Niko Marks
Day of Knowing
Niko Marks exists at a musical intersection where Stevie Wonder and electronic music collide. Born in Detroit and raised by a family of musicians and singers, Niko was taught chord progressions by his mother on the piano and learned the rest by ear. He took just one music class along the way. It wasn’t long before Marks’ genre-defying path - and ability to sing, write, produce and play - would link him up with the next wave of Detroit techno. In the early 1990s, Marks was working under the same roof as underground luminaries like Juan Atkins, Eddie Fowlkes, ‘Mad’ Mike Banks and Jeff Mills. As Underground Resistance established its iconoclast status, Marks joined collaborative production team Members of the House. On Grand River Avenue in the shadow of Cass Technical High School - Detroit’s de facto producer of legends like Donald Byrd, Dorothy Ashby and Ron Carter - Marks was helping produce the Motor City’s latest musical exports all before he could legally rent a car. With Day Of Knowing Marks is releasing his debut full length on Planet E. Produced in part with Craig (“Craig has one heavenly ear,” laughs Marks), the record is undoubtedly one of Marks’ most compelling efforts. His raw talent as a musician takes center stage as rich instrumentation becomes a soulful weapon over crisp electronic drums. There’s crossover appeal here that plays as well in the basement dive as it does in the jazz club. Marks describes “Day Of Knowing” as a decades-long culmination of producing, arranging and writing - but coming back home to his roots at the same time.