For a label that could so easily have been left lumped in with the stigmatised IDM set, Planet Mu’s not half managed to pull itself well away from any easy pigeon holing. The last few years – since they aligned themselves to the nascent dubstep scene, really, athough it’s been most apparent since that sound has branched off in all directions – have seen an explosion in diversity quite separate from almost any other imprint out there. In that sweeping statement I also include Hyperdub, which along with Mu has probably done more than almost any label in recent memory to break out of its comfort zone and head off on exciting detours. But while Kode9’s baby has remained beholden to variants on a localized theme (no bad thing, mind), Planet Mu seems to have disregarded them completely. This year alone, alongside snippets from the usual bass set – Ikonika, Jamie Vex’d/Kuedo, Swindle, Terror Danjah – has seen them snap up albums from both footwork maestro DJ Nate and unknown chillwavers Solar Bears. Hardly sticking to a rigid formula then.
London based Barcelona man Oriol Singhji definitely fits into the latter category. His Night & Day album is a set of sunkissed, superheated instrumentals that effortlessly align with the kind of retrofuturistic funk peddled by Floating Points and Onra. But his sound carries a definite emphasis on the ‘retro’, making easy reference to jazz-funk, Weather Report and Miami Vice, amongst other rose-tinted memories. That a certain seventies charm thoroughly permeates all the remixes on the Coconut Coast EP is, I suppose, testament to how convincing Oriol’s vision is. The title track is wildly addictive, kicking off with a gust of warm synth before heading off on a defiantly downtempo flex, riding ‘round South London with the top rolled down. FaltyDL’s house remix is slow and foreboding, pivoting around a lovely broken beat, and Jake Slazenger’s take on ‘Memories’ is hot and sumptuous, as befitting the source material. Shortstuff’s ‘Memories’ remix is the best of the three though, and it’s brilliantly deceitful, opening with the sort of jittery moves that you’d expect of a Blunted Robot but remaining unexpectedly contemplative throughout.
File in the ‘cider in a field on a hot summer’s day’ section.
If you’ve been listening to grime at any point over the last three years you have undoubtedly heard Rude Kid’s beats. He’s everywhere, currently being vocalled by every MC in the scene and spun by every DJ going, causing a stir with tracks like ‘Sing 4 Me’ which featured Ghetts on mic duties, and ‘Electric’ which is receiving a raucous reception wherever it gets dropped. After 3 vinyl releases to date, the Are You Ready EP, Electric and the Jack Daniels EP, on the No Hats No Hoods label, Rude Kid dropped his debut long player - also called Are You Ready? a title taken no doubt from his recognisable production watermak- a collection of instrumentals showcasing his energetic productions style for the label.
We caught up with him to shoot him some questions and get the low down on his projects…
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Rude Kid: My music name is Rude kid some heads call me Rudes. I’m 22 years old, come from London, and am a music producer/DJ. Ive been doing music for about 3 years properly but ive always loved listening to music from when I was very young.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I don’t think I do much else beside music, but outside of music I’m just a normal guy I watch a lot of films and spend time with my family and friends. Im very close to them and I love having a laugh. On a normal day if im not doing music I will just relax play abit of ps3.
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
I used to listen to a lot of pirate radio before I started making music and got influenced by the energy the music had. I always wanted to hear my songs getting played on radio or raves it was like a dream I had to make reality, which I think I’ve achieved now. I was introduced a programme called FruityLoops by a friend in school and every since then ive made music. Nobody taught me how to use the programme I had to learn everyting myself which took long but now I can use it with my eyes closed.
What’s your production set up like?
I’ve got a very basic setup: only Fruityloops, a midi keyboard and some good speakers, that’s all I need. Right now im making good music with just the basic setup and it sounds good on big speakers in the clubs or on radio. But one day when I get my own studio I will have to get more equipment.
Where do you take inspiration from when making music?
