Mark’s Keyboard Repair is Money Mark’s first solo album. Originally released in 1995 as three ten-inch records, Keyboard Repair caught the eye of James Lavelle, who re-released it as a full-length album on his Mo’ Wax label later that year.
The album was recorded and produced by Money Mark himself in his home studio. Its 30 tracks are predominantly a minute or two long, and consist of snatches of rhythms, grooves, ideas, and other musical things. Mark’s collection of vintage keyboards compose much of what we hear, though equally distorted guitars, drums, and vocals play their roles as well. Everything is fuzzy, lo-fi, laid back, and funky/soulful. Mark takes elements from all parts of the musical spectrum, but infuses them with his own unique flavor. Each track is glimpse into a different funky universe, and they are as follows:
- Pretty Pain - 3:10
- No Fighting - 1:28
- Ba Ba Ba Boom - 1:34
- Have Clav Will Travel - 1:27
- Don't Miss the Boat - 2:30
- Sunday Gardena Blvd. - 1:32
- Insects Are All Around Us - 2:21
- Scenes from... - 1:07
- Poets Walk - :59
- Spooky - 1:07
- Cry - 2:19
- Ease - 2:57
- Hand in Your Head - 1:39
- That's for Sure - :37
- Sixth Synth - 1:16
- Invitation - 2:06
- Time Lapse Life - 2:25
- Seven, Seven, Seven - 1:44
- Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone - 2:31
- Pinto's New Car - 2:22
- Revolt of the Octopi - 2:34
- Never Stop - 2:24
- Slow Flames - 2:20
- Hard Ass - 2:30
- From the Beginning to the End – 1:50
- Functions - 2:08
- World Lesson, Pt. 2 - 2:33
- Inner Laugh - 2:13
- The Grade - 4:38
- Mark’s Keyboard Repair - :58
“Mark’s Keyboard Repair”, as you may have noticed, is also the name of the last track on the album. It’s basically a spoken word piece over a wrecked beat. Mark details the different services the repair shop offers:
Come down to Mark’s Keyboard repair
Sales and service
24 hour operation
come on down if you’ve got:
gummy hammers in your clavinet
broken string in your electric piano
bring it down
bring all your keyboards down here
we sell those 9-volt adapters so you don’t have to keep buying batteries
we got sales, special sales every week
come on down to Mark’s
So, is there or was there really a Mark’s Keyboard Repair? I Think The Answer's Yes. For one, Mark supposedly met up with The Boys Beastie whilst working as a handyman of some sort at their home, giving him a background in fixing shit. Secondly, anyone with as many ancient and varied keyboards as this man would necessarily be able to repair them to some extent, especially if he was self-producing his albums, as was the case. Thirdly, in the liner notes there is a photograph (taken by Mario Caldato, Jr. ) of a man (Mark with a beard, perhaps?) sitting in a van proudly emblazoned with “Mark’s Keyboard Repair” on the side.
The existence or non-existence of Mark’s Keyboard Repair (the business) is mostly conjecture, as I haven’t found any real evidence in either direction. However, Mark’s Keyboard Repair (the album) most certainly does exist. That being so, I would recommend that everyone take an auditory trip down to Mark’s and have a funky, if a bit disjointed and eclectic, good time.
All info taken from www.allmusic.com and the album itself.