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D R O P #15
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HYPE MONKI URBAN NERDS FA S H I O N STREET BOUTIQUES FIFTYFIFTY RISE UP BOSS SELECTIONS REVIEWS BASSPOINTS
F E AT U R E S 28 30 32 36 38 44 46 49 58 78
SWEET TOOF & ROWDY SWINDLE DANNY BROWN RAINY MILO ONEMAN ART: WEAPON OF CHOICE WILL SAUL NEOSIGNAL FA S H I O N S H O OT F E S T I VA L G U I D E
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EDITOR: Jon Cook CREATIVE DIRECTOR/DESIGN: Andy Hayes FASHION EDITOR: Kasha Malyckyj REVIEWS EDITOR: Gwyn Thomas De Chroustchoff SALES & ADVERTISING: Iain Blackburn MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION: Justin Iriajen WEB: All That Good Stuff & Nick Hills COVER: Oneman by Ysa Perez PICTURES: Ysa Perez, Adam Robinson, Sarah Ginn, Alex Digard. WORDS: Kasha Malyckyj, Erin Kubiki, Matt Riches Jason Gardener, Monki, Sam Bates, Gwyn Thomas de Chroustchoff, Sean Kelly, Jeryl Wilton, Justin Iriajen, Amy Stiff, Sophie Thomas, Oli Grant, Tim Rayner, James Rompani, Leyla Eroglu, James Wesson.
THANK YOU: Anna @ Catrin, Daria @ Canvas, All @ Urban Nerds, Adam @ Backdrop, Ben @ Run, Rob & Tom @ The Blast, Sam @ Red Bull, Lua @ Dutty, Will @ Coda, Jack @ Pack London, Saul @ Fabric, Andy @ The Bank, Louis, Rich & Syd @50/50,Toni @ Listen Up, Adam @ Exclusive, Jamie @ Hypercolour, Cheba @ WOC, Chris & Joe @ Idle Hands, Danny Keston, Taz and everybody else we forgot.
H Y P E #15
T H E H O T T E S T H A P P E N I N G S I N Y O U R W O R L D T H I S J U L Y A N D A U G U S T
CARNIVAL TIME
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t’s that time of year again, so pack your whistles, horns, Rizla and Red Stripe and make sure you reach one of the three main Carribbean carnivals popping off during July and August. Saturday 6 July sees Bristol’s St Pauls Carnival return after a one-year hiatus, while on Saturday 17 August Nottingham’s version hits the Forest Recreation Ground, before the final weekend in August hosts the biggest of them all, Notting Hill in London. Once again, RBMA will be hosting stages at all three carnivals, repeating their nowcustomary bashes beneath The Westway for Notting Hill, taking over an entire park at St Pauls and dragging a massive rig all the way up to Notts, bringing some of the biggest names in bass-music along for the ride. You know the drill for the Notting Hill RBMA stage by now - get online and get your free tickets as soon as they go on sale; they go in minutes.
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REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM THENOTTINGHILLCARNIVAL.COM STPAULSCARNIVAL.CO.UK
H Y P E NIKE ENGLAND COLLECTION
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ith the news that Nike had won the rights to make the England football kit for the next five years, we knew it wouldn’t be long before we saw something like the stunning England Collection. Nike Sportswear has created a two-piece premium collection featuring customised versions of a Destroyer Jacket and Air Max 1. Available only at Harrods and Nike Town, the closest you’ll probably come to either of these is through these pictures, but we just had to share. ---
NIKE.COM
TRAP X THE BLAST SUMMER PARTY PART 2
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n Friday 12 July, we’re holding our second special summer party with our friends from The Blast at The Old Courtrooms in central Bristol. After welcoming dBridge, Phaeleh, Paleman and the Idle Hands collective to our first party in June, July’s bash takes a distinctly carnival theme for a proper summertime rave.
Playing on the night will be Vybz Kartel and Snoop Lion producer and Mixpak boss Dre Skull, alongside dancehall dons The Heatwave and sub soca specialists Jus Now. Watch out for D&B experimentalists Stray and Sam Binga in the second room, too. Tickets are on sale now from Resident Advisor.
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TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK THEBLAST.CO.UK
H Y P E TOO MUCH SPORTSWEAR
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oo Much Posse has long been one of Trap’s favourite brands, producing the highest quality street-level garms with a distinct nod to everything from haute couture to trackside graff. The London brand has just launched the Too Much Sportswear line, which includes some heavyweight hoods and these dope five-panel caps. Referencing the classic Gucci and Polo Sport colour schemes, and with screenprinted logo graphics, Too Much smashed it with these. Available at selected stockists nationwide and through their website. ---
TOOMUCHPOSSE.COM
FOOTSIE DROPS SECOND LP
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rime original Footsie has just dropped the second instalment of his ‘King Original’ series, featuring 18 previously unreleased instrumentals from the East Londoner. Known best for his work as an MC as part of Newham Generals (alongside D Double E) and before that Nasty Crew, Footsie’s work in the studio is equally impressive, with many of these instrumentals long craved and hammered by the grime elite. ‘King Original Volume 2’ is out now on Braindead Entertainment. ---
@FOOTSIE
TOKYO DUB 2013
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ere at Trap, we’ve got massive love for anyone that does their own thing. And that’s exactly what Tokyo Dub has been doing since they first emerged on the Bristol club scene a few years back, bringing the cream of reggae, dub, jungle, dubstep and all things bass to their consistently packed parties at Motion. Now, Tokyo Dub are seriously stepping things up with their first all-day festival at Castle Park in Bristol city centre on Saturday 28 September. The same spot used for Love Saves The Day, this is an amazing space for a party, and the line-up is incredible. With everyone from Loefah, Breakage, Pinch and Rockwell, to Soom T, Iration Steppas, Channel One and Coxsone bringing the vibes on the day, Tokyo Dub 2013 gets our full backing. Tickets are on sale now, starting at £19.50, from the Tokyo Dub website. ---
TOKYODUB.COM
MCS IN THE MIX
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Cs In The Mix is a unique new concept coming straight out of Manchester. The brainchild of Chunky and Problem Child, MIM works in collaboration with big-hitting live streams such as Just Jam and Boiler Room to flip the traditional DJ/MC set-up on its head. Already in 2013, the likes of Mighty Moe, D Double E, Flow Dan, Sgt Pokes, Strategy and Buggsy have all passed through with their selections, showcasing the tracks that give and gave them the inspiration to do what they do on the mic. The next MIM event is a very special boat party at Outlook Festival on Saturday 31 August, and features D Double E, Broke’n’English, Chunky, LX One plus special guests. Tickets were still on sale at the time of writing, so if you’re heading Croatia, grab one now. ---
MCSINTHEMIX.COM
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H Y P E SUB:STANCE END OF AN ERA
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n 12 July, Scuba’s trailblazing clubnight SUB:STANCE will hold its last-ever party after five years in residence at legendary Berlin venue Berghain. To mark the occasion, SUB:STANCE is releasing a very-special commemorative vinyl-only box-set of exclusive music from some of the key figures that have played at the night and brought more than just techno to Berghain. Appleblim, Martyn, Trevino and Scuba himself all feature, and as shown here, the box will come packed with original prints of the artwork used for the parties. ---
HOTFLUSHRECORDINGS.COM
FWD>> MOVES TO DANCE TUNNEL
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hat can we say here that hasn’t already been said about Rinse FM’s long-running FWD>> dances? For years, the weekly party has acted as an incubator for the nascent ideas and sonic experimentalism of the London underground, from broken beat and grime, to dubstep and UK funky. Now, after years at Plastic People, FWD>> has moved to Dalston’s Dance Tunnel, and become a fortnightly, rather than a weekly, party. Check the FWD>> website for line-ups for July and August.
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ILOVEFWD.COM
H Y P E
PUMA TWENTYONE PRESENTS LAST ORDERS
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he PUMA twentyone store down at BOXPARK in Shoreditch is lining up a series of interactive events this summer, utilising the best of East-London talent to help make its presence felt in the Capital’s coolest quarter.
Kicking things off is a collaboration with the crew behind regular London hip-hop jam The Doctor’s Orders, at the nearby Cargo club. Happening every Sunday from 12 June to 18 August, Last Orders promises a remedy for those end-of-weekend blues, with plenty of unannounced A-list special guests from the realms of hip-hop, house, soul, disco, bass and beyond alongside a stellar list of residents. For an extra incentive to get down there, as part of the brand’s latest ‘Worn My Way’ campaign, PUMA scouts will be roaming the event every week snapping the 21 best-dressed attendees and displaying their pics on a special in-store gallery board. One winner gets a free pair of sneaks, and the other 20 get 30% off in store - the only catch is, you’ve gotta get down to PUMA twentyone to see if you’ve made the grade! With Trap available in store and a constantly replenished stock of the freshest PUMA garms and creps, make sure you go have a gander. ---
WWW.WORNMYWAY.COM WWW.BOXPARK.CO.UK
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SUPREME INFLATABLE £50 WWW.SUPREMENEWYORK.COM 02 MOTEL SHORTS £42 WWW.MOTELROCKS.COM 03 PERKS AND MINI BAG £140 WWW.PERKSANDMINI.COM 04 SUNDAY SOMEWHERE AT SUNGLASSES CURATOR €240 WWW.SUNGLASSESCURATOR.COM 05 STUSSY HAT £35 WWW.STUSSY.COM
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URBAN NERDS THE AMSTERDAM TRIP
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msterdam is our favourite city. We don’t need to explain why. This October, Trap will be heading across the channel for a very special weekend in the ‘Dam courtesy of our friends at Urban Nerds, and we’d like you to join us! The weekend of 17 - 20 October will see the eighteenth annual Amsterdam Dance Event, where over 1,700 performers and more than 200,000 ravers shock out in 90 of the city’s best venues by night, while conferences, workshops, exhibitions and special events help give the weekend a real festival feel. Quite rightly, the guys at Urban Nerds thought this would make the perfect weekend to cart 700 of you lot over to Holland for a weekend that promises everything that’s great about Amsterdam for a ridiculously cheap package price. Earlybird tickets are now on sale at just £129, for which you get three days and two nights raving in Amsterdam, with city-centre accommodation and all travel covered. It’s an amazing deal, that includes entry to some special parties, coffee shop tours, discounted food and drinks, plus loads of optional extras to help you get the most out of your weekend. Trap are one of eight regional partners for the event, alongside the likes of Seedy Sonics, Kung Fu and BPM, all helping ensure the inaugural Amsterdam Trip is packed out with heads from across the UK. Tickets are on sale from w ww.u rba n -ne rd s .c om/ t ra pma g and more info can be found on both the Trap and Urban Nerds websites. We will see you there.
17 - 20 OCTOBER 2013 TICKETS START AT £129 SECURE YOUR PLACE FOR £50 DEPOSIT 2 NIGHT’S B&B ACCOMMODATION PLUS ALL TRANSPORT (LUXURY COACH & FERRY) INCLUDED.
WWW.URBAN-NERDS.COM/DAM #URBANNERDSDAM 013 TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
NVMBR.CO
M O N K I #15 T R A P ’S L O N G - T I M E C O L U M N I S T N O W N E E D S N O I N T R O D U C T I O N I N T H E S E PAG E S . S M A S H I N G I T I N E V E RY WAY, M O N K I ’ S S TA R K E E P S S H I N I N G B R I G H T E R A N D B R I G H T E R . H E R E ’S E V E RY T H I N G S H E ’ S H Y P E D F O R I N T H E N E X T C O U P L E O F M O N T H S . . .
MONKI & FRIENDS EP
CATCH ME AT: IBIZA
I've been curating a collaborative EP alongside Red Bull Studios London, which we've given out for free. The EP includes five exclusive tracks from the likes of Karma Kid, Friend Within & Yasmin, Melé & Salva, Shadow Child & My Nu Leng, Riton & Meleka and not forgetting my crew Zoo Music. I had so much fun working on this project and hopefully it will be the first of many! You can check out videos, pictures and download the EP now from the link below!
I will be on the sunny island of Ibiza this summer for Ibiza Rocks, a boat party and much more yet to be announced. I can't wait; it’s gonna be my first year there, so I have a lot to look forward too. I'll be heading to Space and DC-10 to buy a €16 bottle of water and try to spot P.Diddy on the dance floor. See ya there!
TRAMLINES FESTIVAL Every year the Steel City hosts Tramlines Festival, with the streets of Sheffield filled with eager partygoers, stages and secret sets. Toddla T Sound, David Rodigan, Lianne La Havas, Theo Parrish are Duke Dumont are just a few names that’ll be making an appearance. Plus, watch out for the little gems that are kept quiet last year, Arctic Monkeys played a gig in a pub!
ONE TO WATCH: TESSELA Tessela, aka Ed Russell, is from the quiet ends of the West Country, but you’d never think that listening to his music. His tunes ‘Hackney Parrot’ and ‘Helter Skelter’ (out on Poly Kicks) take you back to the early 90s and his production style nicely ticks the authenticity box. I recently had him in for a guest mix on Radio 1; he crosses his distinctive sound over to his mixes and does it very well. Make sure you keep an eye on Tessela.
