The 3rd in the line of Sonic Router podcasts for Bleep.com went live yesterday...
Featuring our look back at the past month of releases it includes work from Pearson Sound, Scuba (and a troupe of remixers including FaltyDL and Joe), Joker, Mosca, Lukid, A Made Up Sound and so much more.
Bristolian producer Gemmel Phillips, better known by his shortened nickname Gemmy, blossomed out of the so called ‘purple’ quagmire. Spearheaded by fellow producers Joker and Guido, the trio’s penchant for naggingly catchy leads and squalling computer funk made them an instant hit in the dubstep world, servicing beats that were often drastically different to the deep and pressing bass loaded soundscapes. Feeding more off the energy and insistency of grime music, Gemmy’s debut release on the Punch Drunk label – a Bristol based label famed for bringing the emerging sounds of the South West to the wider world – ‘Bk II The Future’ b/w ‘Bass Transmitter’ wailed and staggered through contrasting synth lines.
Inebriated with the sound, his consequent release for the Planet Mu label ‘Supligen’ rewired the template whilst the flip side, ‘BT Tower,’ showed a different side to his productions, positively bruising speaker stacks with its pummeling array of low end frequencies. Following it up with the ‘Jonny 5’ double pack – again on Planet Mu – it was obvious Gemmy’s sound was maturing, deviating rhythmically from the halfstep template, he riddled the stand out track ‘Dolla Digital,’ with tom tom rolls piled on top of erratic snares.
Hard at work on his debut album, he's just dropped a freebie ahead of his performance at fabric on the 24th, which you can download below.
To mark the 3rd release on Baobinga's BUILD label - a split 12" featuring two collaborations with Bao going toe to toe with Joker collaborator Ginz on the A side, 'The Good Stank,' and head to head with CosminTRG on the blazing B, 'I Get Ruff' - they've linked up with You Naughty Monsters, to make a video clip teaser featuring their music, zombies and high rises:
And in another act of promotion Captain Bao has released a b2b mix with CosminTRG into cyberspace which you can kop at the url below.
With a unique take on two approaches - the g-funk era, squelch sonics of the Ginz collab and a tough as Carol off Eastenders face house tempoed highlight on the flip - Baobinga is cementing his hold on the vinyl market. Though the CosminTRG collab wins out thanks to in no short measure to is nuttiness and intensity, both tracks have a distinct appeal that work well in a basement with a big rig.
Swindle comes at the dubstep/grime melee from a different angle, he can drop melodic funk or dirty rave bombs at the drop of a hat. His last outing on Planet Mu came on the form of a quality funked up remix of Terror Danjah’s ‘Zumpi Hunter,’ which blended together like a grime/skweee hybrid, but with the four tracker Air Miles EP he steps out with his own diverse style.
The A-side really throws down some killer material with the eponymous track opening proceedings with Swindle in rave mode making a grime tempered instrumental so twisted I’ve yet to hear an MC ride it right. The energy is embedded in the melodic tension-building intro; pads and skipping percussion lead into a deadly drop that bounces into action hard and ravey like. If you put it next to Terror Danjah’s ‘Acid’ it’s like grime has done a Marty McFly and found its way to ’92, dripping with energy and a massive grin on its face. Another highlight is ‘Daredevil’ which creates some serious hyper funk without veering over the line of cheesy preset midi funk tinkling; it’s big, brash and snappy with big basslines powered instruments that sound like they’re being squeezed through a talk box a-la Tupac’s ‘California Love.’
The flip leaves me a bit colder, ‘Coffee’ and ‘Molly’ have a big beat feel to them when they whip out the tweaked and filtered guitars, and just step over the line from fun to cheese though ‘Molly’ redeems itself with a killer low end that growls and twists with plenty of funk. ‘Coffee’ meanwhile has a good skippy feel to it and brings some hi-tech soul and the production, much like on the EP as a whole, is spot on.
Words: James Balf Out: Tuesday 4th May (Bank Holiday innit)
You can kop Swindle’s recent LuckyMe mixtape here or catch him at Crazylegs in Bristol on the 8th May with Joy Orbison and the one ton heavy Pev meister.
