Dubstep feature – Published in Serie B magazine, 2006

This article contains extracts from a series of interviews conducted in person and over the internet with Skream, Kode 9, Scuba, Bruno Belluomini, NuMaestro and Infinite over the spring of 2006.

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Dubstep: Doin’ it in your earhole

London has always been a cauldron of musical activity - a unique recipient for cultures, ideas and sounds to clash, merge and form anew. At the turn of the century the explosion of UK Garage led to the emergence of various new strains of the sound, spread across the capital. In the years following these strains engrained themselves in various London boroughs and continued to mutate, emerging more recently - first in and around London and gradually spreading outwards. Grime is one of those strains. Another is Dubstep, a music that is just now starting to get a lot of attention.

While Grime emerged from the council estates of east London, it was in the south London borough of Croydon that a darker variant of Garage emerged. Built around the bouncy patterns of 2step combined with dark sounds, heavy bass and reggae, dancehall and dub samples and influences, as opposed to the rnb influences that dominated at the time, it was first pioneered and experimented by the likes of El-B, Steve Gurley and Zed Bias. In the years following it further developed and mutated thanks to producers like Horsepower, Menta, Artwork, Hatcha, Skream and Benga who built on the darker 2step foundations and were centred around the now defunct Croydon-based record shop and label Big Apple. Big Apple was instrumental in the early developments of this sound, as was Ammunition Promotions who were, and still are, responsible for the leading label Tempa, and the Forward>> club night. Ammunition coined the term Dubstep for a magazine article, a term that would slowly stick as the music bloomed over the years.

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written by Laurent

DJ Klock feature - Published in Serie B magazine, 2006

This feature was based on a longer online feature on DJ Klock and his work which is available online at spinscience.org.uk.

DJ Klock – Non-circular music

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Japan is a fascinating country to many people for many reasons – personally the one thing that never ceases to amaze me about Japan and its culture is its constant ability to surprise. Musically speaking this translates into the discovery of new artists whose work always bring something fresh. In the last few years I’ve discovered artists such as O N O, Goth Trad, Kentaro, DJ Baku, Tatsuki, Shing02, and DJ Klock who all produce and work across the hip hop, electronica and turnablist scenes. While their work can be seen within the frame of such genres, what’s truly interesting about it is that it is sometimes so different and ahead of what is being done in the West, it sounds like something entirely new. Back in issue 8 I looked at the new generation of Japanese DJs, turntablists and producers such as Baku, Kentaro and Tatsuki, who over the last 5 years have been pushing things in new directions, unhindered by what was happening outside of Japan. But there was one artist amongst this new generation who I didn’t really touch on – DJ Klock. Alongside Baku and Tatsuki he was part of Japan’s first turntable band, Whakhakha, and he’s also one of the country’s most interesting electronica artist blurring the boundaries between hip hop, glitch, house, live instrumentation and scratching and bringing all his influences together in a mix that works surprisingly well.

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written by Laurent

A-Trak feature - Published in Serie B Magazine, 2006

This feature follows up from the original interview I did with A-Trak in 2004, ahead of his becoming Kanye West’s tour DJ. A full length version of the original interview, and this feature are available online at spinscience.org.uk.

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Homeboy got that crack!

Sitting in a studio in a flat somewhere in New York with Hell Rell from the Dipset exclaiming ‘that’s that crack!’ when hearing a beat isn’t the type of setting where you think you’d find a world renowned turntablist and young producer, responsible for said beat. The beat in question was for a track, ‘Don’t Fool with The Dips’, that became one of the big surprise of 2005 in some music circles – a track featuring 3 young members of the Dipset collective rhyming over a production made mainly from turntables isn’t exactly run of the mill after all. But then again at just 24 years of age the man responsible for this, A-Trak, isn’t your average turntablist, DJ or producer. In the last 2 years he has made a habit of breaking norms and surprising followers of his early days as a turntable prodigy and battle DJ champion, as well as surprising a fair amount of people out of scratch circles since becoming Kanye West’s tour DJ. So how exactly did this Canadian boy, who still hasn’t finished his university studies, get to go on the road with Kanye for the last 2 years, have the Dipset rhyme on his track, end up doing cuts for Common’s lauded ‘Be’ album and more importantly achieve what most turntablists haven’t managed to by linking the underground, and inward looking, scratch scene to the current mainstream of rap and hip hop? Whatever answer you’re thinking of is probably off by a few miles. It involves a shop in London, a routine, some guts, Dame Dash, and of course skills.

