Big Up Eight - Birthday Issue by Big Up Magazine

BIGUPMASSIVE Iain McCoil aka b-on is

Lou would really like it if you kept an eye out for Dispatch Artists!

a Graphic Design and Illustration student from Oxford,England. When he’s not sat in front of a computer or reading a book, he’s helping promote his favourite night in Oxford, Free Range!!! :-)

Words, words, words. Jasmin loves words. She also loves music, astrophysics, wine, sticking her hands in dried beans, and going on superhero adventures with Miro of Surefire Agency. Bryan Bacock currently prevails in San Francisco, CA. He has a heavy appetite for vivid imagery, big ideas, and untamed spirits. From corporate design to mindbending cuisine, his work brings him closer to the world-at-large.

Yuan Zhou’s recent most used phrases are “Working from anywhere I want is SO great!”, “...I might move to Europe!”, “Haha!”, and “I want to try!”

Noah Bennett aka dj Dials is really busy, but he likes it that way. Email him at rivaldials@gmail.com and his head might explode. That would be cool and/ or gross. He is also the keymaster... Don’t ask.

Dear Katy B., Will you marry me? I want to have ginger kids with you. I swear I won’t end too soon…. ;-)

Sara lives in LA where she runs Eleven Eleven Agency. Everyone told her she would grow out of her “music phase.” It never happened.

Noele Lusano would like to live in the last :50 of Mark Pritchard’s “Heavy As Stone.”

Love, Aeneas

Sean Sanders is a SoCal transplant living in San Francisco. When he’s not critiquing music, he’s out creating under the name tremolo sounds. A surfing fanatic, you can sometimes catch Sean early in the morning out at Ocean Beach, or, if that’s not your style, he’s always down for a night out in the Mission.

Deevice is the host of the weekly electronic music show GridLock on Pirate Cat Radio in the Bay. For DJ dates and show info follow him at twitter.com/djdeevice

John Dawson believes that all life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.

Shilo Urban aka DANCEFEVER5000 worships on the altar of the dance floor and wants to share the music she loves with the entire world. She writes for over 30 music industry publications, works for Alpha Pup Records, twirls swords and has a waiver. Sign it.

JM aka Afro Monk is a Miami-bred beat dropper, blogger, promoter, and music enthusiast. He runs Afromonk.com and holds a weekly radioshow on Glitch.fm.

Devon Chulick is a one time evil advertising executive turned good. Now company director of D-Structure, a San Francisco clothing company and store. He can be found bearing his amazing chest hair when not running around in a tuxedo.

Ivy Something is a Chief Executive Food Slanger, Iron Skillet Maiden, SMOG Den Mother, manager of Dustmite and Rita Lux, part-time Avatar, full-time Gravy Goddess.

Sam Supa is SF’s local pusher of dubstep and other bass music. He has been playing records for years starting out in the early rave and breakbeat techno days. He is co-founder of Surefire Productions and has held residency at Grime City the west coast’s longest running grime and dubstep night. Misk writes dubstep and other music people don’t have a name for. He’s recently taken it upon himself to write scores for all new shit. He digs exploring PD and Max/MSP, and has a soft spot in his heart for cognitive neuroscience and how it relates to musical perception. Misk uses Renoise to make his music, and you should too.

Ric Baker aka Bakir is owner and managing director of Dubs Alive, a San Franciscobased underground sublow/dubstep record label. He also toured with Jazzsteppa on their first American tour, playing ten dates on trumpet with their live dubstep group.

ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES: alicia@thebigupmagazine.com ART SUBMISSIONS: art@thebigupmagazine.com

Stephen aka SNF hosts the weekly program Steppin’ into Tomorrow on SUB.FM and writes for the SF-based blog dubstepped.net. He’s deeply into percussive music emphasizing the low end from dubstep to jungle to hiphop and everything in between. Outside of music he’s occupied by science graduate school, public education, and political action. Forward!

WRITING CONTRIBUTIONS: katya@thebigupmagazine.com MUSIC REVIEWS: musicbox@thebigupmagazine.com

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The advertising, features, and reviews appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of the respective contributors, and not necessarily those of the publisher or its affiliates. All rights to art, writing, photos, design, and/or likeness and copyrights are property of respective owners, and no assumption of ownership is made by this publication or the publishers. The publisher will be glad to correct any mistakes or omissions in our next issue. The content may not be reproduced in part or in whole without written permission from Big Up Magazine and the respective contributors. ©2010. Big Up Magazine.

Big Up Magazine, PO Box 194803, San Francisco, CA 94119, USA

BIGUP EIGHT HEADHUNTER 16

ALEX VARANESE 8

People are going to hear juke and approach it, hopefully, the way they did the first time they heard dubstep, unsure if it’s any good.

I thought it would be cool to look back at my career or at least a chunk of it and see it all based on one color.

LORN

ELISA SASSI

Some tunes hold more importance to me, they come from something deeper, some internal violence, I guess.

It’s inevitable but I’m super worried about doing things too similar to other artists.

TRUTH

MONSTA

We don’t want to just be stuck in a certain sound, but we want to carry that Truth flavor with us.

I guess it’s just thoughts in my head, and things I can’t explain with words, that’s mainly what my pictures are about.

ANDREYATRIANA 50

MAGO

I don’t look at my music and think “Oh, I’m so proud of that music” it’s always a work in progress. But I feel incredibly proud of my journey.

Always do your best, be good at networking, listen to yourself, and stay loyal to the nice people.

LAZER SWORD 56

COVER ART

The cops wouldn’t bust it, but they locked the only entrance door... So there were like 400 people stuck in this club, forced to witness Lazer Sword.

“Dreams Preferred” is a mixed media collaborative by Parris Whittingham and Archan Nair.

FIXIT! A ton of work goes into each Big Up issue before it hits the shelves, from planning to interviewing to cleaning it all up. My behind-the-scenes editing work may not be as glamorous as producing kickass tunes or painting jaw-dropping pictures, but it is never dull! Jasmin, Main Editor.

Mago interview, Big Up Vol. 8

Gaslamp Killer interview, Big Up Vol. 6 Alborosie interview, Big Up Vol. 7

N-Type interview, Big Up Vol. 6

Ikonika interview, Big Up Vol. 6

Hatcha interview, Big Up Vol. 5

Ellen Alien interview, Big Up Vol. 7

David Rodigan interview, Big Up Vol. 6

Silkie album review, Big Up Vol. 4

Rusko interview, Big Up Vol. 5

Joe Nice interview, Big Up Vol. 6

DJG record review, Big Up Vol. 5

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PIG SPEAKERS Now this pair of speakers are definitely kosher by all means, since they’re made out of ceramic, courtesy of I.D.E.A. from Japan. The pig speakers come in black, white, shiny gold, and pearlescent pink, featuring a little tail that functions as a connector to your portable media player as well. Price: $50

APPLE CUTTING BOARD This Apple MacBook cutting board in apple (how clever) tree wood comes in three sizes: 13”, 15” and 17”. If you’re serious about your Apple products, this one is for you. But hurry, some sizes are sold out, and you might have to preorder or stand in a three-block-long line to get yours. Price: $90 www.designspray.de

LEGO CAMERA Pentax has collaborated with Nanoblocks, the Japanese Lego, to use their 8x8x5mm blocks as skins for the 14 megapixel cameras. There are four designs available: The Lion, The Camouflage, The Bicycle, and The Classic Camera. A cool little piece of technology. Price: $240 www.pentax.jp

DAVID CHOE “MUNKO” VINYL FIGURES These quirky little collector’s items started as sketches on David’s blog. They debuted in their colorful, vinyl forms at Comic Con in San Diego. Upper Playground is the official distributor of the figures. The Munko line comes in three unique sculpts: Munko, Munkosaur, and Munkette. Price: $11 www.upperplayground.com

TEE ROUND UP

ALEX VARA NESE Armed with a palette of deconstructed typography and vintage Autumn hues, Alex Varanese shares with us stories about a time when things were what they are when they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. A time when mixtapes ruled and avocado was more than just delicious. We were happy to have a chat with this San Franciscobased graphic artist.

interview by Bryan Bacock 8

The Death of Our Signals {Elektrotrash: A Found Art Typeface}

Hey Alex! How’s it going? Hey, things are good! Conratulations on all of your recent acknowledgment! Your work is getting a lot of positive attention. Yeah, I began posting my work in August of 2009 and have a few different series online. I used to be the sort of guy who’d wake up every morning and say to himself, “I’m going to build a robot today, write a novel tomorrow, become an astronaut the day after that,” etc... Maybe I could become those things if I had stuck to it long enough. But I had a turning point in September of 2008. What happened? I took a trip to Las Vegas and expected it to be a gaudy, over-designed caricature of a city. Ironically, however, I was so impressed by the sheer scale of the strip’s architecture and design that I realized I needed to start contributing something of my own to the creative world, immediately. I saw a lot of talent at work and I needed to put my own talent to work. I remember the day I got back I began working on my ideas and I’m doing the exact same thing every day since. That’s inspiring! So, off the top of your head, what kind of attention are you getting? Let’s see... Well, as a little side note, this might be vaguely relevant, but CBS is using a few of my prints on the set of one of their shows. It’s called The Good Wife. Never seen it, but it’s network television, so it’s a big audience.

...I’m a bit of a perfectionist and not into the idea of using stock media. For sure! What piece is it? I sent them a bunch of stuff, mostly from my Pavement Loop series and two from my Urban Cartography series. Oh, I love that stuff! The Pavement Loop, especially. Thanks. I incorporated ideas from that series with an 11-page layout I did for Surface magazine. It was a fashion 10

editorial which had an apocalyptic wasteland tone. It worked well with the deconstructed freeway overpasses and parking garages. Do you work in any other media besides print? I make animation projects where I dabble in electronic music. Do you write your own music? I’m a bit of a perfectionist and not into the idea of using stock media. I really like these animation projects because I like telling stories. I’d love a project with a narrative to it. With maybe characters and a motivation... where something unfolds and you can do that in animation. That’s probably where I’ll be headed next.

I thought it would be cool to look back at my career or at least a chunk of it and see it all based on one color. Sounds exciting! You were recently featured on Wired.com with you retroelectro-looking mock advertisements... Yeah, my Alt/1977 series. The 70s ads for modern products. Has anyone interesting approached you about expanding that idea? Actually yeah, but I’m not sure it’s stuff I should be talking about quite yet. Of course. I’ve noticed a lot of red tones throughout your work. Is there something to be said for that? I love red. Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted everything in red. If I dreamt of a sports car, it would be red. I thought it would be cool to look back at my career or at least a chunk of it and see it all based on one color. And that’s about it for that. But I have now come so far with it that it is a habit. When I start a new project the first color I start with is always red. Whom would you like to Big Up? Everyone who participates in the independent art scene, either as a creator or an appreciator, and certainly to Big Up magazine itself.

Metallic Queens Of The White Tiger

Solid All The Way Through {Urban Cartography}

11 Secret Identity {Circuit Bent Type}

Death of Neon

Laptron 64 {We Are Not TIme Travelers}

Another History Lesson {Pavement Loop}

Imprint/0 {The Imprint}

Imprint/4 {The Imprint}

Tony Williams is a major player in the Bristol music scene but you probably know him best by one of his aliases: Headhunter, or Addison Groove. Since burst in’ the scene as Headhunter, he has changed the soundscape of dubstep music, and as Addison Groove, he has introduced us all to the world of juke. On top of all this, he is a member of the legendary H.E.N.C.H. (Hard Eearned Never Caught Hustlin’) crew and is the head of Transistor records. We had the chance to sit down and gain a little insight into the man who brought us “Footcrab.”

interview by Aeneas Panayiotou 16

HEAD HUNT ER photo by Shaun Bloodworth

ADDISON GROOVE

You have been quoted stating that you got into dubstep music accidentally; can you explain how this happened? Well, I thought I was making grime until I was told by Pinch that it was actually more dubstep than grime. This was back in 2005. You are considered one of the most forward thinking dubstep DJs in terms of pushing the sound to new places. Why do you think this is? My explanation for that is to not make dubstep-inspired dubstep. I listen to anything really, but at the moment I’m really into jazz and electro. Can you name some of your biggest musical influences? In terms of Electronic music it would be Photek, Ed Rush, Optical and countless others. My initial plan was to just make tech-step dubstep, but nowadays I’m looking towards drum machine music of the 80s, 90s and also music from the 1920s for inspiration. Take “Footcrab” for example; I sampled a song 18

from the 1920s in the part where it says “my little heart…”

Some of the things I have seen in USA were crazy. A guy selling crabs from his car outside the club in Houston, the crowd in San Francisco, all blinding me with pictures of crabs and foots, and in some places people even took their shoes off! Did you expect “Footcrab” to be such an anthem, when you were making it? It actually sat on my hard drive for months. I gave it to Pinch and Peverelist and they went mental over it. Loefah got his hands on it and when I met up with him at Outlook Festival last year he said, “I’d like to put that “Footcrab” track out.” Personally I thought he was mad cause I wasn’t sure if it was any good. I mean, I liked it, I just wasn’t sure if anyone else would. So I played it at

Outlook for the first time and we had the boat party yelling “Footcrab” by the end of the tune. When that happened I had a feeling something may come from it but nowhere near as much as it has. Some of the things I have seen in USA were crazy. A guy selling crabs from his car outside the club in Houston… of course the crowd in San Francisco, all blinding me with pictures of crabs and foots, and in some places people even took their shoes off! I’ve never seen this happen with any tune, let alone my own one. How did you link up with Tempa? It all began after I made the tune “7th Curse,” which I put out on Ascension, a label which I started with Tech Itch. Tempa phoned and asked for a meeting, and next thing you know, I went from nothing to being on Tempa in about five months. It all moved very fast. Why was your debut album called Nomad? Because I lived nowhere, kept on moving about, usually gig after gig, relying on mates to put me up. So if any of you are reading this, thanks! You know who you are! I would like to

also mention that they are welcome at my house anytime. But yeah, I thought fuck it, why pay rent when you can see the world for free thanks to deejaying! And the album was made during my traveling times. So how did you, a guy from Bristol, become the biggest champion of Chicago’s juke music? I’m really from Chicago. (Laughs) Fuck knows, maybe I just drank some magic monkey juice one day and realized I can be some kind of champ. After hearing what was happening in juke, it inspired me to make music with drum machines. I’m no champ of juke, but it definitely influenced my music, which, in my opinion, isn’t really juke anyways. It’s just drum machine music. Seriously, what is it about Bristol, which makes it such a hotbed for forward thinking music? We all take magic mushrooms... okay, not all. (Laughs) No idea! It’s a clash of cultures in such a close proximity. That maybe a feasible explanation. A friend of mine is going to do a PhD in the history of dance music in Bristol, I’m hoping she will have an answer in five years. What do you think draws you towards drum machines and drum machine music? The juke stuff has drawn me to it all really, but at the same time it’s reminiscent of what I was listening to growing up. Each machine has its own sound, and it does not require much more then just the machine for it to be groovy. Anyone can do it really.

drop records for the hype factor, the live part is way more minimal, but that way you can fully hear the sound of the 808 through the sound system, which is always a pleasure.