WWW.REDBULLSTUDIOS.COM
DANCE TUNNEL Dance Tunnel is an underground basement in Dalston, packed with a Funktion One soundsystem and a whole lot of people. With artists such as Breach and Bicep putting on parties there, plus legendary night FWD>> moving from it’s home at Plastic People, they've got to be doing something right. And if you’re still not convinced, the pizza joint above called Voodoo Rays is open til the early morning for a post-rave snack. You could not get more trendy.
DOLLOP Dollop hails from Nottingham originally, but has expanded out to London, Croatia and festivals such as Bestival. Everyone on the UK 'bass' roster has played there and will no doubt play there again. And, as those who went last year will know, they also throw a killer NYE Party. An all-round five-star night, make sure you check it out.
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Amsterdam Dance Event
FROM
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• 3 DAYS / 2 NIGHTS IN AMSTERDAM • CITY CENTRE B&B ACCOMMODATION • LUXURY COACH & FERRY TRAVEL • 2 NIGHTS RAVING • COFFEE SHOP TOURS • URBAN NERDS SURVIVAL KIT (RRP £50) • DISCOUNTED FOOD/DRINKS & BIKE HIRE + LOADS OF OPTIONAL EXTRAS
URBAN-NERDS.COM/DAM #URBANNERDSDAM
U R B A N N E R D S #15
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T’S BEEN ANOTHER BUSY FEW MONTHS HERE AT URBAN NERDS HQ, FROM OUR SIN CITY TAKEOVER IN BRIGHTON WITH HATCHA, LOGAN SAMA, P MONEY AND MANY MORE, TO OUR NEW EVENT CONCEPT, ONES TO WATCH, WHICH SAW THE CREAM OF THE JACKIN HOUSE SCENE DOING THEIR THING AT ONE OF EAST LONDON’S COOLEST INTIMATE VENUES BASING HOUSE. WITH THAT BEHIND US, ALL FOCUS IS NOW ON THE AMSTERDAM TRIP TAKING PLACE FROM THE 17 - 20 OCTOBER HOPEFULLY, WE’LL SEE A BUNCH OF YOU OUT THERE! IN THE MEANTIME, READ ON FOR NERDS’ RESIDENT RATTUS RATTUS’ TOP-FIVE TRACKS OUT THERE RIGHT NOW.
ONES TO WATCH: MELADEE
House and garage with a bit more edge! MellaDee's tracks, with their vocal cuts and grime synths, stand out in a scene overrun with connect-the-dots tracks.
SECONDCITY
Balancing between jackin and tech house. Secondcity's productions never fail to evoke a crowd to reaction and send people directly to the dancefloor.
IVORY D'OR
With a debut EP about to drop on Mansion and already a host of high profile DJ's spinning his tracks. It's only a matter of time for Ivory D’Or.
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RATTUS RATTUS TOP 5 01
MELLADEE ‘Molecules’
One half of Mista Men, this track masterfully strides between house and garage, lighting up dancefloors with ease. 02
FOAMO ‘Sherlock’ (Kry Wolf Remix)
The original did the rounds a few years ago, but it's now been reinvented by Taiki & Nulight, My Nu Leng and Kry Wolf for the festival season. 03
ORIGIN ‘Heaven’
Awesome garage drums mixed with a powerful bass. Need I say more? 04
SECONDCITY ‘The Story’
The unstoppable SecondCity put out yet another incredible release, this time on Huxley's Saints & Sonnets imprint. 05
ORIGIN ‘I Can't Stop’
A cheeky sample from a dubstep track you’ll have heard in 'The Great Gatsby' is transformed for this house tinted roller.
F A S H I O N #15 WORDS:
AURIA London swimwear label Auria has teamed up with illustrator Margot Bowman to produce a luxury swimwear range soaked in nostalgia for 1980s LA. Combining graphic prints in sultry blue and pink hues, we love the collection of well-cut swimsuits and bikinis that make for an easy transition from beach to bar. Top of our holiday shopping list is the versatile one-piece that will have you worshipping the sun in style, but looks just as striking worn under thigh-hugging cut-offs. While the collection may look like Baywatch through a kaleidoscope, it's all ethically sourced back on our home shores and made from recycled materials. Available from Urban Outfitters.
WWW.AURIA-LONDON.COM
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Kasha Malyckyj & James Wesson
F A S H I O N GOGO PHILIP X MALIBU 1992 We’re loving the latest offering from statement jewellery masters Gogo Phillip who join forces with Malibu 1992 for a collaboration that emulates the classic opulent 90s Versace vibe. The hand-crafted gold-plated capsule collection, which consists of five pieces, offers a grandiose gold touch in the form of earrings, rings and necklaces. All pieces feature an obligatory palm tree and mosaic patterning.
WWW.GOGOPHILIP.COM
CHAMPION Champion is a name with a long heritage, but not one that jumps to mind when we think of innovation in streetwear. Recent collaborations and the resurgence of all things early-90s has, however, led to revival of the brand’s popularity. The new European Collection provides some great essential pieces for that understated look, demonstrating Champion’s transformation from basic sportswear supplier to notable lifestyle brand.
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S T R E E T B O U T I Q U E S #15
FOR THE FIRST IN OUR NEW SERIES LOOKING AT THE FINEST STREETWEAR EMPORIUMS ON PLANET EARTH, TRAP CHECKS IN WITH THE GUYS FROM PATTA IN AMSTERDAM. FAMED FOR BUSTING OUT SOME OF THE FRESHEST COLLABS AROUND WITH THE LIKES OF NIKE, STÜSSY AND ASICS, AS WELL AS THEIR OWN LUST-INDUCING RANGE OF GARMS, PATTA HAS BUILT A REP AS ONE OF THE BEST. READ ON FOR AN INSIGHT INTO HOW THEY DID IT...
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TRAP: What is Patta? Patta is a small Amsterdam-based store that was established in 2004 by Edson Sabajo and Guillaume Schmidt. It started out of love and necessity, rather than profit and novelty. We opened up shop nine years ago, providing The Netherlands with a place to purchase exclusive footwear and apparel that could also function as a platform for local music, art, events and so forth. Why did you decide to open the store? All of us have been into good footwear and nice apparel for a long time. Throughout the years, we’ve travelled extensively and always came back home with rare stuff that like-minded people couldn’t find locally. Thus, the idea was born to open up a place and provide. You stock some great brands - which is the one you’re most proud to stock? Every brand we stock, we fully support, but I guess we are most proud of Rockwell Clothing that was co-founded by the artist Parra. We came up around the same time, so seeing him prosper as a brand, as well as as an artist, is a beautiful thing. And you've done some amazing collaborations over the years - any favourites? Every brand we stock, we fully support, but I guess we are most proud of Rockwell Clothing that was co-founded by the artist Parra. We came up around the same time, so seeing him prosper as a brand, as well as as an artist, is a beautiful thing. You stock some great brands - which is the one you’re most proud to stock? Our five-year anniversary was good. We released collaborations throughout that entire year, including ASICS, Stüssy, Converse, HUF, Reebok, Kangol, KEEP, Ontour, New Era, Pro-Keds and the Nike Air Max project. And finally, what advice would you give to anyone else thinking of establishing a streetwear store or brand? If you're in it for a quick buck, go do something else. PATTA IS LOCATED ON THE ZEEDIJK IN CENTRAL AMSTERDAM AND OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. WWW.PATTA.NL
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F I F T Y F I F T Y #15
B A C K A G A I N W I T H T H E S U M M E R H E A T F R O M T H E W O R L D O F S K A T E B O A R D I N G , T H E F I F T Y F I F T Y F A M D R O P I N F O R T H E I R R E G U L A R P A G E S I N T R A P . . .
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ow we’re starting to see some glorious sunshine at last, the fifty fifty familia has been busy shredding the streets and racking up some footage. In the main photo here, you can bear witness to Phil Parker breaking out a crook on a pretty legit OG spot in central Bristol. Phil, alongside Joe Habgood, Korahn Gayle and Paul ‘Barber’ Cooper represented the store in this year’s Vans Shop Riot in Poole, where they came a very respectable second place. A massive congrats to the guys, who smashed it as always. Korahn also has a ‘Welcome To Diamond Supply Co’ edit now live, in which he reps the store’s recent collaboration tee throughout. Once again, Korahn absolutely annihilates plenty of Bristol spots. The edit was filmed and tightly edited by Bristol’s Finest George Nevin. Props to the guys on this one; it’s a banger. Go watch it now if you haven’t already, and make sure you enjoy the sunshine too! 022 TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
5050STORE.COM @FIFTYFIFTYSTORE
F I F T Y
F I F T Y
SKATEBOARD CAFÉ Skateboard Café has just dropped its Spring/Summer line for 2013. The range features some banging new graphic and logo tees, sweats and boards, including the Café Boy graphic featured here. Make sure you check the ad, titled ‘Introducing Café Boy’, which you’ll find by searching on Vimeo. The Skateboard Café guys have also just launched a super-clean new website, where you can check the product and get some insight into the team and their recent travels.
WWW.SKATEBOARDCAFE.COM
PASSPORT The second brand we’re featuring this issue is Passport. Hailing from Sydney Australia, the brand has been steadily growing its line over the past couple of years. Passport uses really clean graphics, with amazing attention to detail on their apparel and hardware in the new Winter (Summer to us) range, and is represented by our own featured rider this issue, Phil Parker
WWW.PASSPORTAL.COM.AU
RISE UP #13
I V Y
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Trap invites two of the hottest new names around to drop the next couple of mixes in our Rise Up series. Straight outta Bristol come Gorgon Sound for #014, grime stars Kahn and Neek’s soundsystem honouring project, bringing twisted dancehall sounds just in time for summer. Before that is Ivy Lab - the Critical Music-signed trio comprised of Sabre, Stray+ and Halogenix that’s responsible for some of the freshest sounding D&B out there right now. Get on the Trap website to download both of these mixes and all the previous Rise Up instalments.
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We are... Ivy Lab! (Sabre, Stray and Halogenix).
The most important thing in the world to us is... Best Turkish kebab.
You may already know us for... Making a tune that did pretty well last year called 'Oblique', featuring the vocals of Frank Carter III.
Our musical guilty pleasures are... Trap music, bluegrass and euro trance.
We’d describe the music we make as... Combining jazz with techno and drugs.
The best advice we’ve ever had is... Never listen to anything Halogenix has to say.
When we’re not working, you’ll find us... Speculating. When we were younger we dreamed of being... In a drum & bass supergroup. If we wern’t doing music we’d... Be pretty rich we imagine.
You may be surprised to know that... Stray has really big feet.
Three words that describe our mix are... Really. Good. Mix. In twelve months time... It will be summer again. @IVYLAB
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RISE UP #14
G O R G O N
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We are... Gorgon Sound (aka Kahn and Neek).
The most important thing in the world to us is... Love, init.
You may already know us for... Our debut single, ‘Find Jah Way’, that came out last year on the Bristol based record label, Peng Sound, and from playing around Bristol over the past six years as part of the Sureskank Convention crew. Or from our work as Kahn and Neek
Our musical guilty pleasures are... Auto-tuned dancehall. Like, properly shameless auto-tune... You may be surprised to know that... Marijuana has had no direct inf luence on any of our music.
We’d describe the music we make as... Soundsystem music, drawing heavy inf luence from UK Steppers, dancehall and Bristol music.
The best advice we’ve ever had is... Vinyl is final.
When we’re not working, you’ll find us... Foxtrotting out of Babylon.
Three words that describe our mix are... Big, bad and bashy.
When we were younger we dreamed of being... Soundboy annihilators.
In twelve months time... We'll be drinking Magnum in a basement somewhere and shocking out to Burro Banton.
If we wern’t doing music we’d... Probably not be having as much fun as we are at the moment.
FACEBOOK.COM/GORGONSOUND
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T R A P M I X T A P E #06
A L E X A N D E R
“ T H I S I S A M I X O F T H E T H I N G S I ’ M R E A L L Y I N T O A T T H E M O M E N T ; B I T S O F O L D B R O K E N B E A T , H O U S E , G H A N I A N F U N K A N D J A Z Z S T U F F . . . I D E C I D E D T O H A V E A D I G T H R O U G H M Y C R A T E S A N D P U L L O U T S O M E O F T H E 1 2 S I H A V E N ’ T P L AY E D I N A W H I L E ; I T ’ S L I K E V I N Y L C R O P R O T A T I O N ! ” A L E X A N D E R
N U T
N U T
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or the sixth in our exclusive mixtape series, Trap has linked with our good friends at Outlook and Dimensions to present a mix from a man who has the honour to be playing at both festivals this year - Alexander Nut. One of the men behind the hugely acclaimed and ever eclectic Eglo imprint alongside Floating Points, Nut also happens to be one of the finest DJs out there, effortlessly moving through genres to meld cohesive, captivating sets that could only be the work of a true lover of music. Whether behind the decks at clubs, or in the studio for his weekly Rinse FM Saturday slot, Nut rolls out everything from grime, garage and UK house, to hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz and way beyond in a way that just seems to work. Trap is, therefore, just a little bit gassed to have secured a mix from the Eglo boss. Get on the trap website and download it for yourself, and those of you off to Outlook or Dimensions, make sure you check him play. ---
WWW.TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
SWEET SUMMER SOLSTICE SWEET TOOF & ROWDY
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wo of the UK’s most instantly recognisable street artists, Sweet Toof and Rowdy, have combined forces for a new exhibition that runs until 21 July. Anyone who lives in either London or Bristol will have seen the duo’s unmistakable artworks scribbled on chimneys or stretching across shop-fronts, with Sweet Toof ’s pink-gummed gnashers and Rowdy’s snapping crocodile giving both artists an instant calling-card.
