Born to a Serbian mother and Croatian father, Baloo (AKA Marko Marincic), spent his childhood rifling through the diverse collection of CDs in his parents' home. With a library spanning from France to the Middle East, there was always another album to listen, and, seemingly, never a quiet moment. Some years down the line Marko would pick up a guitar for the first time and discover Arctic Monkeys and the British indie scene, but not before building a strong relationship with music from all around the globe.

Like many of us, the dance music bug bit at university. We all miss our parents' record collections, but being able to crawl through the door at 6am after a night pressed up against the sound system in a sweaty, strobing basement is an incredibly meaningful experience that most of us will only be bold enough to try once we've flown the nest.

When Baloo drops the funky

From that point, it didn't take long for the already-musical Baloo to take up DJing under the tutelage of good friend and Bristol DJ Hutton. In just the past six months Baloo has underlined names such as Djrum, Monki, Murder He Wrote, Terror Danjah, and Sly-One, as well as locking up residencies at a number of esteemed Brighton club nights.

"I've got a huge amount of gratitude to Grass Roots and URF who both gave me the platform to play to actual humans in a club or over radio rather than just annoying my housemates blasting tunes in my room"

Currently finishing a masters in critical and creative writing and riding for Deliveroo to fund his UKFunky addiction, Baloo's summer schedule is as packed as you'd expect. You can catch him at the URF End of Year Party, once the secret location has been released, then at MONO supporting Hybrid Theory for 23 Degrees, and finally, a set at a free rave at Motion in the same weekend.

Citing bassline beatsmith Champion as an essential influence, due to one fateful night at Patterns commandeered by the East London DJ and producer, Baloo's love affair with UKFunky is no secret, as demonstrated in his 70 minute mix. Alongside the robust, springy synths of his favourite genre, Marko nods to Jamaican sound system culture, a progenitor to much modern music, as well as African and Latin American sounds like soukous and samba.

"I just absolutely can’t see myself doing anything else at the moment. It just doesn’t compute. I love listening, making and playing music to people way too much."

The mix is typical of what you would hear Baloo spin in a club - firmly anchored in UKF but with frequent stops to foreign locations such as Portugal and West Africa and a responsible dose of UK Bass thrown in. The session includes tunes from the man himself, as well as unreleased numbers from Bushbaby, Murder He Wrote, Affiliate and Movement. Listen:

1. Your dream DJ to play alongside?

It would probably have to be Champion to be honest, maybe Spooky purely because of the sheer quantity of dubs that man is in possession of. Can I play alongside Champion and Spooky? B2B2B style? With Riko Dan and Buju Banton on mic? That’s definitely the dream. Unless someone can reanimate Mozart and teach him to DJ, someone with his level of musical prowess could do some crazy things in the dance.

2. Your favourite event you've been to recently?

That’s a hard one. Freerange at the Arch with Commodo and Killa P was all kinds of madness, as Freerange events always are. Also the Overground Sessions night at Mono I played at on my birthday was proper good, however as a result of buckfast I can’t remember too much from that one so I can’t consciously call it my favorite or I’d be lying. I haven’t really been out too much over the last couple of months because of uni work but those two are definitely up there, as well as Monki for Grass Roots at Patterns, that was so much fun to play at!

3. What are you listening to right now?

Two mixes I keep going back to again and again nowadays is Murder He Wrote’s Fabric promo mix which just encapsulates why I love UK Funky so much, and Hutton’s liquid drum and bass mix. That last one is the perfect mix for listening to on a long nighttime train journey, definitely check that out, and if you’re in Bristol go see him play - quality selector. In terms of an album I’ve had Currents by Tame Impala on quite a lot recently, there’s also this great Rocksteady compilation on Spotify. It’s hard to really pin down exactly what I’m listening to because generally it’s all over the place, could be chilling in the sun to some Peter Tosh one minute then searching for some proper stinky bangers for a set the next. Just good music I guess.