People are going to hear juke and approach it, hopefully, the way they did the first time they heard dubstep, unsure if it’s any good. You recently started your own record label Transistor. What are you trying to achieve with it? Where do you want to take it? That’s my dubstep label that’s keeping me really busy at the moment. I don’t put out too much but I want to put out the stuff that I like to play. Just good, usually pretty heady dance floor dubstep music. Just a representation of what I am about when I’m Headhunter. How was it working with Martin Buttrich? I’ll be honest, I never knew who he was till I did a bit of research. Then I was like, “oh shit, this guy produced Timo Maas!” It was only a remix and one of my first, so it was a good learning curve. If I did the same tune today, I’d probably do it a lot different. Is it true that Appleblim and yourself went to university together? Yeah, me, Appleblim, Gatekeeper, Wedge and newcomer to dubstep Bloodman were all in the same class. So we have known each other for a good while.

How long have you been playing with drum machines for? Not at all long. I’ve been using the samples for years but I can say, from experience, that nothing really comes close to the real thing. You have said that “juke is like marmite, you either love it or hate it.” Why do you feel this way?

Did you hear that Mary Anne Hobbs blew up the rig at Holocene in Portland playing “Sex at the Prom?” How did this make you feel? Yeah, I felt sorry for the person who owned that rig and the city of Portland... Maybe I pushed the bass on that tune a bit too much. Is there anyone/anybody you want to Big Up?

It sounds pretty cheap really, but there’s more soul in juke than most overproduced dubstep or whatever, which makes too much noise and not enough funk. People are going to hear juke and approach it, hopefully, the way they did the first time they heard dubstep, unsure if it’s any good. Because it’s not really riding off any hype machine in the UK, people have to actually decide for themselves if they like it and not just go with what’s popular. Even that in itself is going to make people think if it’s any good. If you can see past it and realize it’s good music, then well done. I’m sure it’s not for everyone though; some people are too purist in that they need a slammin’ snare and a heavy saw/square wave detuned bass... Oh, I could go on, next question.

Oh, if I did, I’d miss out people. But anyone who knows me, knows who they are. And anyone who don’t, but still knows me. Well, them too.

JAKES

How have the crowds been responding to you playing juke so far? Well, I just did the USA tour and they loved it, which was so nice! In the UK, not so much. The kids here want dubstep and that’s it. Although London is okay, they are usually open, and the rest of Europe accepts it all, which has made my DJ sets a lot more interesting recently. You’ve added a new A/V element to your live shows. Why did you feel it was necessary to add this to your live sets? It wasn’t necessary, it was just another interesting idea to explore. From doing that, I’ve had some great gigs, but now I’m all about my Addison Groove live show with an 808. It’s me, a drum machine (808) a few outboard FXs and such. Even though I’ll be playing with an 808, I’ll still

CELEBRITY GUEST QUESTION:

“What’s up with the teens, man?”

(Laughs) I think I should ask Jakes that question! Haha, just kidding… Yeah, I won’t delve into the teeny discussions, but one tune I made years ago sums it up: “Horny Teen.”

Amelia

ELISA SASSI Elisa Sassi, from S達o Paulo, has lived in London, Lisbon and now, San Francisco. She has exhibited in S達o Paulo, San Francisco and London, has done a lot of advertising work for clients like Nike, Samsung, Fiat, Electrolux, Rolling Stone Magazine, and Mitsubishi, and has been drawing since as far back as she can remember. What changes is the media, the way she looks at the world around her, and the maturity of her bunnies...

interview by Yuan Zhou 21

Pequeno

Hi Elissa! How are you? Fine! I’m always happier when I leave the computer for a bit and paint.

Agreed. Computer is like rice to me, I have to feed it to myself in small portions. Sticky rice in my case. (laughs) I love it!

right? I’m from São Paulo, Brazil and I’m living in San Francisco, after living in Buenos Aires, Lisbon and London. Weee! I love to move around. I end up collecting lives.

Me too! Yes, at such moments we feel more alive, right? Things are real. I love digital, really do, but it’s so... virtual.

Your works are very lively and they have a certain Asian look. Where are you from and where are you living now? Haha, it’s undeniable that influence,

Then where is your most favorite place to live? Tough one. I’d say it was London, so far, but I’d totally put Lisbon weather there.

Mais Pequeno

What is your favorite thing to do? Oh boy, this will sound so silly but it is to draw. Actually, I love going to the beach, but real ones, not the San Fran ones. So here I have to skip that. I love beaches! I Just got back from Hawaii, the beaches there are amazing! Maui is a must-see wonderland. Oh man! I wanna go there! I hardly know anywhere here in the US. I just went to Texas once. Ha! I work way too much. You’re lucky to work on things you love. That’s great! I can’t deny that. I’m so blessed. So are you a full-time artist now? Yes. Very full time. I’ve been working like this for four years now. I left my last ad agency (I was an Art Director) in 2006 and since then, I’m working solo and I work with a wide range of things: advertising, design, logos, websites, animation, t-shirts, custom vinyl stickers and fine arts (which I’m finally having more time for)! Was it difficult to work independently in the beginning? I don’t want to sound presumptuous, but no. But I think I have three reasons for that: First, I had a lot of contacts from the ad agencies that already knew my work. Second, I really wanted to be independent. Third, I always loved what I do. So even at the beginning when I had to do some super ugly flyers for water distributors companies, I had fun.

...even at the beginning when I had to do some super ugly flyers for water distributors companies, I had fun.

That’s great! Why did you leave your country? I was never a “school” person. I’m too accelerated and I never had patience to be in classes. Not proud to say that, but not ashamed either, it’s just how I am. And I always learned from life, going out there and trying things. So I figured living in other places would be a real school for me. And it is! Where do you get ideas and references for your art work? I’m always surrounded by references: galleries, magazines, billions of websites. But usually what I do is look to all those references just once. And let it blend inside my mind. Then usually when I sit down (or stand up) to work, I just use my memory.

It’s inevitable but I’m super worried about doing things too similar to other artists.

It’s inevitable but I’m super worried about doing things too similar to other artists. And we see a lot of things everyday, we’re surrounded by awesome stuff. So to avoid copying by accident I don’t keep any other pieces of artwork around me while I’m working, so even if something has inspired me, the result will be only my interpretation. It will be what I remember plus what I imagine. This is very hard to rationalize. I see you have some Japanese influence in your work. Do you like Japanese culture?

always trying to decipher which one that is. It’s not Japanese only. Chinese and Korean types of art also catch my eyes.

At the beginning I had a desk inside my bedroom because I was still living with my mom, grandma, brother, sister-in-law and a dog. Have you been to any of Asian counties?

A lot. I’m not really sure when that started and why, but I was always fascinated by their creations. From traditional ukiyo-e to modern videogames, cute characers to dark ones, their unusual (for me) way of thinking and creating. I feel like they go through a totally different path in their brains and I’m 24

No! I’m still being psychologically prepared. I’m afraid I might die from a heart attack. I should go soon, though, because the older we get, the weaker our hearts get too. Seriously, I think I’ll trip balls to death.

Where is your studio? Home. Always was. At the beginning I had a desk inside my bedroom because I was still living with my mom, grandma, brother, sister-in-law and a dog. Imagine that! Can’t imagine! Must be a surreal and inspiring living situation, eh?! What music do you like to listen to? Well, they named so many styles nowadays that it’s hard to say. But some of my favorite bands are Sigur Rós, Polyphonic Spree, The Beatles, Fanfarlo and a lot of indie/folk bands. But I also tune in some Nat King Cole or Ólafur Arnalds Pandora station very often. I was assuming that you’d listen to electronic music when you work. But I like

Nat King Cole too. All time classic. Haha, funny. Because I’m not an electronic music type of person.

Francisco. And I took part in this hand made toy art exhibition a couple of months ago in San Mateo, that was really cool too. It totally works different parts of the brain.

Are you a romantic? Very, extremely romantic, absolutely unrealistic, but I learned how to make it in the realistic world. What I mean is I’m very down to earth work wise, I’m responsible, I know how to work with rules, deadlines, client needs. I never deliver anything after the due date (only if something really serious happens). Nevertheless, inside me there’s a whole world of fantasy going on. The whole Sassiland is always going nuts and maybe that’s why I draw so much. All this has to come out somehow. It’s a lucky thing to have your own world in you, or the real world would be so dull. Are you having any art shows soon?

...inside me there’s a whole world of fantasy going on. The whole Sassiland is always going nuts and maybe that’s why I draw so much. All this has to come out somehow. I will check them out! Looking at your work just reminded me of having some ice cream! It’s always a good time for ice cream. Go get it!

I just had, not long ago, two exhibitions that were very fun to be part of. One in London, at KK Outlet (Kessels Kramer). Their curator is an American Brazilian who also lives here in San 25

photo by Nathan Osterhaus

LORN

Sometimes it feels like everyone is on the hunt for the next big thing people are always looking for that new sound, the new beat, the new genre something fresh and different. But not many realize that what’s even better is watching the artist develop over time from one song to an entire album. A few years back, a friend of mine showed me Lorn’s MySpace. I sat there and listened to it, in complete awe of the strange, dark, and beautiful music coming out of my laptop speakers. It was one of those moments of musical discovery that I love. And today Lorn represents an artistry that is far ahead of his time; his influences and musical gestures wide and sprawling like his massive sound.

interview by Noah Bennett 27

Tell me who you are, what you do, and a little bit about your recent release. My name is Lorn, born Marcos Ortega but even my mother calls me Lorn. I’m a musician, artist, shithead, and I released my first official album not too long ago through Brainfeeder called Nothing Else. Where did you get the name Lorn? And why does your mom call you that? I came up with it in the third grade. I remember sitting in a chair and the name popped up, and I didn’t know what it meant until probably ten years later. It stuck with me, I guess. My mom calls me that because everyone who really knows me calls me that. Ok, when did you start making music? I was messing around with beats since I was a toddler; my grandparents got me a RapMaster 3000 for Christmas one year, but I didn’t really start until I was about 14 as a means to make my own shit to scratch over. And now I am 23. When I first heard about your music you were 20 and living in NYC. Yeah, I moved out there with my buddy Adoptahighway, who works on music with me under the name Omega Clash. First Harlem, then the West Village, then over to Brooklyn in Bedstuy and Bushwick. Did you ever have any formal music training? Nah, it was all experimenting and a lot of listening. I got a hold of your “Automaton” back in the day, around 2007. And I just remember thinking, this shit is next level! Haha, yeah that track is kinda cool. Tell me about that song. How did it come about? I think it was your 28

first single and it really captures your style. I don’t really know for sure, I get too drunk when I make music. Just one of those nights, I guess... One of my favorites, though. After I made it I had a dream: I was looking through some sliding window at a man falling... just forever... I could see the terror in his eyes. And there were drummers like machine men who were there to guide him to his fate, banging away at the snares. So then I came up with the title. An automaton is a machine made in the image of a human being. That’s about it. Crucial. I remember there were all these little snippets of Lorn songs. Loops, little edits, minute long things. There were like a hundred or something of them; and each was so dope! I’ve got hard drives filled with shit like that. I released a folder called “Self Confidence” – self-serve type shit with hundreds of ideas. My computer is a fucking graveyard of unrealized ideas. Those were a few, I guess.

My computer is a fucking graveyard of unrealized ideas. Did the album come from those ideas or was it new material? The track “Tomorrow” on my album came from the track “Fictional.” The rest is new material. Well, it was two or three years ago when I made it! What is going to happen to the “Self Confidence”? It’ll stay up there until the homie hosting it takes it down. I might do another one. Better to give it away than just let it rot on here. SELF CONFIDENCE:

www.lorn.tablist.net Let’s talk about your more pop music. Some stuff I’ve heard is more 4/4 new disco...

Right, I fuck around with all kinds of shit – under my project Fresh Produce. It’s more poppy, 80s kinda shit. I work with my buddy Ryan Sinz who does hardcore and punk. He sings on the tracks, and it’s funny. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff, so it’s fun to work on sometimes. No official release plans, though.

Some tunes hold more importance to me, they come from something deeper, some internal violence, I guess. Tell me about your collaborations with Zackey Force Funk. Yeah, Zackey Force Funk is the dude! We made one tune called “Hotline.” I basically thought of an idea for a hotline where you can arrange for “bad” shit to happen: kill snitches, get drugs, steal cars, etc. It’s like the opposite of 911 type thing. I sent him the idea and the beat and he ran with it. I’d like to work on more with him. What is your creative vision when making music? What’s the goal? Basically, I’ll just start fucking around on something or wake up from a dream where I heard a melody or some drums. Leave that in and run with it until it sticks in my gut, otherwise I abandon it. It’s all very self-serving, I think that’s why I have so many tracks. I just don’t quit trying to make an “ew” face alone in my studio and move on to the next one. How do you know something is done? When you get the “ew” face? When I get the “ew” face is when I keep working on it. It’s done when I don’t hate it the next day. Some tunes hold more importance to me, they come from something deeper, some internal violence, I guess. Out of all the songs you’ve made, what is your favorite?