Running until 21 July at The Looking Glass, a temporary space in central Bristol, the long-standing street-art collaborators will be showing off new and exclusive takes on their trademark daubings. We suggest you go take a look. --THELOOKINGGLASSBRISTOL.COM GETROWDY.INFO SWEETTOOF.COM
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S
outh-London producer Swindle has spent the last half decade building a rep as one of grime and dubstep’s most intriguing and consistent producers. A classically-trained pianist since the age of eight, Swindle possesses a musical knowledge and skill-set that stands him apart from his peers, and that’s helped elevate his productions for the likes of Butterz, Planet Mu and, most recently, Mala’s Deep Medi well above the crowd.
June saw the release of his debut album, the imperatively titled ‘Do The Jazz’, which saw Swindle do exactly that, bringing unprecedented levels of self-played instrumentation to 13 solid slabs of street-level bass and beats. Tempering the heaviest half-step rhythms and speaker-shaking subs with crashing jazz drums, finger-stretching organ riffs and delicate touches of funk of soul, ‘Do The Jazz’ is an album that reeks of influence. With that in mind, we at Trap were keen to find out where some of that inspiration came from...
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H E R E A R E F I V E O F S W I N D L E ’ S A L L - T I M E FAVO U R I T E JA Z Z A N D F U N K M U S I C I A N S . R E A D O N F O R A N E S S E N T I A L L E S S O N I N M U S I CA L H I S T O RY... --@SWINDLEUK
A. ROGER TROUTMAN - “Roger Troutman had the greatest funk vocals in the world, in my opinion. He re-invented the talk box. He was responsible for so many party tracks; this guy could light up any dance at any point in time. The mark he left on electronic music is non-refundable. Total legend.” B. QUINCY JONES - “Hands-down my favourite producer of all time. The way he worked with vocalists, always striving to get the best out of them, and always writing great music, is probably my biggest inspiration. Quincy Jones - ‘The Dude’ is probably one of my favourite vinyl albums.” C. HERBIE HANCOCK - “The keyboard king, and a man that’s always staying on top of technology. The way he used keys to get his message across was groundbreaking, taking jazz in a new direction. The fusion sound, in a way, is what I'm trying to accomplish, doing the old thing a new way. His track 'Just Around The Corner' actually changed my life.” D. JEFF LORBER FUSION - “I saw these guys at Ronnie Scott’s last year and couldn't believe how tight and true to the original records they played. If you don't know who Jeff Lorber is, then check out ‘Water Sign’. I'm a Pisces, so I guess that’s where I can relate.” E. GEORGE CLINTON - “The man who kept it 100% funk, no compromise; 100 heads on stage if need be. I respect him a great deal and the truth is that without George Clinton, there wouldn't just be no Parliament, Funkadelics, Parlet, Brides of Funkenstien and Bootsy Rubber Band…but no Swindle!” 031 TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
“ I ’ M F R O M D E T R O I T ; P E O P L E W A N N A L O O K T O U G H , T H E Y D O N ’ T W A N N A L O O K F A S H I O N ”
D A N N Y B R O W N WORDS:
Jon Cook
D
anny Brown isn’t your usual American hip-hop superstar. Working with British producers, rocking skinny jeans and with a toothless grin that shouts ‘I don’t give a fuck’, the Detroit rapper has connected with UK audiences in a way that no other American MC before him ever has.
After dropping a couple of free mixtapes in 2010 and 2011, it was in 2012 that Danny Brown really made a splash on UK shores with his incendiary collaboration with grime producer Darq E Freaker on ‘Blueberry’. Riding roughshod over the most UK of beats, and with a video stylishly shot in the hipster holes of West London, Brown’s open eulogy to the joys of drug taking struck an instant chord with not just traditional hip-hop heads, but with those for whom the genre and its subject matters had always felt at odds with life on this side of the Atlantic. With his first buyable album ‘Old’ dropping in August, and fresh from touring the US with Baauer, the 32-year-old Brown is clearly seizing his moment after an early life spent drug dealing in Detroit and struggling to break out from the hip-hop sidelines. Touring Europe throughout June, it was backstage before his Bristol gig that Trap found ourselves knocking on his dressing room door for five minutes with one of the most unique and captivating figures in hip-hop... TRAP: You’re an American rapper who’s known for your connections with England, so we thought a good place to start would be to ask what you love and what you hate about our little country? What I love about England? I like the people; I love the fans here... I think in America sometimes, people come out to the shows because they feel like they know a lot of people are gonna be out. Where as here, I can tell that people come out because they like my music. The worst thing is the weather. But I don’t care about that; I’m from Detroit it’s kind of the same thing. So when did you first come here? This is my third time here. And did you have that perspective of England, like a lot of Americans, that it was all tea, cricket and the queen? I don’t know what anybody else’s opinion is, but, for me, I was just always fascinated by the music here and the fashion; the whole mentality. So I always wanted to come out here and see what it was like. What was it about our music and fashion that caught you? Grime, for one thing. And I remember being like, back in
the day, always being amazed by y’alls fascination with Air Maxs - I’ve always been a huge Air Max fan. So that’s crazy to me - we had that connection. You always had the best Air Maxs that we didn’t get in America. Your love affair with grime is well documented. Is it something you’re still actively following now? Right now, my interest in it is probably more producer driven. I listen out for more producers than artists, but I’m still checking it out. My favourite grime artist is JME. And producer wise, I like Preditah. And you’re working with some British producers for the album? Yeh man, Rustie is on the album, Paul White. And Darq E Freaker. Oh, and Scruffizzer is on there too. You have a knack for picking beats from far beyond the usual US hip-hop producer pool. How much of this is down to growing up in Detroit, with its legacy as the birthplace of techno and more recent love affair with ghettotech? Yeh, a lot of it is. For the most part, just going to clubs or house parties in Detroit; we didn’t listen to Top 40 radio, like a lot of places in America. It was ghettotech. You know, you couldn’t escape it. At my high school dance, my middle school dance - the music what was being played was going to be ghettotech. Songs from the radio, we’d take them and speed them up to 140bpm. And that’s what we still doing today. And that’s different to other places in America? Yeah, because in the South, they slow them down, in New York, the parties I’d go to there, they play a lot of reggae and music with that inf luence. I’d never really heard that until I went there, but that’s what they turned up on. But our turn up was ghettotech. And that prepped you for grime... Uh huh! It’s the same tempo at the end of the day. And it’s minimal, it’s all about having fun. So with your awareness of all things UK, are you a one off in America? I just know about me, and I know that I’ve always been into a lot of things that people around me haven’t been. You famously said ‘50 Cent didn’t sign me because of my jeans’. If that’s true, it’s fair to say you’re a man who cares about fashion? I wanna be able to sleep with myself at night, and do the
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things I want to do, so that’s how I got into that situation. I tried the big jeans on for a minute, tried to rock like that but I couldn’t get no girls man; maybe that’s what it was - I looked like a gang banger so girls were scared of me, well the kind of girls that I like anyway... I fit them up a little bit, they rock with me. You guys are a lot more open in England. I’m from Detroit, which is not a fashion orientated city; people wanna look tough, they don’t wanna look fashion. They wanna scare you more than anything... So looking the way do, you weren’t ever intimidated to be part of that tough world? No, because I’m from the streets. If you’ve really been through that type of thing, you don’t wanna live your life like that, you know, it’s not cool. So I’m doing everything to stay away from that. I’m just doing what I want to do. At the end of the day, I scare drug dealers ‘cause they think I’m hanging out with white boys doing all sorts of crazy shit and being sketchy. They ain’t messing with me... haha. We’ve seen your trip to the Meeting Of The Juggalos - that was some strange shit. Is that the weirdest gig you’ve ever done? Nah, I guess the weirdest gig I’ve done... Probably performing in front of parents and kids, from people booking me and not knowing about my music. I’m standing there singing songs about eating pussy in front of 12year-old girls with their moms. I played the Childish Gambino tour and it was kind of like that. And finally, your album ‘Old’ is out in August. Anything you wanna say about that? Please buy it. I worked a long time on it, and I never sold music before so I’m real nervous about that. I hope people like it - I put my all into it. ---
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‘OLD’ IS DUE IN AUGUST ON FOOLS GOLD RECORDS.
Print by Reggae Roast - available to buy from WWW.REGGAEROAST.CO.UK
R A I N Y WORDS:
M I L O
Erin Kubuki
O
utside the teenage pop circus and away from the super-glossed Carly Rae Jepsens of this world is another breed of pre-adult starlet. With an SE-postcode and a head-strong creative conviction, the 17-year-old Rainy Milo stands apart.
Although surely soon to be swept up in the current wave of UK talent young enough to induce a solid dose of bitterness; there’s more to Rainy than her age. On top of the Web game with near-on every blog and social media channel covered, as well as managing her own working-label, Rainy Milo has carved serious ground for herself. Showcasing her honeyed, soul-centric vocals against a powerful beat-driven backdrop, the proof of her talent lies in her support. With fans such as i-D Magazine and Gilles Peterson, there’s a realness to her records. Check ‘Bout You’ and the follow-up to her self-released Limey mixtape, ‘Black & Blonde’, which features a slinky re-working of The Clash’s ‘Bankrobber ’. Amid a busy summer of festival shows, Trap caught Rainy for a quick round of questions... TRAP: For those who don’t know you, please introduce yourself… I’m Rainy Milo, I’m 17 and I’m from South London. I write and sing my own songs and I have a gap in my front teeth. What does the London sound mean to you? This is always a tough one because I do feel London artists are really good at being inspired by other world sounds and taking it to another place. Some of my favourite British and London-based artists are the ones who are very raw and honest with their lyrical content; I think that’s a key feature that often sets London and British artists apart - what they write about is very connected to their home surroundings. If you could make music in another city, which would it be? I recently recorded my album in a studio in San Francisco – it was full of vintage recording gear – so, I guess, there. I'm just so blessed I had the chance to do that, because the whole experience really added an extra vibe to the tracks I made there.
How important is the internet to you in your creative process? I always go sifting through websites like Soundcloud looking for instrumentals that inspire me to write songs to. From there I'll reach out to the composer to see if it’s OK to record to the track… That’s basically how my track ‘Bout You’ came about. The Internet can put you in contact with millions of people who are into the same things as you and you don't have to even leave your house. If it wasn't for the internet, I don’t think I would even be doing this interview now. You seem pretty fashion conscious – how important is image to you? It’s not something I really sit at home and think about. I like to think I have my own taste and style but it’s not something that runs my life like music does – it’s just something I'm into. What are you listening to at the moment? Miguel’s ‘Kaleidoscope Dream’ record; on every track of the album, his performances were 110 %. It’s a really good listen. Your sound and lyrics have a real emotional element to them, what’s it like bringing your tracks to a live and public stage? It’s great that I'm getting the chance to, because I feel like the tracks are so story-like; it’s important to come and see the story teller. I think, when performing live, I get to show other sides of the tracks’ meanings... Your music’s been described as everything from trip-hop to R&B – where do your genre loyalties lie? I have no loyalties when it comes to genre , any music that inspires a lyric and supports a story I'm trying to tell is good with me. What’s next? I'm rehearsing for live shows with my band and releasing singles that, hopefully, people will connect with like they did the ‘Limey’ EP. @RAINYMILO
“I have no loyalties when it comes to genre.”
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O N E M A N
A L O N E A M O N G M A N Y WORDS:
Jon Cook
O
PHOTOS:
Ysanya Perez
ne of the strengths of electronic music ever since it first emerged over thirty years ago has always been its endless ability to constantly evolve and change, spawning fresh variants and embracing new ways of doing things as the technology on which it relies advances ever-forward.
vault-raiding sets that stood out a mile from the sluggish half-step that dominated the time. In the intervening years, Oneman’s star has only risen, with the South Londoner now regularly heading the bill at festivals and club-nights across the world, while still holding down a weekly show on Rinse FM and pushing new artists through his 502 label.
However, in these fast-paced digital times, where teenagers can rise from bedroom obscurity to headlining music festivals and topping the charts within 18 months of first appearing on the underground, it’s good to know that real, enduring and respected success is still only reached through years of hard work, a near fanatical passion for what you do and, of course, a massive pinch of talent.
