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Marble is the record label that has risen out of the ashes of the much-loved Institubes imprint, which stopped operating last year. The brains behind the operation are Surkin, Bobmo and Para One and together they are keeping a particularly French brand of tough, booty shaking techno and electro alive and totally kicking.

The trio work together to put out records and also involve a close knit community of fellow producers such as Teki Latex, Das Glow and Canblaster. From their Paris base, they release a steady stream of tracks that contain a distorted but dancefloor orientated sound.

Mixmag caught Marble main-man Surkin to get the low-down on the label and an exclusive mix of tunes from the crew.

Surkin presents Marble Music

Marble Players - Wipe Out
Bobmo - Deadpoint
Teki Latex & Para One - 5th Dimension
Marble Players (Para One, Surkin & Bobmo) - Playground
Sam Tiba - Trick Trick (ft. Canblaster)
High Powered Boys - Crash
Das Glow & Para One - Freeze
Para One - Mother (Mr Oizo Remix)
Marble Players - Paris is Burning
Canblaster - Totem (Surkin "Gravity" Mix)
Myd - Octodip
Das Glow & Para One - Pulsar

Marble has been releasing records for around a year now. How did the label begin?

Late 2010, it became clear to us that Institubes was about to close its doors and it was more than a label to us, it was almost a family. Bobmo and me had just moved our studios to the same building as Para One and we spent a couple of months trying to figure out what we should do next. 

Releasing our music on different labels was an option, but it would have meant losing that "family thing" that had made Institubes different from a lot of dance labels. At the same time we became friends with Canblaster, Myd and Sam Tiba from Club Cheval who had recently moved to Paris (they are originally from the north of France) and found out we had a lot in common musically. So we had the crew and so we started Marble.

It seems brave to start a new label after the Institubes empire disbanded. Why did you feel the need to carry on putting out records and what makes Marble special?

We can push things forward, release the music we really love and take as many directions as we like. We can tell our own story from start to finish on multiple records.  

Plus Institubes had a very strong visual identity and we didn't want to lose that. Most club music labels don't care. We've invited our favorite graphic designers and illustrators from all over the world to make the covers. It's great to be able to control everything, from the production to the visuals.

Economically, I think the big problem Institubes had was that it started at a time when DJ's still had to buy vinyl and when a small label could survive doing only that. With Marble, we sustain the label by re-injecting gig money into the company and we decided to go digital only. Obviously, sometimes we miss having real records when we release something, but it gives us a lot of freedom. We basically can finish an EP, send it to mastering via e-mail and have it released two weeks later. 

Marble is carrying on with that classic French bouncy tech/electro sound. Where are you finding producers and what's exciting you about dance music right now?

Most of the artists releasing music on the label are people we already knew. We don't say we'd never sign someone that sent us a demo via e-mail but it's very comfortable to work with people that are also friends. It's also a good way to be sure that we don't end up having label nights with people we hate playing! 

I think dance music in Paris is changing right now in some very good and exciting ways thanks to a new generation of french labels like Marble, labels like Sound Pellegrino, Young Gunz, Bromance... 

Everybody is tired of that over saturated/sidechained sound that a lot of bad producers overused in the wrong way and a lot of kids are coming up with fresh ideas and influences. 2012 is going to be an exciting year.

The label has pushed a core crew of producers (Surkin, Para One, Bobmo etc). Is that sense of community important?

I think it's very important to have recurrent artists on a label. We exchange a lot. We send each other demos, do tracks together, we party together. All this helps having a coherence in the label. We don't try to have a specific Marble sound, but at the same we spend a lot of time talking amongst ourselves and that thinking translates into the music. 

What's next for Marble?

We've just started to put on Marble Nights at the Social Club in Paris and so far that has been amazing. We're releasing Para One's second album and a remixed version of my album USA this spring. 

The funny thing is that we didn't want to release albums when we started but this will be our second and third in less than 6 months! We're also releasing a new single by Das Glow in a couple of weeks, then we've got several more singles lined up, two collaborations EP between all the Marble artists, a compilation... Man this is going to be a hectic year!