“Until There Is No End.” That’s my favorite! It felt so good to make that one. At the time I had already turned in my album for Brainfeeder, and I was still living up north in Wisconsin. Dead of winter, so fucking stormy and quiet and I was still confronting my situation, whatever it was and is. Just started building a tune and set up my mic, sang into it close, and began belting at the top of my lungs from the next room... It’s really soulful, and has an edge to it. I find that most of your music has this quality, but that song in particular really bleeds. That is where my music is going, I think. I hate my voice when I hear it, so recording is a fucking hassle. Can I ask how you did the vocal processing on that? There are maybe six layers, one straightforward talking, a few falsetto in stereo, a few screaming it in stereo, one or two a bit louder toward the middle. I wanted to build a wall with it, as if many were speaking those words – not just me. What is the reaction when you play it out? When I play it out, I cut the tune and sing at the top of my lungs. Sometimes people are like, “what the fuck is this nonsense!” Most of the time people sing along. Are you planning on releasing that one? It’s so good! Yes, it’s on my new EP. What else is on that? A radio edit of “None an Island” from my album, this track “Brainwaves” that Samiyam made with me, as well as a tune called “Never Enough.” Do you sing on other tracks? Yeah, “Sharper Knives,” “A Better Way.” Maybe some others that I cant think of. What do you use in your live shows?

photo by Nathan Osterhaus

I use a laptop and a machine controller; it isn’t as live as I want it to be. What is your ideal scenario? Controlling an orchestra. Can you talk about your collaboration with Samiyam? Samiyam and I get along pretty well, maybe because we’re both from the midwest. But we send shit back and forth all the time. For “Brainwaves” I sent him some stuff I did way back, which was just noise and me saying “these are the brainwaves... these sounds are the brainwaves...” noise noise noise. Then I sent him some chord progressions that I built and he went off with them. A day later he came back with what he made. We have a few other things but that one is probably the most hilarious to both of us. Who, among your contemporaries, do you admire the most? Clark. Clark is a maniac. What about Clark do you like?

He is simply an artist, and takes great care with his work. Takes chances, huge risks, and he’s explained to me how he breaks down a sound onto a tape loop, records it back in slow motion, records it back again, records it back stretched out just to get one fucking synth sound! It is rich, complex, and people just don’t give a shit! I think that his songwriting is also incredible, and his catalog grows exponentially in spirit. Have you guys thought about collaborating? It’s been considered, but nothing so far. Clark is, straight up, the best Warp artist. Quote me on that. Favorite Clark song?

invited me onboard Brainfeeder for an official release. That was over a year ago now. It was good to join a group of talented artists. I had been a fan of many of them prior.

...I spend a good deal of time making [drums] sound a certain way – making a kick hit into the low end, making a snare snap or crack. One thing that other producers say when they talk about your music is that they love your drums, how you use fills and arrange your percussion. Can you speak about that?

“Bruise Animations.” And he says he hates it. Talk about your Brainfeeder experience. I still don’t really know the right story but at the end of it FlyLo heard an early version of the track “Tomorrow” from my album and he approached me on MySpace to speak more... iChat, email, and all that. Then not long after I played a show at Low End Theory in LA and we got to talking, at which point he essentially

I spend a lot of my time on drums, for sure. I came from a scratch beat world; we made beats to scratch over – the drums made the space to get nasty on the cut with. In all seriousness I’m just very interested in the space that drums create, drawn toward drum corps, punk drummers, metal drummers, classic rock drummers. I’m a student of all of those. But I spend a good deal of time making 29

photo by Nathan Osterhaus

them sound a certain way – making a kick hit into the low end, making a snare snap or crack. And as far as the fills... that’s just entertainment for me, but generally in any tune I hear, the drums are what hit me first. Ok, so can you give all those aspiring producers out there a “Lorn drum” tip? Before I explain, just give a shit about your drums! Pretty much it’s all about layering. Not going to give out my process but yeah, find a good kick that sits well with your bass (or build your bass around it), find one with a bit of punch, send it mono, find one with some character. Maybe it lasts a little while, has some ring to it, and send it wide in the stereo. Same deal with the snare – EQ them, compress them, distort them, give them purpose. But most important of all, tune your drums! They give off notes just like a clarinet gives off a note! What does the future hold for Lorn? If I am to guess... a bunch of remixes, a bunch 30

of one-off tracks, but other than that I just want to work on my next album and start directing my own films. The next album will be very vocal oriented, probably much unlike Nothing Else. Film has always been my end goal.

...Just give a shit about your drums!

That doesn’t surprise me, because your music is so cinematic! What was the last dream you can remember? I wrote it down on my laptop when I woke up: Walking through cityside lake, people in jail clothes, staring at me. I walk through them until I start to jog, up and up and up until it is a full-on race with younger kids... I don’t make it to the semifinals at some gate but we’ve reached a high part of a mountain and I congratulate one of the kids. I wish him luck and start sliding down the mountain, which looks like some old mined area colored in a massive yellow sheet. It is soft, powdery...

I ask him how to get out. He says I have to “go right.” I can’t get out without climbing this jagged face that looks like coral. Once I reach the bottom there is cool water, a bit murky but sound. I’m pulled in, undertow, reach into the wall and there’s a drawer. I pull out an old blade, with weight. The momentum from it helps me overcome the undertow. I look beneath and see thousands of spears, axes, blades stuck to the water floor, some massive battle occurred and everyone forgot about it... I pull a sword out of the ground, which is now metal and I’m able to get out of the water; the cliff face is now simply a staircase. I leave this bright green tropical war zone through a door with orange light inside... I go up the stairs to find a young boy arguing with his mother. He’s digging up his old belongings. After years and years the mother is so happy to see him, despite the fact that she killed him so long ago. Epic. Whom would you like to Big Up ? St. Ides malt liquor, in a 40 oz bottle or in a 16oz 4-pack.

MONSTA If you spent at least a few hours on MySpace visiting pages of top dubstep and drum and bass artists, you must have seen monster-like portrait illustrations (many set as profile pictures, and some are tattooed in flesh!) by Ben Somers, also known as Monsta. Skream, Benga, Mala, N-Type, Goldie, Jakes, Caspa, Roska, Stenchman... not many escaped the sharp eye and pen of this talented illustrator from Cambridge, England. Aside from doing animation and illustration work for top artists and record labels like Hospital Records and Metalheadz, Monsta is also a music producer, DJ, and a really nice guy... interview by Iain McColl 32

Gouch

How did you first get started as an illustrator and music artist? Well, it’s something I’ve always done. I used to work for DHL and I just got bored of working a nine-to-five, so I thought I’d try art and just properly went hard at it. And about a year after my work, Goldie got in touch with me, and every job led on to another ever since. Yeah, that’s about it.

I guess it’s just thoughts in my head, and things I can’t explain with words, that’s mainly what my pictures are about.

like Robert Crumb and his art from the seventies. I also like lots of graffiti. Oh, and HR Giger, I’ve always liked his work too. Are most of your illustrations hand-drawn then converted to the computer? What software do you use? Yeah, I draw them all in pen. I’ve never used Illustrator. I bought a tablet a little while ago and I just couldn’t get on with it, so I just draw everything in pen and then scan it in, put it in Photoshop and then color it in. I’ve always done that and I can’t think of a better way of doing it. Is it quite convenient doing it that way?

Did you go to any art schools or college courses or university? Nah, I went to sixth form college but I got a C for my Art. (Laughs) I didn’t do cartoons, I was trying do normal art that they set, but I didn’t really see what was normal art... So I guess my art has always been a personal thing to me. Who and what inspires you and influences your work?

Yeah, definitely. I would say it just comes naturally to me that way. Also on the computer you can see the work come together really quickly and it’s a really fun way of doing it, I love it. Where do you normally work, at home or in a studio? It’s all at home really. I tend to work totally on my own. I put music on and I never do it around people.

I guess it’s just thoughts in my head, and things I can’t explain with words, that’s mainly what my pictures are about. But I really 33

What sort of music do you listen to? Well, dubstep is the music I always listen to, I’m never short of new music, so I guess it inspires how the pictures turn out sometimes. But I think if I listen to something like Burial I’ll produce something depressing. (Laughs) Yeah, I listen to all sorts, I listen to comedy and stuff as well...

Yeah, really good. He’s a really nice guy, I went round his house a couple of times. I remember you did a Metalheadz Podcast with him and Heist once. (Laughs) Yeah, I vaguely remember that. It was definitely good, I really like Goldie, he’s a nice guy.

Do you ever collaborate with other people in your work or is it solely you?

I particularly like your animation video for Roska’s track “Squark.” Did he approach you to create the music video?

It’s solely me, I don’t do art with other people. There are some people I’d like to collaborate with, but when it comes down to it I don’t know how you go about it. Like if I could do a picture on one side and the other person does the other side? ... I just don’t know if it would really work. But yeah maybe it’s something I’d like to do in the future. I’ll figure a way to do it. (Laughs)

Well, before that I did a video for his “In Your Handbag.” The track was maybe a bit more disco than I was used to, and it was a really big drawn-out project, because I did it all in the wrong format and I had to change it... It was all a bit awkward, but after that he approached me to do “Squark.” It was a track which suited my sort of style a lot more and I was a lot more comfortable with that. And I’m really happy with the animation. Also there’s another one going to be coming soon, so look out for that.

I don’t do art with other people ... I don’t know how you go about it. Like if I could do a picture on one side and the other person does the other side?... I just don’t know if it would really work. Brilliant. What would you say was your best or favorite piece of work so far? My favorite... well, I’ve got a picture called “Tea,” and it’s an old man drinking tea. I had the idea for it when I saw this crumbly wall, so I took a photo of it and drew the old man and placed him in front of the crumbly wall. For some reason it came out exactly how I wanted it. I guess this is what pictures are about to me, and that just sort of sums up what sort of ideas I have. And also the single I did for the Malice in Wonderland EP on Metalheadz Recordings; they are two different pictures for the single and the album, and I really like them too. How did the work with Goldie and Hospital Recordings come about? Both of them are through www.dogsonacid.com forum, I think I’ve been on that board ten years now. Alright yeah, I think I was on there once.

I believe you have a few music releases of your own. How would describe your sound? I’ve always described it as midistep, like the sort of sound you get on a midi keyboard. I started when dubstep didn’t really have a name, people were calling it grime, and I was sort of going for that grime sound with a lot of my tracks. But my tracks always sound different, because I always aim for a different sort of sound... But I guess it’s all dubstep now. What is more successful, your art or your music career? Definitely my art. I don’t think I’ve made much money through my music. I’ve done what I wanted to do with it though, I’ve had a couple of releases. But it’s definitely not something I can make money out of. But art is something I do every single day and I like it that way. Do you see exhibitions as an important way to promote your work? Have you had any exhibitions in the past? Do you have any planned? I will definitely do one at some point and they are a great way to get out there. I haven’t done one for a long time. I’ve only done two and they both went well, they were both in Cambridge where I’m from, but I think I should definitely do one in London, because Cambridge is a very small place, and London is the place to do it.

What? You’ve given up now!? Yeah, I kind of gave up after a while. (Laughs) Yeah, it can definitely do that to you, I’m not on it as much as I used to. But that site kind of gives you an instant audience for whatever you do. And I was just doing jokey things on there, like comics of different people in the scene, and Goldie must have just seen a couple of them. I remember the e-mail was from Chris Metalheadz and he just said, “Goldie’s been trying get in touch with you, let me know.” And that’s all it said! I was buzzing about that, so I got in touch and then it all turned into this big project which was amazing. The same was with Hospital Recordings they just contacted me through Dogs On Acid forum.

...I’ve had a couple of releases. But it’s definitely not something I can make money out of. But art is something I do every single day and I like it that way. Where can people find your work and follow you? myspace.com/redeyemonsta Facebook at Monsta Art Twitter.com/MonstaArt Whom would you like to Big Up?

It must have been interesting working with someone so influential as Goldie. What was it like?

I wanna big up Roska, Qbert, Goldie and Chris at Metalheadz, Bukez Finezt, Mr. Boogie, Skinzmann, all my life4land family and everyone who supports what I do, I love you.

Alien Man

36 Tea

& Jahl Marshall

image by Matt Paterson

TRUTH Truth is a rarity: a three-person dubstep group from New Zealand. They’ve taken the world by storm with their debut release on Deep Medi of “The Fatman” and “Stolen Children” in early 2009. At the controls they alternate deejaying duties, which produces a diverse and hype session. Two-thirds of Truth recently visited for a US tour and took a Sunday morning to wander around San Francisco. We chatted about the origin of the “Truth sound,” producing music in a group, explosion of “The Fatman,” and dubstep in New Zealand and beyond. The secrets are within…

interview by Stephen Floor 39

So welcome to San Francisco, will you introduce yourselves? Andre: Hi, I’m Andre. Tristan: I’m Tristan. We are Truth. How did you two and Julian get to know each other? A: Well, we’ve been making tunes together and we’ve known each other for quite a while now. Tristan actually went to school with Julian. T: Julian and I met Andre ‘cause we were at a lot of the same gigs together, a lot of drum’n’bass stuff in the late 90s, and always ended up being next to each other at the party. We became mates and took it from there. Started doing a few nights and making beats together. When did that all start? A: In about 2002, late 2001. But the Truth thing’s been going for about four years now. So you got into dubstep from listening to dnb? A: Not really, we were into dnb for years, but we listened to all kinds of music... And then we met Mala from Digital Mystikz through a friend. It was kind of random. He’d just come around to my place. My friend gave me some music, forthcoming Deep Medi stuff, and we got together the next day in the studio and put on the CD and were like, “whoa this is awesome!” T: We thought, “we gotta make some of this shit.” A: Mala was actually traveling around the south island at the time, and during that week we just pumped out a bunch of tunes. We had no idea really what dubstep was. So what did you use as a guide? A: Well, those [Mala] tracks were kind of what inspired us. We thought, “so that’s what he calls dubstep. Let’s have a go at this.” We didn’t really follow any kind of formula… T: We had a whole bunch of sounds over the years that we really liked but couldn’t get to work in tunes, so we just had all these tools ready to go, and all this extra space because of the tempo. It was really fun, no expectations, “let’s just jam some tunes out and give the guy [Mala] the CD.” A: It was nothing serious, we didn’t sit down and go, “right, let’s try to master dubstep” or anything like that, it was like “let’s just have some fun.” We weren’t even going to give him the CD. We were hemming and hawing about 40

it and I was just like, “here’s a CD of stuff that was inspired by your stuff” and he was like, “oh, cool. I’ll check it out.” And halfway back home he rang me and was like, “Dude, I want these for Deep Medi!” And we were like, “what the fuck?”

A: Shit, that’s a tough one; we’ve played at some awesome ones lately. We’ve done some recent tours around New Zealand that have just been amazing.

What tracks were those? “The Fatman?”

Where is the spot in New Zealand right now?

A: Yeah, “The Fatman” and “Stolen Children.”

A: It’s going off all over the place. Auckland (the biggest city) seems to have a really strong scene, we played to like 1,600 people last week that was just a room full of kids going off, heaving. It was all local guys and Nero. But we’ve had local nights that have been over 1000 people.