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written by Laurent

2tall feature - Published in Serie B magazine, 2005

This feature is based on various much q&a sessions which took place over a year at 2tall’s home and studio. The first and longest of these q&a sessions is available online at spinscience.org.uk and ukhh.com.

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Musicianship can take many forms and artists many shapes. And in many ways the above sentence has never rung truer than when applied to scratch DJs. From the musical stylings of Mixmaster Mike and D-Styles to the dnb productions and club sets of Craze, scratch DJs are constantly redefining concepts of music. And in the UK, one DJ in particular is standing tall over the rest.

2tall first came to music in the early 90s and through playing the piano and drums during his youth and teens. 1995 saw him catch the DJ bug, and after a few years of mixing he discovered battle and test tone records, opening up a whole new world of sonic possibilities which he started to integrate more and more into his mixing, experimenting with scratching as he went along. This led him to take scratching more seriously and find out about its history and the emerging turntable music being made at the time. By 2000 2tall was incorporating all the different music making skills he’d learnt in his youth alongside his newfound love (and talent) for scratching. 2001 saw him take to the battles for the first time as well, both solo and with UK crew The Truesicians. All this ultimately led to his first official release, the ‘Rise EP’, on Needlework Records in 2003. A snapshot of his time battling and learning the scratching ropes, the EP also hinted to a different and more musical side, which would eventually materialise further into his first full length solo album, ‘Shifting Tides’.

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written by Laurent

Skream interview – Unpublished

This is the full length q&a interview with Skream which was used for the feature published in ATM Magazine, June 2006. This unedited version of the q&a session I did with Skream is previously unpublished.

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So when, how and why did you start making music?
Skream: I was about 13 and some boys I was rolling with they started making tunes, and it was like ‘rah they’re making music!’ It was on a Playstation I think, and I always DJed from when I was 11 and it was like just that next step, and it seemed so easy on that and it was just wanting to do your own stuff. Wanting to imitate the tunes you’d wanna get and make your own stuff.
Big Apple was also a big part of it, obviously. My brother used to work there and I got in there, met Hatcha, and he was spinning that dark 2step thing. And it just took me. I was on that commercial sort of garage, like most people were, but it was twist and difference in the sound. It was just mad. The whole music thing has always been the thing for me, it’s a cool thing to be involved in and the people involved in music always seemed like cool sort of guys. It’s a good way to make a living… well no it’s a good career choice if you can get in there, you know?
I was listening to El-B, Horsepower, Artwork, and it just felt like it was for me man. It was something I molded into and it was when I was at school. I wasn’t interested in school one little bit, I was a little fucker (laughs). But that was something I could concentrate on, and go off and be in my own little zone.

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written by Laurent

DJ Zinc feature – Published in ATM, 2004

Faster, Faster, Zinc, Kill, Kill!!

“If this album didn’t even come out, I have had so much fun and I have learnt so much from doing it that I’m happy.” This sentence seems to sum up perfectly the state of mind DJ Zinc is in, since finishing his new album. Over 3 years in the making, the LP ‘Faster’ is a welcome surprise from one of D&B’s most prolific and influential producers. He seems very relaxed and happy about it, sitting in the sun discussing the trials and tribulations that have brought him to release an album on a subsidiary of Polydor, P Records, which is the label that signed Ms Dynamite and shot her to fame. But rest assured that Zinc has no intention of selling out, as he explains his main motivation for releasing an LP outside of Playaz and his own Bingo imprint: “I said to myself ‘what do I want to achieve by putting this album out?’ My bottom line aim all along was to try and get the music to as many people as possible.” Let’s rewind back a few years to what started as a seemingly innocent favour for a friend of his.

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written by Laurent

Pendulum cover feature – Published as cover feature in ATM Magazine, 2005

Menace from Down Under

“We’re going to the UK to make drum n bass where drum n bass comes from – see if they like it – work with people that wanna work with us.” When Australian trio Pendulum uttered those words nearly two years ago they had no idea how true they would ring. By the time these words came to print (back in ATM issue 57) their first official release under the Pendulum moniker, the now legendary ‘Vault’, had started them on the path to dnb stardom and made them into a household name before most people had even seen them or heard their story. A couple of tracks later and the trio, composed of Paul, Gareth and Rob, were on their way to London town with hope in their eyes and a deal with the newly born Breakbeat Kaos label, fronted by Adam F and Fresh. In retrospect it seems only fitting they would end up on Fresh’s label, seeing as they first fell in love with the drums and the bass after hearing Fresh and Maldini play in Perth. As Rob explains “I heard ‘Messiah’ that night and I was like ‘fuckin hell!’” Gareth adds “we walked out of the club that day, looked at each other and said ‘fuck it, let’s do that!’” Fast-forward to 2004 and Pendulum is the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to dnb, from the most fervent raver to the most clueless newbie. With an original approach, concepts galore and a finesse and refinement in sound which leaves most other productions by the wayside, Pendulum have come and taken drum n bass to a whole other level, repeating the success of ‘Vault’ a few times over and laying claim to the genre like no other crew since… well since Bad Company maybe…

