TradeMarq
TradeMarq is the production team of Marko Militano and Tari Litz
Marko Militano
Marko was born in upstate NY...
Tari
Tari was born in upstate NY where he was first introduced to music through the vast library of 12-inch records his father used to cut figure skating programs with. Even at a tender age he had access to flip through and listen to an eclectic array of music, ranging from Sade, to Gino Vannelli, to Iron Butterfly and everything in between. This would grant him not only a wide scope of music but also provide a taste for how to compile, edit and sequence several different pieces of music to create entirely new compositions. Tari's influences for more unconventional music started to bud in grade school where he was introduced to punk rock and 80's hip-hop through skateboarding. Eventually, Tari became more interested in the primitive, but energetic, sounds of NYC hardcore bands such as Sick Of It All and the Cro Mags.
At age 12, Tari started to dabble in the creation of music through various instruments. Having no long-term interest with the guitar, bass or piano, he finally discovered the drums. He proceeded to play in several bands all through high school, and playing shows alongside the new generation of hardcore bands coming from NYC, like Sub Zero and Dark Side. At around the same time in the early 90's the NYC house and rave scene was more than bubbling. However unrelated, Tari gradually became more intrigued in the happenings of late nightclub culture. It didn't take long before he found himself seduced and inspired by the sounds of Derrick Carter, Richie Hawtin, Doc Martin, and the Chocolate Factory dj's, as well as the production styles of MK, Mood II Swing, and Rob Mello. By 1994, Tari was playing house music and techno at various club nights, as well as outlaw parties in NYC and all over NY State.
Shortly after moving to Boston in 1995, he became a monthly resident at the NASA party called "Home" at Club Shelter (Now Arc) in Manhattan, as well as playing guest spots at now infamous clubs such as the Limelight and the Tunnel. Throughout the next several years, Tari played at clubs and raves all over the east coast, California, Canada and Japan. He has held down residencies at some of Boston's finest clubs including Avalon, Axis, Phoenix Landing, Vapor, and SW1. The most notable of these was Avaland, one of the largest and most recognized super club nights in America, where Tari was the resident house dj for several years. Tari has headlined some of Bean town’s most well respected parties such as Life, Chrome and Culture, and has supported and played alongside the likes of Derrick Carter, Mark Farina, Cajmere, and dj Sneak, to name a few. Additionally, Tari hosted his own weekly radio show on Tuft's WMFO and played guest spots on WBCN, WFNX, Boston College's WZBC, and iCast Radio, one of the first Internet radio shows. He has also played regularly on Emerson's popular WERS. This all afforded him the diverse experience of playing regularly to thousands of people in a super club environment, while concurrently playing more intimate venues catering strictly to underground house heads, like the esteemed weekly, Bump. Equipped with this experience, Tari became one of the east coasts more versatile and respected underground house dj's.
While obtaining a business degree from Northeastern University, Tari began working at Satellite Records. After 6 years, he left his manager's position to become the house music buyer at Boston Beat: Boston's first dance music shop. During this time, Tari un-coincidently crossed paths again with childhood family friend Marko Militano. Marko had recently moved to Boston after graduating a music tech school in the mid west, and had seemingly re-entered Tari's life for the purpose of starting a renewed friendship and new partnership. With Marko's assistance, Tari started constructing his first home production studio. While becoming more acclimated with the gear, Tari started to apply the knowledge he gained from dj'ing into his own production work.
In 2002 TradeMarq was formed, a collaboration empowered by the broad musical talent and production/engineering skills of Marko, coupled with Tari's acute ear for house music and passionate grasp of house music production. TradeMarq currently has an ample discography, including an array of releases on Bananza, Dotbleep, Uniform, Innuendo, Mother Tongue and projects with Classic and Dirty Trick forthcoming. Their productions have been found in the record boxes of the industries most respected names including, Mark Farina, Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak, Yousef, Lil Mark, Iz and Diz, and DJ Heather (who licensed two of TradeMarq's tracks for House Of Om's Colette & DJ Heather mix CD.
After being an established working dj for over a decade along with his newly started adventures into production, there was only one thing left to sew up; an outlet in which to push not only his own music, but those of his friends and peers with similar visions. This new concept would come to fruition with the help of Tari's long time friend and dj partner, George Nessis. Since they share similar tastes in music, goals and an overall outlook on life, the concept for starting a record label practically created itself. In 2004 George, Tari and Marko presented Bananza Music to the world. Today Bananza continues to gain reputation due to stellar releases and remixes by artists such as Brett Johnson, No Assembly Firm, Joshua, Demarkus Lewis, Jt Donaldson as well as in-house production team TradeMarq and Marko Militano.
Tari | Live @ The Red Door | Listen
Tari | Revival | Listen
Tari | 8 Shades of Lovely | Listen