What do you guys think of the response to “The Fatman”? It’s been pretty big. A: It’s been unbelievable, we’ve been stoked. You guys just recorded a track and then watched it explode. A: Yeah, and it was cool ‘cause it’s a track that all three of us really liked still. And it just came out in a short time. It wasn’t something we stressed out over and tried to finish, it just came out in one go.

...I was just like, “here’s a CD of stuff that was inspired by your stuff” and he was like, “oh, cool. I’ll check it out.” And halfway back home he rang me and was like, “Dude, I want these for Deep Medi!” And we were like, “what the fuck?” So speaking of the three of you, how do you guys work together in the studio? T: Well, it’s always different really. Sometimes one of us will go away and do a whole lot of sampling and find some cool sounds while one of us is off making a beat. Other times we’ll get together and start from scratch, we might start with a bass sound, a sample, a drum beat. Every time is different, there’s no real formula. It’s good to bounce ideas around as well. The other thing is two of us might get together to make a track and finish it off and hand it to the third guy to give it a listen and he might be like, “that’s shit.” So it’s also kind of quality control? A: Yeah, you need a third person. We’re pretty open with each other; we abuse each other. We tell each other what we think of each other. Unless all three of us are feeling it we don’t really bother with a tune. Tell me about the best show you’ve played.

T: Yeah, New Zealand is going off.

T: Yeah, we had one recently that was just put on with another guy from New Zealand and sold out two gigs in a row. Drum’n’bass has always been a really strong sound in New Zealand and it’s been eclipsed by dubstep. A: Yeah, we’ve seen a huge jump just in the last six months. Six months, really? A: We’ve been doing it for three or four years and there’s a big, big change just recently ‘cause we’ve had tunes out for a few years but now it’s all these older tunes are getting hyped over again. Apart from New Zealand we’ve played some sick gigs in Europe. I played a gig in Poland recently that was pretty amazing. Played at DMZ in London. One of the things I was curious about, since you started off playing drum’n’bass and are now into dubstep, is what you think about the Autonomic sound from dBridge and Instra:mental. A: We actually love the Autonomic sound. dBridge is a mate of ours, we just recently made a tune with him and Trauma from Instra:mental that’s kind of undercover at the moment, top secret shit, we haven’t sent it to anyone yet. It’s got dBridge singing along the whole tune. He’s done that in some other songs, right? A: Yeah, he’s done it in a couple, he’s actually a really good singer. This particular track, the lyrics are filthy, he’s just getting pretty disturbing. But you can’t tell, it sounds like a love song. It’s called “Dirty Thoughts on My Mind.” Look forward to hearing that. When you guys sit down to make a track, do you have a sound in mind that you’re going for?

T: Sometimes we do. Sometimes we sit down and go, “we want to make this thing” and then we do it and focus on the idea. But a lot of times we just sit down and wherever that track takes us we’ll just follow it. A: We’re always working under a common understanding of what the Truth sound is. We all share ideas of what we want our music to sound like. We want our music to have its own sound and not just sound like others. T: But I think that’s come out naturally, just from doing what we felt like. It seems like a lot of the tracks have a vibe about them that fits within the Truth sound. Can you describe the Truth sound? A: It’s definitely on the darker tip. Moody, lots of big bass sounds. And stuff for the dancefloor. T: Cinematic as well. And focus on the percussion. A: Lots of nice of percussion and spaciousness, that’s what we like most about dubstep. With dnb everything is so full on, there’s so many sounds, we just found it nice to strip everything back and get that minimal sound. That ghetto sound as well. Not overproduced. Raw.

Lots of nice of percussion and spaciousness, that’s what we like most about dubstep. Lots of African music has that organic, raw sound. A: We love the organic stuff. We don’t like all that midrange. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of midrange but there’s a lot of cheesy wobbly stuff that some people classify as dubstep, but we don’t think it is. T: Some of our tracks are full on and there’s some that are really spaced out, but they have a common element because we made them. We love the idea of having space and having more room to move, but on the other hand, some sound like bad horror movies.

us. I don’t think our stuff sounds like a lot of it, but it’s definitely influenced us. T: I think one of my main influences would be late 90s Ed Rush and Optical type of stuff, like neurofunk where there’s a few key sounds and Herbie Hancock samples and just absolutely dope bassline sounds... A: ...Kind of twisted. That was a real good era, when a lot of kids first got into it... But we’re always listening to new stuff and trying to progress and evolve our sound at the same time. We don’t want to just be stuck in a certain sound, but we want to carry that Truth flavor with us.

We don’t want to just be stuck in a certain sound, but we want to carry that Truth flavor with us. So where are you looking now for new sounds? A: We try and listen to all kinds of stuff, old school jazz, hip hop, you name it, man. If it’s good music, it’s good music; we don’t try to segregate it.

style that we don’t really play much of. And we could keep on with that vibe or do what we’ve been flown over here to do, which is to play Truth kind of music. And we did that, and it went off! But we were playing a certain style and halfway through the set we were like let’s switch it up and go a bit deeper. If we’d just been reading the crowd maybe we wouldn’t have done that. But it went really well, so I think there’s a mixture of the two. A: Some places when you drop the deeper tunes they don’t get it, and a few people might leave the dancefloor ‘cause it’s not just a big buildup, but we like the deeper shit. Do you think that depends on the sound system? T: I think so. A nice proper sound system is necessary. But some places you go and all they want is harder stuff, like in Germany. The person comes up and is like, “harder, dirtier!” And I’m like, it IS fucking hard and fast! A: I was like, “dude this is fucking Datsik. Do you know how hard this is? It sounds like a machine going fucking mad!”

“I don’t play garage! I don’t have any garage.” And even if I did, this is not what we’re here to play. This is our music.

T: Now that we have our album locked and it’s finished, we can experiment with all kinds of stuff without having to worry about “should this be on the album.” We’re making some really heavy stuff, some really minimal stuff, some stuff with no kick and snare. Whatever. In one week we made a tune that was super minimal with a spaced out bassline and same week made a tune that’s just insane, really heavy. To be honest, the really heavy ones have been getting the best response in the clubs. Our favorite ones are the more…

T: I was at Epsom in London, the most random place, and this chick kept coming up to me and asking me, “You got any garage, mate? Where’s the fucking garage?” I was like, “I don’t play garage! I don’t have any garage.” And even if I did, this is not what we’re here to play. This is our music.

A: ...The ones we’d listen to at home, when we’re driving around, the deeper, more twisted ones. Just kind of weird. I don’t know if that’s what it’s all about on the dancefloor, the deeper tunes. You have to bring it back though with some deep rollers.

A: On this real garagey dubstep too, some people say this is dubstep, but to me it’s garage. I just found in the UK that so many different things were called dubstep, it’s pretty crazy. I was like, “man, this is house music to us, bro.”

So when you select in the dance do you go by the response of the crowd or pick things out beforehand?

T: I guess it’s the different backgrounds. People in New Zealand, a lot of them, have come from a dnb background, so they have a preconceived idea of what dubstep is; it’s kind of like slowed down dnb. Whereas in the UK it’s a bit more of a mixture: cats who have come from the dnb background like Loefah and Mala and those guys, and all the guys who have come from grime like Joker and those guys, and people who have come from 2-step and house, and they’ve brought their element to dubstep. Wherever it goes to after that, the seeds are there.

A: We love bad horror movies from the 80s. T: It’s a mixture. T: They’ve got cool sounds. Kind of like Terror Danjah. I think in all music you have innovators and then you have people who try to follow the innovators...

A: We definitely try to feed off the crowd and read the crowd, but at the same time we’ve got our selection that we want to play, and if they don’t like it, then tough shit.

A: We’re into that original sound. You know, the old school Deep Medi is what influenced

T: When we played your show in San Francisco last week, the guys before us had a certain

photo by Holden Pumphrey

photo by LeenaHongisto

A: I think in the States though people have had different musical backgrounds, so it means the sound out here is a little bit different. It’s cool man, we love a bunch of artists on the West Coast who we’re really into and feel their music.

A: But you can hear that flavor everywhere. It’s good to see that there’s a distinctive flavor out here. I think we’re quite influenced by it back in New Zealand. The West Coast sound?

Who are you into out here? A: Antiserum, and Babylon System. Noah D’s done some awesome shit this year. T: 12th Planet. There’s a tune that Antiserum did with ill Esha that’s a really cool tune. Also feeling that Starkey stuff but that’s from the East Coast, isn’t it? Philadelphia.

A: Yeah, people have embraced it quite a lot. With dnb it was always about the UK stuff, the American jungle and dnb never really got that much attention in New Zealand, but I think with dubstep it’s slightly different. T: When Antiserum toured it was quite a big tour, he did really well.

A: Definitely Mala. Just cause he was the first dude that got us into dubstep. So it’d be really cool to do something with him. T: I think it could be fun to do something with Benga or Skream. A: Definitely. We all use the same programs so it’d be easy. Fruity Loops? A: Yeah, and a bunch of hardware as well. A couple older Juno synthesizers and various other keyboards. An old Pro-One. For our album we tried to get as much analog flavor in as we could. Can you summarize the album? What are you most exited about? Both: Phewwww…. T: Summarize the album... Basically it’s the past couple of years of us making music. We’ve been putting aside our favorite tracks, and the idea of an album coming out of it was at the forefront of our minds. It ended up being that most of them are a bit more recent, but it’s a snapshot. Each one is individual and they’re diverse, but we want it to be viewed as a whole. It’s an album that’s designed to be listened to as an album. A: It’s got an overriding theme to it. The name of the album is Puppets and take from that what you want, but we definitely have an idea of what it’s all about. If you listen to the music you might figure it out. There’s no right or wrong answer. T: It’s like reading a book, make your own meaning. It’s an album we want people to listen to when they’re getting ready to go out, or when they’re at home. Or when they’re at a club. A: We want DJs to play it as well, but we want it to be something that anyone can just chill out and listen to.

How many shows did he play in New Zealand? T: Three or four, which is about as many as you can do. A: Then there’s Datsik from Canada that was a sellout tour in New Zealand. If you guys could collaborate with somebody whom would you choose? T: Well, we’ve already collaborated with a few artists we’ve wanted to. Maybe Mala.

T: The cool thing is that different people like different tracks off the album. One person will say, “yeah, I really love this tune” and the next person won’t even mention that tune.

The name of the album is Puppets and take from that what you want, but we definitely have an idea of what it’s all about. If you listen to the music you might figure it out. There’s no right or wrong answer. A: We like testing things on all our friends. And they’re really honest with us ‘cause we’ve been making tunes for like ten years now and they’ve heard us making rubbish when we first started, so we’ve always used them as a testing ground. All the tunes on the album someone has said, “oh, I love that tune.” We’re pretty stoked with it, we hope it works and people understand it. So the moral of the story is to sit down and play it from start to finish once you pick it up. T: Yeah, if you’ve got time. A: It’s like 15 tracks. 70 minutes. We’ve put “The Fatman” back on the CD. Mala let us put it on there, courtesy of Deep Medi, which was very nice of him. We didn’t expect him to say yes when we asked him. He understood, it was our first big tune. It’s part of the Truth sound and since it’s our first album he said we could do it. T: There’s also a VIP of a tune we’ve released before, called “Terror Planet,” which a lot of people seemed to really like, so we just did a remix of that for the album. So it’s something fresh but still the same kind of vibe. A: But apart from that it’s all new tunes.

T: On the tube to work. In the cold gray rain.

Lastly, whom would you like to Big Up?

A: You can still listen to it on your headphones and it will sound alright, although all the tunes sound better on a big system. We don’t want music where you can’t hear half the tune just ‘cause you listen to it on your headphones. We still want you to hear the bass.

A: We’d like to big up Katya definitely, San Francisco for having us, Miro from Surefire, Sam Supa and all the crew out here.

T: It’s all bass-heavy music, it’s bass-oriented.

A: Joe Nice for sure.

A: Even the deeper tunes have got massive 808 bass and sine bass, super low G-note subs. If you play them on a big system they’ll sound heavy – well danceable anyway.

T: Farj and Paul from Aquatic Lab, they’ve released our album and done a great job.

T: Definitely Mala and Skream, those guys helped us out.

MAGO The young and extremely talented, not to mention modest, Magomed Dovjenko, or simply Mago, is a freelance illustrator renowned worldwide for his striking graphic design skills and impressive clientele. Originally hailing from Grozny, Russia, Magomed now resides in Cologne, Germany, where he spends his time designing work for some of the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest names: Nike, Hennessy, and Johnson & Johnson to name but a few â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a remarkable feat when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re only 16 years of age!

interview by Louise Smith 44

To Hell with Gravity

It’s hard to believe you’re only 16 years old! Has art always been your biggest passion? Thank you! Yes, it’s always been a really big passion of mine and turned out to be one of the most important things in my life! I couldn’t imagine living without it nowadays. For such a young designer, you’ve already created work for some pretty impressive clients. How did you initially get involved with Nike?

besides that, actually everything: fashion and design blogs, nature, girls! Inspiration isn’t really something that you can pick up; it comes when it comes.

Inspiration isn’t really something that you can pick up; it comes when it comes. What’s life like in Germany?

I was actually talking with David Gensler, who is a good friend and mentor, and he shared my stuff with Nike’s Betsy Parker, who liked my work and forwarded it to the Portland HQ. So one day I got an email from the Nike guys asking if I’d like to do some tees for them. I kind of couldn’t believe it. That’s how it happened!

Boring! No, really, I know everyone and everything here in Cologne and it’s getting boring. I think it will be time soon for a new place, as I want to go to New York in about one or two years.

Talk me through your process. How do you create your work?

The illustration scene isn’t really that huge in Germany, that’s what is kind of annoying me as well, but besides that, life in Germany is a’ight.

I start by visualizing ideas in my head, thinking about how to execute the concept that is floating around in my mind. There are thousands of possible executions and you have to pick the one that would fit the most.

