Byte presents B-Mix 005:
DJ K-Krush
'The Mixdown'
(Byte, 2010)

Hot on the heels of our amazing double mix throwdown from the legendary Vinyl Junkie, we're back on a totally different flex once again with another hot exclusive. This time round for the next installment of the B-Mix series we've got a mix from a man who is truly representing the Bristol underground all around the UK, DJ K-Krush. Krush will be a name familiar to any bassline fans out there as he blesses many a dance with his presence, and you can catch him most weekends hitting up the biggest raves north or south with exclusive dubplates and a fearsome work rate that has seen him rise through the ranks over the last few years to be seen as one of the best up and coming DJs around.

For B365 though he's dropped the all-out bassline assault of his much-loved Wheel It Up series to bring something a little different to the table with The Mixdown. Blending elements of funky, dubstep, grime and bassline together with some stone cold classics this is one mix that is sure to get your body moving! B365 caught up with Krush to chat about the mix, his career so far, what's happening in Eastenders, food recipes and what it's like having a famous dad. Enjoy!


B: Good evening to you sir, how are you and where are you?

K: Yes I'm all good, things are cool right now just wish this damn British weather will figure out if it wants to be winter or still be summer because this constant change in conditions has given me a cold. But I guess that my fault for leaving the house in a t-shirt and no umbrella on the strength of the morning sun I guess. Right now though I'm just at home kickin' back after finishing watching Eastenders on iPlayer (can't miss a episode!).

B: What's been happening in the world of Krush recently?

K: Things have been going OK in the world of Krush recently. I been enjoying travelling up and down the country a bit more often regarding bookings and going to towns and cities which I have not been to before, but its given me more motivation to work harder.

B: Thanks to you on doing this mix for B365. This was something a little different from your usual selection...

K: It's no problem, glad to involved. Yeah, all my recent mixes have been my Wheel It Up series where I always aim to bring some of the biggest bassline tracks from established to up and coming producers and artists, but I have been meaning for a while to bring something a bit different than what I normally do, and this was a perfect chance to just mix up some old and current tracks I'm feeling right now.

B: Let's take you to back in the day, what were your influences growing up? What music first inspired you?

K: Growing up my main influence would have to be my dad, Deli G. Being around records and music from the day I was born it was just in my blood to want to follow in my dad's footsteps. Growing up I listened to a lot of different styles of music - Disco, US House, Swing, Hip Hop, Bashment, Indie, Rock, Speed Garage.... but the music that gave me the most inspiration growing was probably US House as I heard so much of it as that's what my Dad played.

B: What was it like growing up with a famous dad like Deli G? Did it click with you he was a big name on the dance music scene?

K: Hmmm it didn't really click until I was around 16/17, I started going to venues with my Dad when he was DJing and seeing how people would greet him and act towards him in the clubs - at first I was like he's just my Dad, a normal person like everyone else. But when my Dad started introducing me to big players in the scene like Jazzy Jeff and realizing that all the big producers, singers, record label people saw him as a good friend not just a DJ they supply music to, that's when it clicked.

Having him as my Dad has certainly helped me and been good for my mentality, because of my Dad I don't let it get to my head regardless what happens with with my DJ work, because I'm just another person - I just so happen to be lucky enough to get paid for something I enjoy doing.

B: You've been repping bassline for a while now, a scene that's still going strong despite the lack of press attention it gets these days. What got you into that sound in the first place?

K: I used to live in Smethwick which is in the West Midlands not far from West Bromwich from the ages of around 9-17, and have a lot of friends and family who still live up there, when I was going back and forth between Mids and Bristol I would hear Bassline and it's a sound which caught me straight away. I started bring it in slowly into my sets before it got to a stage when I was mainly known for just playing Bassline.

B: What's the West Midlands got that the South West hasn't - and vice versa?

K: I think with the West Midlands they have got accustomed to nights with about 10+ big headline DJs and MCs on the line ups due to a much larger amount of people they are able to promote and market to, as people are a lot more willing to travel from different cities to nights. Plus with having so many cities within a decent travelling distance, it's easier to go to another city every weekend to check out different nights.

In the South West people don't really travel as much to different cities to check out nights and tend to stay to there own ends, there are a few who will travel but not as many as when I first moved down here. I can't really comment for other places in the South West but what I do love about Bristol is the diverse music scene in the city, you get all sorts of nights going on and being a guy who loves all genres of music I can pretty much always find something going on when I'm looking for somewhere to go on a night I'm not working.

B: Was it tough at first representing bassline in Bristol before it began to get popular?

K: Yeah, it was a hard grind at the start, but when you have a strong connection and love for a genre of music it's the kinda grafting you like cause you know that you're helping to push the music you love further.

B: Do you feel funky has kind of eclipsed the popularity of bassline in the south now? Or is it less about that regional divide anymore?

K: I would be lying if I said funky wasn't more popular in the south than Bassline, the regional divide does come into effect in some ways as I personally feel it never got the same push in the South, and I get a lot of people who get back to me after listening to my mixes saying they actually like Bassline after giving it a chance.

B: Do you feel bassline will be as popular again down south as it was a few years back? Or do you see the sound mutating down here into something else?

K: I think given a chance it can and will be, whenever I do play in certain nights whether it's in a commercial urban night or a underground night, bassline still goes off. But as not many DJs play it in Bristol so people don't really get a chance to even hear it, even if they do like it. Plus with Bassline there are so many sides to it there is enough to cater for a wide range of listeners...I just feel as long as it's given a chance it can grow again. As you got the dirty hard beats that won't work in some nights, then you got the nice female vocals which is what brought me into bassline that will work in most type of nights.

B: Where do you see that sound going in the next few years?

K: For me the new sound coming out is sounding big, some good productions have coming out in the last few months...but it all depends on what sort of push it gets to how fair it goes to be honest, as I feel Bassline could have a huge effect on the clubbing scene if given a proper chance.

B: Which artists are you rating right now?

K: To be honest right now there is no stand out artist I'm rating higher than the others right now, a lot of good ones though. But producers on the other hand there are a few which got my eye right now...TRC, Mac Real, Deckstar and DJ Q when it comes to bassline, but I'm also feeling Roska, Redlight and Spooky DJ.

B : Now I know you're an Eastenders fan so I wondered if you'd considered using the Phil Mitchell remix of Pow for this mix??





K: Loooool I would consider dropping it in one my sets in the club just for the hype it would cause...I know it would get an instant reload!

B: What's your advice to Phil to get off the crack?

K: I say get addicted to food instead...much better way to spend your money in my eyes.

B: I know you like your eats, so what's a classic Krush meal? Any good recipes?

K: Ahhh food!!! Well I'm not really that good a cook right now...but I'm teaching myself at the moment though. But a classic Krush meal...hmm there are so many, but this one will best display how I like to go in on my food. Ackee and salt fish with boiled food (yam, dumpling, potato, sweet potato and some pumpkin) maybe with a fried fish to get it started, and some cornmeal porridge to finish off. After all that best believe I'm not doing nothing but going to sleep though.

B: What's coming up for you in the next few months?

K: In the next few months I'm gonna be quite busy on the club circuit, got a few bookings coming up at Niche in Sheffield, Midnights in Telford, OTT in Newport, Apartments in Swindon, Dakota in Cheltenham and whole host of things in Bristol at Basement 45, Motion, Warehouse, Haze and other venues...I'm also looking to drop Wheel It Up Vol 9 in the next month or so, also I'm looking to drop a couple of different mixes breaking away from the Bassline a little bit as there is a lot of genres of music I love and have in my heart.

B: Any advice to up and coming DJs?

K: My advice is stay focused, sometimes it takes a while to get that break you need so just don't get disheartened. Also get to learn how to promote yourself and build up a following for yourself.

B: Anything else you'd like to add?

K: Yeah Pastor Lucas needs to come back to Eastenders... it's just the not the same anymore. Free lucas T-Shirts on sale now...holla at me!

