Taking his place behind the decks amongst the wood fire ovens at Hand Fire Pizza for last weekend’s Intergalactic Ball, the headlining DJ treated the festively-costumed crowd to a set full of hip-hop-oriented, lo-fi bass music that had them grooving into the early hours of Sunday morning.
The DJ, Marley Schwartz, also known as TF Marz, is a producer based in Denver, Colorado known for combining the soulful hip-hop and R&B sounds he grew up loving with the deep and electronic textures of modern bass music.
A self-proclaimed “vibe curator,” Schwartz is co-founder of the Mile High City-based all:Lo Collective, whose core members include TF Marz, parkbreezy, pheel. and Thought Process. The group of producers and DJs formed organically soon after Schwartz moved to Denver from Oregon in 2016.
“We played together and it just clicked. We all have our distinct styles but you could feel the relationship [between them] and hip hop at the core of what we were doing,” Schwartz said.
At the time, Schwartz said there was a lot of intense and aggressive bass music in the city, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative nights offering a mellower approach. That inspired him to team up with Parker Williams (parkbreezy) and Phil Gallo (pheel.) to start throwing their own events incorporating more of the chord progressions and melodies of the hip-hop and R&B worlds.
“We did that [first] event for like six months and that following summer,” Schwartz said. “[Then] Parker and Phil hit me up and said, ‘Hey, we want to just start releasing our music on our own label. We got this idea for this thing called all:Lo. Are you into it?’”
Schwartz answered with an emphatic “yes” and the collective was formed. The members of all:Lo set out to make high end bass music using lo-fi production techniques that you could not only dance to at a loud club but also listen to in the comfort of your own home.
“I think it’s something that a lot of people were really hungry for, and they didn’t know exactly where to get it,” Schwartz said. “And it’s cool because people were starting to find it with us.”
That goal to create something collaborative and accessible led to all:Lo building a community of like-minded music fiends who felt open and free to be themselves, Shwartz said.
“We’re just really dedicated to being who we are and we want to encourage everyone to be who they are. I think that that’s how you build community because you create genuine connections when people can be authentic and feel safe,” Schwartz said. “Usually, if someone likes the same music as you, you’re going to connect on a lot of other levels as well.”
Listen above for KHOL’s full conversation with Marley Schwartz aka TF Marz.