I try to keep the client work as “artsy” as my personal work, but at the same time make it perfect for commercial use a hard thing to do. The next step is sketching. I don’t really do it often but if there is something that isn’t clear enough, I start to sketch it, so I can get a rough, visual idea. I continue with Illustrator, usually with the pen tool and the brushes. I usually do everything really carefully with loads of details. After I’m done with the Illustrator part, I (not every time, it depends) move on to Photoshop to finish it off with effects that would be impossible to do with Illustrator, like adding textures that I scanned in and other things. Do you have a favorite piece? Your Wolf illustration is amazing by the way! Thank you once again! To be honest, the Wolf is my favorite illustration, I put so much work into it, so ma details – I love details! How does your personal work differ from that which you create for a client? Actually, it doesn’t for the most part. I try to keep the client work as “artsy” as my personal work, but at the same time make it perfect for commercial use – a hard thing to do. What inspires you? Music mainly. Let me name some names: Kanye, Jeezy, Clipse, Jay-Z, Cassidy, T.I., Ludacris, I could continue all day! But Kanye West is definitely my favorite of them all. I think you can actually see it in my work, because I always do those sharp, raw illustrations that even have a bit of an aggressive look. But

I know you recently appeared on TV Total, which is one of Germany’s biggest late night talk shows. What was that experience like? Were you nervous? It was definitely the highlight of my career I’d say; I really enjoyed it. You must imagine it like this: I was staying backstage when the dude told me to go up behind the stage, and suddenly he said “Magoooooo” so I had to go in, and in front of me were all those people, which wasn’t the problem. There was so much light shining straight in my face that and it made me nervous, ha! But it was alright, I calmed down when I started talking to him.

Always do your best, be good at networking, listen to yourself, and stay loyal to the nice people. What’s been your most challenging project to date? I don’t think I’ve had any project that was that much of a challenge yet. The briefings have always been super and I was always happy with them. I hope I will get some challenging ones soon! What would you be doing right now if you weren’t an illustrator? I don’t know, I really can’t imagine something else than this or graphic design. There’s nothing else I could get in my mind. I won’t ever stop doing it, so I guess I won’t need another job idea! Any advice for aspiring artists out there wishing to follow in your footsteps? Always do your best, be good at networking, listen to yourself, and stay loyal to the nice people. Networking is a big thing, that’s how a lot of jobs come up, so you have to build networks and get to know many people for future opportunities. Also, try to stand out, don’t go with the masses, be experimental, that’s the key. Finally, whom would you like to Big Up? David Gensler!

The Wolf

Candy Sweet Skull

Nightlife

ANDREYA TRIANA Andreya Triana the girl with the silky smooth voice on Flying Lotus’s “Tea Leaf Dancers” has since worked with Simon Green (aka Bonobo) and Theo Parish, has been signed to Ninja Tune, and just released her first album,

Lost Where I Belong; but some things haven’t changed her unique soulful style, tasteful presentation, and magnetic depth of her voice. Andreya’s music is filled with light melancholy, peaceful sadness, vibrant strength, hopeful loneness, and almost anything else one might want to find for themselves in the magical notes of her voice...

interview by Katya Guseva

photo by Oscar and Ewan

photo by Ellis Scott

I think the first time I heard about you was that collaboration you did with Flying Lotus at Red Bull Music Academy, “Tea Leaf Dancer.” I’m interested in what you were doing before RBMA. I literally just finished university and I was at a really confused place, actually. I didn’t have a band at that time and workwise there wasn’t much going on. And I’ve also been touring with a band called RSL, that was a big Latin jazz band, and we toured up and down the country. That was a really great experience! So before the Academy I was really just starting to develop as a solo artist, in my bedroom, writing songs. Do you feel like “Tea Leaf Dancers” was a turning point in your music career then? It’s always work in progress... but yes! Definitely! It definitely got noticed by a lot of people who had never heard my music, or even my voice. And it was an entirely different group of people that would never know me, ‘cause the stuff I do is more soul, laid back kind of music. You guys still work with Flying Lotus, right? I noticed he did a remix of one of the tracks from your new album. He did! And that had a really big sentimental value for me, ‘cause that was the first single that came out for my first album. And for Flying Lotus to remix my first single, after the biggest tune I’ve done to date was done with him, was a really nice way of getting back together and doing something. We are still very much in contact and who knows, we might do something together again.

Oh, my goodness! How could I physically do this? How could my body actually do 60 gigs in the space of two and a bit months?! How was the experience of working and performing with Bonobo? It was pretty incredible! It was intense, we did over 60 dates earlier this year. You know, you just get into the vibe of it and do it. But when you’re finished at the end of a massive tour like that, you get back and think, “Oh, my goodness! How could I physically do this? How could my body actually do 60 gigs in the space of two and a bit months?! How did I do that?” All the adventures you have... you just sit back and

think, “Oh my gosh, that was absolutely crazy! That was nuts!” But it’s been absolutely fantastic, working with Simon (Bonobo); and all the guys in the band have become a little family now. We really enjoy each other’s company and really enjoy playing music together.

When I’m off stage I’m very much low key and I obviously don’t wear as many wacky costumes as I do when I’m on stage. I saw your show in San Francisco and was surprised that Bonobo was playing somewhere in the background. Not even in front of the stage. Yeah, that’s very much him; he is a shy creature. (Laughs) Would you say your stage persona is also very much like you in real life? Well, a lot of times when people meet me after the gig, they tell me, “You look so much younger and quieter than when you’re on stage.” When I’m off stage I’m very much low key and I obviously don’t wear as many wacky costumes as I do when I’m on stage. (Laughs) Haha, well they’re not as wacky as Lady Gaga’s.

It’s one of the beautiful things, when you don’t have an agenda, you don’t calculate. It’s just “let’s make some good music and see what happens.” No pressure, no expectations. So it’s been really nice and I’m really looking forward to it coming out. I’ve been long lost... (Laughs) Oh yes, it’s best when you just start blank and make it into your own art. Yes! Even when we were doing the album, I told Simon that I didn’t want to listen to any reference materials, I didn’t want to take ideas from other people’s creativity. Of course you’re always gonna be inspired, but I just really wanted the album to come from us naturally. You just sit in a room and write a tune, and it’s what it’s meant to be. It’s not meant to be perfect or polished, it’s just what it is. Beautiful. Did you write all the songs by yourself? There were two of them that I co-wrote with a really great guy Fink, the title track “Lost Where I Belong” and “Far Closer.” But yes, I wrote the demos and showed them to Simon Bonobo. He was involved 100% in all the parts though. He’d be producing and he would also suggest “Try the harmony, and that bit on the melody...” So it’s 50/50 input from both of us. The really nice thing is that I had that trust that he’d be really open and he’d tell me the truth. I trusted him completely from day one. So that worked out nicely.

Oh no! But she’s crazy! She wears massive stilettos and teapots on her head! She is really wacky. I just want to see her in a track suit! “You know you want to take them shoes off, you know your feet are bleeding now! Just get them off!”

I’ve been really honest about what I’ve been going through, and the album is a reflection of it.

Are you excited to release your first album?

When I listened to your new album, I got the feeling of a beautiful melancholy, some peaceful sadness almost. Can you try to describe what the album is about? For you.

I am! It’s been a long time coming. It’s been finished a good year and a half. When we were doing the album, there wasn’t a label interested, we just did it for our own backs. I didn’t know Ninja Tune would be up for it. I didn’t know who would sign it. I didn’t even intend to do the whole album, I just wanted to do a four-track EP. It’s pretty amazing what it manifested itself into...

You just sit in a room and write a tune, and it’s what it’s meant to be. It’s not meant to be perfect or polished, it’s just what it is.

You know, when I write I’m being really honest about what I’m thinking and feeling, and what I’m going through, and how I perceive the world. When I was writing the album, it was a really tough time for me. I was struggling a hell of a lot financially. I’ve done a multitude of awfully soul-destroying jobs: waitress, stuffing envelopes, insurance company... It’s taken an enormous amount of strength to keep going during those times when you’ve gotta do a nine-hour shift at a place where you really don’t wanna be, you just want to be at home working on your art. So the album is a testimony to that. 53

photo by Nicholas Pelliott

And it’s also a testimony to struggling with finding your identity and your place in the world. Everyone’s got their insecurities and lack of confidence. I hold my head up and say that I go through that on a daily basis and there’s stuff in my past that I’m not scared to be straight up about and write about. So I’ve been really honest about what I’ve been going through, and the album is a reflection of it.

I don’t look at my music and think, “Oh, I’m so proud of that music.” It’s always a work in progress. But I feel incredibly proud of my journey. And it’s also an album about hope and keeping it safe. It’s about strength and keeping your strength up. I don’t look at my music and think, “Oh, I’m so proud of that music.” It’s always a work in progress. But I feel incredibly proud of my journey. I’m really happy that I did keep going. And everyone has to, I think. Just believe in yourself and keep going, and good stuff will come.

Yeah, I kinda do. You know, I remember a moment, when we were touring America I think, and I actually took a step back and I thought, instead of being busy and thinking, “oh my gosh, I gotta do a million things.” I just took a moment to think, “this is a moment I’ve worked for years. This is what I absolutely dreamt of. This is the time I’ve been waiting for.” And instead of letting it pass in the world of crazy touring and being too busy for everything, I should just actually appreciate these really nice moments. And my friends have all shared the journey, and all supported me. They’ve also been coming down to gigs, not for being at these massive parties, but just to share these moments and support me. That’s beautiful. So what are your plans for the near future? I’m going to be touring a hell of a lot for the rest of the year. But my main focus will be album number two. I don’t feel any pressure at all. It’s just like, “number one done, managed to do that, gotta do number two now.” I’m just collecting lots of inspiration right now, lyrics, quotes etc... So it’s happening. Whom would you like to Big Up?

Golden words for many artists out there. When you’re about to give up, you have to pull through and the reward will come. It happened to me many a time... Do you feel like you’re finally getting your reward? 54

That would have to be one of my dear friends, a guy called Homecut. He released an amazing album No Freedom last year featuring Corinne Bailey Rae and he’s an incredible singer, MC, and producer. Not a lot of people know about him so I’d like to Big him Up.

photo by Raynie Vratari

LAZER SWORD My name is Bryant. I go by Low

Hey I’m Lando Kal, one half of

Limit, I’m one half of Lazer

Lazer Sword, and we got to be

Sword along with Lando Kal. I’m

quiet because we are in a library.

originally from Portland, but I

Anyway, I’m from the Bay Area.

lived in the Bay Area for the past

I just spent some time living in

few years, and I just relocated

New York, but I’m back in the

to Los Angeles. I like to make

Bay right now, in between homes,

beats and eat cereal. We are in

because I’m moving to Berlin in

the San Francisco Public Library.

September. I’m going to be in

Downtown San Francisco,

Europe for some time and I’m

Civic Center.

excited about it. It’s going to be a nice experience. Why are we in a library? We do a lot of stupid interviews so we wanted to kind of show our intellectual side. It makes us look good.

prepared by Noah Bennett 57

LANDO KAL: So, Most effective cologne? Aqua Di Gio or CK1? LOW LIMIT: Oh. Aqua Di Gio. Definitely. It’s what gets the ladies going. LOW LIMIT: The future of Lando’s hair? LANDO KAL: Well, I keep changing it up a lot, but I’m kinda feeling a flat top right now, but I haven’t ruled out dougie braids. LOW LIMIT: Describe the first ten minutes of a typical Lando morning? LANDO KAL: Let’s see, lately I have been getting up, checking my email on my cellphone, and then get a glass of water, and then jump on the treadmill for about 20 minutes or half an hour. Then answer more emails, and then start making some beats. LANDO KAL: Favorite city you’ve played? LOW LIMIT: The favorite city I’ve played is probably Portland. It’s my hometown and pretty much every time we’ve played there it’s been a lot of energy and my mom comes out almost every time and a lot of growing up homies and old friends come through. It’s good times, great crowd. Having my mom show up at the club was a little odd the first few times. But she generally likes being there, she knows all my friends, she’s kind of the cool mom in many ways. She fits very well, and I expect that when I come to Portland my mom is going to be there. It’s pretty rad. Sometimes I give her shout outs on stage.

Having my mom show up at the club was a little odd the first few times. But she generally likes being there, she knows all my friends, she’s kind of the cool mom in many ways. LOW LIMIT: What’s the best Quasimoto song? LANDO KAL: There are a lot of really good Quasimoto songs. I think I’m going to have to go with “The Unseen”; it’s one of my favorites. I listen to it repeatedly. It has one of the best eerie samples and it stays in your head. It’s kind of addictive. The whole first album is the best thing ever. Everyone loves it: kids, mothers, old people... everyone. LANDO KAL: What kind of costumes have you worn on stage? LOW LIMIT: We’ve had some good costumes in the past. Lando dressing as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and I was dressed up as a Jesus medallion a couple years back. As for the future, we could do other things. I think it would be really good if we dressed up as the ninja turtles. That would be a pretty nice one, we’d each have our different weapons. Lando would be Donatello, ‘cause he’s the tall one, and he’s got the flippy stick. I’d probably be Raphael with the psis, shoot them out towards the crowd. Lando pulled off a pretty good Lionel Ritchie. LOW LIMIT: What is your favorite vocalist on the album? LANDO KAL: I’m going to have to go with Zackey Force Funk. Because he came out with some semi different stuff than his usual work. The first part of the song sounds like some Michael Jackson shit, which is really cool. It works really well, it’s perfect for the song we did. I know he had fun with it and we definitely did too. He talked about machines and dating robots. Zackey Force Funk is a dude from Arizona who likes to play weird synths, sing through five dollar microphones, and make weird new wave music. The name of the song is “Machine.” The song itself is a mixture of some kind of weird Detroit techno, electro with a freestyle boogie part. Zackey definitely matched and melted to the song very well. LANDO KAL: What is your favorite vocalist on the album? LOW LIMIT: My favorite track with vocals... Uh, Zackey Force Funk, most definitely. He really laced the track, it’s a different style for us and 58

for him and it really came together. I’m pretty proud of how it came out. He might have been caught off guard when we first send him the track to work with, but he came through with flying colors.

Sometimes live art is a big distraction to us. I mean I understand it, and it’s also an art in itself, but I think there is a time and a place for painting and a time and a place for watching or performing music. LANDO KAL: How’s living in Los Angeles been? LOW LIMIT: Living in LA has been great so far. I have been there for just over two months now. I live downtown, which is pretty unique. All the people that I know who live in LA don’t live downtown, it’s kind of like no man’s land. Weather is incredible, and everyone has been really great and warm. I really enjoy the community aspect of what’s going on, the circle I’m involved in out there. I have quite a few contacts and friends there, but I didn’t expect the hospitality and community to be at the level it is. It’s nice to be able to go to places like Low End Theory, it’s such a good place to see the beat scene happen. We’ve got a lot going on in San Francisco too, but LA is massive and the epicenter of that stuff. It’s nice being there and witnessing it first hand. We had to get a car shortly after we moved, and waiting in traffic sucks. LOW LIMIT: Can live art be done right? LANDO KAL: That is a doozy of a question right there. Um, live art... You know what? Live art it’s a tricky one. People tend to like to paint while we play and even do it on stage and we kind of ask ourselves, “is it a good look or is it not?” Generally we say, it’s not. Because we feel that most people that come to shows are there for the music, for the audio, and to get down and dance. Sometimes live art is a big distraction to us. I mean I understand it, and it’s also an art in itself, but I think there is a time and a place for painting and a time and a place for watching or performing music. So... can live art be done right? Yes, but if it’s in a gallery, and people come specifically to see the live art, and not necessarily an artist painting or illustrating at a live club party.