I think just everyday life, for example a lot of my songs are named after what I’ve done that day, for example I made a instrumental called ‘Dentist’ which is on my album. That was made after I came back from the dentist and how I was feeling. It all depends on my mood and how I’m feeling on the day aswell. I also get inspired by a lot of hardworking musicians and when I see them succeeding that just makes me want to work extra harder. I feel I still have a lot to prove to show what I’m capable of.
How would you describe your sound?
Very unique and alien... I feel I have my own sound and that is one of the reasons people paid attention to my music in the first place, because it was something different to the norm. A lot of producers make beats that sound the same as their previous beats but I don’t do that. If you listen to my instrumental album you will see how many different styles and sounds I use. I got tunes like ‘Jack Daniels’ which is more dance music, ‘Electric’ which is like a dubstep sound; ‘Leave me alone’ which is a calm mellow tune. Basically the list goes on. This instrumental album I’ve got out now shows of all my styles.
How did the ‘Are you ready?’ sonic signature come about?
I sampled that of one CD I had long time ago I forgot what it was, but I used to put it in a few instrumentals I was making. Then when I started to leave it out people were like “where’s the ‘Are You Ready?’”. So that’s been my signature ever since… I’ve had that since I started making music. I also think its important for a producer to have their own signature because with me if I didn’t have ‘Are You Ready?’ before the drop of the beat hardly anybody will know I made it. So it helps having a signauture sound.
Your beats are used by some of the biggest names in grime, but what is your personal favorite vocal an emcee has laced you with?
I’ve had so many good vocals on my beats it’s hard to say; my most successful song has to be ‘Sing 4 me,’ but my favorite is Skepta ft Wiley – ‘Are you Ready?’. That song has a lot of energy and it’s a song everyone can sing along to as well. Everytime im DJing at a club and I drop that tune it always gets a good reaction.
I did a remix for ‘Man Like Me’ with their single ‘London Town’ and JME was on the remix aswell. I like that vocal aswell because its different reminds me of old skool Garage. Also the remix is going to be on the next edition of DJ HERO the game. When I got told it was gonna be on there it didn’t sink in, I was shocked to be honest, but it’s a very good look for me, JME & Man Like Me.
What MCs are you working with right now and who would you like to work with that you haven’t yet?
I think ive worked with nearly every big MC, there’s a few I haven’t worked with yet though, but I’m more looking forward to working with singers right now and experimenting with different styles. The only MC I would wanna work with is Dizzee Rascal right now. Hopefully in the future you might hear something from Dizzee and me.
You hooked up with Terror Danjah for ‘Best Crawler’ and killed it, are you working on more bits together?
Yeah definitely Terror is a good friend so its not hard to work on another beat together. The ‘Best Crawler’ was made very randomly. I was in his studio and he had the same instrument VST I used for ‘Sing 4 Me’, so I came up with the idea for me to use the ‘the best’ sounds and for him to use the ‘Creepy Crawler’ sounds. I made my melody then he had a perfect beat already which he had made before and it fit perfectly to what I made. ‘Best Crawler’ is out now on my 12”, Jack Daniels EP, out in all good record stores. It was good working with Terror Danjah because he is one producer I used to look up to when I was younger and for him to be telling me my beats are mad means a lot. He also talks a lot of sense and I know he’s seen a lot in the music scene, so he always gives me tips or advice when I need it.
Tell us about the new album on No Hoods No Hats: ‘Are You Ready?’ How did it come about and what had to be on it?
Ive had releases with No Hats No Hoods before and that’s my management so it makes sense for my stuff to come out with their label. It was my plan to have the ‘Are You Ready?’ CD come out in 2009, but a lot of planning went into the CD and in the end we all decided to make it more of an album rather than just a instrumental CD, so a lot of tunes got taken off and a lot got put back in. I’m very happy with the instrumentals that have been put on the album. Over all the CD describes how many different styles of music I have, none of them sound the same.
I think my favourite instrumental on the CD has to be ‘Electric’ I remember the day I made that beat; it made me get up from my seat and think about what I’d just done haha. That beat is very powerful and I know a lot of music listeners and DJ’s have been waiting for it. But to be honest every beat on the album is my favorite they all have their own styles and I’m very proud of myself for making them.