That exceptionally rare thing in dance music, a DJ who’s climbed to the top without ever releasing a record of his own, Oneman has built his rep entirely on his ability to move a crowd quite unlike anyone else.
As such, this issue’s cover star, DJ Oneman, is among the most respected figures in dance music, thanks to a hard-fought career that’s taken him from being the postboy at a major label to a status as one of the finest and most in-demand DJs on Earth. After years spent buying records, mixing in friends bedrooms and eventually on pirate radio in his native South London, Oneman broke through in 2007 thanks to his unique sets at legendary dance DMZ and on the then-pirate RinseFM. Bringing together the new half-step dubstep sound with classic two-step garage, much of which had passed the recently converted denizens of dubstep by in their past lives as junglists, Oneman quickly found a niche playing energetic,
Despite the success that has come his way over the last couple of years, as anyone that’s caught him play recently or checked his ‘Solitaire’ mixtape from earlier this year will know, Oneman is not resting on his laurels, with his sets becoming increasingly diverse and incorporating plenty of the new strains of US hip-hop alongside his staple diet of the freshest UK club music and crowd-pleasing classic garage. Always sharply dressed, culturally astute and fanatical about what he does, Oneman encapsulates everything that we at Trap seek to celebrate, and so was a natural choice for our front cover. On one of the first days of summer, we met up with Oneman in a swanky London Fields studio to get to the bottom of his story. Retreating to the grass of the park nearby, we set about getting to the bottom of how a 27 year-old from Streatham ended up as one of dance music’s biggest stars without ever producing a beat...
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O N E M A N TRAP: When did you first discover dance music and DJing? “I was aware of dance music when I was in primary school, because a lot of the kids in my class had older brothers and sisters and knew about drum & bass and jungle through them. Then, when I was about 12, in my first year at secondary school, that’s when I first heard DJ EZ’s ‘Pure Garage 2’ and discovered DJing. “When you go from primary to secondary school, you go from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond - you realise you want to be into the coolest music possible, the edgy stuff. So we listened to what was representing our generation at that time - garage. And from there I got into listening to pirate stations in South London; Delight FM, the UK garage chart show on Upfront FM, So Solid on Sundays, all that.” And when did you first get your hands on some decks? “In the second year at school, my friend Frenchie got a pair of decks off Megaman’s uncle, who owned a record shop in Micham! I remember, one day it was Frenchie’s birthday so we bought him two records for his decks. A bunch of my mates were MCs - it was that bedroom environment of about 12 kids, with six passing the mic around and six playing on the turntables. “I think I enjoyed it more than anyone else. For my birthday that year, I asked my dad for decks and a mixer. He took me down Richer Sounds, got me a weird mixer and two belt drive turntables. Learning on belt-drives was a nightmare, I wanted Technics but he told me to learn on belt-drives. “I had them for six years! I learnt all my beat matching on belt-drive turntables; all the nipple pinching, slowing the plate down - that was the way you had to mix on belt-drives. I got my tightness from those early days being in my bedroom and mixing old garage tracks together on rubbish decks.” So it was that classic bunch of mates in a bedroom that many people reading this will be able to relate to. There’s always one kid, though, that stands out... Was that you? “I think so, because my mate who got the turntables originally ended up giving up and getting into MCing. I was never confident enough to be an MC - too much showmanship. Even though there is showmanship in DJing, it never felt like that. I remember my mates telling me I was good and I should stick with it. I always had my friends backing me, which was nice and why I never gave it up.” What were those first records you were playing back then? “ The first record I bought was the El-B Ghost remix of DND’s remix of the garage classic ‘Pick Me Up’ - a remix of a remix, very South London. The Ghost studio was in Streatham, which is where I’m born and raised, and the DND boys were from Croydon, they had the Big Apple shop, so it was two very South London things. “ That was the scene and the sound I got introduced to DND records, Sticky records, DJ Narrows, Zinc’s Jammin records - anything instrumental and bassy. So garage was my thing, but then I got a lot more into hip-hop when I finished school and started at the BRIT School.” You went to the BRIT School too? We’ve lost count of the number of people we’ve interviewed who went there! “ Yeah, a lot of people have gone there, because it was a performing arts school that you didn’t have to pay for and
you could wear your own clothes. It was very much an arty and relaxed atmosphere. “It was down the road from me, but all my friends from school didn’t really go to college, so I was kind of on my own. I had a whole new bunch of friends at college, and I guess they were into hip-hop - going to nights like Kung Fu. I was about 17 and that was the thing then. I’d always listened to rap, so knew the basics, but I was smoking a lot of weed, and I got really into hip-hop and buying hip-hop records.” And then dubstep happened... “ Yeah, I got back into the underground garage thing around the time of dubstep explosion in about 2003 or 2004, when I heard the early DMZ releases - they were totally different to anything else. When Mala, Loefah and Coki came through, no one knew what the fuck was going on!” “I remember hearing Loefah’s ‘Horror Show’ - my mate played it me, and at first I was like what the fuck is this? It’s a kick drum, a snare and a weird sound - he was like ‘No, trust me,’ turned up the volume and all of sudden I could hear this bass. It was exactly what I loved from the garage and the hip-hop I’d been buying - that low-end frequency. DMZ were just taking the piss.” We’re still only early on in your story, but it’s already clear you were into more than just one sound growing up... “ Yes, exactly. Who I was hanging around with, the places we went - that inf luenced what records I was buying. I never stopped buying records, I never have. There’s always been something different. “Even now, I’m not the DJ I was in 2007 when I first got my popularity. Then, I was playing old-school garage records with newer dubstep records, blending them for a longer time, a minute, two minutes. That was my thing - educating a newer crowd on the old music. A lot of the people who were dubstep heads at that time, but before that were into D&B or jungle - they weren’t garage heads. “ The D&B heads always thought of garage as just the more commercial stuff like Sweet Female Attitude or whatever which I always loved personally. But I could understand why a D&B head wouldn’t like it. But they didn’t know that people like EL-B were around, doing the Ghost thing. All this music was being ignored by the whole scene and I realised ‘Oh, playing this stuff works!’ I could blend a Mala record with a record with Groove Chronicles record for two and a half minutes and people were loving it. “It was about adding a rhythmic track to something that was half-step; I felt an hour of that turned people into zombies. Back then, people were always smoking weed in the dubstep parties, it was dark, everyone would be swaying around. My take on it, and what I wanted to bring was ‘No, I want to fucking dance, I want beats’. The only person that really brought that at the time when I was going to FWD>> was Mala, sometimes Skream. I never really saw many energetic sets. I felt bringing garage to the dubstep sound early on, that was my niche. No one else was doing it. It worked.” There’s a gap in your story - between first discovering the early DMZ records and ending up playing there in 2007, what happened? “Well, I got a job in post room at Warner Bros Records, straight out of college. I got work experience there in 2004,
“I NEVER STOPPED BUYING RECORDS, I N E V E R H AV E . ”
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O N E M A N met the head of facilities, Rick, and I really got the bug to do something with what I had through working with him.
drums on it. I thought, ‘Man, you really know your shit’. He is the DJ’s DJ for me.
“I always wanted to be on pirate radio when I was at school but was always a bit intimidated by the whole getting a bus to an estate and going up a tower block in a lift thing - it didn’t seem attractive to me, I didnt wanna put myself in that situation. But I got to the point where I thought ‘Fuck it, I’m gonna send a tape to a station’. So I sent a mix to Heny G, who was running React FM, a tiny pirate in West London, he liked my tape and I got my mate in who was an MC - Asbo who now does my Rinse show. And from there I got approached by Sarah from Rinse who’d heard one of my sets.
“And then there are contemporaries of mine - my friends Jackmaster and Ben UFO. They have no rules, play what they want to play; I feel comfortable playing with them. But if I was going to see any DJ play, it would be Theo Parrish.”
“ The first big show I did was DMZ in about 2007 - I was on Rinse by then. That built my rep, I played 5 to 6am. It was very weed culture back then, so everyone wanted to go home by 4am. But people stuck around for the set, that was the big one for me. Then I played FWD>>, and after that I was steady on Rinse, that’s when it started happening. Loefah picked me for Generation Dub on Mary Anne Hobb’s show on Radio One, I was playing round the country; it all just took off.”
You’ve mentioned your early love for hip-hop, which is something you’ve increasingly played in your sets over the last couple of years, demonstrating the increasing convergence between US and UK club sounds. These days, it can be hard to tell whether a beat’s been made in Miami or Dalston - what’s your take on this? “ These two scenes are really coming together, and I don’t feel like either side is conscious of it, it’s just happened that way. The revival of the Juicy J beat sound, the Three 6 Mafia sound; the big rolling 808 kicks, the hi-hats, all at a set tempo. And you listen to the Three 6 Mafia stuff they’ve got 32-bar intros - very structured. Not like the rest of hip-hop which just drops in. You can mix all these tracks seamlessly - they’re computerised, metronomic tracks, they work in a dance music sense, you can mix them in a DJ sense.”
“ALL THIS MUSIC WA S B E I N G
IGNORED BY THE
WHOLE SCENE AND
“ I love the instrumental stuff, but I also love a lot of the vocal stuff. The Raider Klan guys, Metro Zoo, Main Attractions - they’re all from Miami, all young kids, making their own music, writing their own lyrics; there’s no big guy behind the operation. It’s just them; like grime. I like that stuff as much as I like Waka Flocka mainstream or not. I like all the new female rappers too like Sasha Go Hard. And the Chicago drill scene is brilliant.
I REALISED ‘OH,
Today you’re regarded as one of the best DJs around - what makes a good DJ for you? “Selection, beat matching, dexterity on the mixer but you don’t need any of that, really. To be a good DJ, you need to know what you are doing. And what you want to do - not just technically, but in terms of ‘Do you really enjoy it? Do you wanna do this?’ Like with any art, you have to have it in you and I think learning young helps you become good at any trade.”
P L AY I N G T H I S
STUFF WORKS!’”
Especially on belt drives? “Haha, yeah exactly.” And you still use vinyl now? “I’m more comfortable with vinyl and 1210s than CDJs. I’m having to play on CDJs now more in clubs because, in my experience, clubs don’t look after their decks anymore so you have to play CDs sometimes. I’d love to always play vinyl, but it’s not always possible.” So who is the DJ’s DJ for you? “It has to be Theo Parrish. I saw him in Rotterdam; he got on the decks, set his little rotary mixer up, played a record, and everyone just stopped and turned. I was in a cab with him going to the airport from the hotel, the cab driver was playing that typical European radio music - trance pumping. He couldn’t take it, literally, he was gonna go crazy. He said ‘Man, can you just put anything else on? Anything at all?’ The taxi driver turned to a random jazz station and he knew the track that was playing, started telling me about the
“Chicago and Miami seems to have a lot more aggressive take on rap at the moment and that’s the stuff I’m probably most into, because it reminds me so much of grime. The aggressive energy of it translates to a dancef loor. And now I can play rap records here in the UK and people dance to it.” So for the future, we can expect you to continue to evolve what you play? “ Yeah man, it’s just a natural progression. I’m not afraid to play any music I like. I just got a work visa and management for the US, so I will be taking what I do here directly there, no compromise. I really don’t have guilty pleasures. I play so broad, I can’t box in what I do or will want to do next. Rhythm and bass, that’s the common thread. They are always key - that’s it.” ---
CHECK ONEMAN EVERY TUESDAY 9-11 ON RINSE FM. THE ‘SOLITAIRE VOLUME 2’ MIXTAPE IS DUE OUT IN SEPTEMBER. ---
@DJONEMAN
Selected artworks from the recent Print Show at Weapon Of Choice. All are available to purchase from the webstore. WEAPONOFCHOICEGALLERY.COM
W I L L
S A U L
C L O S I N G I N WORDS:
Matt Riches
W
hether it's a track via his superlative Aus/Simple labels, or a cut from his own revered discography, anything that bares the Will Saul tag is sure to find critical acclaim. It was only a matter of time, then, before the anonymity behind CLOSE - responsible for the fantastic 'Getting Closer' - melted away to reveal Saul as its driving force. With the LP's lavish neo-soul stylings and high-calibre collaborations (including Scuba, Appleblim and even Joe Dukie of Fat Freddy’s Drop) grabbing attentions far and wide, Trap tracked down Mr Saul to find out more...
TRAP: It's been over seven years since you released 'Space Between' - your first and only LP to date. 'Getting Closer' has been a long time coming... Well, I first started writing 'Getting Closer' about three years ago. Obviously, with my commitment to the labels, it's been difficult to set aside the six months it normally takes to write an LP. It also took an exceptionally long time to get all the vocals for the album. In fact, it took Joe Dukie about two years to deliver the final vocal for 'My Way'! I think the fact it's taken so long has, in a way, enabled me to write a better album than if I'd sat down and banged it out in six months. Over time, I've changed myself and been able to consider the sound as a whole. We were a little surprised by ‘Getting Closer’; it’s more of a traditional album than a dance LP.... Yeah, I guess I've grown up buying a lot of traditional CD albums, listening to them over and over again in the car and really getting into it. I love consuming music in that way, so I definitely wanted to create something that worked on a similar level and that's why 'Getting Closer' touches on so many vibes and styles. Hopefully, people will listen to it as a whole and consume it in the way that I do. Was it this difference in sound that prompted you to go under an alias?