Anyone not familiar with the work and releases of the Bristol based Soul Motive label should really take a long hard look in the mirror and analyse what they see cast in the reflection. Having released Joker’s breakout ‘Snake Eater’ alongside tracks from TRG, Hyetal, Headhunter & Invisible, Geiom and soon Eleven Tigers, the label and its ‘big boy’ full colour artwork should definitely be kept within earshot.
To commemorate the launching of a slick new website the crew invited Geiom to put together a mix, an invitation the Berkane Sol bossman accepted with vigour:
“As ever, I like to start out with something unexpected, reference the older music which influences what I do now, hype current tunes that I'm feeling, and push forthcoming Berkane Sol material,” Geiom told us when we asked how he approaches such an opportunity. “I love the challenge of mixing from house tempos up to the 140 region, but it does requires some careful tune selection to make it work.”
Keep an eye out for forthcoming releases by Bowly, Hem, Shortstuff, Siobhan Lynch and Alex Zen on Geiom’s Berkane Sol imprint and international readers can catch him at Dub War in New York, at a Planet Mu night in Belgium and at “a festival on a Greek island with RSD and Subeena” in the coming weeks. Check his myspace for further information.
If you follow any of dubstep's 'super DJs' on twitter you'll have read two or three weeks ago about a forthcoming Guido album, something Punch Drunk label boss, Peverelist, has today confirmed. Called Anidea, the album follows two trail blazing 12 inches - 'Orchestral Lab' and 'Beautiful Complication' - for the label from the Bristol based producer who recently contributed remixes for Pinch, Lauren Pritchard and Wedge & Shadz on the If Symptoms Persist label.
Part of the Purple Trinity, a trio of incredibly brave and melodically inventive producers that includes Joker and Gemmy, Guido's will be the first album from the three artists to be released and it comes with no exaggeration to say that we are awesomely excited at the prospect and extremely proud to be able to bring you some advance previews of three album tracks.
Cue gumpf:
Guido cut his teeth in the embryonic mid-decade Bristol Grime scene, producing instrumentals for MCs and vocalists culminating in his ‘Unleashed’ mixtape in 2006. His production style shares the ultra vivid colour, melody and rugged texture of golden era Davinche, Skepta and Ruff Squad’s Rapid but also the playfulness and pop sensibility of Timbaland or Neptunes without losing underground edge or appeal...
The album will be preceded by a digital single, ‘Way U Make Me Feel’ featuring a vocal from Yolanda who has recently been touring with Massive Attack and who also featured on Pinch’s recent ‘Get Up’ 12” on Tectonic.
The next edition of Sonic Router on URB.com is live now, presenting a snapshot of the dubstep releases that are imminent or ominously close on this date in March 2010. It includes words on Addison Groove, Ramadanman, Shortstuff, Blunted Robots, Joker, Pariah, those Mount Kimbie remixes, DJG, Simon/off, Milyoo and this particularly handsome sentence:
"my position deep in the colon of James Blake is patently well documented if you’re adept enough to use google at even a novice level"
Unless you count Joker, whose sound easily flits between the genre cracks, Hyperdub haven’t released any grime before, which is a pretty amazing feat considering Kode9 has always been a strong advocate of the sound. Maybe there just wasn’t much need for grime on Hyperdub over its 5 year tenure, the labels dark distopian sound in the early years may not have suited grime so afluently; but now the horizons have expanded and the raw synth led hyper-funk of more recent material opens the doors back up for producers like Terror Danjah and DOK.
‘Acid’ sees Danjah on an old skool rave tip merging his hard skipping dense funk with ’92 Hoover synths that aren’t far off being a homage to The Prodigy’s ‘Charlie,’ minus the cartoon cat samples, here replaced with some seriously big hooks and drum programming to die/dance for. ‘Pro Plus’ sees Terror Danjah hook up with the underrated DOK - a producer sometimes described as Danjah’s evil twin who stays in the shadows, lurking with intent - who also has a distinctive sound that’s maybe a little more percussive than Terror’s. Sub bass grooves and swirling synth melodies ensue getting things bumping with a a spacious drum groove.