But yeah on another note check my out on Twitter and give me a follow @DjKKrush I speak my mind and keep it real, and @ me I always follow people back who got good convo, also check out all mine and my team UKHD's mix CDs on my blog http://djkkrush.wordpress.com to download. Got to also give a big shout out to Team UKHD...DJ K Stylz, DJ Mainy, DJ Firemansam, Troopa and Cludeo.

Respect for giving me a chance to bless your blog, I will try and pass through and drop you some mixes on a regular basis. Blessings!




Byte presents B-Mix 005:
DJ K-Krush
'The Mixdown'
(Byte, 2010)

01. Funky Twinz - Energizer
02. Funky Twinz Ft Angel J - Smile
03. Katy B - On a Mission (Roska Remix)
04. Andiah - Dance (Subzero Mix)
05. TS7 Ft Bianca Gerald - Electrical Pool
06. TRC - Oo Aa Ee
07. Cripster Vs Vybz Kartel Vs TRC - Nah Let Go (Oo Aa Ee Remix)
08. Cripster Vs Vybz Kartel Vs TRC - Sweet Tuh Di Belly (Oo Aa Ee Remix)
09. Dj Cripster Vs Missy Elliot Vs TRC - She's A Bitch (Oo Aa Ee Remix)
10. Spooky & O.G'z - OGeezus
11. Badness feat. Skepta & Lil Nasty - Nightmare (Bassboy Remix)
12. Toddla T Ft Wayne Marshall - Sky Surfing (DJ Q Remix)
13. DJ Pantha - Candy Shop
14. Kozzie - Destruction (Produced By Spooky DJ)
15. Shystie Ft Crazy Titch & J2K - Make It Easy (Davinche Remix)
16. Lethal B - Pow
17. T2 - Hey (Mr V Remix)
18. Burgaboy Ft Kaylee- Wat Can i do
19. Breakage Ft Newham Generals & David Rodigan - Hard
20. Skream - Midnight Request Line
21. Romeo Ft Lisa Mafia - Deeper

DOWNLOAD : DJ K-Krush 'The Mixdown' (Direct MP3 Link)
DOWNLOAD : DJ K-Krush 'The Mixdown' (Split File for CDs)

FFI : DJ K-Krush Wordpress

For our second installment in the Lifetracks series, we've selected one of the most promising new producers to emerge from Bristol in the last few years, Wascal. With a handful of releases already under his belt on his own Wascal Dubs label and the classic Hollowpoint on Hammer Records still a favourite amongst many discerning dubsteppers, Wascal looks set to capitalise on a busy year spent producing with a slew of releases lined up to take him to the next level. We asked him to pick a range of tracks that have been important to his growth as an artist, and then we sat down to chat to him one fine summer evening.

B: Evening Wascal. How's tricks?

W: The sun is out, work has finished for the day and I'm armed with a cup of tea and a rollie. Life is sweet!

B: LOL liking the positive attitude! Summer seems to be having some difficulty getting going this year...

W: Yes, mainly at evenings and weekends too! At least it was out for St. Pauls carnival though, makes all the difference at things like that. To be honest I've been cooped up indoors finishing tunes through some of the nicer days this year, my studio tan is strong.

B: Those 60w light bulbs really do the the trick huh? What's been getting cooked up in the lab then, anything imminent for release on the horizon?

W: Quite a lot coming up in the next 6 months by the looks of things. Bit of an essay coming up:

Superisk - Eva Takada (Wascal mix) on Time's Audio Banquet label which has been doing the rounds as a 320 for some time. Headhunter played it at FWD a few months back which is good to know. That's going to be MP3 only.

Wascal - Overstep b/w SLT Mob mix on Halo (12" etc): Basically future garage trance step. It's better than it sounds on paper I swear! That hasn't gone out to anyone except SLT & Bunzero so expect to hear it soon.

Buckfunk 3000 - High Volume (Wascal mix) (12" TBA). Si emailed asking if I wanted to remix any of his old Fuel stuff and I jumped at the chance as him and Tipper are heroes of mine. Took 6 weeks and is probably the most complexly edited tune I've made. Si's sorting out the label for that so more info on the way.

Clustered b/w Nephilim rmx on Betamorph (Digi), tech-dubstep that's been doing the rounds for a bit backed with a remix from Hollywood based Nephilim.

Wascal - Don't Forget on Cymbstep (12" etc), my second release on the dubstep sister label of Cymbalism, US Based tech dnb label. Crunchy breaks and string section business.

Finally Wascal - Glisten Up and an un-named one that's gone out to a few people as Junglish. Better name on the way! These should be coming out on Cut La Roc's Rocstar label - details are scarce at the mo, only confirmed it today.

I'm also working on an album but keep getting all the best bits signed so its half done AGAIN lol. Doh!

B: Lot of Bristol producers working on albums right now, sounds like 2010 will be the year of the LP! Do you consider yourself more of an "album" or "single" artist then?

W: Singles to be honest. Doing an album would be good to get more music out to more people, but I very rarely listen to dance albums in one sitting so it's a bit hypocritical really. I'd love to do something like that, but I find myself covering a lot of bases so its tricky! Right now its a collection of 140bpmish dubstep, 2step, techno and jungle and I'm working on making it sound like a cohesive album.

My favourite dance albums are ones that takes you on that (cliched) journey, Exit Planet Dust for instance - most of the tunes on there stand up on their own but the way it progresses keeps you locked in.

B: Chemical Brothers a big influence for you then? You've featured a classic track from them in your mix...

W: They were a huge influence around Exit Planet Dust. I was playing a lot of guitar in my early teens and ended up going to Phoenix Festival in 1996 with the intention of seeing all sorts of bands - I ended up seeing Jilted-era Prodigy on the Thursday, Hardfloor & CJ Bolland, Goldie and co on Saturday then Chemical Bros last thing on the Sunday.

As a 15 year old it was a massive eye opener, people were blatantly having a whale of a time without a guitar in sight. I chose F**k Up Beats for the mix because at the time it was about as far from widdly guitar as I had heard and set me on the path of making sub-par beats on an Amiga with Octamed. That weekend was the beginning of the end for my rock guitarist career lol.

B: Interesting you say that because this mix is strictly electronic, you don't harbour any influences from your past for rock or metal?

W: Not really, as a teenager I listened to quite a bit of Blur, Radiohead, RATM, Senser, Pavement, Ben folds etc - whatever was on the evening session while I pretended to do homework, but none of that really carries through to my music.

I'm no lyricist and I found the wholly instrumental aspect of dance music appealed to me - nothing worse than a great tune being ruined by a miserable lyric imo. Take Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others by The Smiths for example - possibly the best instrumental they did then you've got Morrissey moaning about girls mothers over it, kills it for me.

I've always listened to the music more than the lyrics, even from when I was really young listening to my dads Hendrix LPs. Hendrix is one of the few influences I've taken from rock - the sound sculpting and production blew me away when I first heard the remastered versions on headphones, total pioneer. Nowadays I'd reach for motown or old r&b as something non-dancey to listen to rather than rock, that stuff is gold.



B: So you've cited that Pheonix Festival moment as a bit of an epiphany for you, but you've included some killer old skool tunes here that existed before that time, especially my personal favourite Close Your Eyes. It seems that kind of proto-jungle breakbeat hardcore definitely feeds into your own style of production...

W: Yeah definitely a big influence on me. I love the crunchiness of the breaks and the ADHD approach to arrangement on those era tunes, its like the producer went 'right! bored now! next idea' and changes up all the time. There's really not enough of that around, and I love fidget for bringing that back a bit. I get bored very easily and when it comes to DJing if the tune doesn't switch up after a few minutes I'm not going to play the whole thing.

I came across that Acen tune on an old rave compilation, Rave 2!!!! Hardcore or something like that - after seeing the light at Phoenix Festival, I used to go to this 2nd hand store, Kellys Records in Cardiff Market, and root around for hours looking to educate myself on what I had missed, I had no Internet back then and only pocket money to spend so you really had to root around. I bought that album because it had The Green Man by S.U.A.D on it, but ended up playing the Acen tune far more. That ridiculously loud sub note right at the start sold it for me, and it was the first time I had heard hoovers properly. It's funny that all that mental music came out from when I was 10-13 yrs old and grew up thinking stuff like Out Of Space by the Prodigy was perfectly normal music. Listening back its fucking mental drug music!