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F i n n Ta y l o r
It's down to a few reasons, really. Firstly, it wasn't just me sitting down and writing by myself in a room. In fact, I'd start a lot of the vocal tracks by recording sketches using a live band and sending the loops off to the vocalists. Then, I'd get the vocal back, go into the studio and add some synthetic, electronic elements to it; this process in itself would sometimes involve other producers as well. There was a lot of collaboration that went into the project, so it just wouldn't feel right calling it a Will Saul album. I also really wanted people to listen to it without any preconceptions. If they knew it was an album from a house producer, they'd expect it to sound a certain way. So, I decided to release it anonymously and away from my own imprints - giving it a chance to hit more people through a bigger label. But sending out a demo as an unknown must have made it hard to get a label like K7 to notice? Yeah, like you say, I thought, "If I'm going to send this off to labels anonymously, how am I going to get peoples attention?" So, to create some intrigue, I built a teaser website, engineered remixes for the likes of Scuba and drip-fed material to the public. It was at that point I started sending out the demo and, luckily, K7 picked it up! Now the album is out, will live shows be coming next? Yeah, definitely. Obviously, it's hard touring the full album with all the vocalists living so far apart, so we've broken it down to a point where it's just me and Al Tourettes performing the pieces on various bits of equipment. We've tried to combine the set-up with a whole audio-visual experience; during the show we'll perform behind this ultra-fine gauze screen that has an hour ’s worth of footage projected onto it. Then an engineer uses lighting to play with the perception of depth, making the images lift off the screen as we fade into the background. We've done a couple of shows that have gone down really well, so we'll be performing at selective festivals over the summer. Keep a look out for dates!
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“ I T J U S T W O U L D N ' T F E E L R I G H T C A L L I N G I T A W I L L S A U L A L B U M . ” W I L L
S A U L
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N E O WORDS:
Danny Holden
S I G N A L G
erman duo Neosignal represents the combined forces of much-vaunted D&B producers Phace and Misanthrop. Renowned for producing some of the slickest and most immaculately produced dancef loor weight at the 174 tempo, the Neosignal project sees the pair bringing their skills to the slower paces of other forms of dance music.
soul and bring an acoustic feel, rather than it sounding just like more generic electronic dancef loor music. You’re hugely successful as D&B producers – why the shift to different styles? As an artist, you should always aim for progression. You shouldn’t be scared of risks and avoid trying to define yourself by the expectations of others. Otherwise, things would start to become boring and repetitive; you feel like part of an industry machine. In early 2011, we both realised Neosignal meant more to us than just a brand, a record label or a certain sound; a signal is something diverse and can have endless facets. We combined our studios and dedicated 2012 to writing the album, without going after a specific style of music. We simply let ourselves go.
With their debut LP ‘Raum Und Zeit’ out now on Noisia’s Division imprint, we tracked the duo down to find out more... TRAP: For those who might not know you – who and what is Neosignal? Neosignal is a two-man digital band consisting of Florian Harres and Michael Bräuninger from Hamburg in Germany. We’ve both been producing music already for more than a decade, mainly D&B, under our aliases Phace and Misanthrop. You could say the seed “ A S A N for the Neosignal band Y O U S project was planted when we started the A L W A Y S Neosignal Recordings label at the end of P R O G R E 2008. In early 2011, we decided to start a new musical project together, free from any musical categorisation, limitation and expectation. We wanted to do things a little differently, in our own way, and create music that fully represents us. Your new album is about to drop. What should we expect? It’s quite an honest album that represents who we are and where we come from; it’s uncompromising music free from any genre conventions. The music on the LP is all around 86 to 120bpm, but we didn't aim for a specific tempo or style; it just happened that way. Neosignal, for us, is all about music first and creating something new, something that excites us and hopefully others too. The album itself is a sort of an electronic psychedelic storm; some of our friends say it sounds a little like neo-digital Krautrock. When you look at our backgrounds, that makes sense. We both love rock in any form. With this album, we combined techniques we 'learned' in drum & bass - big bass and drums - and combined all that with our voices and a different kind of songwriting. We wanted to give our music a human
A H A S
Are you concerned about losing old fans, or more excited about winning new ones? We knew this project could be a little R T I S T , confusing for all our loyal Phace and O U L D Misanthrop fans, but we haven’t forgotten where I M F O R we came from, or those who have supported S I O N . ” those projects over the years. We know we do have a certain responsibility to our fans. Phace, Misanthrop and Neosignal Recordings are ongoing projects for us, we do not want them to fade away. We’ve never left D&B. We hope our fans understand that Neosignal doesn’t have to be tagged with a specific etiquette, but should be simply something to dance to and enjoyed. So where does the future lie for you guys, both as individuals and together as Neosignal? In terms of our careers, we both think you can’t plan success. If people like the music and dance, perfect. If not, it’s still all good! It’s wrong to force something to happen. As long as you put everything you have into something, that’s the best you can do. We just want to be able to write any music we feel and use as many different techniques, methods and instruments as possible. There’s always something new to learn and we don’t want to limit ourselves to just one specific thing. For example, it would be great to produce film scores or movie sound design one day. The future is unwritten, though, so we have to just let it happen and wait to see what it brings! ‘RAUM UND ZEIT’, IS OUT NOW ON DIVISION.
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B O S S S E L E C T I O N S #15
GOING IN DEEP... CASPA
C
A S PA I S O N E O F B A S S -M U S I C ’S B I G G E S T S U P E R S TA R S , H E A D I N G U P THE DUB POLICE EMPIRE AND B AC K E D BY A CA R E E R T H AT ’ S TA K E N H I M F R O M P L AY I N G DA R K G A R AG E O N L O N D O N P I R AT E RADIO TO HEADLINING THE B I G G E S T C L U B S I N T H E W O R L D. KNOWN BEST FOR HIS ROLE IN THE DUBSTEP EXPLOSION DURING THE FIRST DECADE OF THE MILLENNIUM, AS HIS S E L E C T I O N O F T H E T R AC K S T H AT H AV E S H A P E D H I S S O U N D P R OV E , T H E R E ’S A H E L L O F A L O T M O R E T O CA S PA T H A N J U S T H A L F - T I M E B E AT S A N D E N O R M O U S B A S S L I N E S . .. CA S PA’ S N E W A L B U M , ‘A L P H A O M E G A’ , I S O U T N O W O N DUB POLICE. DUBPOLICE.COM
01
SNAP ‘Rhythm Is A Dancer’
The first tune I ever bought. It was from Our Price (who knows?) on tape for 99p. This is definitely my all-time favourite. It's got everything; it’s emotional, yet heavy and even has a bit of cheesey rap! 02
DJ NARROWS ‘Saved Soul’
This track changed the game! For me, this was the one of the main reasons I started making my music, and in my eyes remains seriously underrated to this day. 03
PRODIGY ‘Breathe’
Every time I hear this, it’s one of those tunes that I wished I made! It's just massive. Big production and great vocals. 04
GOLDIE ‘Inner City Life’
This track is the reason that I wanted to write a tune with Diane Charlemagne on my album! It’s just such a powerful bit of music. 05
GANG STARR ‘Moment Of Truth’
DJ Premier and Guru are probably the all-time best hip-hop collaborators and
every tune they touched was a classic. This holds good memories of me stealing my older brother’s vinyl so I could play it while he was at work! 06
MOBB DEEP ‘Hell On Earth’
I’ve always loved Mobb Deep, and their tracks have been massive influence on my beat production! 07
SNOOP DOGG ‘Doggy Style’
Classic west coast hip-hop and one of my all-time favourites from the genre.. 08
GENERATION DUB ‘Beast City’
Loved the pure filth and grit to this tune; such a banger. 09
RUSKO ‘Jahova’
Biggest dubstep tune of all time. Yep, I said it!! 10 ONLY FOOLS & HORSES ‘Theme Tune’
Just because I love it so much and it always reminds me of London.
B O S S
DANNY BYRD HOSPITAL
01 BROOKES BROTHERS FT. CHROME ‘Carry Me On’
DANNY BYRD FT. BROOKES BROTHERS ‘Get It On’ 02
03
LOADSTAR ‘Warrior’
04
GRIDLOCK + PROLIX ‘Membrane’
05
MAMPI SWIFT ‘Soldiers’
DANNY BYRD FT. SEROCEE ‘Make It Weighty’
S E L E C T I O N S
LOGAN SAMA KISS FM
DISCLOSURE ‘White Noise’ (D&B Refix)
MERKY ACE ‘All Or Nothing’
01
COMPA ‘Alpha’
02
TC4 ‘Alpha’EP
02
QUEST ‘Dubfoot’
ROYAL T ‘I Know You Want Me’ EP 03
04 BLACKS FT. JME & DURRTY GOODZ ‘Here To Here’
DEADLY ‘My Side Of The Fence’ EP 05
06
JAYKAE ‘A Bite To Eat’ EP
BIG NARSTIE ‘Don’t F Up The Bass’ EP 07
08
LOKO ‘Alpha One’
08
MAXSTA ‘G.R.I.M.E’
09
ROCKWELL ‘Detroit’
09
CHRONIK ‘Deepest Darkest’
DANNY BYRD FT. TANYA LACEY ‘Golden Ticket’ 10
DEEP MEDI MUSIK
01
06
07
COMPA
BROTHERHOOD ‘Powermoves’ EP
DJ Q ‘Trust Again’ (Compa’s Official Remix) 03
04
GOTH TRAD ‘Cut End’ EP
05
COMPA ‘Narabeh’
06
MALA ‘Forgive’
NANCI & PHOEBE FT. CONGO NATTY ‘Notorious’ (Compa Remix) 07
08
GANTZ ‘Spry Sinister’
FAITHLESS ‘Insomnia’ (Compa’s 130 Club Mix) 09
10
10
COMPA ‘Outer Lines’
01 M.A.P ‘It Ain’t Right’ (MAP001) 02 BREACH ‘Jack’ (M.A.P Remix) (Dirtybird 03 MAISON SKY ‘Shark Alarm’ (Rinse) 04 MAK & PASTERMAN ‘Dither’ (Lobster Boy)
MAK & PASTEMAN LOBSTER BOY
05 ANDREYA TRIANA ‘Everything You Ever Had’ (Breach Remix) (Ninja Tune) 06 NEW YORK TRANSIT AUTHORITY ‘95’ (Lobster boy) 07 DUSKY ‘Truth Capital T’ (Naked Naked) 08 ZED BIAS & PALEMAN ‘Furrball VIP’ (Swamp 81) 09 JOY O ‘BRTHDTT’ (NonPlus+) 10 KRY WOLF ‘Concrete’ (Woz Remix) (Sounds Of Sumo)
R E V I E W S #15 CONTRIBUTORS:
S e a n K e l l y, D J D u b b o y, O l i G r a n t , M a t t R i c h e s , S h a u n P h i l l i p s Justin Iriajen & Gwyn Thomas De Chroustchoff.
DISCLOSURE ‘SETTLE’ (PMR)
U
K dance music's fastest-rising pair finally drop their album, which, at time of writing, has just been knocked off the Number One spot in the UK album chart (by Black Sabbath, obviously). Disclosure have been unfairly, yet quite unsurprisingly, attacked by some of dance music's more discerning heads, as well as the downright thoughtless. But then, anything this smoothly produced and successful is always going to be lambasted. Try to deny the sharpness, pace and tunefulness on offer. 'When A Fire Starts To Burn' sets out the album's general modus operandi: a blend of house stomp, garage swing and hi-tech bass, in the vein of Mosca or Boddika and Joy Orbison's collaborations, but with a lighter touch. It's a simple, daintily deadly production style that goes straight for the adrenaline gland at least, if not the jugular. The fact is, if you can level any serious criticisms at the pair, it's that their music is too perfect and, perhaps at times, a little soulless. This doesn't always cause problems though; see the sugary, swung, insanely catchy pop-house of 'Latch'. The other weird thing is how Disclosure have been described as a garage duo. OK, it's got a little swing, and some big samples ('Second Chance' chews up Kelis's 'Get Along With You', a garage mainstay), but apart from 'You & Me', ‘Settle’ pretty much shows off a selection of catchy, fatly-produced deep, techy modern house music. And it destroys pretty much all of the competition in the process.
