompy deep house charts and 15th place of the Traxsource charts. The end of 2009 brought another collaboration between the duo and Ross Couch, which resulted in a remix production to "All At Sea". Also, the duo resumed cooperation with Sebastian Davidson and consequently a recording "Different Places" was made. What's more, it turned out that Karol XVII & MB Valence's remix to "No Matter How" was the most popular deep recording on BeatsDigital in 2009. At the beginning of 2010, the duo continued arduous work.
They signed a contract with Neurotraxx to release two recordings "Junglin'" and "Kumam Nute". Moreover, they made several other remixes for such artists as: Fabien Kamb ("Subtle"), Christian Alvarez and Joleon Davenue ("Hands In The Air"), In Deep We Trust ("Play With Me"), Lisa Millett ("You're All I Need"), Groove Cocktail ("Deep Touch"), and Yves Murasca ("Happy"). They released the second part of their EP series "Minor Chords EP", but also, as Jackspeare, a successful EP composed of three tracks. Much to their surprise, they became nominees for "Beatport Music Awards 2010" as Best Deep House Artist, besides the likes of Gorge, Milton Jackson, Jimpster and Nick Curly. Karol XVII & MB Valence didn't obviously forget about their own label. Owing to them, a track "Singing In The Bathtub" from the duo Evren Ulusoy & Sezer Uysal appeared as a release on Loco Records, which, according to Beatport's breakdown for the first half of 2010, turned out to be the best-selling deep tune among Beatport's customers. At the same time, Karol XVII & MB Valence's "Clap Your Hands" from the third part of "Minor Chords EP" series occupied the second position of Beatport's top 100 Deep House charts. Moreover, they established cooperation with undoubtedly one of the biggest names on the deep, tech-house scene - The Timewriter. This resulted in production of another title "The Song", released on Loco Records.
Afterwards, they became Mark Knight 's deep house favourites, who regularly started adding their productions to his podcasts "Toolroom Knights Podcast", section "In At The Deep End". They established Loco Records' sublabel Loco Records Supreme, which received a lot of support from the top artists in this industry, i.e.: Hernan Cattaneo, Ben Watt, John Digweed, Nick Warren, Groove Armada, Trentemoller, X-Press 2, Osunlade, Aki Bergen, The Timewriter, Richie Hawtin, Mousse T., DJ Sneak, Roger Sanchez, Brothers' Vibe, Alex Niggemann, Pezzner, Jon Cutler, Chris Lattner, Gorge, DJ Chus, Eelke Kleijn, Neil Quigley, Loko, or Franck Roger. The releases on Loco Records Supreme were delivered by the following artists: Maya Jane Coles, Till Von Sein, Sasse, or Jackspeare - another project from the duo Karol XVII & MB Valence. In September, remixes of three tracks taken from the "Minor Chords EP" series made by Soul Minority, Gorge, and the duo Kruse & Nuernberg appeared on the label. The remixes stayed in the first place of Beatport's top 100 Deep House charts for a very long time and got to twelfth position of Beatport's general Top 100 best-selling tracks. Simultaneously, their remix to Groove Cocktail's "Deep Touch", released in the third part of Mark Knight's compilation entitled "Toolroom Knights", got to top 5 on Beatport’s deep house chart. The end of 2010 was also very successful to the duo.
Their Loco Records label became the only company with 3 tracks included in the top 10 of Beatport's Best of 2010 - Deep House charts. Similarly, Traxsource - another online music store specialising in electronic dance music and culture issued a breakdown for 2010 containing 2 tracks from Karol XVII & MB Valence and 2 others released by their label.
www.myspace.com/karolxviimbvalence