B: Ha ha!! Think about kids growing up now with Dubstep and Grime as their regular musical diet! Talking about Cardiff, you were involved with Holodeck, the city's finest techno night - is techno something you have a lot of love for? We have some Beltram in here, some DAVE The Drummer...

W: Yeah definitely. I first got a set of decks when I was 17 with my hard earned money from a dish washing job. I went to Catapult with £30 and must have listened to half their stock! I went in intending to pick up the D&B I had been hearing on tapes that were doing the rounds in school (and swiftly learnt my first lesson about dubplate culture), and ended up leaving with an armful of smitten and routemaster techno. I think I asked for 'something that sounds like Josh Wink but harder'. They definitely sorted me out, heh.

From there I ended up going to ID downstairs in the Hippo club and seeing most of the London techno lot at some time or the other. That club was also responsible for my hard house / trance days, as it was a full on rave upstairs back in those days. I haven't picked tunes from that era for this mix because in retrospect they re cringeworthily bad, or at least haven't aged well at all and don't influence what I do nowadays. That was definitely my clubbing honeymoon though, techno and tech trance, 303s and 909s all over the shop!

I ended up playing a set of acid techno on Glastonbury Radio Avalon 2000 by some master internet blaggage, but apart from that I only ever played it at house parties and free parties. Its a shame that hardtek and k took over that scene because it used to be a wicked laugh.

I didn't end up playing for Holodeck till about 2004, and that was D&B mainly but through the epic afterparties I've talked incessantly at DAVE, Jerome Hill, Chris Liberator, Billy Nasty. Poor guys.

I chose the Joey Beltram and that DAVE the Drummer tunes as they're the two extremes of techno i prefer - The DAVE one for the hypnotic synth that repeats ad infinitum and drum layering, and The Start It Up as there's pretty much no notes at all, which as an A-Level music student at the time impressed the hell out of me. I did my A-Level critical study on Techno and got an E. The Irony.

B: Ha ha that's amazing! So how do you feel those elements feed into your music, which is admittedly on a different end of the sonic spectrum in terms of genre?

W: Well there's not so much of it in the dubstep that I've had released so far, its probably more with my mixing. Seeing all those guys at Holodeck every month smashing their way through so many records an hour with reckless abandon definitely inspired me to get mixing faster.

I've got quite a few techno/dubstep tunes I've been sitting on for a bit, not the Berlin vs Bristol axis that people often mention, more a kind of Bristol vs tracky drumcode/beltram/pounding grooves thing. I've got no idea who to send them to though, might put them out myself at some point when the times right, if it ever is!



B: Do it, I wanna hear those bad boys asap!! Switching it up, we've got some pretty fierce D&B in this mix too, where does your experience with that genre come from? Were you getting into that around the same time as techno?

W: Yeah, around the same time as I was getting old rave LPs and things. In NME and Select I saw the name Metalheadz come up quite a bit, so went and bought Platinum Breakz when it came out. I had only really heard the stuff that made it onto the radio - Incredible/Inner City Life etc (and whatever ridiculousness John Peel was playing ) and couldn't remember much from the D&B at Phoenix so hearing that album on headphones was a revelation. Unofficial Ghost is my favourite from that album but its a hard choice to make - the hoovers and the way it switches up win it in the end. The beat from Hollowpoint was sampled from the end of it by the way, then chopped and layered.

The Tribe of Issachar tune on the mix is from back when a few schoolmates used to pass round One Nation tapes of Hype, Mickey Finn etc and that tune stood out for me. The combination of tinny ragga vocal and ridiculous sub never gets old, I still drop that when I can get away with it. Around the same time tunes like Turbulence and Quadrant 6 were also doing it for me.

From about 1999 to 2002 I didn't pay much attention to D&B really, and I missed a lot of the Techstep thing. When I started listening again and heard Medicine remix, I went straight out and bought it and eventually ended up playing D&B full time for years. The funk in the drums and the sub on that tune do it for me, its pretty sparse but any more elements would be overkill. And it has cowbells! I was playing a lot of breaks back before then, but it all got too ploddy and there was next to nowhere to drop the breakbeat garage I was stockpiling except house parties. D&B got me excited about raving again, and I still follow it now to a certain extent.

I picked the Teebee & Calyx remix of Break - Submerged because it was the last D&B tune that got me really excited before the fateful Byte with Search & Destroy and SLT Mob that got me hooked on Dubstep! I had narrowed my tastes in D&B to such a point that I was playing a small cross-section of a small niche of D&B, so to hear those DJs kill a club differently made me re-think what I was doing, it was time for a change. The Submerged remix is pretty much the pinnacle of what I was into though, top notch neuro D&B.

B: Have you began to explore new sources for production or are you still quite keen on using elements from D&B? I recall a lot of people saying you had a quasi-jungle aspect to your tunes when you started...

W: It was a natural thing using jungle/D&B elements when I first started making dubstep, I was coming from that kind of scene and that's the kind of sounds I had lying around. It was pretty liberating having all that space between beats to play with!

I definitely didn't get the whole 'bass and space' thing at first though! I'm still guilty of overcrowding the mix at times. Having S&D and SLT as my first proper dubstep club experience skewed how I heard it for a bit, they both get breaksteppy and have a jungle element at times I think. That night after Byte I went home and made Daily Grind overnight. I passed it to a few Bristol DJs, Bunzero picked it up on Sub FM and it made the top 10 digital releases of the year on the DSF poll that year (oh the dizzy heights he he!), so it worked out well.

I've been writing dance music in some shape or form since I was 15 and I've had a crack at all sorts of stuff over the years, from techno to D&B - whatever I'm feeling at the time. I've built up a studio with a 24 channel desk and 606s, sh101s, Akai samplers and then sold it all to the point where it's just me and a laptop, it's all you need nowadays. Also I've had hard drives die a few times right on the verge of getting stuff signed which has contributed to my sound a bit i guess, it's hard to pick yourself up and write the same thing again so I've generally moved on to something new and applied the tricks I've learnt to the next thing. When I first heard dubstep there wasn't a template as such, so it was the perfect melting pot for what I had learnt so far.

Saying that, I listen to some stuff I did even last year and grit my teeth at the things I'd change now - I think I'm just hitting my stride this year, especially with the Si Begg remix. I'm using a lot of elements from 2step, rave, techno, jungle and house at the moment for my dubstep at the moment. Anything but what is perceived as pure ''dubstep' sounds hopefully!



B: So would you consider your sound to be even 'dubstep' right now? It's interesting you mention Si Begg, as alongside producers like Tipper who you feature in the mix, they've always operated outside the parameters of perceived genres...is that something you hope to achieve in your own sound?

W: Its a tricky one, the stuff I'm making is definitely not straight dubstep but if it isn't what is it? Its around 140bpm and has a lot of sub-bass. When I got into dubstep the template hadn't been defined like it is now, which is a shame in a way.

As for Si Begg and Tipper, well they stood out like sore thumbs from the rest of the Nu Skool Breaks lot, their tunes were dripping with ideas and the production and details in their tunes were insanely intricate (and still are). Its rare to find that in tunes that can also slay a dancefloor. They're pretty much the only producers from that era of NSB that I still play and listen to. I think operating outside the parameters of a genre frees you up a lot, because no-ones expecting anything of you so you can do what you like, you're not expected to play 90 mins of wobbly bangers when you DJ. But that can be a right laugh too.

B: With dubstep becoming more and more fractured into sub-genres, do you find it harder to gain a lot of inspiration from the genre as it is now? There's only a handful of artists from that sound in your mix...

W: In this mix I kept the dubstep to a bare minimum, I do a mix every month on www.wascal.wordpress.com, so thats the pure dubstep covered. I managed to get in touch with quite a few people before they blew up so I've got a fairly steady supply of quality beats, and its good to get them out there, along with stuff from unheard of producers who hit me up on AIM.