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R E V I E W S
YOUNG ECHO ‘NEXUS’ (RAMP) ---
T
his group of young Bristol producers known in separate incarnations as Kahn, Vessel, El Kid, Zhou and Jabu formed an alliance in 2010. Extracting the sophistication of both modern and antiquated club rhythms, from dub to 2-step to dubstep, the group blends it with leftfield noise experimentalism. From the synthy, swung breakbeats of single 'Blood Sugar', and the samurai halfstep of 'Umoja', to 'Nexus's narcotic dub, their ideas are diverse, challenging and confident. There are parallels with the city's trip-hop past in the meeting of dark-eyed, downtempo melodics with the nonchalant vocals of resident MC Jabu. His contemplative lyrics in 'Voices on the Water' and 'Slow Jam' are rivetingly delivered. Vessel's touch is clearly felt, especially in the rusted, sunken, 'Crowd Sacred', which spans dub and techno with the same desolate power of his ‘Order of Noise’ LP, but the group as a whole are taken with phenomena of improvised audio hardware and harshly tweaked dub FX, giving much of the album a rough, calloused texture that’s brilliantly refreshing in contrast to the swathes of sleek club music out there. The gloomily spacious places here are strongly reminiscent of the early days of dark-room, big-speaker dubstep, while others have more in common with Bristol's dub lineage. ‘Nexus’ whips all the group's inf luences up into a potent and evocative album, and a real landmark in the lineage of the so-called 'Bristol sound'.
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ROCKWELL ‘DETROIT’ EP (Shogun Audio) ---
The feeling of eager anticipation and plain curiosity are common prior to the ever-ambitious Rockwell dropping new material and lead track ‘Detroit’ doesn’t disappoint. Rarely has D&B leaned so heavily towards techno, and the 16 bar switches will keep you guessing throughout. ‘Back Again’ is another rollercoaster ride with its trap-esque half-step beats and an ingeniously edited hip-hop vocal sample.
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COMMODO ‘SPACE CASH’ EP (Deep Medi) ---
The Sheffield don’s latest Deep Medi offering ushers in the first glimpse of his potential at slower tempos, and the broken, jagged grind of ‘Straight Reptillian’ doesn’t disappoint. Returning to 140bpm, the staggered crunk of ‘Space Cash’, replete with lurking 808 basslines, injects some rude hip-hop flavour, and the shimmering halfstep of ‘Wish’ bristles with his usual melodic flair. Diverse and fresh moves from Commodo.
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KOWTON & JULIO BASHMORE ‘MIRROR SONG’ (Broadwalk) ---
Julio Bashmore's label continues to deliver, with its owner in a massive collaboration with Bristol's techno-grime king, Kowton. Rigorous shuffling hi-hats and a raucous bassline make opener 'Mirror Song' a peak-time monster, whilst the brash, scattergun rhythms of 'And What' push Kowton into the limelight on the b-side. It's brilliant to see Julio Bashmore putting out interesting, harsh, music, rather than just cashing in and resting on his laurels.
R E V I E W S STRAY ‘GINSENG SMASH’/ ‘AKINA’ (Modulations) ---
There are few producers who, in recent years, have continually guided D&B into new waters; London's Stray is one of them. 'Ginseng Smash' meshes cleverly edited jungle breaks with a peculiarly warped vocal. But it’s the half-stepped flip that really catches the ear. With a crazily pitched-up vocal and trap-influenced elements, on paper it sounds like a train crash, but don’t be discouraged – it’s a futuristic banger.
VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘SIGNIFICANT HITS VOL. 2’ (Fashion) ---
A
fter last year's superb compilation, this legendary UK reggae label unleashes another volume from their incredible back catalogue. Fashion's ability to marry Jamaican artists with distinctly UK riddims is expertly demonstrated here, with killers such as Johnnie Clarke's 'Rocking To The A Class Champion', Cutty Ranks's 'Limb By Limb' and Horace Andy's 'Hypocrites'. They're complimented by UK dancehall classics such as Top Cat's 'Gallist', General Levy's 'Breeze' and Tenor Fly's anthemic defence of jungle, 'Don't Dis the Jungle'. Fashion's seminal inf luence on that genre is also represented here by DJ Rap's heavy ragga-jungle remix of Poison Chang's 'Love the Woman'. A timely reminder of the role Fashion has played in the UK's underground reggae and rave cultures.
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DUSKY ‘VANISHING POINT’ EP (Naked Naked) ---
This is the first Naked Naked release that hasn't involved label boss Breach himself, but Dusky take the reins admirably with modern, super-fattened house. On opener 'Vanishing Point,' vocals are thickly embedded beneath sweeping chord progressions and a penetrating bassline. 'Truth Capital T', a favourite with Loefah, is a darkly percussive, stripped-back jack track with dark bass and deep US-garage flavour. These guys just can't do wrong.
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SWINDLE ‘LONG LIVE THE JAZZ’ (Deep Medi) ---
S
windle's first label album sees the London studio maestro fixing himself into a gleaming, hyperactive, fully 3D dubstep mode, after a history of grime production and forays into UK funky and broken-beat. Taking cues from so-called 'purple' dubstep, grime, and even the live wiring of noughties jump-up D&B (see 'Forest Funk' and 'Kick It'), Swindle's album has a vigour that is hard not to like. The most effective moments come with the disco-light skank of 'Running Cold', and 'Ignition's mad mix of vintage wobbles, laser-stabbing synths, dangerous bars from Footsie, and a sweet, street-soul vocal. The track deserves to be a big dubstep single; it's miles ahead of what breaks through. With all its exuberance, diversity and technical prowess, this is one of the most continually engaging dubstep albums ever.
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CLOSE ‘GETTING CLOSER’ (k7) ---
W
hether it's a track via his Aus and Simple labels or something from his own discography, anything affiliated with house and electronica veteran Will Saul is likely to receive acclaim. Proving that his music can stand on merit alone, Saul's latest release comes under the guise of CLOSE. Comprised mainly of richly rendered house and techno journeys, many tempo switches, and collaborations with the likes of house peers Scuba, Appleblim, and October, as well as Fat Freddy's Drop singer Joe Dukie, this is a big accomplishment. ‘Getting Closer ’ often goes beyond peak-time club attitudes, veering into the deep-space boogie of 'Cubizm', and the eerie, f loating, voice of Ninja Tune's Fink on 'Wallf lower'. This is a nuanced and hugely enjoyable work of originality, though still with Saul's familiar, emotive, characteristics.
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R E V I E W S GANTZ ‘STAYER’ / ‘LYRICAL TRICK’ (Innamind) ---
Exploring the outer sonic reaches of dubstep’s confines, Gantz’s individuality shines through on his sophomore Innamind record. Building around impenetrable bassweight as a focal point, engaging polyrhythms on ‘Lyrical Trick’ add an intriguing percussive dimension. The tense, swarming backdrop of ‘Stayer’ shrouds a more direct bass assault, whilst drawing from a unique palette of sound. Intelligent, eyes-down beats from the precocious Turkish talent.
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APPLEBLIM ‘FLUORESCENT’ / ‘PAST PRESENT FUTURE’ (Apple Pips) ---
Fans of Appleblim's previous work, and label, Skull Disco, will probably be surprised by this, his first ever proper solo release. 'Fluorescent' could almost be lumped with current swathe of faceless, 90stinted, deep house. Luckily, the sparseness of the track lets the weightless chord sequence really take off in its dominant role; its melody staying with you for days after first hearing it. Not his most forward-thinking work, but solid.
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SPECIAL REQUEST ‘HARDCORE’ EP (Houndstooth) ---
Steely groove-laden techno, ‘Wall To Wall’ meets the unabashed hardcore nostalgia of ‘Broken Dreams’. The latter’s marauding break edits impress, imbuing turbulent rave energy and dynamics as Woolford did so adeptly on previous Special Request efforts. Houndstooth’s diverse gaze leads to NYC talent Anthony Naples’ FX-shrouded remix of ‘Mindwash’ and Lee Gamble’s misty-eyed 7am ‘Capsules’ interpretation completing another cracking 12 for the label.
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DESTO ‘EMPTIER STREETS’
(Rwina Records) ---
T
hroughout this veteran Finnish producer ’s largely dubstep-and grime-leaning back catalogue, there has often been one constant: a swaggering, syncopated groove derived from the more soundsystem-targeting styles of hip-hop. Debut LP ‘Emptier Streets’ is a full launch into those ghetto sensibilities, melding styles from the propulsive hybridised juke of ‘Healing’ to the low-swung 130bpm throb of '4 am'. The glowing warmth of the TR-808 drum machine's bass and incisive percussion feature heavily, but the aesthetic is mainly controlled by the glacial temperature and wonderfully melodic synthscapes. This harmonic depth is typified on ‘Drainpipe’, a synthetic orchestra of sound that wouldn't be out of place in a major film score. Hats off to Desto for balancing these vivid musical qualities with street toughness and club-banging rawness, in a killer debut record.
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MUNGO’S HI-FI MEET KENNY KNOTS ‘BRAND NEW BANGARANG’ (Scotch Bonnet) ---
G
lasgow's Mungo’s Hi-Fi team up with long-term collaborator, Kenny Knots in fine style. Having recorded and worked with Kenny Knots for a hot minute now, it's a treat to hear a full-length collection. Kenny Knots is a UK Dancehall veteran who uses all his experience and talent to great effect, with a fine collection of songs that are strong in content and delivery, and are, most importantly, catchy as hell! From wicked rub-a-dub cuts, to thoughtful roots, the LP is pure quality throughout. Mungo’s heavy reggae, dancehall and dubstep riddims stand out as ever and provide a powerful backbone to Knot's rich, powerful voice. There is real breadth and power here; ‘Brand New Bangarang’ is a cohesive, solid body of work that reggae fans will visit again and again.
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ENEI ‘LIBERATION’ EP (Critical) ---
Enei set the bar high with the release of his debut album last year. This E P finds the talented beatsmith expanding on his razor sharp D&B production style. The standout track is undoubtedly the high-speed soul anthem ‘Circles', featuring Sam Wills. The step down in tempo for electro-based thudder ‘Headtop’ featuring Chimpo really makes this release an essential purchase.
R E V I E W S TYPESUN ‘SUGAR RUSH’ EP
(Root Elevation) ---
Typesun is back with a tasteful, sweet-but-difficult electronic ballad, more in the vein of his first single, 'Heart Maths' with fellow citizen Guido, than the folllow-up release 'The PL'. It features the mournful soul voice of Ernesto, live drums, and gritty bass. Excitingly, Guido's back too, turning the original into buoyantly heavy, futuristic R&B. Deleuzian Process finally gives it a crafty, synthetic, 4/4 bumping makeover that works really well.
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ARCTIC ‘SHOOK’ EP
(Coyote Records) --Coyote’s latest 12 sees Australian grime newcomer Arctic mangling shards of Eski-era relics and deftly re-patching them into a devastatingly fresh amalgamation of old and new sound on his lead track ‘Shook’. It’s exhilarating, agile production with ‘Know This Don’ on the flip operating in a similar, albeit darker, vein; moody undertones perforated by razor-sharp claps, rollicking kicks and crisp snare rolls. Lethal instrumental grime weaponry.
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SYSTEMS OF DESIRE 'CONTROL' / 'CONSUMPTION' (Happy Skull) ---
Two all-killer Bristolians, Hyetal and Kowton, unveil a new project, with two versions of the sam collaboratively-made track. 'Control' is Hyetal's baby, reflecting his knack for gasping melodic sheen and drum machine clatter, with a lurching, tantalising buildup throughout. The Kowton-steered 'Consumption' destroys any fragility you might have felt, swinging his wreckingball of distorted bass into soiled drums, with occasional, deceitful rests, before laying into it again. One very big record.
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RP BOO ‘LEGACY’ (Planet Mu) ---
T
he Chi-town underground has been footworking it’s way onto dance f loors across the globe and into the bags of some of bass music’s biggest players, so it only seems right that one of the scene's originators, RP Boo, has chosen this moment to drop his highly anticipated album ‘Legacy’. Every corner of the music spectrum is put through Boo’s splicer; heartfelt R&B meets horns at dawn on ‘187 Homicide’, a jittering mass of blips and clicks meet blaxploitation sleaze on ‘Red Hot’. All this is underpinned by the sound's trademark bubbling tom-lines and off-the-grid snares. At times the rhythms may seem challenging, but that’s exactly the point. This is wild music to get your feet moving, not rigid music to pump your fist to.
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UNKEY ‘KILLER CLOWNS’ (Durkle Disco) ---
Durkle Disco has made great strides this year emerging as one of the go to labels for imaginative and authentic bass-orientated music. Next up is the talented Unkey with his sophomore release. ‘Killer Klowns’ is full of grime references contrasting between belligerent synths and a juddering bass-lines, while ‘Bentley Rhythm Dub’ is a carefully crafted, sub shattering slice of dubstep.
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KYLE HALL ‘THE BOAT PARTY’ (Wild Oats) ---
K
yle Hall's debut LP contains the kind of wild kinetic energy you can only get from an MPC, a bank of dope samples, a hefty filter rack and busy fingers. From the raw drum-machine jack of ‘Spoof ’, through to the looped boogie groove of ‘Measure2Meaure’, it becomes clear that static fuzz and warm analogue distortion are the order of the day. In true Detroit fashion, things remain rugged and eclectic throughout. ‘Finnapop’ is an out and out ghetto house slammer, whilst ‘Grungy Gloops’ drops it down to hip-hop tempo with mutated 8-bit arp and neck-bothering swing. Kyle Hall manages to harness the energy of his DJ sets and translate this into his productions with ease. This debut album is testament to this; highly recommended.