...a lot of people using the same synthesizer sounds and VSTs and it takes time to find something unique that stands out, something that is sharp and solid enough to be memorable and help the track. LANDO KAL: What’s your next purchase for the studio, pimpin? LOW LIMIT: I’m almost certain I’m going to purchase a synth of some kind. I’ve sold my previous one, which was a Minimoog. I’ve been using software VTS and I really enjoy it. But I really like working outside the computer quite a bit. I just moved so I don’t have a huge amount of money to buy stuff with. But soon I’d like to buy a Juno or something analog with a lot of knobs, because I like to turn knobs. My favorite VST is the ARP 2600 right now. I use it quite a bit actually. I could spend hours working on finding the right sound on synthesizer. There’s a lot of electro music and a lot of people using the same synthesizer sounds and VSTs and it takes time to find something unique that stands out, something that is sharp and solid enough to be memorable and help the track. It takes time... What was the question? LANDO KAL: Are you going to miss me in Berlin? LOW LIMIT: I’m going to miss you buddy. I been missing you already. Nah, I mean Lando has been in NYC for a year and a half. We play a lot of shows together, so every weekend we see each other. Our frequency of hangouts will be more limited when Lando is in Berlin.

photo by Michael Mann

photo by Raynie Vratari

interview by Noele Lusano

We plan to do quite a bit of European touring, so yeah I’ll miss you, but I’ll be seeing you. LANDO KAL: Yeah, I’m going to miss you too. It’s always fun hanging out, kicking it, and geeking out on music. Before the music we were friends, but things got pretty quick with the music. It basically took me being homeless and having to sleep on your couch for a while. We met through mutual friends and the music thing became an everyday thing. LOW LIMIT: I feel like by definition we were in a band before we were in a band. Before we started to figure out shows together, shortly after we met each other, we realized how much of a similar interests we had. And production styles were so similar that we were building a lot together. Lando used to work at Amoeba records and prior to us meeting when I first moved to the Bay I started seeing him there behind the counter ringing me up, and he’d be like, “that record, that’s a good one!” And I was like, “this guy knows his shit!” Now we are chilling at the library!

Before the music we were friends, but things got pretty quick with the music. It basically took me being homeless and having to sleep on your couch for a while. LANDO KAL: It really just became natural. There wasn’t a specific point of time to where we were a band or not a band. It mainly came down to working out a game plan with a live set up, putting what we do in the studio as a live perspective. Started playing small venues throughout San Francisco and after a while you could say that we both pretty much quit our day jobs. Our first show was at Madrone? LOW LIMIT: Maria from Tigerbeat6 put us on our first show as Lazer Sword. It was really underdeveloped at that time. We essentially consisted of me playing loops off of Serato (this was right when Serato came out) and Lando had a 303 and a Kaoss pad. We didn’t know what we were doing. It was all over the place. We played with some rock bands, and I remember the party turned out pretty good and us being just as shocked as the crowd was. That was the warehouse spot with no windows and no ventilation; and the cops came. They wouldn’t bust it, but they locked the only entrance door... So there were like 400 people stuck in this club, forced to witness Lazer Sword. LANDO KAL: And from then on out it was all said and done.

It was really underdeveloped at that time. We essentially consisted of me playing loops off of Serato [...] and Lando had a 303 and a Kaoss pad. We didn’t know what we were doing. It was all over the place. LOW LIMIT: Most memorable NYC experience?

LANDO KAL: There were a lot of memorable experiences out there, but one of them was when we played an after party with Machinedrum, aka Travis Stewart. We played at this PS1 party for like three-four hours for a good 500 people at this kind of elevated balcony thing, and it was a blast! We had a really good time, it felt special. It was the first week I moved there too. It was looking live... New York is the best, especially rooftop parties.

music career. Don’t know what it is, there is something in the water in Denver. They invite us back every couple of months consistently. It’s a nice place to be, it’s pretty flat, high elevation, good backstage snacks... Could do something about the live art, but we love you Denver!

[The cops] wouldn’t bust it, but they locked the only entrance door... So there were like 400 people stuck in this club, forced to witness Lazer Sword.

photo by Raynie Vratari

LOW LIMIT: Whom would you like to Big Up? LANDO KAL: You know, I’d like to big up Nate. He is the guy who runs Innovative Leisure, which is the label that our full length is being released on, November 2nd. He has been helpful for quite some time, pretty much stands behind any kind of decisions or needs we have as far as releasing music and licensing music out. He is definitely the biggest help for us for sure.

LOW LIMIT: Ideal backstage snacks? LANDO KAL: Yum! You know actually one of the long going jokes that we have had for things to put in our rider for our shows is demanding Capri Sun drinks. We have actually gotten it a couple times. Which is pretty funny. Capri Suns are a childhood drink that both me and Bryant grew up drinking. And yeah, we just enjoy them. We drink other things; we drink beer, we drink whiskey, what have you, but an extra Capri Sun backstage is always nice. We’ve gotten an assortment of different things. We like pita chips, hummus, guacamole, pirates booty popcorn, you know. Fruit roll-ups. It’s a melting pot though. We can’t complain, ‘cause free snacks are even better snacks. LANDO KAL: How many times have we played Denver? LOW LIMIT: We’ve played Denver certainly more than any other city outside of San Francisco in our entire

LOW LIMIT: Definitely have to big up the whole San Francisco posse that put us in the mix from the get go. Our man Shane King from Hacksaw and Gary Rivera – the OG dudes, DJ Swayzee, our old roommate Ghosts on Tape, DJ Dials, he’s alright; Shouts to Bogl, our man Salva, Epcot, Frite Nite crew; Benji Mophono, Change the Beat crew. Disco Shawn for sure, Icee Hot crew, Rollie fingers. Shouts to Big Up magazine. We’d like to big up Big Up magazine. LOW LIMIT: Extended big ups to the Montreal homies – Sebatsion and Hovatron, Megasiod, Lunice, Subtitle, who lives in Berlin now, the whole LuckyMe family, Ballers, Dom, Tom at Fabric, Terrence...

BIGUP YOUR LABEL For two decades, Ninja Tune has been consistently delivering nothing less than quality music from solid producers for the listeners who care about what sounds good. Independently. That in itself is a major accomplishment that deserves a huge Big Up. Today, when Ninja Tune is celebrating the long life of the underground, we are speaking with Jeff Waye, aka Ghostbeard, who has spent 15 years in the status of the labelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Oracle, heading up North American operations, and has got lots of wisdom to share...

Ninja Office 2010 photo by Martin LeSanto Smith

So Jeff, you’ve been with the label for what 14-15 years now? What were the best things that happened with the label since then? Aside from me joining? Haha! But yes... 15 years now. I think the fact we’re still here says a lot. Times have been rough for others but we’ve made it through and still exist as champion example of stubborn independence. And roster has diversified a lot...

...And really, you’re a fool to work in music and think you’re going to be rich. To point it’s pretty hard to peg us with much more of a label than “good music” (well depending on taste I guess... but fuck those other people). Also branching out further into publishing and management has meant a secure stable position in today’s climate.

Elaborate a bit on “stubborn independence” please. There was a time in late 90s where a lot of calls came through, lots of talks of offers, partnerships, etc... Remember that was “electronic music will save us all” time. We avoided all that, kept all our control in house, and wherever possible have been in complete control of all aspects of business world-wide. That is a strategy that has us working about five more hours a day than is usually humanly possible, but ultimately is more rewarding and less stressful than dealing with people whose only concern is bottom line. Trust me, we do a lot of shit that’s not so bottom line friendly, but is ultimately awesome... And really, you’re a fool to work in music and think you’re going to be rich. If it happens, great! But I could be making a whole lot more elsewhere. Besides that “other” world scares me. I like my bubble. What is it that you do at Ninja Tune besides being awesome?

I currently advise and oversee on North American operations. But primarily these days I look after our publishing division and handle some bits of A&R along with other people at label. I work closely with The Bug, Poirier, Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, and some others. I used to be label manager also for US/CDN but that’s a young man’s sport. Says the guy who’s only 39. So you’re obviously doing it for the love. Yeah, all stress aside I still totally love this. I mean really... It feels like getting away with something, to still be living some extended teenage fantasy this long.

It feels like getting away with something, to still be living some extended teenage fantasy this long. Lucky you! I’m curious about your outlook on other music labels. I like all sorts of other music labels... I am talking about good music labels.

Well, when there’s time... (Laughs) 63

Ninja Staff and Artists 2000 photo by Martin Holtkamp

Let’s talk about the labels that have been around about the same time. And how you see the whole music industry change as influenced by these record labels. Well from the early mid 90s electronic field... It’s a bit of a graveyard, isn’t it? For you anyway. But us and Warp seem to be prime examples of labels that played it smart and stayed around to see 2010 as 64

still musically relevant. Obviously loads of other good ones outside that: Merge, Touch & Go, Drag City, Thrill Jockey. Beggars are an Indie juggernaut that I have loads of respect for. Domino also. What was the “play it smart” part for you? Not get too stupid with spending. Not believe hype. Respond to demand rather

You can love or hate us, but I wouldn’t accept a criticism that we were ever disingenuous. then pushing shit down people’s throats. And just musically only putting out what we wanted to, whether it was trendy to do

so at the time or not. You can love or hate us, but I wouldn’t accept a criticism that we were ever disingenuous. Are you involved in signing new artists to the label? To a degree yes, but it’s not my main job. Recent ones I’ve brought in are The Bug, Poirier, and most recently Eskmo. I’m very curious about that bit. What is it that you’re looking for when choosing the talent? Do you just trust your gut, or is it something you think over and discuss with the team for a while? We’re really looking for things that are relevant to our current label thinking, but it also needs to sound fresh and put a new spin on things. And we’re trying not to overload of too much of one thing... I mean, the amount of ragga influenced dubstep stuff I get sent after doing Bug Poirier is huge. A lot of it’s really good, but with Toddla T just joining the label I’d say we already have three of the best on lock. So don’t really need much more unless they can prove they’re better.

I would love nothing more than to sign R Kelly. If only to spend my days in the enviable position of just saying yes to all the crazy shit he delivers. There are a few people in label fold that have weight in making a cut, so it’s never just one person’s decision. It’s a good filter system. Trust me. All staff together is a serious collection of record nerds. It keeps some of the outside tastes in check. I mean, hey, if I could convince everyone that a black metal sub-label was a good idea I’d be thrilled, but it’s probably not going to happen. If you were to name an ultimate Ninja Tune all time anthem, what would it be? Roots Manuva “Witness (One Hope).” There’s a lot of jams in the catalog, but the first bars of that track will still start any party, anywhere... “generate g’s and then we stash em in the swiss”... Indeed. If Ninja Tune were to sign one of the mainstream artists that’s out there right now who would it be? I would love nothing more than to sign R Kelly. If only to spend my days in the enviable position of just saying yes to all the crazy shit he delivers. “So the chorus is about how I make ladies yodel when I get with them... It’s sort of like that other jam from my last album about how they make monkey noises when I get with them... but different.” You can’t A&R that guy. That genius can’t be contained. Whom would you like to Big Up? That guy who used to show up to Ninja Tune shows in a full foam rubber Ninja Tune logo outfit. Somehow his picture didn’t make the XX Book, but he’s a legend. And coffee. One of the unspoken heroes of the Ninja Tune saga.

Evolution of Ninja Tune logo

MUSIC REVIEWS Darkstar North [Hyperdub]

It’s challenging to remember the last time that an album was as mesmerizing upon first listen as Darkstar’s North. Droning synths, white noise, piano, guitar and ethereal vocals create a complex atmosphere that’s rarely heard in modern music. The classic Darkstar duo of James Young and Aiden Whalley are joined by the vocalist James Buttery on this 40-minute voyage through caverns, rolling fog, and outer space. Prepare to be captivated by this album. Throughout, voice is used as more of an instrument than a lyrical tool, due to its heavy processing that adds to the very original feel of the work. The result ends up feeling like a soundtrack to a film Noir.

words by Stephen Floor

From the opening chords of “In The Wings” you know something special is about to happen. Up second is “Gold,” a catchy single that’s an interpretation of a Human League song played at 33rpm instead of 45, with a driving beat, uplifting piano and romantic vocals. The third track “Deadness” is when the album hits its stride with tastefully chopped percussion, eerie vocals and a guitar melody that combines with a backdrop of dissonant synths to close. Emotional music.

The title track “North” is well deserved of capturing the album’s name, where washed out percussion and anti-color synths serve as the backdrop to Buttery’s ghostly singing. The instrumental “Ostkreuz” sits in between two prime cuts as a bit of a breather from the tension surrounding it, with a sound that can best be described as meditative. “Dear Heartbeat” is the apex in my book with its combination of piano, sharp synths and an off-kilter beat backing lyrics about love. The closing track “When Its Gone” finishes the album handsomely with an intro of strings into a downtempo, bleepy song with accordion and droning trumpet sounds that closes repeating “I won’t forget you,” which is surely true of this masterpiece of an album. North brings to mind the recent signing of Pursuit Grooves by Pinch for Tectonic, when he said that despite being a departure from the label’s sound it was just so good that he had to sign it. This release is a bit of a departure for Hyperdub, but if kode9 has taught me anything it’s to trust in his selections. Hyperdub isn’t about genre, fashion or popularity, it’s about good music. This one recommended if you like Sigur Ros, The Postal Service, or The Album Leaf.