The eagle eyed SR followers amongst you may well have noted a few posts on Om Unit before, most recently through his involvement in the epic Boom Bap Continuum mix, or his past, present and future retrospective type mix for the Irish All City record label - a label with a superbly healthy beats legacy (releases from Hudson Mohawke, Fulgeance, Mike Slott and Dimlite) that he himself has just recently released on.
Having come to our consciousness through his emphatic 'Pop Lock' remix of Joker's 'Digidesign' (available to stream below), which has now been released on 12", he's got music forthcoming on both Plastician's Terror Rhythm imprint and on fabric's Elevator Music compilation.
He's kindly offered our readers the opportunity to grab a copy of his fresh 7" on All City, containing 2 slices of his hard hitting take on bass heavy hip hop music: the intricate bubble synth & 4x4 kick drum posturing of 'Lavender' b/w the slower more menacing taught atmospherics of 'Lightgrids' for absolutely nothing. Well unless you count emailing someone with an answer to a question as costly...?
Rinse.fm staples Elijah & Skilliam, the duo behind the Butterz blog, marked the passing of a new calendar with an upfront mix packed with fresh beats from a smattering of producers, teeming the grime they're a little more renowned for with new beats from Joker, SRC and Terror Danjah - who'll you be seeing releasing a 12" on the newly formed Butterz label.
Swindle - Open Your Mind (Butterz) Royal T - Hot Ones Remix (Unreleased) Terror Danjah - Acid (Hyperdub) Swindle - 'Trending Topic' (Butterz) DVA feat P Money - Wind It Up (No Right Turn) Rude Kid - Absolut Vodka (No Hats No Hoods) DOK & Terror Danjah - Hysteria (Butterz) Swindle - Air Miles (Planet Mu) Silencer - Miss Asia (Wow Bass Level 3) Joker - Output One Two (Tectonic) Rude Kid & Terror Danjah - The Best Crawler (No Hats No Hoods) Tempa T - Boy Off The Ting (No Hats No Hoods) Terror Danjah - Bipolar (Butterz) OGZ - Hot Ones (Deeco Remix) Maniac - Lengman Tune (Unreleased) Terror Danjah - Sidechain (Swindle Remix) (Planet Mu) SRC - Powerman 9 (Unreleased) DOK - Keep Making Grime (Unreleased) Rude Kid - Electric (Earth 616) J Beatz - Life & Death (SCUK) Terror Danjah - Air Bubble (Butterz) Starkey - Ok Love (Planet Mu) ????? - ?????? (Teaser)
If the main trait Joker, Gemmy and Guido still share is a fiendish devotion to the use of synth textures to stain dubstep’s monochrome template a deep, groovy purple, then the last year has gone some way towards emphasising their substantial differences in approach. Whilst Joker’s ever expanding catalogue betrays a strong affinity with the smooth funk of West Coast hip-hop and Guido’s forthcoming ‘Beautiful Complication’ 12” sees him move ever further towards mutant, future-shocked R’n’B, the most recent music from Gemmy is hugely indebted to the scorched melodies that used to blare out of your brother’s SNES.
Gemmy’s second release for Planet Mu this year includes three of the tracks that featured on his mix for Mary Anne Hobbs’ Bristol: Rise Up special at the tail end of last year. At that point his only release had been the precociously brilliant 'Bk 2 The Future' 12" on Punch Drunk, but during his ten-minute mix its comparatively spacious atmosphere was entirely lost to shockingly barbed circuit meltdowns. The new EP’s title track ‘Johnny 5’ remains a case in point, its innocuously calm intro section suddenly exploding to life in a flurry of jittery high-hats and a grin-inducingly addictive melody.
By way of contrast ‘Wata Down Sound’ marries one of the cheekiest sample steals I’ve heard in a while to a hulking slab of Bristolian dubstep, driven by characteristic descending melodies and a cocky swagger. Final track ‘Shanti Riddim’ rounded off the Hobbs mix in silky-smooth style and in its full form is the EP’s highlight, playing toytown psychedelia off against a liquid groove that’s strangely reminiscent of Vincent Vega’s stoned ride down Pulp Fiction’s sleaze-ridden strip.