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THEO PARRISH & TONY ALLEN 'DAY LIKE THIS' (Wildheart) ---
Anyone into drums should be excited, as Detroit's mad scientist Theo Parrish joins forces with afrobeat legend Tony Allen for the first release on Theo's new label Wildheart recordings. The result is two afro-centric wig outs that go beyond the club. Andrew Ashong and Esta Mtungwazi provide the vocals, which add even more texture and soul to Allen's rolling drums. Theo's jazz-funk keys and caramel-rich pads finish off the package amazingly.
R E V I E W S TERROR DANJAH & CHAMPION ‘SONS OF ANARCHY’ EP (Hyperdub) ---
PHAELEH ‘TIDES’ (Afterglo) ---
A
n expertly-composed second album emerges from the studio of Matt Preston, one of dubstep's most accomplished faces. One of the real success stories of the more recent period of the genre's expansion and evolution, Phaeleh's style is rooted in some of dubstep's original conditions - deep bass, spacious percussion, and none of the screechy stuff that has put many people off. However, he eschews minimalism, in favour of elements plucked more widely from other genres, from classical instrumentation and D&B rhythms, to folky vocals from previous collaborator Soundmouse on 'Here Comes the Sun'. This is an unashamedly melodic and accessible album, with breezy tracks like 'Tokoi', moving away from dubstep into the realm of Bonobo and Cinematic Orchestra, and fans of all genres should appreciate its motion-picture charms.
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SPECTRASOUL ‘DELAY NO MORE - THE REMIXES’ (Shogun Audio) ---
Last year’s debut album from the Brighton-based production duo was a lesson in beautifully crafted electronic music with depth. Such was its strength that remixes were inevitable. Here Spectrasoul have entrusted DBridge, DLR, CMX, Rockwell and most notably tech-house superstar James Zabiela to offer their interpretation of a selection of album tracks. The results are as engaging and intricately shaped as the originals. Seriously good.
VARIOUS ARTISTS ‘GRIME 2.0’ (Big Dada) ---
I
nstrumental grime has been undergoing a resurgence over the last few years. When the genre's MC stars went big-time, the producers plugged away, steadily rising through the underground. Curated by respected music journalist Joe Muggs, ‘Grime 2.0’ reveals the secrets of the genre’s endurance, with labels such as Butterz, No Hats No Hoods and Hyperdub pushing club-effective and original music. One strength is its diversity; no two tracks here sound the same. With each producer's distinct style drawing on many diverse inf luences, grime is shown here to have escaped the homogeneous fate of more commercially successful genres such as dubstep. At over two hours in length, with new producers such as DECiBEL and Slackk alongside legends like Wiley and Youngstar, this is an extensive guide to the genre in 2013.
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Trust Hyperdub; this is a cool pairing. Terror Danjah is one of the most inventive grime producers about and Champion is among the few producers still admirably flying the flag for UK funky. Of the two meaty collaborative tracks, 'Explode' is the best, bristling with headsplitting layers of broken beat percussion. Danjah's 'Glide' is a harsh 4/4 grime belter, while Champion's 'Bowser's Castle' is a ridiculous banger, with 8-bit samples and merciless rhythm.
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PANGAEA ‘VIADUCT’ EP (Hadal) ---
Pangaea's new label debut isn't shy. 'Viaduct', with its clattering, warehouse-indebted beat, makes way for an impudent synthline that gathers confidence as its violent buzz progresses. After a dreamlike pause for breath, the whole thing completely loses its temper with everything around it. Relentless DJ tool 'Mission Creep', and the manic 'Razz', with its oldskool Warp lead synth, complete the package. A strong effort from the quieter of the Hessle trio.
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AKRA ‘TUNNELVISION’ EP
(Teng) ---
Mock & Toof's Nick Woolfson brings out another bit of deep house under his new solo alias on his own Teng imprint, with remixes by Mathias Vogt and Iron Curtis. 'Tunnelvision's solemn electronic organ and piano melodies are undercut by crunchy percussion and delayed synths. The highlight here is certainly the Iron Curtis re-rub, whose multi-textured rhythms and juddering, bubbling bass form the basis for a deep, delicate tune.
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R E V I E W S
NEO SIGNAL RAUM UND ZEIT
(Division) ---
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ust in case you didn't guess from the title, this album comes straight out of Germany - but don't get it twisted, this isn't techno, and it's certainly not what you'd expect from the guys behind the Neosignal moniker either. The combined force of Phace and Misanthrop, Neosignal is a brand-new project from the new-skool tech D&B masters, which sees the duo eschewing the immaculate 174bpm sci-fi funk that has made their name in favour of other tempos and styles, working their gargantuan sound into the templates and structures of electro, techno, dubstep and much much more with exhilarating results. A brave record that sounds quite unlike anything else around, and the duo should be applauded for trying something new, regardless of expectations.
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KAHN & NEEK 'CHEVY'/'THIEF IN THE LAW' (Bandulu) ---
R E D ALE RT! Kahn dons his grime hat again for a second single with pal Neek on their own label. Relentless clap attacks and B-movie samples form 'Chevy's homage to the classic 'Warriors' by Alias, and fully pull it off. 'Thief in the Law's shoulder-rolling subs, square-wave bass and darkside strings hark back to old Big$hot and Geeneus tunes. Extremely legit; some of the most dangerous grime since the old days.
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MR BENN ‘SHAKE A LEG’ LP (Nice Up!) ---
Mr Benn finally drops his long awaited debut album. ‘Shake A Leg’ features an excellent of selection of vocalists such as Top Cat, Serocee, Eva Lazarus and The Ragga Twins, who all deliver wicked vocals to compliment Mr Benn's distinctive reggae, dancehall, soca, ska and hip-hop riddims. From party reggae to driving roots tunes, this album is a superbly well-rounded collection of music that always keeps the dancefloor in mind. Well worth the wait!
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PEV AND HODGE ‘BELLS’ EP (Punch Drunk) ---
For his first release on his own label in three years, the ever-influential Peverelist has it out with a recently-emerged talent. The 'System Mix' shudders forward on lurching subs, a multicoloured refrain shimmering distantly, while the 'Dream Mix's stained-glass melodies and jittery high-hats breathe in and out of the track. Hodge's frantic swung percussion meets its match in Pev's restraint; rough, futuristic soundsystem music at its finest.
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CONGO NATTY JUNGLE REVOLUTION
(Big Dada) ---
A
fter nearly 20 years of reggae-inspired jungle/D&B anthems, one of the underground’s best kept secrets takes a step into the limelight with the release of a full album on the label that brought Roots Manuva to the world - Big Dada. If you grew up listening to rave tapes in the 90s, CN’s music will take an integral place in your memories, and has continued to light up raves and festivals worldwide over recent years. ‘Jungle Revolution’ features guest vocals from the likes of Lady Chan, Daddy Freddy, YT, Buggsy and of course, Nanci & Phoebe, with production duties taken care of by Benny Page, Serial Killaz and Vital Elements, confidently achieving its ambitious aims of demonstrating jungle to be a direct continuation of reggae music.
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GEIOM ‘2-4-6’ EP (Well Rounded) ---
Nottingham's Geiom makes an amazing return to form with probably his most full-bore, firing track ever. '2-4-6' has actually been lurking in dubplate form for a few years, so it's brilliant to see this bleepy, heel-slipping piece of U K funky finally released. Finnish producer Desto’s remix makes the ragga vocals more guttural, opening up the rhythms in a dark style reminiscent of early releases on Loefah's Swamp 81 label.
G A M E S #15
MICROSOFT UNVEILS XBOX ONE
B
illed as “the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system” Microsoft’s first barrage in the war to see who will become king of the next generation of consoles hit home during a live streaming showcase last month. The Xbox One promises to be a complete overhaul of the console with an emphasis that’s as heavy on TV and Movies as it is on gaming. The Xbox One is packed with new features, including instant switching between games, movies and live TV and a greater integration with Kinect which will ensure that a selection of Minority-Report-style gestures to become as everyday to Xbox One users as the ‘pinch & zoom’ of Apple’s iPhone. Not only that but the incredible power of its eight-core AMD processor and 8GB RAM promise some incredible upgrades to the next generation of games. Amongst the hour long presentation Microsoft executives revealed plenty of exciting exclusives and launch partnerships for the Xbox One, showing that MS see themselves not only as a developer of the next generation of consoles, but also of the next generation of content. Here are three of the things which caught our eye…
HALO TV SERIES
FORZA MOTORSPORT 5
Get in! What self-respecting gamer wouldn’t want to watch a live action TV series set in the Halo universe? Especially when that TV series is set to be a collaboration between Microsoft and Steven Spielberg. Yes, you read that right. Steven Spielberg! If they can crack the integration between the series and the game, this could prove to be one of the most exciting developments in entertainment history for some time. Chalk that up as a point for Xbox One.
The king of realistic racing games returns and will be exclusively available on Xbox One at launch. This new incarnation of the series has been built from scratch, harnessing the full power of Xbox One and the console’s new cloud-powered gaming technology. We’re told that Forza Motorsport 5 will set a new bar for racing games and promises to deliver the ultimate driving experience, right in the comfort of our living rooms. 072 TRAPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
CALL OF DUTY: GHOSTS The next instalment of COD will be available on PS3, PS4 and Xbox360 as well as the Xbox One. But by debuting the trailer at the Xbox One showcase developers Infinity Ward have shown their dedication to Microsoft’s new console and we’re expecting plenty of early and exclusive downloadable and online content including the already confirmed “Call of Duty Championship” presented by Xbox. For those of you who can’t wait til November, you can check out the Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer on YouTube.
G A M E S
REMEMBER ME CAPCOM (PC, PS3, XBOX360) OUT NOW
The year is 2084 and you play a former ‘memory hunter’ in the city of Neo-Paris. The scene is as dystopian as you would expect – an evil corporation has monetised our memories via a device called a Sensen, which, inexplicably everyone in the world has decided is a good idea. And, of course, the technology is causing problems left, right and centre. But there is hope, and that hope is Nilin – a former employee of the aforementioned corporation who has gone rogue and joined a terrorist cell who are ready to fight for humanity’s right not to have their memories traded like Pokemon cards. Nilin’s powers include breaking into people’s minds, stealing or ‘remixing’ their memories and generally smashing the life out of every enemy she comes across with a progressively impressive array of combo attacks and special powers. It’s time to stick it to the man, and you’re the one doing the sticking!
DEADPOOL
ACTIVISION (PS3, XBOX360) RELEASED 28 JUNE 2013 The trailer for Deadpool showcases precisely what this game is about; guns, explosions, boobs and above all, plenty of comedy. The latest game-carnation of a Marvel superhero character is all about having a little bit of fun and lots of tongue-in-cheek action. While we haven’t got our hands on a copy of the game yet, we can say with certainty that it has plenty of good ideas in its favour and we’re looking forward to giving it a whirl when it’s released at the end of June.
We love sci-fi and Remember Me is the finest example of how to turn the genre into a playable, lovable computer game as we’ve had the pleasure to play in quite some time: intriguing, interesting and most of all, lots of fun.
TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL BLACKLIST
CALL OF JUAREZ: GUNSLINGER
Fi na l l y thi s i s s ue w e’r e l o ok i n g f or w a r d to Au gus t a n d th e r e l e as e o f th e n ext Spl i n te r Ce l l . Once aga i n you ’l l ste p in to th e s h oes o f Sa m Fi s h e r w ho i s n ow th e l e a de r o f th e n e wl y f or me d 4th E che lo n u ni t w h o s e so l e r e sp o n si b i l i ty i s to s to p the Bl a ck l i s t - a d ea d l y co u ntd o wn o f e s ca l a ti ng te r r o ri st a tta ck s o n U.S. i n te r e s ts . P a ck e d w i th n ew f e atu r e s a n d w i th o ne o f th e mos t co mp e l l i ng s to r yl i n e s i n th e b us i n e ss , we can ’t wa it to get ou r h a n d s o n th i s o n e .
A digital only release, the 4th in the Call of Juarez series is in our humble opinion the best so far. This fast paced first-person shooter follows the self-told story of bounty hunter Silas Greaves. Walking into a Kansas bar in 1910, Silas begins to recite tales of his gun wielding exploits which you get to witness first hand as you control his actions; killing bad guys left right and centre. With an array of weapons, bullet time shooting and some great historical insights into the real Wild West, Gunslinger is a hoot-n-a-half sure to keep you entertained for hours.