How are you feeling about the state of grime today?
Grime right now is still growing. It feels like people aren’t giving it a chance, but there is so much good music and songs being made in the grime scene. Hopefully people will see that and give it the break it deserves. I know a lot of people are making mainstream music which doesn’t matter at all along as they stick to making grime even if they do other genres of music. Like I make a lot of other genres of music but I will always be making grime at the same time.
The grime vinyl releases from labels like No Hoods No Hats, Hyperdub, Planet Mu, Butterz, Rwina, etc have been picking up of late, do you think that this more DJ based material is bringing more dance influences back into grime? And vice versa?
Definitely having vinyl out is good because I know there are still a lot of people who buy them. I do agree with some people who say it should come digitally as well. Right now the instrumentals being released on vinyl are all tunes that can get played in a dance and make people go crazy which is what is needed .
What other projects have you got in the pipeline?
I’ve got a lot of projects coming I want to make another instrumental music video I’m going to be working on some music with singers, Another EP and I defiantly want to make a Vocal Album.
Any words of wisdom for our readers?
Stay positive and belive in yourself.
Words: James Balf
Rude Kid’s ‘Are You Ready’ CD is out now on No Hats No Hoods.
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.
The Butterz label drop their debut release with three grime bombs, built purposely to shake floors by Terror Danjah and his evil twin D.O.K., who here turns in a remix. Label owners and Rinse.fm grime DJs Elijah and Skilliam have been making waves of late tearing up the airwaves with solid sets of instrumental fire that’ve been a force to be reckoned with; as well as a refreshing change of pace from emcee led mixtape beats that all too often lack the vitality grime can deliver.
That tell tale gremlin cackle signifies Terror’s return and kicks ‘Bipolar’ into action all bright and chirpy first with neon synth pulses aplenty before dropping into some gravely bass tones. The whole track feels like Terror in dubstep mode, but his very unique raw and energetic approach is evident, it’s simultaneously hype and dirty. The most addictive track onhere has to be ‘Air Bubble’ though, the bursting popcorn rhythms get under your skin and bring the boogie as the hyper-funk synth lines and bass manoeuvres twist, turn and play off the bubbling percussive loops perfectly.
D.O.K. gets his ‘Sidechain’ remix moving with a geezer mantra as a voice chants “come on lets ‘av it” before the monstrous bass, funk stabs and sirens hit and the pumping kicks are let loose. So much so that by the time the next vocal comes in, “if I’m going to have it, I’m going to have it large” it feels like you’ve been sucked into a techno party in another dimension.
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.
"Are you ready!?!" That’s Rude Kid’s trademark sonic stamp - much like the 'Ross Car Ross Car Ross Car' sting that Roska uses or the manic cackle Terror Danjah repeatedly creeps out – and those three words have become synonymous of incoming quality when you hear it in the mix. The grime producer has been a staple of sets for so long now: shows or mixtapes hardly go by without you hearing that familiar phrase. It’s not his first time out on the No Hoods No Hats label either with the conveniently titled ‘Are You Ready EP’ preceding this one by a good few months.
The title track ‘Jack Daniels’ is a freak hybrid of hard pulsing techno, dubstep, funky and grime. The four to the floor kicks and beefy bass pulses wouldn’t be to out of place in an old Laurent Garnier set next to‘Crispy Bacon’ or ‘Acid Eiffel’ but they’re equally at home in the boxes of grime DJs too; it’s a track that bangs hard and will always add energy to any set. Rude Kid follows this with the instrumental to his shake up of Man Like Me’s ‘London Town,’ a bubbling garage number with a grime flex, piano licks, skippy drums, rudeboy bass that pretty much hits the spot.