I don't find the genre on the whole as inspiring as it was, but thats always been the case for me with music - find a sound, get obessively into it, tire of it because you listened to it too much. The fracturing is inevitable, the difference between the extremes of minimal vibes and full on wobble are too big to sit in one set for some. I just play what I want and get on with it, I'm liking the wave of funky influenced stuff at the moment, its an unexpected direction which is good.

As for the tunes on the mix, the Vex'd tune was the standout one from their Resonance FM mix that was doing the rounds when I first got into the sound. That entire mix blew me away - theres so much space in this tune, especially that it sounds so huge on a rig, totally stripped down and thunderous.

The Peverelist one really came onto my radar at Bloc Weekend 08. He was playing at 5am in a scummy bar in a Pontins we nicknamed Raveschwitz and totally slayed it - I'd heard him in Bristol but not really listened to a whole set, mainly warm-ups. Either way, when this tune came on and when that melody dropped, the whole bar erupted. Seeing people go off like that to a mournful synth line on a minimal techy tune opened my eyes to what can be done with very few elements. It got a rewind and it happened all over again, good times.

TRG came out with so much quality last year it was hard to pick one. The whole Missed Calls EP is fire, proper future garage yet in the same few months he did Oi Killa!, a ridiculout wobfest which smashed it at Sonar in MAH's set, and Less Music which is basicly dub techno. I've got a lot of time for producers who can master so many different styles and TRG is one of them.

As for the future garage, listening to this stuff got me into writing a fair bit of my own, which got me in touch with Whistla, I wrote a tune called The Lesson specifically for his label (with a Rakim sample 'this is how it should be done') as some kind of future garage manifesto. He picked it up and its coming out on his label L2S in August [forgot to mention that on the releases bit whoops!]. Nice one TRG.

B: Sounds good! Ok man I think we're done here! Thanks for chatting to me! What's the final word from you?

W: Well from the other tunes on that mix Timber was a post club anthem for ages when I was growing up so that had to go on there. Jammin' was the pinnacle of breakbeat garage for me, Zinc owned the genre with that tune. Jack got Jacked remix hasn't left the box since I got it and that stuff is definitely getting me excited at the mo, proper genre mashing club music with blatant rave ethos, finally that Zed Bias dub had to go on there because it keymixes with Jack Got Jacked so sweetly and its an awesome remix of a stone cold classic!

Aside from that, got a load of tunes coming soon and possibly a string of gigs in the US in the pipeline so things are shaping up nicely!!

Finally:

DJ's: buy all my tunes twice & rewind them all the way through your sets
Promoters: book me, go on, you know you want to
Producers: My AIM is 'thewascal' and its on auto accept.

Thanks!




Lifetracks #02 - Wascal

01. Acen - Close Your Eyes (Optikonfusion) [Production House]
02. Chemical Brothers - F**k Up Beats [Freestyle Dust]
03. Doc Scott - Unoffcial Ghost [Metalheadz]
04. Joey Beltram - The Start It Up [Trax]
05. Congo Natty - His Imperial Majesty (Original Dubplate) [Congo Natty]
06. D.A.V.E The Drummer - Hydraulix 2A [Hydraulix]
07. Coldcut & Hexstatic - Timber [Ninja Tune]
08. Tipper - Tug Of War [Fuel]
09. Jammin - Hello [Bingo]
10. Ed Rush & Optical - Medicine (Matrix rmx) [Virus]
11. Break - Submerged (Calyx & Teebee mix) [Subtitles]
12. Vex'd - 3rd Choice [Planet Mu]
13. Peverelist - Roll With The Punches [Punch Drunk]
14. TRG - Missed Calls [Subway]
15. AC Slater - Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats mix)
16. Zed Bias - Neighbourhood (Roska mix)

DOWNLOAD: Lifetracks 02 - Wascal
ALTERNATE DOWNLOAD LINK

FFI: Wascal Website

Here's a new feature at B365. We ask an artist to select a handful of tracks that have influenced them across their lifetime and put them in a mix. We then talk about those choices, hopefully incorporating a little insight into the selected artist at the same time. Pretty simple really, and something we hope you'll enjoy.

First up is a rising star of the Dubstep scene, Coleco. After the exhilarating rush of Campfire Funk was released on Soul Motive last year, plenty of people started taking a deeper interest in this young producer who's cinematic scope and ear for melody belies his age and experience. Bristol is not short of dynamic or innovative producers in this genre, but Coleco is operating on the very fringes of the sound in a similar fashion to Soul Motive's label boss Forsaken. Through a prolonged online chat we spoke to him about his chosen tracks and what they mean to him.

B: Hiya Coleco, how are you?

C: Fairly ill to be honest, mad headache all weekend, but luckily it's not swine flu! (yet) So I've got time to laze around and write beats...

B: Perfect activity for a rainy sunday! Where are you now?

C: At home, with my feet up.

B: Where does the name Coleco come from? My extensive internet research has revealed only ColecoVision, the early video game console - or that company's earlier incarnation of a leather goods manufacturer - as the only likely contenders. So is it retro video games or a love for leather that inspired the name?

C: Yes, it came from ColecoVision, but being a bit hypocritical on my part, I never actually owned one! Needless to say I was a bit of a retro computer game fiend, but the MegaDrive was my arena. Ever since I started producing, I dropped the whole gaming thing, but writing little midi files for Sonic fangames when I was younger was where I first came across a sequencer. The name actually comes from when I used to skate (yes, fruitboot!) and someone came up with the crew name "ColecoVision Crew", for comedic reasons. Why I hijacked the name, I have no idea. I suppose it is a bit odd, officially standing for Conneticut Leather Company. But, shh, don't tell anyone that!

B: Ha ha! So given that you're a retro games nut, do you have an affinity with the 8-bit sounds other Bristol producers like Joker and Gemmy feature in their music? It doesn't seem to be an overt influence in your own productions.

C: No you're right, the 8-bit sound doesn't appear as much as I might have thought it did. Joker and Gemmy seem to have a talent for a clean, techy, well produced, 8-bit influenced sound. I tend to make things more rustic and organic. In some of my older stuff it featured more, but I would still say it has influenced me a lot, especially when I create a leadline. The other 'retro' sound that fascinates is the recording processes of the 60's-70's, especially on old funk/soul tracks. So I try a combine the two a little, that digital sound, verses rusty, distorted, analogue warmth.



B: There's a definite 'vintage' quality to your sound - something that links in with your first choice of record here - Boards Of Canada Aquarius. Everybody was mad for Music Has The Right To Children when it came out...there's a strong lineage between that warm, natural analogue sound they created and your own work. Where does this track take you back to?

C: To be honest, I probably jumped on the Boards Of Canada bandwagon later than most. But, it was a quite a few years back when, after being into rock, then subsequently introduced to drum n bass, I discovered the whole electronic leftfield, avant-garde, IDM, (or whatever you wanna call it!) thing. The infamously mysterious Boards of Canada are much more repetitive and hypnotic than other Warp or Warp-esque artists like the usually very progressive Squarepusher. However, it made me appreciate that digital, yet warm analogue sound they produced, and the subtleties that come with it. Of course their transcendental melodies and hypnotic grooves, combined with those other factors, are easily enough to take me, and many others to another place.

B: Is that a key factor in making your own music? That you want the listener to feel like they are transcending? That's quite a psychedelic ambition!

C: Ha ha! Well, I don't claim to be a Buddhist zen master, a DMT taking psychonaut, or anything of that nature. I just write what I write, because that's pretty much all I can do at the moment. I have had comments that some of my tracks are progressive but it's probably due to my short attention span when it comes to producing music. Ironically, I got into the whole dubstep thing through it's initial bass driven minimal sound, and appreciation of subtleties... I love that! But I'm no good at it, sometimes I just wanna go a bit epic, or perhaps try combining the two a little bit.

B: There's definitely an epic feel to your production, I think its the juxtaposition of those beautiful, ethereal melodies and driving, cinematic drumwork. Speaking of which, drums are in abundance on the next track by Imperial Breed - Roberto Kien's band. I recall being blown away by the percussion on Campfire Funk and here we have an equally crazy beat throwdown...