UBISOFT (PC, PS3, XBOX360) RELEASED 23 AUGUST 2013
UBISOFT (XBLA, PSN) OUT NOW
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B R I S T O L
B
ack in May, in the midst of its four-week residency in New York, RBMA set up camp in Bristol for a 24-hour session of lectures and damngood music. Local hero Chris Farrell was joined on the interview coach by disco luminary John Talabot and Detroit deep house don Andrès during the day, with all three taking to the decks for the night-time bash, alongside the likes of Pinch, Kowton and The Kelly Twins. Here we present a selection of images from the day and night - make sure you keep an eye out for how you can apply for RBMA 2014. ---
REDBULLMUSICACADEMY.COM
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S E S S I O N
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B A S S P O I N T S #15
2 AUGUST:
HESSLE AUDIO / CRITICAL FABRIC, LONDON
T
wo of electronic music’s finest and most interesting record labels touch down at London’s Fabric on Friday 2 August, each taking a room to showcase exactly what they’re about at the legendary Farringdon venue.
Hessle Audio pitch up in Room One, with label bosses Pearson Sound, Ben UFO and Pangaea joined by 2562 and Rhythm Section, while Kasra’s Critical Sound bring the very best in D&B experimentalism to Room Two, courtesy of Spectrasoul, Mefijus, Foreign Concept, Ivy Lab, Emperor and new blood Ruffhouse. That isn’t all though - Room Three will be taken over all night long by Eglo co-founder Alexander Nut (who’s also provided the latest Trap mixtape) for what we can guarantee will be an epic six-hour set. Incredible music across all three rooms makes Fabric the only spot on 2 August. ---
FABRICLONDON.COM
B A S S P O I N T S 12 OF THE REST...
24 AUGUST:
HOT WUK TRUCK PARTY KOKO, LONDON
E
veryone’s favourite bashment selectors The Heatwave are hosting their biggest and most ambitious party to date on Saturday 24 August at Koko in Camden, perfectly timed to get your carnival weekend moving. The massive venue will play host to a custom-built carnival truck, exploding with flags, whistles and horns and featuring a troupe of the maddest bashment dancers around, while The Heatwave bring the raving vibes like only they can. Celebrating 10 years in the game this year, The Heatwave and their following just keep getting bigger and bigger. Whether you’re a long-time fan or just want to see what the fuss is about, we suggest you get down to Koko for what promises to be one spectacular party. ---
THEHEATWAVE.CO.UK
FRIDAY 12 JULY TRAP MAGAZINE X THE BLAST @ THE OLD COURTS, BRISTOL DRE SKULL, THE HEATWAVE, JUS NOW, STRAY, SAM BINGA, KOAST.
SATURDAY 13 JULY NEED2SOUL @ OVAL SPACE, LONDON LIL LOUIS, FLOATING POINTS, MOXIE, PEVEN EVERETT
REGGAE ROAST @ PLAN B, LONDON SAXON INTERNATIONAL, CHANNEL ONE, REGGAE ROAST, UNIT 137
FRIDAY 19 JULY A BUNCH OF CUTS @ FIRE, LONDON CALIBRE, DBRIDGE, MARCUS INTALEX, DOC SCOTT, KLUTE, SPECTRASOUL, AMIT, SP:MC, DRS, JUSTYCE
PLAY @ GORRILLA, MACHESTER HANNAH WANTS, JESSIE ROSE + MORE
SATURDAY 20 JULY THEM @ CORSICA STUDIOS, LONDON KINGDOM, JON CONVEX, GOLDFFINCH, MY PANDA SHALL FLY + MORE
13 JULY
SURESKANK - BANDULU GANG PARTY EXCHANGE, BRISTOL
S
ureskank was one of the first nights outside of London to push the fledgling sound of dubstep back in 2006, with its then unknown residents of Gemmy, Kahn, Neek and Superisk all doing their part in the West Country city’s pivotal role in the genre’s rise.
THURSDAY 25 JULY FWD>> @ DANCE TUNNEL, LONDON EZ, ROYAL T, BRACKLES, APPLEBLIM
FRIDAY 2 AUGUST DEVIATION @ XOYO, LONDON BENJI B, EVIAN CHRIST, FATIMA AL QADIRI
FRIDAY 9 AUGUST STEALTH PRESENTS @ STEALTH, NOTTINGHAM ARTFUL DODGER + MORE
Fast forward a few years, and with dubstep rarely rising from the creative gutter, the Sureskank gang have switched their attentions to the other sound that their much-loved parties were established to push - grime. With Kahn and Neek now flying high (check their Gorgon Sound Rise Up mix this issue), and the duo’s lovingly crafted vinyl-only Bandulu label hitting its third release, the Sureskank guys have decided to throw a very special party at Bristol’s Exchange on Saturday 13 July. Headlining will be World Of Wonders bossman Gemmy, with support coming from Kahn & Neek themselves, plus hot local talent OH91 and Hi5ghost. ---
FACEBOOK.COM/WEARESURE
SATURDAY 10 & SUNDAY 11 AUGUST CIRCO LOCO @ RAINBOW, BIRMINGHAM JAMIE JONES, SETH TROXLER, CARL CRAIG, KERRI CHANDLER, MACEO PLEX + MORE
SATURDAY 17 AUGUST DEVOTION 10TH ANNIVERSARY @ CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON FRICTION, MAMPI SWIFT, TC, SKIBADEE, FUN + MORE
SUNDAY 25 AUGUST GILES PETERSON... UP ON THE ROOF @ BRIXTON CLUBHOUSE, LONDON GILES PETERSON + GUESTS
B A S S P O I N T S
F E S T I V A L G U I D E SW4 CLAPHAM COMMON, LONDON
24-25 AUGUST TICKETS: £50 / £55 / £100 ACTS INCLUDE:
C
elebrating its tenth anniversary this year, SW4 returns to Clapham Common on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 August, for one serious Bank Holiday Weekend party.
Combining some of dance music’s biggest international superstars with plenty of home-grown heros, over its two days SW4 leaves no corner of electronic music uncovered. So while more commercial dance acts and house music legends such as Eric Morillo, Carl Cox, Paul Okenfold and John Digweed may grab the headlines, with UKF hosting the main stage on the Sunday, you know the bass-music talent booked to perform is straight from the top drawer. Alongside Benji B’s live ‘Deviation Strings’ project and a very special back-to-back set from garage gods Todd Edwards and DJ EZ, Rustie, Baauer, Andy C, Flosstradamus, Gorgon City, Dusky and Friction are just a few of the DJs that will be doing their thing in South London on Bank Holiday Weekend, for what looks set to be the best SW4 yet. ---
SOUTHWESTFOUR.COM
SOUL II SOUL BENJI B DEVIATION STRINGS TODD EDWARDS B2B DJ EZ AFROJACK CARL COX ANDY C BAAUER KNIFE PARTY CARL CRAIG JAMES ZABIELA TEED SCUBA
F E S T I VA L
G U I D E
BOOMTOWN MATTERLEY ESTATE, WINCHESTER
O
ver the last few years, Boomtown had always caught our eye with its quality reggae and bass-music line-ups, but until last year we’d never been.
We were, if we’re honest, a bit put off by the predominance of all that weird gypsy-swing Balkan turbo-folk nonsense, and with that came the idea that Boomtown was all dogs on string, polo-noses and fire poi. However, after attending what we can only describe as one of the best festivals we’ve been to in the UK in a long time last year, we will hold our hands up and say we were wrong Boomtown is actually sick.
8-11 AUGUST TICKETS: £149 ACTS INCLUDE: RICHIE SPICE GENTLEMAN LEE SCRATCH PERRY COLLIE BUDZ REDLIGHT & DREAD ZINC MILLION STYLEZ FRICTION & LINGUISTICS GENTLEMAN’S DUB CLUB DUBKASM DJ DIE & INJA BUGGSY
With a site that’s transformed by set-fronted tents, a full-on Arcadia spectacular and, again, one of the best reggae and bass-music line-ups of any festival in the UK this summer, Boomtown is a hell of a lot more than just crusties and trustafarians. Returning this year to the Matterley Bowl site just outside Winchester, ask anyone who’s been and all you’ll hear is good things. So, don’t be like us, embrace the crust! ---
BOOMTOWNFAIR.CO.UK
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F E S T I VA L
G U I D E
MONEGROS FRAGA, HUESCA, SPAIN 20 JULY TICKETS: €75 +BF ACTS INCLUDE: NEro rIChIE hAwTIN JokEr LUCIANo MArCEL DETTMAN SUrgEoN AyAh MArAr PUBLIC ENEMy VITALIC DELTA hEAVy --MONEGROSFESTIVAL.COM
U
nknown is a brand-new festival from the team behind Hideout, Field Day and The Warehouse Project, happening near Rovinj on the northern Croatian coastline from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 14 September. Taking up the difficult task of bringing something new to an already jam-packed Croatian festival calendar, Unknown places emphasis on combining live acts like Jessie Ware, Django Django and London Grammar with some of the finest DJs around, including Jackmaster, Floating Points, George Fitzgerald and Jamie XX, in what we’re promised is a stunning environment.
As anyone that’s been to this part of the world before will know, there’s nothing quite like a festival in the Croatian sunshine, so if you’re looking to end your festival season on a high, Unknown is the perfect option.
O
n 20 July, the nineteenth edition of Monegros Desert Festival takes place at Fraga, between Barcelona and Madrid. The biggest electronic music festival in Spain, each year Monegros welcomes over 40,000 visitors to its unique site, where five stages play music 22 hours a day. Focusing on techno, hip-hop, D&B and dubstep, the roster of acts booked to play in 2013 is huge, and includes everyone from Public Enemy and Surgeon to Joker and Richie Hawtin.
If you’re tiring of the same old European festivals, and the idea of trekking to Croatia for your festival kicks for the umpteenth year running is less than inspiring, then we suggest giving Monegros a try. Tickets are only €75, and flights to Spain are always cheap, so you have no excuses.
UNKNOWN FESTIVAL ROVINJ, CROATIA 10-14 SEPTEMBER TICKETS: £109 + BF ACTS INCLUDE: DISCLoSUrE CLEAN BANDIT JESSIE wArE CyrIL hAhN JACkMASTEr FLoATINg PoINTS Joy orBISoN kErrI ChANDLEr SBTrkT JULIo BAShMorE ---
UNKNOWNCROATIA.COM
F E S T I VA L
OUTLOOK FESTIVAL FORT PUNTA CHRISTO, PULA, CROATIA 29 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER TICKETS: £135+BF ACTS INCLUDE: CAPLETON TALIB KWALI MALA IN CUBA (LIVE) DAVID RODIGAN MBE DUSKY JOEY BADA$$ MUNGO’S HI-FI DJ EZ ENEI LOEFAH ---
OUTLOOKFESTIVAL.COM
O
utlook’s sister festival returns for a second year in September, promising another weekend of impeccably curated electronic music at one of the most evocative festival sites in the world.
On 5 September, the moats, ramparts and courtyards of the ruined Fort Punto Christo on Croatia’s Istrian coast will be taken over again by a host of the most forward-thinking artists and club-nights in electronic music, from the legendary to the ultra hip, going deep in its mission to deliver the very best in techno, house and the deeper end of D&B and dubstep. Utilising the same incredible soundsystems as Outlook the week before, and with boat and beach parties, unbridled sunshine and a musical menu straight from the top table, we can’t recommend Dimensions enough.
G U I D E
T
he king of Croatian festivals returns for a sixth year in August, with an astonishing line-up of hip-hop and reggae superstars, supported by the cream of the bass-driven underground. This year, the likes of Mos Def, Capleton, Alborosie, The Pharcyde and Joey Bada$$ give an international flavour to the line-up, while homegrown heroes such as Digital Mystikz, Goldie, Rustie, Dusky, Task Force and Benji B all share top billing. And that’s just the music - the soundsystems are incredible, the weather perfect and the vibes inside the ruined Fort Punto Christo that Outlook calls home are truly something else... As always, Trap will be at Outlook in full force, hosting a boat party on Thursday night with DJ Die, Kahn and Addison Groove. See you there.
DIMENSIONS FESTIVAL FORT PUNTA CHRISTO, PULA, CROATIA 5-9 SEPTEMBER TICKETS: £135+BF ACTS INCLUDE: MODEL 500 MOUNT KIMBIE THEO PARRISH DERRICK MAY BEN UFO BLAWAN PEARSON SOUND DBRIDGE ZED BIAS WILL SAUL ---
DIMENSIONSFESTIVAL.COM
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FABRICLIVE
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77A Charterhouse Street, London EC1. Opening times are from 11pm to 6am. FABRICLIVE 68: Calibre, Out Now. FABRICLIVE 69: Fake Blood, Out Now. FABRICLIVE 70: Friction, 15th July. www.fabriclondon.com
IKONIKA ITAL TEK JACK BEATS JON RUST JONNY DUB JUBEI KODE 9 KRYPTIC MINDS KRYSTAL KLEAR KUTMAH LTJ BUKEM MACHINEDRUM MISTAJAM MIXHELL (LIVE) NADASTROM NEWHAM GENERALS (LIVE) OM UNIT PANGAEA PEARSON SOUND PEDESTRIAN RANDOMER RITON (LIVE & DJ SETS) ROUTE 94 ROYAL T SCRATCHA DVA SKREAM S.P.Y ZANE LOWE