The flip is the grimiest: ‘Emergency’ brings out the big guns with its dirty, grizzly bass tones, raw funk and cheeky rave stabs. ‘Best Crawler,’ a collaboration with recent Hyperdub signing Terror Danjah, is the highlight of a solid package though, it’s got the hard-funk and raw power of both producers, along with both of their sonic trademarks. Plus the flip between huge bass pulses, grimy violins, Gameboy-esq bleeps and propulsive, musical trance-like elements just kills it.
Veteran grime producer Terror Danjah has been producing his own strain of grime since day dot as part of both the Aftershock camp and the Nasty Crew before breaking out and making beats for the biggest names in the scene. Last year the Planet Mu label released an instrumental retrospective of his productions, entitled ‘Gremlinz’ it brought his unique horror film funk style into focus for a whole new audience.
This year he’s set to continue that trend, doling a few more of his productions out to Kode 9's Hyperdub label, oft reffered to as seminal across the specturm of December 2009's end of year polls; and the freshly birthed Butterz imprint. With a truck load of history and a bright future we thought it was high time we pinned him down for a chat...
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Terror Danjah: I am a producer from East London, one the original pioneers of Grime. I started of as a jungle/drum & bass DJ; I ran my own crew called Reckless Crew, members included where D Double E, Hyper, Bruza, Triple Threat (known as Lethal MC), Scratcha DVA, Mayhem, & DJ Interlude. In early 2003 I started my own label called Aftershock, which had big releases such as Crazy Titch 'I Can See U,' 'Cock Back' by myself which featured Hyper, Crazy Titch, D Double E & Riko, 'Get Me' by Bruza, 'So Sure' by myself featuring Sadie Ama & Kano, 'Frontline' by Big-E-D, 'So Contagious' by myself featuring Shola Ama & D Double, etc etc…
More recently, I have released two instrumental CD's 'Zip Files Vol. 1' and 'Gremlinz, The Instrumentals 2003 -2009' via Planet Mu. A vinyl EP entitled 'Industry Standard part 4' which includes Swindle's 'Zumpi Huntah' remix & 'Sidechain' is also on Planet Mu and theres the 'Hardrive Grime Compilation (Hardrive volumes 1 & 2).'
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
I don't do anything but music. I'm sad really…
How did you first get into making music? What was it that infected you to do produce?
Well when I was a Jungle DJ, I wanted specials with my name in it, and I started to put my name in tunes. A lot of the drum & bass producers where tight with giving out tunes, you had be apart of the elite to get tunes. It was hard most times but I got lucky, DJ SS, Pascal, Bad Company, Brockie, Shy Fx, DJ Kane all used to look after me. That's when I decided to make my own tunes, mainly because I was getting all the tunes to compete.
What’s your production set up like?
A Quad Core PC (yes a PC lol), EMU 1820m soundcard, Neuman U87 Mic, Liquid Mix pre channel, KVK 12" Monitors speakers, Cubase 5, M-Audio Radium Controller Keyboard, Sony DAT machine, and billions of sly VST's & VSTi's (now that really would be telling… mwahahaha)!
How would you describe your sound to someone zoning in for the first time?
I couldn't, I have too many different styles, its hard, some of my sound is minimal techy, some days more R&B and hip hop like, other days ther'es a drum & bass influence… I dunno where to start…
What inspires you musically?
Different things like watching films, new VSTi's plugins and sample packs/sample CDs… going to different types of raves where I wouldn't normally go… hearing new albums or new tunes from every genre. Even sometimes being pissed off inspires me!
Your sound is really unique and not just the cackle; you’ve got this heavy funk, wide screen horror sound track thing going on. What draws you to the sounds you use/make do they just come instinctively?
I guess its more instinctively, growing up in the 80's & 90's listening to Jackson 5, Earth Wind & Fire, Afrikka Bambatta through to Notorious BIG, Tupac, Wu Tang etc has left an impact on me.
You’ve collaborated with some quality grime producers recently with DOK, Rudekid and Swindle, what do you like about hooking up with those guys and have you got more in the works with them or any others?
I rate them guys highly, I like collaborating with other producers like how MCs/artist would. It brings a fresh sound to whats already there. A new mix and blend.