But it’s second track ‘Dolla Digital’ that may give some indication of the future potential in Gemmy’s music, its robotic refrain of "we don’t give a fuck about you" subverting dystopian menace with a sublime sense of the ridiculous. Crucially, it operates as an incredibly well-realised whole, its cruelly abrasive bass textures offset by the quirky pop sensibility that rears its head again and again over the course of the EP’s length.
After first hearing a DJ Madd production on Rob Booth’s Electronic Explorations show an air of expectance ensued around his following releases, and for me his merger of talk box vocals, rolling hi hats and piano melodies on ‘Reasonz’ (released earlier this year on Boka Records) perfectly fused his stuttering drum patterns with pure ‘air moving’ bass weight and 8 bit medodics; his simplistic drum patterns all the while sharing a kinship with the current Bristol fraternity.
Hailing from Budapest Madd, is sitting on a stack of forthcoming releases so, being the knowledge hungry suckers we are, we figured it was about time the Madd shared some of them with you, the Sonic Router faithful.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
DJ Madd: My name is Peter, I’ve been writing tunes as DJ Madd for a few years now. I was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary and have lived there all my life. I recently moved to England to be a bit closer to all the happenings and to have a bit of change in my lifestyle.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Music is pretty much all I do. I am far from making a living out of it but in my free time I usually work on some tuness, sounds or just sampling stuff. In the last 6-7 months I was working for an IT company to save up cash for the big move. Apart from that I really like old videogames. I have an old xbox at home which I bought just to setup all emulators I could find and fill it with old classic games. At one point I want to start buying older computers but that project is on the hold for now.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I was always interested in making music so it was natural for me to get into production. I started making tunes in tracker programs such as Digi Tracker and Fast Tracker and then tried a couple of software programs and ended up with the ones I am happy with. For the first few years I didn’t even use EQs just focused on the arrangement, the final mix down just started to get important in the last 2-3 years.
What’s your production set up like?
I am using Cubase with Kontakt and a couple of basic plugins and software synths. I don’t have any hardware unfortunately, just a midi keyboard and Behringer Truth monitors. This setup works for me so I doubt I will change it any time soon. Knowing your gear can make things so much easier.
Where do you take inspiration from while making music? How did you get into dubstep?
I was always a drum & bass head so that has to be one of the main inspirations. The Valve and the Full Cycle camp had a lot of impact on me and I still listen to those artists almost every week. I keep exploring dub/reggae as well and always find something that blows me away.
Where did the name DJ Madd come from?
When I went through my graffiti phase I needed a catchy name. We had a lot of graffiti groups with 3 letter names, so I didn’t want to use ‘mad’ and went for ‘madd’ instead. After that it kinda stuck and I used it for playing games, production and everything that needed a nickname. I wish it would have a more fun story behind it... haha..
Yeah I was hoping you were borderline mental... Tell us a little bit about Hungary and Budapest, what’s the dubstep scene like out there?
It’s small but the people are very into it. There is group of people who would go to every single dubstep happening and that’s what we need really. Unfortunately you still get the standard “too slow” comments but I can’t blame them because the sound systems are not always up for the job. At the moment we have 2 nights running: Dub Phase which is the only monthly gig and Test which is not regular and not strictly dubstep. Though in the last few months you can really see how it’s begun to grow rapidly, so I am hoping for the best!
I hear that you’re moving to Bristol soon, which we all know is a hub for dubstep talent… Who do you hope to run into?
Moving to Bristol was a very, very old dream of mine. In fact my very first DJ set was at a night called ‘Tribute to Bristol’ where the idea was to play music that came from there! I was known to go a bit overboard on the Dopedragon, Full Cycle records... It seems like the Bristol thing stayed with me in dubstep as well. Many people who I rate high live here, such as RSD or Joker just to name the most known ones.
Who else are you feeling musically at the moment?