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written by Laurent

Digital downloads feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

The revolution will not be digitised… until now!

In the last century alone the world of music has witnessed no less than three major revolutions, each impacting on the way we consume music, the way it spreads and is recorded. And now at the dawn of a new century yet another revolution has engulfed the music world but this one has the potential to truly change the landscape of modern music like never before. The revolutions in question involve music formats. First we had vinyl, which has so far survived all the following revolutions and claims of its death. Then we had tapes which didn’t survive so well. And then came CDs with people claiming they would once and for all kill all other formats. While not entirely true, CDs have played a big part in helping eradicate tapes and usher in the digital revolution. By the end of the century CDs had become the major format on which music is sold and consumed, alongside newer digital formats like DVD. Yet the foretold revolution was still waiting to happen: vinyl sales were on the up at the turn of the century, the turntable constantly outsold the guitar in most developed countries and DJs had never been so popular. The eternal death of analogue technologies is nowhere to be seen yet their continued existence have not hindered the progression and rise of digital technologies, and somehow a happy medium between both has installed itself since the late 90s. But it looks like all this could change…

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written by Laurent

Mix Master Mike feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

A full version of the q&a this feature is based is available online at spinscience.org.uk and ukhh.com.

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Terror-wrist-ism

Mixmaster Mike is a legend in the world of DJing but not necessarily for all the right reasons. He’s won DMC world titles, he introduced Qbert to scratching, he’s been a part of the most famous DJ crew in history (the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) alongside Qbert, Disk, Apollo, D-Styles and Shortkut, he’s been the Beastie Boys’ DJ since 98 and yet he’s also known as a crazy motherfucker both on and off stage, responsible for some of the most mental turntable music to date and for using his scratches to talk to aliens and other cosmic entities (and that’s not even the half of it). But it would seem that time has had a soothing effect on Mike as demonstrated by his recent second solo LP, ‘Bangzilla’, a sharp contrast to his first solo outing, ‘Anti Theft Device’ an album still regarded to this day as one of the weirdest and most singular pieces of turntable music and production ever released. So has time really soothed the Serial Wax Killer or is just a ploy?

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written by Laurent

Jonny L feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

Jonny L has been a busy man. ‘27 Hours a Day’, is the title of his new album, and by the looks of things he’s been working against the clock for the last five months trying to finish it. Add to that all the stress and work involved in releasing an album, when you don’t have the backing of a major or even a big independent like XL, as well as running your own label and you can see how the album is aptly titled.

So how different was it for Jonny to produce and release an album on his own? “Well for one by the end of my time at XL I was always complaining, about artwork, record sleeves and the rest. In the end I had a little falling out with them, and then I went onto a proper major (Arista/BMG) for a while when I was working with Truesteppers. And there I realised how much better XL actually were, because Arista were a proper nightmare! And with this LP on Piranha, I have really come to realise how much work is involved in releasing an album and how time consuming it can be. I even had to hire someone at the last minute to help me because I just couldn’t bare it anymore. Releasing singles I can handle, but now that I have seen what’s involved in doing an album, I don’t think I would do it ever again.”

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written by Laurent

French Drum N Bass Scene – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

In this constantly growing international dnb scene the “French touch” is not something that should be quickly overlooked. The French are slowly but surely making their presence felt in dnb after putting in years of hard work. The jungle and dnb scene in France took seemingly much longer to fully develop than many other countries. London exported its early rave and junglistic sounds to the mainland as far back as 1990-1991, but it wasn’t until the early 00s that these sounds would become ingrained into the French musical landscape and cross the channel back to the UK.

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written by Laurent

Dutch Drum N Bass Scene – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

Globalisation is not a term you would automatically associate with Drum n Bass, yet it has never been more relevant to this music than today, with a scene gone global in the last few years in all meanings of the word. After years of UK dominance both in production and DJing the scene is enjoying a global expansion that has taken many people by surprise. From the Aussie sounds of Pendulum, to the Latin tinged rhythms of Marky and XRS, DnB isn’t just a London ting no more.