C: Yes! It's all about the snare on this one, and of course the drummers tight funky groove. This track was released in 2006, but along with the rest of these new, retro sounding funk acts, it sounds as if it could be straight from the 60s! I picked this more because it represents a warm, crusty, distorted sound that I love. Admittedly the recording engineers go a bit futher than I would, and bands like Lefties Soul Connection go even futher, but it totally suits the sound. I find there's something, that I can only describe as ghostly, about the instruments on this one. Michael Stavrou tells in his book Mixing With Your Mind about creating "ghosts between the speakers". That hits the nail on the head for me, as disgustingly dirty as it is, it sounds as if the band is, almost unrealistically floating between the speakers.



B: Intricate drumwork seems to be a vital factor in most of your production, for example on Influence, and there's a definite reluctance it seems to generate repetitive beats, but more organic, free-flowing, ever-changing. Is that something you pick up from an artist like Squarepusher? Tetrasync is a track which encapsulates that flow perfectly.

C: Yes, Squarepusher was one of the artists that showed me exactly how far you can push things. In my opinion, someone like Boxcutter (aka Barry Lynn) has been the best in translating that into a more ridged dubstep formula. Let's face it, in terms of my own productions I can only admire Squarepusher as a more or less untouchable genius. However, the real hard edged, crazy as f**k, digital, glitch-core thing is something I haven't wanted to put across entirely. I try at the moment to mostly leave that to the people who are good at it, and go a bit more organic and cinematic myself, whilst at the same time drawing a progressive influence from the aforementioned artists. If we're talking about transcendental, then Squarepusher is a man who can shoot your brain into out of space.

B: Both Boxcutter and Paradox are represented here too, both take the basic formula of their musical genre and pretty much dismantle it. Is that something you aspire to do with your own music? Although you're seen as a 'dubstep' artist, there's much more to your sound than that.

C: It's hard to analyse myself and say whether I write like that, because I'm intending to, or because that's just what comes out naturally. I hope that I can write some stuff that's different, and get attention for that that, but at the same time it's just what I do. Whether or not I'm any good at it is a listeners' personal opinion.



B: Taking a step back let's talk about Shpongle, not an artist I'm familiar with, but the intro to this track sounds suspiciously like something Forsaken would write. Are you subliminally trying to tell us Forsaken is bang into his psy-trance?

C: Haha, well I can't personally vouch for Forsaken's personal influences, but he's been bigging me up from the beginning (thanks Pete!), so there must have been something he liked there. Our music is very different in my opinion, but Forsaken obviously has a strong melodic influences that I share in some places, and a he's brilliant producer all round.

I know Shpongle have been related to psy-trance quite a lot, but it's like Squarepusher relating to D&B. There's definite influences there, but their music is completely something of it's own nature. Shpongle puts more a melodic, world music influenced take on the whole progressive thing. It probably stems back to my Dad playing a lot of random world music around me when I was younger, I've always loved the sound of world music instruments, and their scales, especially eastern ones. Shpongle takes me on a psychedelic journey to the esoteric and mysterious. Recommended listening!

B: So your dad was a big influence on your musical experience growing up?

C: It's hard to say how big, but the world music influenced side of things, he is definitely is at least partially responsible for.



B: And what about your experiences with listening to rock music, was that a formative part of your growing up? The Mars Volta and Deftones are two of the more experimental edge of that spectrum...

C: Rock music was the first music I really got into. I played trumpet from a young age, and did a few grades, that gave me my 'music theory' understanding. I also used to like listening to the music from old computer games (the whole 8-bit thing again). But other than that it took me along time to start buying and listening to commercial music. Dubstep is the first thing I have managed to jump onto closer to when it arrived, everything else I'm a real latecommer.

I liked rock music back then (and still now), probably for the same reasons as all the other kids at school did. It's hard distorted edge, it's aggression, and the huge sonic size that electric guitars give you. But bands like Deftones, The Mars Volta, and Tool are more than that to me. They used melodies and rhythms that were totally new and exciting to me at the time, as you could say yes, experimental. Rock music is probably responsible for the part of me that likes hard, raw, distorted sounds, and bands like these combined that with a whole progressive edge. Of course bands like Pink Floyd had been doing the psychedelic rock thing much earlier, but I wasn't introduced to that until later.

B: Any bands from that realm of music that you're still feeling?

C: I'm still feeling most of them to be honest, I've been out of touch with rock/metal for a while, but I recently saw The Mars Volta in concert. You know it was funny, someone said to me "I would like to see The Mars Volta, but I heard that it just turns into some kind of live jamming session"... live jamming session? That's what's so good about it! Amazing freestyle improvisation, and a drummer that I swear was on steroids.

I couldn't name you any up and coming bands now, as I'm too busy listening to up and coming dubstep artists.

B: It's intriguing that you have influences from the raw edges of sounds like metal and D&B such as Kryptic Minds but your own distillation of those experiences is quite haunting and ethereal in your own music. Is the raw, heavy, metallic sound on the other extreme side of dubstep something that would interest you in making?

C: I have a track called President Tune which is supposedly due for vinyl release soon that will reveal all, it's hard, techy and dirty.

B: Is it a style you hope to explore more or just an experiment to see if you could write in that style? What label is it due out on?

C: Yeah, I want to write more darker, harder tunes in parallel with the more ethereal stuff. I'm hoping it will be out on Destructive soon. You can hear President Tune on my myspace at the moment.

B: Destructive is a big look! Congratulations. Talking about releases, Campfire Funk on Soul Motive got a huge amount of critical praise when it was put out, and was embraced by the dubstep community - even though it sounds nothing like atypical dubstep. Did the response take you by surprise somewhat?

C: To be honest, I didn't know what to expect, Neil Kymatik used to say to me "Don't worry, people WILL play this track" and I just trusted him. My only concern is that some people might think I don't make a style closer to halfstep dubstep until I have a few more releases of that nature. Hopefully more will come in the future, and it'll end up a good thing I started that way.

B: I remember when I was passed an unmastered wav of it a year or so back, it sounded so energising and I knew it would be a big track...I think it sits perfectly with the ethos of a record label like Soul Motive. Are you looking to work with those guys again?

C: If they want to release something else, of course I'd be happy to. On the flipside, I think they want to promote, and put out a wide variety of artists and styles.

B: So what's next for you aside from Destructive? Any more releases lined up beyond that?

C: I have no idea really, there's talking going on here and there but nothing confirmed yet.

B: Ha ha that's how it goes, keep at it...OK, I think that just about does it. Anything you'd like to add?

C: Thanks for Diccon (DJ Thinking) for introducing me to Manchego Cheese and Basil Steak rolls, they're possibly the nicest thing I've ever eaten.

B: LOL! Big ups to Diccon, repping cuisine as well as good music! Nice one Coleco thanks for chatting to me!

C: God that was long, I feel sorry for you for having to listen to me talk about myself for what, 4 hours, so sorry if I rambled on!



Lifetracks #01 : Coleco

Boards of Canada - Aquarius
Imperial Breed - On The Run
Squarepusher - TetraSync
Shpongle - Divine Moments of Truth
Paradox - Play Twice Before Listening
The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares
Boxcutter - Brood VIP
Kryptic Minds - The Truth
Toasty - No Prisoners
Deftones - Pink Maggit

DOWNLOAD: Lifetracks #01 : Coleco

Bonus Download

Coleco: Deepest Dubstep Mix

Coleco - Influence
Burial - Unite
Fanu - You May Fall But Don't Hide Your Face
Eleven Tigers - Prosthesis
Toasty - Reflect
Coleco - Moonlight
Burial - Ghost Hardware
Fanu - Burning The Bridge
Coleco - Breathwork
Toasty - Splash
Eleven Tigers - Shanty
Roqqert - Give It
Kontext - Aeromonarch Attacks
Coleco - Deep Red Sun
Toasty - Angel
Jamie Vex'd - Radient Industry
Coleco - Smokey

DOWNLOAD : Coleco - Deepest Dubstep Mix

Ffi : Coleco Website

Plodocus
'Chordata (Live)'
(Self-Released 2009)

Here's a treat for any fans of chilled-out electronica or dubstep. We featured up and coming producer Plodocus on the blog some time ago, and recently he played at Drawn Recordings' Laptop Liberation night - which he was then kind enough to record and upload for your enjoyment. This is a mini-mix of his productions so far, with some incredibly promising content to sink your teeth into. Plodocus has a keen ear for light and shade in his music, and the sense of atmosphere he builds on tracks like opener Chaos Patterns shows an artist really taking huge strides in terms of gaining confidence as a producer. As a bonus, alongside the live recording there's a full studio recording of Eshto for you to download to. Enjoy!

