Kiev outfit Marakesh have attained national renown with their breakthrough second album M (2008), designed to give voice to the band's cherished themes of sex, glam, rock, pop, and electronica… And love, too. Their theatrical streak and evident fondness for mascara, especially in the appearance of lead singer Mark, works towards the visual expression of what Marakesh call androgyny-rock. It's both musically sexless and emotionally overloaded. This is also a description of the band's eclectic sound. Unprecedentedly all the songs from M were used in the soundtracks for multiple TV series on Channel One in Russia, while one of them called Jdat even appeared in the GTA 4 blockbuster leading to hundreds of thousands views from all over the world on Marakesh's YouTube channel. Despite their existence on the periphery of big-time wheeling and dealing, the band has nonetheless already had a taste of fiscal nastiness. When asked why the LP has been released as a free download, they reply: Even while we were recording it, several record companies approached us and said they wanted to release it. We took the bait, driven by our ambition, and chose the biggest one. As a result, we faced a long and painful struggle to break free… 2010 have witnessed the liberated Marakesh releasing the new EP Taste Me, which has led them to play shows with likes of London's Placebo and Vladivostok's Mumiy Troll, both stadium scale bands and Marakesh's inspirers. Marakesh are working on their third album, which will be released in 2012. As of 2017, the band is based in Berlin, Germany. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.