Too many to list! Apart from the obvious top names my favourite producers at the moment include Von D, Kito, RSD, Zomby, Synkro, Ikonika and the list could really go on.
Tell us a little bit about your mix? What songs just had to go on there/exclusive tracks etc...
The mix is a selection of tunes I been listening to at home with a couple of my own added, so not a "club selection" I guess. It's always a bit difficult to cram in a few different styles but in the end I think It's better than going for one sound over and over.
Which one of your releases means the most to you and why?
At the moment it has to be the ‘Better with You EP’ on Boka. All of those tunes are exactly how I wanted them to turn out and I am especially happy that ‘Flex’d’ got onto vinyl. It had a very good feedback on myspace and I had no idea if it will ever get a release or not. I am also looking forward for ‘Someone’ and the Breakage remix on the flipside!
What else have you got coming up? (releases/dates etc etc)
I learned the best is not to say any exact dates for releases but the following tunes are confirmed for the next couple of months:
Someone/Breakage Rmx (Black Box) Different Tingz/In You’re Eyes Dub (War) Babylon (Subway) Got me dancin' (Subway) It’s Over/ U with Von D (Boka) Why/Sound System with Matt-U (Tube 10) Homeland/Koopa (3.5 Records) Stranger (Boka) Flex’d Rmx/Detroit Skank (Boka) I Know It's You/Better With You Akira Kiteshi Rmx (Boka)
At the moment I am accepting gigs around England, peep my myspace for future gigs!
What is the thing that is most exciting you at the moment in the bass music scene?
There is good music everywhere at the moment so I can't really pick one thing. Dubstep is on the roll and drum & bass seems to be back on track both on the jungle and the minimal sounds!
Have you got any words of wisdom for us?
Appreciating both Rusko and Martyn at the same time is not a crime.
DJ Madd - So Far Away (Unsigned) DJ Madd - Someone (Breakage remix) (forthcoming Black Box) Kode 9 - 2 Far Gone (Hyperdub) Hyetal - Gold or Soul (forthcoming Soul Motive) Dj Madd - Blue Soul (Unsigned) Ikonika - Space Ugly (Dub) Headhunter & Matt U - The Chosen One – (Dub) Phaeleh - Tachi – (Dub) Gemmy - Rainbow Rd. (Planet Mu) Von D - Chacha's Leggings (forthcoming Subbalcious) Dj Madd - Got Me Dancin' (forthcoming Subway) Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intensions [Joker Remix] (FREE DL via FADER) Vaccine - Fever (Kito remix) (Dub) DJ Madd - Better With You (Boka) Skream – 0800 (Tempa) Dj Madd - Flex'd [Ikonika remix] (forthcoming Boka) RSD - Loving It (Dub) Von D & Dj Madd – U (forthcoming Boka)
I'd been searching for a while, well... since late June, for that beat Joker wheeled out at Sonar with what sounded like The Gossip on vocals. After a few twitter garbles with a certain someone it emerged it was a remix of Simian Mobile Disco.
Its usually me, virtually hotfooting it over to RA, entering one of our interviews into the news feed and waiting with baited breath to see if it gets published. Way more often than not they do get displayed, so, as if in some gratuitous turn of fate, when they sent me this link I simply had to shout about it.
Here Richard Carnes goes deep on some of the most prominent dubstep producers to emerge all year.
Known to us only as Dave, Hyetal has pricked up the attention of many with his productions, obtaining that hallowed MAH mix slot and garnering releases on Formant, Reduction, Planet Mu and (imminently) Soul Motive. His beats even recently prompted a member of Californian crunk smiths Lazer Sword to describe his music as feeling "like... I just won a marathon race and I'm at the dubstep rave and everyone is pouring champagne on me and I'm eating wedding cake with all my ex-girlfriends... and they just told me they still love me. All of them."