Eskmo Eskmo [Ninja Tune] You Have Got to Listen With this self-titled release on the celebrated Ninja Tune label, Eskmo has perfected his signature lumbering crunch and elevated his sound even further into the beyond. Eskmo floats above this earth, but not so high to be out of reach; instead the album pulls the listener up into the sky to dance together amidst the gossamer veil between worlds.

words by Shilo Urban

Like the soundtrack to a long-forgotten myth, Eskmo is a sonic translation of the ancient wisdom of enlightened beings from another realm. The painfully beautiful single “Cloudlight” opens the album, dripping with depth and staked down with a serious, straight-eyed stare. Acutely uplifting and incredibly poignant, this meaningful ode sets the tone for the otherworldly story that is to come. Less lugubrious is “Moving Glowstream,” which achieves a sense of urgent adventure inside a clanking

bag of found sounds, while “We Have Invisible Friends (Washed Mix)” becomes almost sprightly as it climaxes, hushing away quickly into a still and soothing pool. Other tracks like “Become Matter Soon, For You” are murkier with a metallic groove- yet rather than being sinister or foreboding, the darkness is benevolent, like footprints on shadowed moss, the stones of a crumbling temple or a spellbound forest where only those of impure heart need be afraid. Eskmo is music for your third eye. Between the enchanting vocals, druggy bass slumps and crystalline pieces of sky, the album still has plenty of open space to stretch your thoughts. Whether Eskmo is a seer or perhaps just a messenger from a more evolved consciousness, his beats of primordial certainty will haunt the dreamer and awaken her to a new vision from an old, old world.

Lazer Sword Lazer Sword [Innovative Leisure] Bi-coastal production duo Low Limit and Lando Kal have been dropping future-infused “blap bass” for years as the magnificent team-up called Lazer Sword. Originally based in San Francisco their live shows have become things of legend. Using a mixture of studio tunes and live onthe-fly remixing and improvisation, their sound is their own, falling in between hip-hop, street bass, electro, dubstep, blap, glitch, all merged to create an amazing live show. There is no one way to describe what they sound like, aside from “awesome.” Thank the gods they have committed 15 tracks to create a fantastic LP that will be on repeat for a very long time! Many dance records fall prey to just being a collection of tracks, unlike this LP, which you need to listen from beginning to end and be pulled into its world, just like an album of old. Track 1 “Tar,” sounds like the booting up of an old NES game, you feel the power up until the creep of the beat comes in rolling to synths like a soundtrack to some 80s sci-fi flick, embracing you in

head-nodding goodness. Each track builds and features some unexpected element of dance music or hip-hop, all familiar but now shown through a psychedelic, electronic eye. The progression and beat construction is solid, the atmospherics are smooth – all holding the theme of future party music. My personal favorites are “Tar,” “Def Work,” “Owl Tats,” “Cosmic Ride” featuring Myka Nyne, and the final track “Beast Reprise,” a sweet symphony of synths and the final curtain call to a solid showcase. Also featured are vocals from “Turf Talk,” Zackey Force Funk, and M. Sayyid. Absolutely have to mention the album art by future retro artist Kilian Eng. So perfect and breathtaking, one must see the final vinyl gate fold to fully appreciate its sickness. After seeing Lazer Sword perform for years, it delights me that they can recreate what they do live as a solid buy on sight LP.

words by Sam Supa

Flying Lotus Pattern+Grid World [Warp] for earth, and disseminating them amongst the populace in the form of his music. His latest EP, Pattern+Grid World, off the Warp label, is another one of those rare treats that make you feel lucky to be alive during these strange times. This seven-track EP opens with “Clay,” a warm, enveloping sonic bubble bath that gently welcomes you back into Mr. Ellison’s visions. Immediately following this though is what seems to be a direct retaliation to what could only be described as the “FlyLo sound,” in the song sardonically labeled “Kill Your Co-workers.” The upbeat, bright feel of quantized drum machines combined with blatant synth work reminiscent of chip-tune, coaxes the listener deeper into the subtly sinister nature of this album. Most people familiar with underground music, and more specifically the LA abstract beat scene, are definitely familiar with Flying Lotus. With a style that lives like a squatter on the outskirts of anything resembling a genre, Steven Ellison has built quite a successful career out of living on the fringe, capturing extra-dimensional transmissions never meant

Not all is well here, we now know. Yet we feel compelled to dig deeper, compelled to leave the safety of the campfire circle, and off into the wild we go. Deeper into the dark forest of Flying Lotus’ beats, we find tracks that are obviously influenced by recent cross-pollination from the UK. Tracks like “Pie-Face” bring Lucky Me

and Kuedo-style bleeps and synths into the forefront of it’s spectral palette, While “Time Vampires” and “Jurassic Notion/M Theory” bring you back to the dark, cold wild, with their repetitive, almost tribal rhythms – goading you to transgress further into the unknown. Something stares back at us in the silent darkness of Steven Ellison’s wilderness. We are not alone out here. Yet, daybreak has crept over the horizon, in the form of “Camera Day” – a soft landscape of comforting analogue melody and gentle textures. This, combined with the shimmering atonal synths from “Physics For Everyone!” that caress your eardrums like crystaline rain falling from the skies of Neptune, bring our journey to an end. Pattern+Grid World is a neo-shamanic quest, into the dark forests of a jilted, astral realm inhabited by a variety of auditory hallucinations and spectral creatures, that can only be accessed by Flying Lotus. words by Aaron Zimmermann

Future Bass [Soul Jazz] London-based Soul Jazz Records describe their new compilation Future Bass as: “Future music! Future Bass! Post-Dubstep, Post-House, Post everything!” If this is the case, the future certainly looks bright for music. Soul Jazz turned to some well-known producers, as well as more underground up and comers to craft this collection of dubstep-influenced music. Surprisingly, the one thing lacking from Future Bass is, well, the bass. Soul Jazz told listeners to expect something new and perhaps this more trebly approach, with scattered beats and restrained bass, is a response to the bass-heavy wobble of dubstep, or, maybe it really is the future. Either way, the listener benefits from the experimentation and selection found on this record. Future Bass is filled with great tracks, but this isn’t just a singles collection. Sequencing was clearly a priority for this project, which has the flow and continuity of a solid album. The second half of the LP progresses particularly well, but all 13 tracks play out like a solid mixtape. In a scene dominated by 12-inch singles, it’s refreshing to hear a well crafted record start to finish. Opener “Don’t Let Me Go,” Mala’s contribution to the mix, sets the tone for much of the music, kicking off with a solid beat and a seemingly chaotic, yet somehow melodic synth line. This is all underscored by a droning accordion sample that brings a fresh dynamic and edge to the track. Another key moment follows. Four Tet’s “Nothing To See” is hands down the most epic cut on this LP. In typical Four Tet fashion, Kieran Hebden opts for a slowly building track centered on an up-tempo drum loop that finally explodes into a crescendo of bass, synth, and a plethora of other bells and whistles. At 8:49 it’s the longest track on the record, but not a second is wasted. Harry Craze’s “Gone” is another standout track. Craze clearly looked to the past for inspiration, delivering a futurist take on UK Garage and Rave. Craze’s sound selection is tasteful; he mined the best of those scenes and created something fresh and original with “Gone.”

The rest of the cuts on this record mingle and flow like a solid night at the club. Untold’s “Fly Girls” starts as a sparse, minimalist track, eventually building into an uproarious mixture of pounding bass and scattershot synth. Like “Nothing To See,” Untold uses the same juxtaposition of a rainy sample layered over club-ready rhythms, creating a new aesthetic. “Fly Girls” transitions seamlessly into Coki’s “Random,” which, given this “future sound” we’re being introduced to, might strike some as a random choice. “Random” is the most traditional dubstep track on the LP. With it’s wobbly bass and grinding synth lines, “Random” wouldn’t seem out of place at a London club two years ago. This contrast is what makes “Future Bass” so appealing – in order to appreciate this new sound the listener must remember where they’re coming from. That’s not to say that Coki’s track isn’t great, because it is, it’s simply the most bass heavy, down tempo cut on the album, harkening back to the grimy days of dubstep. Although Soul Jazz’s Future Bass tends to lack said fundamental instrument, it contains 13 solid tracks that have the ebb and flow of a great record. Tracks like Randomer’s “Puzzled” perfectly showcase the scene’s new aesthetic – sparse intros that build into orchestras of noise, paired in contrast with dreamy, yet sometimes chaotic synthesizers layered over an up tempo beat. Randomer’s ability to mix all these seemingly disparaging elements together and throw them over a solid rhythm section is what makes these tracks the “future,” and it’s found on every cut of the album. With tracks from a wide range of producers, including Ramdanman, Black Chow, LD, V.I.V.E.K., Ginz, Distal, Sub Version, and the others mentioned, Future Bass delivers on its post-everything promise 13 times over.

words by Sean Sanders

Shed The Traveller [Ostgut Ton] We’ve seen a fair amount of output from René Pawlowitz over the last year or two, namely under his guises as STP, EQD and Wax. Here he makes a welcome reappearance as Shed, following up 2008’s masterful Shedding the Past with another round of sonic sophistication. The elegant electronics of The Traveller lovingly recall a glimmering old world of techno sighted through a decidedly modern lens – in places we hear strains of Detroit, in others bygone cuts of Warp, always underpinned by Shed’s trademark finesse. Though The Traveller feels less engineered for the dancefloor than much of his work, Shed’s identity as modern techno mainstay remains front and center. Ecstatic energy, when it is present, is potent and controlled, tempered by an array of more cerebral, reflective interludes. Indeed, this is a formula that conjures the faceted experience of travel, of time and space both. It’s at its most realized in “Atmo-Action,” where propulsive electricity summons the image of night trains speeding fervently into some unknown expanse, easily a Reload lost track with its spacious beats and warm vintage analog.

“Mayday” is equally evocative, its lethargic time signature and astral bell chimes the only characters to be found in this abyssal otherworld (I can’t help but think of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack here) – Shed picks up the pace around the halfway mark, though, the result sounding very much a sequel to Autechre’s brilliant rework of Stereolab’s “Refractions In The Plastic Pulse.” Meanwhile, the ghosts of Deepchord and Tim Hecker hang on the airy, degraded crackle of the title track; the pixelated fanfare of “Leave Things” sounds like the end music to the most ornate role-playing game to date. These sonic memoirs weave a sublime exploration of past and present, inevitably referential in nature, but as much as Pawlowitz’s affections are broad, he’s cleverly self-aware. It takes marked skill to avoid straying into some nostalgic cheese-zone, particularly within a genre that’s long carried with it romantic notions of past. words by Noele Lusano

Robot Koch, Mexicans With Guns, Mux Mool, Alex B, Free the Robots Friends of Friends Volume 3 [FoF] Friends of Friends is a record label with a Difference. Rather than buying into the mass consumerism of the music scene, Friends of Friends believe to have a unique perspective. Using all avenues of communication available to them, they aim to create a vibe between the producers, fans, record shops, and collaborators to provide a quality product that remains memorable and relevant. A recent release of theirs featuring Daedelus and Jogger was sold as a 100% organic cotton shirt with hand drawn artwork by an artist invited by the two producers. The shirt came with a download card for the album and exclusive remixes unavailable elsewhere. The card itself was made of seed paper, which you could pot, and a little plant would grow! But aside from genius marketing, what’s the music like? Friends of Friends vol.3 is the third installment of an ongoing split release series. Each release has two producers contributing three tracks each, and then a further remix of each track by a friend of the producer. In this case, we have remixes from the likes of Mux Mool, Free the Robots, Lunice, Salva, Alex B and King Cannibal. The original tracks are brimming with originality and genre surf between crunk, breaks and dubstep. While the remixes do justice to the originals, there are some very credible and creative touches that stray well away from the original concept.

There really are no weak tracks, but a few stand taller than others. “Icaros” slowly develops from jungle atmospherics (actually the sounds from a rainforest, squarking birds and all) before dropping to a beautifully hypnotic arpeggiation that builds in layers to an ebullient wall of sound. “Dough” featuring Addiquit uses simple elements to great effect. Scatty hi-hats and lo-fi bass help make this feverous and fun to listen to, while the vocal hook “I get that dough bitch” has you crunkin’ moves in your car or bedroom. All the remixes stray far enough from their originals to be called new territory, this amount of diversity is refreshing on a single record. King Cannibal’s approach to “Overnight” ft. Sasha Perera creates a juxtaposition between Berlin style beats and bass (cavernous techno) and the lush vocals by Sasha. All in all, Friends of Friends vol.3 is a well crafted release that showcases the skills and style of two talented producers and their peers. It will be available in both digital and vinyl formats with commissioned artwork by Martin Allais, the vinyl going out on a novel glow in the dark pressing (!), and is sure to be enjoyed in both club and casual environments. words by John Dawson

Dibiase Machines Hate Me [Alpha Pup] Hailing from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, Dibiase has paid his dues and made quite a name for himself in the oversaturated and competitive hip hop and beat scenes. His first full-length album Machines Hate Me is released on the mighty Alpha Pup label and showcases the beat smith’s head-nod inducing sound: a multi-faceted & dynamic arrangement of staggering hip hop beats with a liberal penchant for lofi 8-bit melody. One track (“Circuit Breaking”) even playfully asks ‘what will the future bring from Nintendo’? But Machines Hate Me is not just not just a conglomeration of video game influenced instrumental beats. It’s a carefully crafted fusion of aggressive basslines, nostalgic & soulful cuts from a distant past battling amidst a pixilated video game landscape orchestrated over an infectious boomb-bap swag. The album’s tone is digital yet emotive, and there’s story within the digital code; one of survival, diligence and craft. A story of a man, his environment and his machines, be it a Nintendo or an MPC. Listening to this albums actually feels like you‘re witnessing Dibiase play live on his 404, with improvised effects and

switch-ups typical to a live performance. The album opener “Eternia” sets the album mood and immediately greets the listener (literally, there’s no intro) with humanized percussions and a 8-bit melody riddled with attention-deficit pauses, segues and scattered delays: welcome to Dibiase’s world. “Phantom Power” uses muffled synths, minimized drums and digitalized and manipulated samples to create a devious and playful tone, while “Lumberjack” uses eerie and jagged soulful vocals to manipulate with improvised effects and segues. Though a majority of these tracks might elude to an overall digitized feel to this album, other tracks such as the oneric “Three Way Mirrors” lulls us with it’s flute, with just enough of those trademark Dibiase stalls, washy effects and breaks to keep us from drifting too far away. Remember how much you liked hip hop before you found ______ (dubstep/ jungle/wonky/glitch/electro/funky/ aquablob)? In a post-genre world where the imitation is the highest form of punkary and experimentation is highly advised, it’s time to revisit an old flame with new ears. words by Sara Ajiri

Truth Puppets [Aquatic Lab] The latest album from Truth reveals fifteen engaging and original tracks, accomplishing a fine collection well worth squeezing into your listening agenda. Puppets, out this summer on Aquatic Lab, thrives with musically rich compositions, expressive vocals, and dramatic sounds blended together with Truth’s famous powerful basslines. What more would you expect from New Zealand’s most inspiring dubstep trio? The album creates a perfect vignette, vividly capturing the current styles of Andre Fernandez, Tristan Roake, and Julian Van Uden. By opening with “Burglar” (one of Truth’s notorious and crowd-ravishing anthems), the message is clear – you are definitely in for a ride. From the spooky film-esque narrative of “Dead Silence” and “Don’t Explain” to the funked-out lowrider bass wars of “Invaded!”, this album is exploding with imagery, not to mention several dance floor and airwave gems rinsed by some of dubstep’s most renowned players.

