Marco Sterk (born 23 May 1984), known professionally as Young Marco, is a DJ and electronic music producer from Amsterdam.^[1][2]

He is the co-founder and co-owner of Safe Trip Records.^[3]

Early life

Sterk was born in Sneek, Netherlands and moved to Amsterdam when he was 18 years old.

After immersing himself in the city’s electronic music scene, he got a job working as a graphic designer and later part-time Artists and Repertoire (A&R) manager for Rush Hour, one of Amsterdam’s leading record labels. He began to DJ and promote club events.^[4][5][1]

Career

Sterk developed a close friendship with Redlight Records co-owner Tako Reyenga.^[6] The two spent time together hunting for ‘spaced out and exotic sounds’.

Sterk became known for playing unique DJ sets packed with obscure records. His DJ sets usually include many different styles of music.^[7]

In a 2013 interview with Resident Advisor, Sterk described his DJ style as follows: ‘I’m really into emotional music and that can come in a lot of forms. It could be some ambient track, but it could also be a super heavy, jacking club track. It just must have a heavy impact.’^[1]

Sterk’s musical knowledge led him to put together several compilation albums, including the second volume in Dekmantel’s Selectors series (2017),^[8][9][10] and all three volumes of Italian dream house (with Christiaan MacDonald, (co-founder of Safe Trip Records), under the title Welcome To Paradise.^[11]

As a producer, Sterk released his first solo single (‘Moving Fast’) on Hand of God Records in 2010.^[12]

He moved to the ESP Institute label in 2011, releasing a pair of singles before delivering his debut album, Biology, in June, 2014.^[13][14]

In a Resident Advisor review, Derek Miller said: ‘Given his eclectic interests as a DJ and the sonic diversity of his own productions, the LP has always seemed a good format for Young Marco, and Biology proves it’.^[15]

In the same year, 2014, Sterk joined forces with musicians Gigi Masin and Jonny Nash to form the ambient group Gaussian Curve.^[16]

To date, the trio has released two albums, Clouds (2014) and The Distance (2017).^[17][18]

In 2015, Sterk launched the Safe Trip label with a collection of his own remixes for other artists entitled Sorry For The Late Reply.^[19]

Safe Trip has released music by Darling, Ben Penn, Dazion, Artis, and Private Eyes, amongst others.^[20][13][21]

In February 2023, Sterk signed his single “What You Say” to the label and division of Sony Music, Ministry of Sound,^[22][23] following the global praise to his performance of the record at Dekmantel Festival in 2022.^[24][13]

Discography

Discography adapted from Discogs and Rate Your Music

References