Full Tracklisting:

01 - Chaos Patterns
02 - Hyperskank
03 - Take Me
04 - Plodocustard
05 - Voolamay V1
06 - Voolamay V2
07 - Cut Them All Down
08 - Assembly Line
09 - Eshto
10 - Chordata



Plodocus - Chordata (Live)

Download : Plodocus - Chordata (Live)



Plodocus - Eshto

Whilst dubstep in Bristol is hardly short of column inches these days, it's always good to hear from the artists themselves rather than the self-perpetuating mythology that journalists and hipsters conjure up about the "bristol sound". This two-part documentary can be seen as an companion piece to original Dubstep documentary Living Inside The Speaker, catching up with the producers featured in that film and including newer additions to the city's pantheon of stars. Well worth a watch, enjoy!

Recently I spoke to the godfather of the Bristol Dubstep community PINCH as part of my preparation in writing an article on the rise of the sound in this city. Unfortunately I was unable to utilise all of the interview for that article for space reasons, so with Pinch's blessing he's kindly agreed to let me publish the full interview here. Enjoy.

B: Bristol has a very rich heritage of bass-heavy music such as Reggae and D&B. There is also a prevalent soundsystem culture here that has been passed down through generations. Do you feel because of that Bristol has a unique position to push the genre further then other cities in the UK that might be lacking in that kind of history?

P: Possibly - I think anywhere that has a strong multicultural mix of people living in the same space will vibe from the influences these situations can bring. I don't think its limited to Bristol but I do think the resulting mix here brings a certain flavour to the sounds that result.

B: Context was one of the first nights in Bristol to showcase Dubstep back in 2004. Within four years it’s become an increasingly dominant genre in Bristol, with artists like Skream playing alongside D&B headliners and your own night Subloaded regularly filled out. Did you ever perceive the genre being so popular in such a short space of time? What do you feel are the elements that appeal so much to Bristol?

P: Well 4 years is quite long in some respects - think how quickly jungle emerged in the early 90s - even the whole foundations of the Detroit techno scene were laid down in less time. Regardless - I am amazed how well Dubstep has settled here in Bristol, with it now being possible to hear it in some capacity most nights of the week. I think Dubstep is a versatile music with a broad range of influences and styles within itself and that’s why it fits here in Bristol, where you find many eclectic nights - Dubstep is able to connect with aspects from many genres. For instance - you'll find Benga, Skream, Caspa, Rusko connecting with the D&B nights and there style/sound - you'll find Peverelist and 2562 connecting with the likes of Underscore - Joker links in with both garagey/R&B type promotions as well as UFO and more experimental nights... The list goes on!

B: Given your long-term involvement and influence in the scene, both locally and across the UK and beyond, do you feel an extra weight of responsibility as a perceived flag-bearer for the sound? Do you feel because you’re considered the godfather of the local scene there’s more scrutiny of your music and actions?

P: This may be the case to some extent but if anything it probably motivates and pushes me to put a bit more into what I do so if anything I'm thankful for it.

B: As Dubstep has expanded out from the UK around the world, and more producers from other genres turn their hand to making tunes in this style, do you feel the overall quality of Dubstep is poorer as a consequence? Conversely, I tend to find the quality of Bristol-based producers is incredibly high. Is there a friendly air of competition between the community of producers here to better each other’s compositions? Is there a real drive to push the template of the sound?

P: Well you can't imitate until someone has innovated! I think the quality of beats in Bristol is very high overall but I don't think there's a great deal of competition here - most producers are more than happy to share beats/dubs with one another - I think that’s part of the 'community vibe' going here. I'm happy when I see other Bristol producers/DJs doing well - it’s all about the solidarity thang!

B: This year saw Dubstep become even more commercially mainstream. Burial took it the Sun and Mercury Prize. You yourself featured on the Venue CD recently. What’s your taken on its continued ascent into the popular consciousness?

P: Yes and I'm sure that Burial is completely jealous that I was featured on the Venue cover mount and he wasn't (by the way - you guys forgot to say thanks to or give credit to Punch Drunk, the Bristol-based label that kindly licensed the track to you for free!). I think its completely daft when you say that 'Dubstep has become even more commercially mainstream' - I don't really think that it is at all. What we do have is a healthy, thriving underground scene, and while there are artists and tracks that have poked there noses into the other side of the music world - tracks like Benga & Coki's 'Night' for instance - they are most certainly the exception not the rule. I hope it can continue to grow (as I think the music still has a lot of room left to develop) and I hope that it does so while maintaining its integrity.

B: Talk us through some of the people you feel are really doing good things with that sonic template in Bristol. Who are the established artists here you rate, and who are the up and coming next generation of producers you are feeling? Are there any collaborations in the pipeline?

P: Well I hate to think there's a template of any kind going on! I think if I list the established people I rate and the up and comers too, it should cover most people! Certainly shouts out to the likes of Peverelist, Appleblim and Headhunter for the deeper sounds, Joker for his crazy melodic sound, Jakes for his wild b-lines, Blazey for his energetic mixing... So many to mention... Gemmy and Guido for the next gen.... it could go on a while.... Collaborations are aplenty Kommonazmuk and Appleblim, Joker and Gemmy, Peverelist and Appleblim - Forsaken and Ben Blackmore - I'm sure there's a lot more that haven't yet sprung to mind...

B: Subloaded initially debuted at the Thekla before moving to the Black Swan, and then Dubloaded came about finding a home at Native before giving way to Dubplate Monthly at the Croft. Why did Dubloaded stop? At that time prior to HENCH it was the only dedicated monthly Dubstep session.

P: Dubloaded stopped around the time HENCH started and about the time Ruffnek Diskotek was doing increasingly more Dubstep at the nights. I stopped doing the monthlies partly because I was getting too many weekend bookings to give it the time it deserved (promotion etc) and partly because it wasn't as needed so much. My main purpose of doing Dubloaded was to provide a regular outlet for the music but then when other nights started springing up I felt I could relax a bit and let those guys pick up a bit of the weight! Still do Subloaded a couple times a year though!

B: Subloaded is one of Bristol's biggest nights. Did you have any idea when you began doing the large events they'd be so popular? How does it feel to take it back to its roots at the Black Swan?

P: No, I can remember thinking 'if I just manage to get 250-300 people...', its definitely grown considerably since! I remember getting a text around midnight at the last one (in Clockwork) saying that police horses were outside to control the queues of people getting in!!

To go back to the Black Swan feels great to be honest with you, so many great memories there from the previous events - the main room is really the perfect shape for deep sub bass formation!!

B: What are some of the things in Bristol that inspire your work? It can be anything – art, architecture, people etc – what provides local inspiration for you?

P: People are my biggest inspiration in general - I can't explain why very easily but people carry a vibe about them that shows more than you can see - the way they are, the way they do things - everyone has differences, subtle or otherwise. I've been lucky enough to have met some great people here.

B: 2009 seems to be shaping up to be another amazing year for Bristol Dubstep. With MAH recently doing a special on the city and more labels, nights, producers and DJs popping up every month, it seems to be in an even stronger place than ever to push things forward. How do you see the future unfolding for the sound here in Bristol? Do you welcome the growing increase in interest of the music here; the influx of more and more people into what was traditionally a small scene? Or do you find it as much a help as a hindrance? Is its growing popularity a double-edged sword?

P: It is a double edged sword in some respects but I think things are healthy here at the moment and will continue to be so unless there are lots of people who start putting on nights for the sake of it (e.g. clueless bar/club managers) just because they think its popular. So long as the people who put on the parties put some love and time into it, the vibe will be strong

B: Whats next for you heading into 2009?