Suffice to say his music demands your attention. We tracked him down to an IP address, threw down the mix gauntlet and asked him a few un-intrusive questions.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Hyetal: I’m originally from Southampton but Bristol has been my home for the last 5 years. I make bass heavy melodic music. My first release was on Formant Recordings, a Texas based label run by Sines.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I’ve just finished uni. I’m rewarding myself with a few months to concentrate on beats and stuff.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I’ve always been on it in some form. I played in bands as a kid but it was hip-hop that got me interested in programmed music. I had an MPC and used to make sample based beats. I wasn’t really into making tunes with computers until I started my degree in 2005.
What aspects of dubstep connect with you, and similarly spur you on to continue producing?
The lack of defined rules. I can draw influence from the strangest reference points and some people will still dance to it as long as there’s a sub under it.
What’s your production set up like? Has it changed a lot since day dot?
Yeah I used to be nearly completely sample based. I had my MPC, records and a couple of analogue mono synths for bass and FX. I managed to blag a laptop when I went to uni, so now quite a bit of what I make is logic and soft synths.
Your part of the new wave of Bristol producers making moves at the moment, it’s almost like new blood is coming through all the time and adding so much to the scene. What’s the city like for you to make music in and what’s it like having that network around you?
There are some amazing producers, labels and nights. Most people have been really supportive, and I chat to a lot of people regularly to swap tunes and that.
Who do you consider to be of great influence on your output?
That’s a really tough question. Without wanting to seem non-committal there is genuinely loads and I could never pick just one. I suppose the main influences that are most relevant on my current output are: Timbaland, Boards Of Canada and John Carpenter.
Your ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ 12” is out now. How did you link the Peverelist remix and the release? What’s the inspiration behind it?
I wrote ‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ in 2007. A lot of the music around at the time was really dark, some of which I liked, but a lot of it I found very generic. I wanted to make a tune that was uplifting and nostalgic. It was made during the transition from writing on the MPC to logic so the main parts were sampled and sequenced in hardware. There’s loads of stuff in there, mega drive samples, little bits of old disco tunes, a rim shot sample from an old band practice I found on a tape. I sent it to everyone I knew in Bristol at the time, Pev and Diccon had both been very encouraging about it. Diccon wanted to release it then but he was having some problems with the label. Last year he told me it was back on but it needed a b side, I’d never had anyone remix a tune of mine before so was interested in going that route. Pev is a friend and someone who I have total faith in musically so he was an obvious choice.
There’s a lot of talk of synesthesia flying wildly around at the moment, mainly in relation to the purple wow sound, but - much like PRS’ title - your sound seems more like an amalgamation of colours, rather than a block shade. What colour would you say use to describe it and why?
I would totally agree with you... can I choose all of them please? I do especially enjoy silver, purple and anything neon though.
Your Shortstuff collabo, ‘Ice Cream,’ is up on your myspace. How was it working with him? Who else would you like to get in the studio with?
Yeah wicked, we did it all online which was an interesting process. I’ve written another tune with him and the two will be released later in the year but we’re supposed to be keeping details quiet for a bit. I want to write more with Shortstuff and I’m already collaborating with a couple of other people.
What else have you got coming up?
‘Pixel Rainbow Sequence’ came out on Reduction this week, I signed ‘We Should Light A Fire’ to the next Mary Anne Hobbs comp (‘Wild Angels’), that is out on Planet Mu on the 14th. ‘Neon Speech’ and ‘Gold Or Soul’ should be dropping on Soul Motive very late this month or early October.
I’m playing at Fabric on 11th September and have a bunch of other stuff booked, including most Season 5 nights at which I’m a resident in Bristol.
If you could remix anybody who would it be and on the flip to that who would you most like to remix you?
In the realms of fantasy I’d really like to remix Sa-Ra or Boards of Canada and would be stoked if they remixed me.
Can you take us through your mix that you’ve done for us?
It’s pretty much a reflection of the kind of sets I’ve been playing recently... gradually working the tempo up. The Brackles, Martin Kemp and Shortstuff tracks are both sick, those guys make amazing beats. There’s some of my forthcoming stuff in there, a new slower thing I made called ‘The Rhythm In Light’ that I still need to properly finish. The Untold track is incredible; I’ve been feeling all of his newer bits... I obviously love all the tunes, hopefully there’s no filler.
Have you got any words of wisdom for the interweb?