Holland holds a place in many a junglist’s heart for its widely available herbal remedies, yet it also holds one of the longest running electronic scenes in Europe, with the early rave and techno sounds nurturing the birth and growth of what would become Dutch DnB. Take Dreazz, one of the Dutch originators, who turned his love for the music into one of the most successful DnB related companies, Triple Vision. With a shop, record labels covering techno and DnB, distribution company and some of the biggest parties in Holland and Europe, Dreazz is best placed to let us know how DnB grew up Dutch style. “In 1992 I discovered breakbeat and rave and in 93 I started a small fanzine for about 50 people. Through this I started selling tapes and second hand records which I bought in the UK. I then met up with Nubian (another scene originator in Holland) and we started a bedroom style shop, which slowly grew into Triple Vision. At the end of 97 I split up with Nubian and went solo and in 1998 I met up with Edge of Motion, two techno veterans of the Dutch scene, who I managed to persuade into starting a label. We started Black Jack, Piruh and Fokuz (most notably Piruh’s first release was from Black Sun Empire) but closely after the first releases they lost interest and so I started a new label called Citrus and continued to do business with Fokuz and Piruh, using their strength in the Techno scene to push the early DnB sounds. We had no artist yet for Citrus until I met up with Falcon. We did one tune together, and then released about 30 tunes from Falcon solo, as well as more collaborations together on labels like Citrus, Ohm, Synthetic and more. We had one anthem that sold over 8000 (and is still selling 25 a month) a remix of Jill Scott called “It’s Love” which helped to launch us internationally. This led us to playing abroad a lot and it all just progressed from there. Party wise the same happened. We had been doing small things from early 95 and it just expanded. Now as Major League we do the biggest raves in the country with around 1500 people each time and at least 4 UK headliners alongside Dutch and European talents.”

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written by Laurent

LTJ Bukem feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2005

“I’m into music that can be played in ten years’ time, and the Speed reunion proved that. It proved to me that [dnb] is as fresh as it was ten years ago. I listen to stuff that is 30 years old, and knowing that dnb is becoming like that is wicked” exclaims Bukem as we speak about the recent Speed reunion at The End nightclub in London. It’s hard not to agree with him when you consider the giant leaps and progressions this music has made over the last 10 years. Conducting this interview over the phone on a gloomy winter afternoon whilst driving to the airport, it’s hard to not get contaminated by Bukem’s enthusiasm, vibrancy and energy even though I’m not even standing in front of him. The man who has pioneered new sounds and styles for the last decade is still as barmy about this music as he was when he discovered it as a teenager. “I’ve been doing plenty of touring, seems like I’ve been on a life long tour for the last ten years. Loving the DJing as always. Still on my decks when I can, busting mixes, calling Conrad to tell him ‘check this mix!!’ like it was 15 years ago. Enjoying the music, all the new artists coming through, the guys at Hospital as well as the old heads like Renegade and all that.”

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written by Laurent

Scuba feature - Published in Serie B magazine, 2007

A longer version of this feature appears online at Spannered.

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A deeper understanding

Two years ago when I first interviewed Paul Rose, aka Scuba, artist and head of the Hotflush label, he explained how the label was never “intended to be a dubstep label.” But intentions don’t always end up as reality. Today Hotflush is one of the most well known and productive label in a seemingly ever expanding scene, and Scuba’s debut album is about to drop. And while some things may not have gone according to plan, Paul Rose is more confident than ever about what directions to take from now.
In September last year, Paul decided to leave London for Berlin, a natural move considering his musical roots. “Techno is huge here, and it’s the music that originally got me into the whole electronic thing, so it’s like a homecoming for me.” It wasn’t just that though, “I was bored of London, I wasn’t really interested in what was going on there musically. When London works well it really works, but a lot of the time the music that comes out of there is terrible.” Like what? “Well Funky House. A lot of the stuff these guys play sounds like late-90s deep house to me.” Paul’s move from the ‘home of dubstep’ to the ‘home of techno’ echoes the recent minimalist influences heard in the crossover between dubstep and techno. “I love the concept of minimal. I love it that people go mad when a little hi-hat comes in. And I think that some of the most interesting dubstep being made today is the minimal-influenced stuff.”

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written by Laurent \\ tags: dubstep, feature, Scuba, Serie B Magazine, techno