P: New single just dropped on Tectonic (TEC024 'Midnight Oil'/'Joyride'), a track on the next Tempa Allstars double pack ('Motion Sickness') and my remix of Henry & Louis 'Rise Up' to follow on 2 Kings. Next year will see some more plates from me as well as a (legitimate!) remix of an original Horace Andy vocal.

An edited version of this interview appears in Venue Magazine.

TIME came to BUG's attention in the first half of 2008 with his album Theatre Earth, an ambitious project that announced a unique new voice into the local Dubstep community. TIME had a musical background from childhood, having grown up around musicians all his life and going on to become an accomplished scratch DJ before he took to the sound of Dubstep.

There is a huge amount of sonic reference points squeezed into each of his productions, the hallmark of a man full of ideas and not afraid to utilise them. The progression he's shown as an artist over the last year has been incredible, and his dynamic production is incendiary on a big system. From the haunting mutated synth licks of Nothing But The Funk to the erratic techno sounds of The Line, TIME has a fresh and exciting sound that is going to see him rise up and be counted in 2009. BUG caught up with TIME recently for a insightful interview.

B: What are the origins of TIME?

T: I spent half my time growing up in St Pauls and the other half in Bedminster skate park, this is back when the river run was the hardest ramp to ride, and Specs and Die where doing 6 foot jumps out of 3rd bowl. My mum lived right round the corner from the park, so I was there most days and eves from a very early age - this is around '87 to '94. The most important thing to me then was my skateboard and hitting up rollermania to check the sticker book out for some new bling for the board, I must have been 10.

At the same time as this I was going over to my dads yard a lot, he was a respected musician and piano teacher in and around the St Pauls area so there were always people hanging out in his studio. The smell of weed was always in the air and music was always being played or made. I've still got some photos of a City Road house party that my dad put on with Jody and Die (who later went on to become Sublove) scratching it up, I remember Jody had just got the record with Jazzy Jeff scratching live at union square, and a group of excited people including me were round the decks bugging out to how fast the cuts sounded.

I was totally mesmerized by scratching from then but I had no decks and when ever I did get to have a go I was too nervous to try and bust out a scratch. So I originate from that era, it was all Run DMC, LL Cool J, Fat Boys, Tristen B on the radio and skateboarding. When a friend of mine passed me NWA's Straight out of Compton I couldn't believe what I was hearing and haven't stopped loving hip hop till this day.

B: Unlike other producers who've drifted here, you're Bristol born and bred. How do you think the city has informed your sound?

T: For sure it has influenced me a lot, a lot more than I realize. Because growing up with it all around me I just took it all for granted. I was to young to witness Wild Bunch, the Dug Out and all the guys that had given Bristol this dope reputation. I just grew up and lived in this bubble that everywhere must be cool like this, I was young. So I'm more influenced by the rave and jungle sound that followed, Sublove and the early hardcore rave music and then soon after that Flynn and Flora, Roni, Die and above all Krust.

My dad gave piano lessons to a number of these guys and he was also good friends with Jody's dad so I would go over there and hangout. I would sit in the studio and watch him scratch and make hip hop beats for his brother to rap on with their crew TFP, then after that him and Die working out how to use the Akai and synths for as long as possible. The studio had rap paraphernalia all over the place then it seemed to suddenly switch to faster beats and less lyrics, rave had dropped and Perception and Fantasia flyers replaced the Beastie Boys posters on my walls.

A new sound was born and I was just as fascinated by this as I was hip hop. As this was going on my old man started beefing up his studio, a computer was brought in, synths where arriving and a sampler took center stage of the room. I was plonked in front of Cubase, and heavily encouraged to make music on the promise that one day he would get one of my tracks cut and we would pass it to the DJs. I would just listen to early hardcore rave and try and work out how they were making the drums sound like that and try and then make my own breaks.

Soon after that I got my first set of belt drives, couldn't scratch with them, I was gutted about that but I had decks and that was the main thing. I must have been 13 had no money and lived 2 minutes from Replay Records, brilliant. My dad would take me in there once or twice a week and I would get to buy a record so it wasn't too bad. After a few months I had enough records to play a set so straight away I started recording mix tapes and going to raves, nervously making my way towards the decks in an attempt to get a tape to someone, ha! Not much has changed, just not so nervous now. After a while I got a few spots around Bristol but being so young I wasn't getting paid and soon realized I couldn't afford - or more to the point my dad couldn't afford - to keep buying me the latest tunes. So I had to stop and focus more on the production side of things and also stepped up my Piano playing skills. I still continued to mix for hours on end every day though.

B: Before Dubstep what was your path in life musically speaking? How did you come to get involved in Dubstep?

T: So time went on and in between hanging out at the skate park I was in the studio trying to get my production to a decent level. A bit more money was coming in, so I was off out again getting drum and bass sets all over Bristol using the name Timestretch and even putting on the odd night. This all stopped though. My dad had cancer and things weren't the same, I knew something was wrong but didn't know what, so I started changing a bit also and music was coming second to being a bit naughty.

When he passed away, I inherited all the music equipment but it was too painful to hold on to and decided to sell it to a close friend of mine at the time, Jimi Presha an emcee and fellow DJ. I just couldn't even bring myself to think about music let alone make any. Having said that though one of the things I did with the money was buy Technics, I was passed a video of Q-bert scratching and I couldn't believe how far scratching had come on. I was like 'damn I can do that' so went and got some decent tables for the first time and just started scratching. But as for production that was over for me. Around about 2005 I started making the odd hip hop beat, but apart from scratching I was totally closed off from what was going on in the outside dance music world.

That was until I heard Dubstep for the first time. I remember it like it was yesterday, I was walking through St Pauls carnival and found myself coming back to this one sound system that had this electric vibe surrounding it. I couldn't work out what the music was and just when I thought I had clocked the genre, it would switch up again into something else. I stood there for hours watching in amazement and getting more and more excited about what I was hearing. From that moment on I've been hooked, and went off telling people about what I had witnessed.

I just had to find out more about it and if it had a name, but it wasn't that easy. I had no Internet and no one I knew could help me. I thought f**k it ill just start producing again and make my version of what I had heard that day. At the same time Jimi Presha who I was still in contact with showed me this article in a magazine that was talking about this new sound called Dubstep. The article name checked various artists and that's all I needed, I got passed the VEX'D album De Generate, I had finally found the sound at last. So armed with this, a turntable and an old computer given to me, I set about making tunes again. I did the Theatre Earth album in a few months, and by that time I had more Dubstep to listen to, I was rinsing the first Benga album and Kode9's Breezeblock mix to death and had found out Rooted Records stocked a lot of Dubstep.

So I was sat there with this CD of tunes and decided to just send it to labels and see what happens. I also knew it would be a good move to get on the net again after not having it for so long and put the music up there for free download. Joe Muggs heard it and loved it, he got it album of the month in Mixmag, but that was it. Any other feedback I got about it was mostly negative, mainly Bristol heads saying that it sounded too in your face and not deep enough. Like the Bristol sound HAS to be deep or something. The Bristol sound to me is a lot more than just deep chilled smokey sub, check the stuff that came out on Dope Dragon for proof of this, a tune called Kitchen Sink by Mask is a good place to start. Anyway, since then I have bought back some of the equipment I sold and have started taking music seriously again.

Also another one of the main reasons if not the MAIN reason I've started making music again is with Dubstep I hear opportunity, opportunity to do stuff with computers, samplers and synths that I haven't heard before. The last time I was making tunes was in the late 90's and making dance music was really becoming boring, it all had to fit into a formula, a restrictive box. The arrangement was always the same sounds, it was boring and easy to make. That's why "turntablism" for me was the direction to go. Albums like Q-berts' Wavetwisters and D-styles' Phantasmagoria had a fresh sound and scratch groups like Gunkhole and Ned Hoddings where for me taking what could be done to another level, and on top of that performing dance music live using a turntable is just plain FRESH.

B: Did you set up Audio Banquet because you felt your beats weren't getting the attention they deserve? It seems increasingly common that new producers will create an imprint to give their sound a home rather than seek out releases through traditional routes.

