Mark Sultan
Gritty, lo-fi garage rock that pairs 1950s soul crooning with primitive punk energy. Raw, stomping music for dive bars and basement parties.
Gritty, lo-fi garage rock that pairs 1950s soul crooning with primitive punk energy. Raw, stomping music for dive bars and basement parties.
Mark Sultan sounds like a jukebox from 1958 that was buried in a backyard for forty years and then plugged into a blown-out guitar amp. It is a collision of high-stakes soul singing and low-fidelity garage punk, where the crackle of the recording is just as important as the melody. The music carries a frantic, stomping energy that feels both ancient and immediate.
What makes Sultan distinctive is his ability to channel the velvet-throated crooning of early R&B through a filter of pure, unadulterated noise. Whether performing as a one-man band or with collaborators, he maintains a primitive rhythmic drive, often using foot-pedal percussion that gives the tracks a desperate, heartbeat-like pulse. It is the sound of one person trying to be an entire Motown revue in a garage.
Start with 'Sultanic Verses' to hear the full breadth of his songwriting, or dive into '$' for the high-energy collaboration with Bloodshot Bill. It is essential listening for anyone who thinks modern rock has become too polished and misses the dangerous, unwashed spirit of original rock and roll.
Mark Sultan (born Mark Antonio Pepe) is a Canadian musician and entrepreneur from Montreal, Quebec. He was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, and Mind Controls. He has also spent time performing as a one-man band under the pseudonym BBQ, a moniker which has followed him beyond his solo career to his collaboration with former Spaceshits bandmate Blacksnake in the two-man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show. Mark Sultan usually performs using a number of aliases including Needles, Krebs, Von Needles, Skutch, Creepy, Bridge Mixture, Kib Husk, Noammnn Rummnyunn, Blortz, Celeb Prenup, and BBQ. In 2007 he released his first album as Mark Sultan entitled Sultanic Verses. In 2010, Sultan released $ as Mark Sultan and The Ding Dongs, the debut self-titled LP by Sultan and Bloodshot Bill.
Shares garage rock, rockabilly, soul (subgenres); lo fi, tape saturation, bedroom production (production style)
Shares garage rock, rockabilly, soul (subgenres); lo fi, tape saturation, bedroom production (production style)
Shares garage rock, rockabilly, soul (subgenres); lo fi, tape saturation, bedroom production (production style)
Shares rebellious, energetic, nostalgic (moods); crooning, raspy, intense (vocal style)
Shares lo fi, tape saturation, bedroom production (production style); playful, energetic, rebellious (moods)
Shares dive bar, basement show, urban night (atmosphere); garage rock, rockabilly, punk rock (subgenres)
Shares garage rock, rockabilly, soul (subgenres); rebellious, energetic, nostalgic (moods)
Shares garage rock, punk rock, rockabilly (subgenres); rebellious, energetic, playful (moods)
Shares dive bar, basement show, urban night (atmosphere); rockabilly, punk rock, garage rock (subgenres)
Shares one-man band percussion, rockabilly, crooning, lo fi (detail)
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