You’ve worked with some of the biggest MCs in grime; do you have a favourite vocal of one of your beats?
Its quite hard to say, it depends what mood I'm in, but if I had to pick a favourite, it would be 'So Sure.'
Are you working with more vocalists at the moment?
Not really, I'm more concentrating on myself as a Producer/DJ. I'm getting back to my roots of making instrumentals, but saying that, I have submitted tracks for D Double E, Smurfie Syco, Griminal & Mz Bratt's albums.
Tell us a bit about the latest Hardrive compilation; what’s the thinking behind those?
My motive for 'Hardrive' was really to showcase my diversity as a producer and to highlight a few artists that weren't getting heard like One 4 One & Dream Mclean, Yazmin etc. Also there aren't hardly any grime compilations out there. I wanted to stray away from the name mixtape, because I didn't feel like it was an album as such.
Your retrospective Gremlinz on Planet Mu really got you attention from people all over the place that maybe weren’t following grime very intently before; tell us about how that comp came about?
I had featured on Mary Anne Hobb's 'Warrior Dubs' compilation, which was released on Planet Mu. I had tune on there called 'Give It To Em' which featured Mz Bratt & Bruza. Mike from Planet Mu contacted me and suggested the idea, and I was on it. The 'Gremlinz' album actually gave me a new lease of life, I didn't realise alot of people never knew I existed (I guess I was caught up in the whole grime bubble...).
Having the album out on Planet Mu really opened doors for me, so I have to thank Mike and all the Planet Mu staff!
What was your favourite instrumental from it and what did it mean to be put out there by that kind of label?
'Zumpi Huntah' is still one of my favourites; I didn't think about making the tune, it just made it self. Because I mostly had my own label Aftershock, I didn't feel the need to release my tunes any where else but I'm actually glad I've released my tunes with other labels; they each have different reaches, outlets and their own cult following!
You’ve got releases coming on Hyperdub and Butterz, tell us a bit about those tracks and how the hook ups came about?
I've known Kode 9 for while, he's the main reason why the interest is all on me, I've kinda known but never really realised that throughout the years Kode has been playing all my old material. Over the last 12 months people have been asking me like, "I've heard Kode 9 playing a new version this and that etc etc..." I always get confused by people asking for tunes that had been released in 2003 so obviously I had to return the favour and do something on Kode's label, Hyperdub!
I made two tracks on the Hyperdub release, 'Acid' & 'Pro Plus.''Acid' is like a ravey type of track thats got the elements of acid rave era synth stabs; Kode said it reminds him of 'Charley Says' by The Prodigy. Also there's an 8 bar drum & bass build up going through the track a few times to help split it up, plus theres a minimal tech sort of bridge. 'Pro Plus' is a more typical grime track; its myself and D.O.K collaborating on the production.
I know Elijah [from Butterz] through Loudmouth. Over the last year he and myself have been talking a lot about grime music and he told me that he wanted to start a label. The jokes thing about 'Bipolar' and 'Air Bubble' - which both feature on 'The Bipolar EP' - is that he was on the phone while I was making them! The EP also features D.O.K remix of 'Sidechain.'
What do you want to see happen in grime this year?
More proper and stable releases… more raves and more singing vocals on grime tunes but not the cheesy ones, lol!
Will you be DJing more in 2010?
Yeah defo, I'm full time DJ now, a mans got to eat! My bookings are already stacking up, I got Dublin, Glasgow, Nottingham and a few London dates coming.
What else have you got on the horizon with your music in 2010?
Along with the Hyperdub and Butterz 12s, I've got releases on True Tiger and No Hats No Hoods. I don't wanna say too much, I gotta keep the element of surprise, so just keep your eyes peeled at myspace.com/terrordanjah and twitter.com/terrordanjah.
Finally, have you got any words of wisdom for our readers?
Don't listen to no one, follow your heart and gut feeling. Take this music game with a pinch of salt whether its good or bad.
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)