Half-way through Puppets, “Legion” pierces with a sharp and much appropriate message about finding “truth.” Is truth reality, or is it perception? Take a listen and find out what they think. To make sure all ears are saturated in the world of Truth, “Masters of the Stars” injects a proper brain rewiring theremin mid-album that brings on quite a delicious hypnotic state of mind. If you made it this far, there’s no turning back. I will offer one advisory however: the thick, damp basslines of “Juno” may cause uncontrollable drooling. No need to feel embarrassed if this happens, as Truth holds the magic to bring out the animal in all of us. So with that all said, open up, sink into the minds of New Zealand’s finest, enjoy your savage side, and tap into the truly creative spirit of Puppets.

words by Ivy Something

Benny ill/J.King Kosmic 78/Lithium Soular [DEEP MEDi MUSIK] Benny ill and J. King, members of Horsepower, come together under their own solo names for a special release on Deep Medi. Horsepower is arguably responsible for the entire dubstep genre originally. The collective has always stayed true to their sound and this release is no exception. “Kosmic 78” is a tantalizing tune, which takes you on a journey from start to finish. Riding on a sci-fi trip is probably the best way to describe this track. It captures you with well-placed samples and pulls you into an intricate eerie sound that blasts you to outer space. The B-side “Lithum Soular” is a dark horror theme rhythm that creeps up solely. Turn the lights off and embrace the evil bass line of this monster. This creates the perfect feel for the upcoming Halloween holiday. The release spotlights some of the pioneers of the dubstep sound and you can always count on Deep Medi delivering some of the most original beats around. Also be sure to YouTube the two music videos put together for this 12” release by Benny ill, J. King, and Wicked Wax Pictures. words by Afro Monk

Peverelist/Hyetal The Hum/rrrr [Punch Drunk] Punch Drunk Records, born out of the “Rooted Records” music store run by Peverelist, have been supporting new and innovative producers for four years now. The label has a habit of releasing progressive tracks that illuminate the dubstep banner in a completely different light. With artists like RSD, Pinch and Gemmy signed, and trend setting tracks like “Erstwhile Rhythm & Jah Way” on wax, Punch Drunk are worth hearing out. This release is a collaboration between label boss Peverelist, and Hyetal, a gifted and colourful Bristolean. Both artists have individually achieved as producers and received support from Radio 1’s Mary Anne Hobbs and Electronic Exploration’s Rob Booth in the past, so a lot maybe expected of these tracks. These producers have a style that lays importance on progression and melodic content, effectively demonstrated here.

The A side, “The Hum” has tribal percussion with subtle rolling Bongo’s and pitch-bent synth stabs leading to a drop that multiplies these elements’ intensity. The B side, “rrrr” explores different territory, comprising of fewer elements. The track builds from minimal vibes. It’s not till half way through that any melody seems to take shape, in the form of descending 8-bit sounds and heavy pads. Both tracks imply compromise on the part of both producers, lacking epicism, but retaining both quality and content.

words by John Dawson

V.I.V.E.K Feel It [DEEP MEDi MUSIK] V.I.V.E.K makes his return to Deep Medi for his second release on the label. He surrenders himself to us by pouring pure emotion into these four tracks. He is truly a master of his craft developing a tribal dub and reggae feel throughout this adventure into his mind. The opening track, “Feel It,” is as hypnotic as it gets. The sample, “What we really work on more than anything is a frequency / People do respond to that bottom frequency / People have to feel it” truly captures the overall title of the release and carries along this expedition of low frequency bass. The tune sends piercing bass lines that have any sub reaching out to your heart. “Grandfather Clock” begins with that familiar chime we all know from the enormously large antiques. Once you’ve been captured by the rhythm, a thunderous snare slides in and takes you by storm. The track builds up to a wondrously well-placed drop taking you back into a dream-like melody.

“Motherland” takes you to the subcontinent of India where a female vocal chant sets the mood. Warped dark bass sounds resonate as a flute chimes in. The drum beats roll you to a divine temple with a hookah at your side, belly dancers circling you with hand symbols, and drummers pounding their Tablas. A true masterpiece dedicated to the Eastern culture. “Strategy” closes off this massive release from V.I.V.E.K. This tune brings a quite different feel but fits so perfectly with the other three. He shows a different side of himself with a minimal bass-driven techno song. The synth lines and melodic beats swing together with the perfect amount of bass. The diversity of sounds and rhythm that are captured here send you in a conscious state of awe as it fades away.

words by Afro Monk

Optimum Max Power [Planet µ] Bringing back the synths of the 1980’s in a 2010 style, London’s Optimum has put together an infectious EP for Planet Mu as his first release. Headman Mike Paradinas has been signing more footwork oriented songs lately and this A-side sits between Ikonika and DJ Nate. “Max Power” is driven by funky snares, growling synths, and a warbling (not wobbling!) lead synth that flies around the treble area like a hummingbird. “Crash Riddim” steps up next, where arpeggios run wild over an electro beat. Potential to push a dance into insanity on this. The last song “Lily” stands out with a syncopated beat, thick claps and synths that belong on the soundtrack to Bladerunner. A rumbling bassline holds down the low end underneath an emotive synth melody. The sound of robots crying. This sound brings to mind some of the throwback releases on Rephlex in the late 90s from Cylob & DMX Krew but with some 2010 flavor. Highly recommended.

words by Stephen Floor

Jon Maker Seeker [Mighty Rumble] Jon Maker’s Seeker is the newest offering from UK-based label Mighty Rumble. The original is here along with three remixes, all of them usable DJ tools in their own way. Jon Maker’s original is an adrenaline-charged dance floor stomper, reminiscent of Dirty Bird, minus all the “hey’s” and “uhuh’s.” Fellow “Londoners” Rich NxT and DJ Sonny also do a good job of giving you some quality beats for the club, but it’s Dudley Strangeway’s remix that really stands out with its hypnotic darkness and sci-fi atmospherics that quickly infects and captures the listener for an entire eight minutes. Bit of background on Jon Maker. He’s a classically trained musician who has written for both stage and film, and with everybody from Aldutnapper to Swayzack giving the thumbs up, I think we will be hearing a lot more from JM! words by Martin Collins

Simon/Off Forever/No Pills/On Arrette Tout [Immerse] The Immerse label was launched in 2006 by KidKut with the goal of releasing innovative dubstep with diverse stylistic influences. Over recent years this has tied them to many an exciting new artist, including the likes of XI, Sigha, Kontext and TRG. With a seemingly progressive approach to the sounds released, Immerse tracks have a quality that draws influences from techno, jungle, soca and minimal rhythms bouncing round a dubstep beat.

The A-side opens with “Forever,” laying lush pads over a firm, yet shuffling beat and making it both a driving 4x4 track whilst retaining a natural warmth. The AA holds two tracks. “No Pills” grabs the listener with tribal beats and animal-like samples reminiscent of Roska’s “Squark.” “On Arrette Tout” seems the most reflective track, stripping back the layers to simple melodies, rolling snares and a warm B-line.

New to the label is Austrian producer Simon/Off, who has been experimenting with both analogue and digital production for some time now. The tracks have a precision quality, providing slightly different atmospheres while remaining a whole.

Overall, a well balanced collection of tracks that could slide into deep, funky or dancefloor sets, or be enjoyed on their own merit.

words by John Dawson

DJ Nate Hatas Our Motivation [Planet µ] Juke is the dance fueled relative of ghetto-tech, Chicago house and other Chicago/Midwest inner city electronic offspring. DJ Nate has been making juke footwork tunes for years, in obscurity only known to a few cities and dedicated dancers. At only 20 years young, Nate has caught the attention of the world and Planet Mu who have released his first EP Hatas Our Motivation. Hip hop, jungle, techno devised tracks with sped up soul and hip hop vocal samples are the launch pad for a rich set of tracks that incite dancing. With trance-like qualities DJ Nate makes tunes that hypnotize with 808 kicks and vocal mantras, to give dancers the energy to do work. My favorite tracks are “Ima Burn Him” and “We Can Work This Out.” Clear the couch, move the coffee table, and try not break your neck perfecting your footwork to this great intro to juke and footwork music. words by Sam Supa

Duffstep Know You [Saigon Recordings]

words by Stephen Floor

Cooly G Up In My Head/Phat Si [Hyperdub] Cooly G’s new Hyperdub EP is such a breath of fresh air in a dance music market full of filth. Elements of techno, house, and dub glitter both tunes. “Up In My Head” is a pop feel good piece that has mellow vibes with rich vocal samples that flutter into light percussion. “Phat Si” has a harder percussive drum work that drones into a mesmerizing blaze of rhythm that hits hard, then fades away. Both tunes are a nice combo for any record bag, dance floor, or iPod. I look forward to hearing more from this diverse boundary-breaking woman.

Sitting somewhere between the fertile musical grounds harvested by Von D, Martyn and Sines lies the plot where Jeremy “Duffstep” Duffy has planted his musical seeds. Vocal samples of “I love you” mutated in a garage style sit atop a halftime beat in the A-side “Know You.” The build and release on this is some guaranteed summertime hands in the air business. The beat gets broken on the B-side where the chopped vocals again focus on the subject of love on “No Lies.” The second release on Saigon Recordings, this record is a solid addition to any shuffly or deeper oriented DJ’s bag.

words by Sam Supa

Ruckspin/Jack Sparrow RED004 [Pushing Red] The latest single on Pushing Red from Ruckspin is so hot it might melt the vinyl it’s pressed on, buyer beware. Teaming up with Jack Sparrow yields the shuffly basswise tune “Blessings” where the real blessings come from below on the bassline. The mix on this track is ideal from a dubstep perspective, the sound is spacious, bass heavy, and the percussion is both complex and danceable. At its apex, 4x4 kicks take the tune to a new level which then totally rinses out in the breakdown just to come back again in the second bit. The gem on this personally is the B-side “Shikra” coming from Ruckspin alone. A tense intro builds for the first minute that releases into a techy sound with dot matrix printer stabs and Godzilla-sized, diffuse kicks. Extra percussion comes with the second half to raise the intensity further, that is if you make it that far. This one screams for the wheel. Sitting nicely alongside Pushing Red’s other artists Jus Wan, DJG, F, and Headhunter, this release is one to watch for. words by Stephen Floor

Nate Mars Concentric Circles [Blipswitch Digital] Nate Mars’ debut full length release, Concentric Circles, opens with a track called “Horizon,” which is certainly where this New York-based producer is looking for his inspiration and technique. Mars has rejected the one-drop cliche of dubstep and embraced a more compositional approach, highlighted by the strong collaborations with vocalists heard on the record. Appearances by Juakali, Jahdan, Nika D of Virus Syndicate, Junior Culture, and Sissy give this album a diverse yet consistent voice. Juakali on “Horizon” and “Never the Same” stands out as his rapid fire delivery and thoughtful lyrics add a live dimension to the dark and polished riddims of Nate Mars.

Send all links to music for reviews to musicbox@thebigupmagaizne.com. Or mail CDs, vinyl, tapes, USB sticks, chocolate candies to: Big Up Magazine, PO Box 194803, San Francisco, CA 94119. We love the smell of fresh TPs and the feel of unreleased CDs! 73

The production on the album is excellent, with tracks like “Higher To The Bass” and its dubwize elements, and the dark expressive “Stuck” making a strong and interesting statement. While not produced with the dance floor in mind, many of these tracks are truly sound system worthy. For more of Nate Mars’ work look for Dread Bass Soundsystem – his collaboration with Kush Arora, and Juakali.

words by Ric Baker

Body Suite: American Apparel Pants: Dawning of Our Lives Necklace: Bones & Things and Van Kim Le

74 photo by Leo Matus

TRANS PLANTS You’ll dress only in attire sanctioned by special services. You’ll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you. From now on you’ll have no identifying marks of any kind. You’ll not stand out in any way. Your entire image is crafted to leave no lasting memory with anyone you encounter. You’re a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly. You don’t exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence is your native tongue. You’re no longer part of the System. You’re above the System. Over it. Beyond it. You’re “them.” You’re “they.” You are the Transplants. Men In Black (1997)

All photos by Christopher Kern Photo assistant: Michael Nieland Hair & Make-up: Preston Nesbit Style: Devon Chulick and Catie Nienaber Models: Naeemah (JE Model), Nicholas (JE Model), Paul Bie Special thanks to D-Structure crew.

Jacket: H&M Shirt: Blood is the new Black Pants: Levis Shoes: Doc Martens

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll know tomorrow. Men In Black (1997)

Jacket: Durkl Shirt: Ugmonk Pants: Herlo Shoes: Doc Martens

To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time. When the world was powered by the black fuel. And the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing. They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Tristan is wearing: Supreme Being sweater Leviâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jeans

Sarah is wearing: Supreme Being dress DALM earrings

Paul is wearing: Supreme Being jacket Natures Mistake shirt Gost jeans Nike shoes

Jacket: Alternative Apparel Shirt: Unscripted Pants: Durkl Shoes: The Black Boots

Earth. Even the word sounded strange to me now... unfamiliar. How long had I been gone? How long had I been back? Did it matter? I tried to find the rhythm of the world where I used to live. I followed the current. I was silent, attentive, I made a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand, and perform the millions of gestures that constitute life on earth. I studied these gestures until they became reflexes again. But I was haunted by the idea that I remembered her wrong, and somehow I was wrong about everything. Solaris (2002)

We don’t want to conquer space at all. We want to expand Earth endlessly. We don’t want other worlds; we want a mirror. We seek contact and will never achieve it. We are in the foolish position of a man striving for a goal he fears and doesn’t want. Man needs man! Solaris (1972)

Courtesy of Revolver SF

Shirt: Jeremiah Pants: American Vintage Shoes: Warrior Footwear