T: I've set this up with my partner Bella so we can put out our music and have complete control over every aspect of the process. I'm still passing music to other labels and DJs all the time but at least this way I know if nothing gets picked up then I have a way of pushing it out there. Also the dream is to hopefully one day be able to pay the bills and feed the kids off the back of the music we make, so there's that aspect to it.

The main thing though is to just set up a platform to work from. I've made a lot of music over the past year, most of it has been part of the learning process for me as things have moved on a fair bit from when I last seriously sat down to make music. There wasn't much going on in the EQing department back then so that's all new to me and all this soft synth s**t just grates at me as I'm convinced the hardware setup that I've got has a more powerful and warm sound than anything I've heard from these plug-ins.

I'm dealing with progression in my own way I suppose, I've never taken a class so every track I make something new presents itself as a challenge. I'm just having fun making music again, and it's only until recently that I've made some stuff that i'm happy with. Tracks like Echo Park and The Line are certainly more like what I want to be achieving more of in '09.

B: Given that Bristol is a very busy hub for Dubstep, do you feel its been harder to have your voice heard in amongst the huge amount of new talent here?

T: Yes, but at the same time that has made me push my level of production up harder and harder. When I first started making my interpretation of Dubstep I thought I was gunna kill it. I thought this is just what I heard at carnival and this is gunna destroy everything else out there, naive... my old beat up PC and turntable to sample from was just not going to cut it.

I was spending time at the net cafe listening to Bristol producers and the more I heard the more I realized I've got a lot further to go before I'm hitting that level of production. The Pinch stuff was too good, all the HENCH guys where amazing, Headhunter in particular. The reggae and old skool Bristol rave sound to RSD's stuff was amazing me too. All those guys are still killing it and I'm always checking for new stuff from them.

So it a good thing as I don't think I would be making the tracks that I am now and will be making in the future if it wasn't for the ton of amazing talent in this amazing city.

B: How would you describe your style? You have quite a unique sound...

T: Old Skool Rave, Hip Hop and Bass heavy Jungle at the core but also very heavily influenced by all the music that my dad was playing and making when I was growing up. There is so much slept on Jazz out there its unreal, Jazz has to be the most slept on music of all time. I listened to endless blues and jazz. Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Miles, Hendrix, The Beatles. All that stuff was the sound track to my life for years and still is. I listen to far more Jazz than I do anything else, even Dubstep. Also I'm considered old skool in my approach. I don't use plug-ins, and I have an all-hardware setup. I use an old piece of software to arrange my samples on, no Logic or Reason just my own mad method. I think this certainly helps give me a sound.

B: What's your inspiration in life to make music?

T: I just enjoy it, it's fun again. Dubstep and it's open-minded approach to production has inspired me to make music. But above all it would be my pro-music upbringing, and because of that I just feel naturally able to do it. I don't ever run out of ideas for tunes. I've spent a large part of my life surrounded by people who make music, music has never been out of my mind. It's all I know how to do, what else is there, drugs, stealing, 9 to 5 job.. f**k that!.

B: Who's coming through now that you rate?

T: There's a lot of people bubbling away under the surface making some really good stuff. Bristol wise Phaeleh has impressed me a lot and I will be checking for new stuff from him this year. Bella is doing a lot of nice tunes, so is a guy called Apathesis who I've been listening to. Also I'm expecting a lot of good stuff from Sickman D but I think '09 belongs to Joker, Jakes, Gemmy, RSD...

B: As well as being a producer you are also a well-respected scratch DJ - how does that experience inform the style of your sets? Do you feel it sets you apart from other DJs?

T: Scratching has given me a confidence around the turntables. I would spend months and months working on a 6 minute DMC battle routine. The beat juggles and scratch routines where getting so complicated and hard to pull off that if the needle skipped one time, your chance was over and what you had been practicing for ages was over. Simple as that it was done. I mean you go up in front of hundreds of people and cameras knowing that one jump of the needle and your gunna be looking like a fool. So going up and blending in a club is for me a piece of cake. It can still be a challenge to pull off a sweet blend but knowing I've got those skills to fall back on does take a load off my mind. It just means I can relax and enjoy it a lot more than I know other DJs might.

Also on top of that I make 100% scratched music. Drums, bass, melodies all coming live off the deck so looking at the turntable as an instrument makes me treat it a lot more like its an instrument rather than just a record player. I would definitely like to bring this aspect of things more into my DJ sets in '09, but not to much that it takes over from the Dubstep I'm playing.

B: Whats next up in 2009?

T: Music music music and more music, I'm gunna make sure its a busy year for myself and others. I'm hearing more and more producers stick to one style of the Dubstep sound in there production, that would bore me, I won't be doing that so expect lots of experimental tracks. I'll be taking sound and arrangement into territory it's never been before, but of course still keeping heads nodding and people moving. I don't believe in sticking to any one style.

Hopefully Audio Banquet will take off, and Bella will get more of her music out there. The first release is scheduled for the 1st of March and will be a track called Shredder. A website is being worked on and B clothes are in the works. We are also looking to put out other people who's tunes I'm feeling, Sickman D being one, The Widdler.

My series of Audio Banquet mixes will continue, I did 5 last year expect the same this year. These act as promotion and feature mostly mine and Bella's music, but the main reason for doing them is to push the Dubstep sound out to people who might not have heard it yet. Dubstep is vampire like, it can bite people, and when it does their hooked and crave the bass. I've seen it happen to friends, it happened to me and I'll be making it my mission to get more people hooked this year.

I'm also working on a 100% all scratched dubstep album, its not been done before, I want it to sound right so I'm taking my time with this, however I would say its half way to being finished and will be ready at some point this year. You can do some great thing with the turntable, stuff that you just can't do with any other instrument. Fresh time signatures and seriously flipped sounds being just two of many examples.

I'll be working with a lot of local MC's and Singers, Sirplus, Koast and the Central Spillz crew, B'tol, Jimi Presha - the list goes on. Expect lots of sung stuff from Bella in '09 as well, as she has an amazing deep soulfull voice; this is the stuff I could be most excited about. A live show to go with this has already been worked on, live dubstep off the turntable with her vocals - watch out for that!
I've got plans for all sorts of things to happen this year, and look forward to making it all come together. In fact there's already a dubstep/hiphop album Esoteric Tabloid already finished that I've produced with Jimi Presha on the mic, so we will be pushing that hard this year. It's our second album together, and I feel this one is the one that will make heads pick up on his vocal talents.
Pushing for more and more DJ sets is something else, I press a lot of my dubs to vinyl and play a set thats mostly my own music, so promoters if you like my music get in touch.

Of course I will keep pushing my music to lots of labels as well, and hopefully get some music put on to vinyl, thats always been a dream of mine. I ain't gunna relax till I can walk into Rooted and see a tune I've made up on the racks. Noodles over at DPR loves my stuff and he will be putting out a lot of the tracks I made last year that me and him feel didn't get the attention that they could have. That's all going to be a digital thing but some of the tracks should be hitting vinyl as well. There are also tunes already out and coming out on labels such as TzR carbon, Dubfrequency, Imperative Recordings and Dirty Circuit. So big up to everybody that's been checking my sound out, and fingers crossed for big things to happen this year.

B: Give us a top 5 (of anything)

T: My top 5 deities that Jesus impersonated..

Krishna
Mithra
Quexalcote
Indra
Prometheus

TIME has very kindly offered up Nothing But The Funk and The Line for download, as well as a new version of his Audio Banquet 5 mix with vocals from MC Jimi Presha:

TIME - Nothing But The Funk



TIME - The Line



TIME - Audio Banquet 5 feat. Jimi Presha

Bella and Time - Matsue Castle RMX
Bella - Lower Sub Side
TIME - Swingtime
TIME - Mince Pie
TIME - Votan
TIME - We Are in Control Now
Bella - Enochian
TIME - Echo Park
TIME - Jeri Curl Boogie
TIME - Fury
TIME & Bella - Saturnalia
TIME - The Line
TIME - Gambi
TIME - Ear This
TIME - Soundboy Science
TIME - Assassin

DOWNLOAD - TIME : Audio Banquet 5 feat. Jimi Presha