High-speed euphoria from Seoul | MAR VISTA & Club Angel drop ‘Outrun’ via Higher Ground
Seoul’s night economy is changing shape at high speed. While Berlin, London, and Amsterdam still dominate global dance coverage, a younger network in South Korea is rethinking how underground music scenes can be built through micro-crews, off-grid parties, and platforms that double as community hubs. At the centre of this shift is MAR VISTA, a fashion-trained producer, DJ, and organiser who treats parties as infrastructure, not just bookings. On 9th October, he releases Outrun with close collaborator Club Angel on Higher Ground, one of Europe’s most respected labels for forward-facing electronic music.
Outrun didn’t start as a studio export. It was born at the first lifestream party, MAR VISTA’s grassroots platform for showcasing emerging artists where a shared set with Club Angel evolved into a draft idea and eventually into a track that distilled the DNA of Seoul’s underground in motion: high BPMs, euphoric melodic colour, and an atmosphere that feels inviting. The arrangement owes as much to JRPG level design as it does to techno.
MAR VISTA’s trajectory spans both global and local spheres. His early catalogue includes releases with Nervous Records and remix credits for Chromeo, EXO-SC, and Girls’ Generation through SM Entertainment’s ScreaM Records. In parallel, he began releasing faster, harder dubs on SoundCloud that caught the attention of DJs like Need2Freak, KETTAMA, DJ Heartstring, and Club Angel, helping establish him as part of a wave of Asian artists reshaping global rave energy.
His community work runs just as deep. Alongside the Bumpy crew, Korea’s first hard-groove collective, and the lifestream project, MAR VISTA has been part of a network of artists building spaces where local talent can find visibility at home and abroad. Each member of Bumpy pursues their own creative path, but together they represent the collaborative strength and shared vision of Seoul’s underground.
Outrun sits precisely at this intersection of trained craft and community ethos: fast, melodic, and human, privileging small rooms, friendships, and peer validation over playlists or algorithmic growth. Its release on Higher Ground places Seoul’s underground firmly within the international conversation. Known for championing artists who push dance culture forward, the label gives Outrun reach and framing beyond the local, presenting it as part of a wider turn toward euphoric, high-speed sounds that are now defining both festival stages and underground nights.
The wider context is clear. 2025’s “joyful rave” moment isn’t just nostalgia for the 1990s, it’s a rejection of cynicism, proof that high speed doesn’t have to mean severity. Outrun embodies this sensibility: at 140BPM, it remains warm and bright.
It’s also a case study in how micro-communities; small crews, Discord groups, event organisers, and shared stems can outpace algorithm-driven growth through consistency and visibility.
Outrun offers multiple points of entry: a scene report on Seoul nightlife; a production note on keeping high-BPM tracks warm and melodic; a cultural thread linking fashion training to musical arrangement; and a collaboration diary showing how friendships and parties translate directly into releases.
MAR VISTA & Club Angel - Outrun is out now on Higher Ground.
For more information on Mar Vista please visit:
Bandcamp I Soundcloud I Instagram
For more information on Mar Vista please visit:
