Family Tree records is a newly established label aiming to bring you some unique Dubstep sounds. Their first release - TREE-001 - Side Projekt - Lift Dub - is one of the strongest openers we've heard, sending forth a trippy, glitchy, bassy madness that sounds a bit like a fairground ride on acid. A bit. With Mad-Lab favourites Fused Forces pushing a hard remix on the flip, this is not one to miss!
Courtesy of Joe Muggs on FineTunes:
FAMILY TREE is founded by Nikki Acute and Tom Familytree – two very well-connected individuals within the UK scene, now putting the expertise gleaned from promotions and booking into a record label. Experts in nurturing new and established talent, they will be releasing dancefloor-targetted EPs of heavy dubstep and UK garage rhythms, starting with newcomers Side-Projekt and drum’n'bass veterans The Squadron aka Kontrol & OB1 (Metalheadz, Bingo Beats, Renegade Hardware etc).
Swamp 81's been just a taaaad late on their release schedule, but then again we're a taaaaaad late on reporting this. Anyway, their latest release - the big number 11 - Swamp 011 to be exact - Boddika - 2727 EP was released a while back. Giving you 4 tracks on 2x12" in a classy Gatefold sleeve, Boddika - one half of Insta:mental (as if you didn't know that) - is still carrying the torch of the acidy technoey melty nameless genre which Loefah's beloved label is so well representing.
As with all of Swamp 81 releases, they're wax only, so unless you're a vinyl junky, you won't get a chance to own these incredible pieces of music (buy yourself some Techs).
Since it's so damn sunny in London, today we're going to be venturing out of our underground lab/lair thing, and dip our toe in the UK mainstream (kind of). Our grime knowledge is not quite as sharp as we'd like to think, but regardless. Here's the Grime video round up from last year.
Grime King Wiley - notorious for rarely even showing up to his video shoots - has finally shown up to one of his music videos. From his forthcoming album on Ninja Tune's sister label Big Dada (so you know it's going to be good), the remarkably well produced - Numbers in Action.
P Money is lined up to be the next big MC in the UK scene, with some massive releases coming out left, right and center. He joins up with Rinse. FM don Marco Del Horno and Kiss DJ - Swerve.
D Double E, of Newham Generals fame literally spits about half the cast of Street Fighter 4 over samples straight from the game, which is bad as hell. Serious dedication to a sick video game (all about Bison)
True Tiger's developed into a massive label over the past couple years, with Sukh Knight remaining at the helm with plenty of classic tracks that helped push the heavier side of Dubstep (Diesel Not Petrol, Born Invincible). He's on the buttons with P-Money on the mic to bring us this video, featuring a massive Grime cast. We're a bit indecisive as to the direction which True Tiger has taken of late, but regardless, this track is big.
Yes, they're a bit old, so consider it a recap.
P-Moneys next release is coming in the middle of next month, as the foundations of Butterz phase 2 (their launch into instrumental grime) - we'll be putting up an article after the jump.
Fused Forcesare the dynamic duo from Essex, codenamed Moriatti and Adsassin, who have been continuously pushing boundries in the dubstep underground with their productions. In just over 4 years their release number is peaking around the whopping 35 line, with no compromise in quality, as shown by their absolute banger just released on Fent Plates - Bunfire/Power Plant and their joints included in the Mindstep compilation. They've played with top steppas in some of the best clubs in London, had their portraits drawn by the infamous Monsta, messed around with fire extinguishers, and are talking about a US tour. They kicked it in the Mad-Lab to talk about their latest release, their inspirations, and animal fights. Big 'tings.
How did you guys get started with music?
Well, from a young age (1994) both of us listened to Jungle, and were never without our walkmans and pockets full of cassette tapes when out and about! We both joined the same secondary school aged 11 and were in the same class, so soon ended up as pals swapping favourite tapes and chatting about Jungle music everyday! The pop scene never really appealed to us, and most other kids at the time didn't even know what Jungle was! Mixing came about soon after, and in around 2004-5 we eventually started getting into producing.
What's your current setup?
We both have slightly different setups in each of our studios. But collectively we use Reason, Logic and Ableton to produce our tracks. We also have recording facilities for vocalists and MC’s. We both have studio reference monitors running through a USB soundcard into a Apple Mac with various plug-in's & midi controllers. A recent addition to the studio has been a Focusrite Liquid Mix which we are enjoying getting to grips with.
What's the significance of the collective name- Fused Forces, and how did Moriatti and Adsassin translate into it?
The name came about impulsively, and spur of the moment as it goes! It originally came from us both recording a back 2 back Drum n Bass mix on minidisc back in about 99. When it came to writing on the label, Dan just said "We should call ourselves Fused Forces" and that was it! Skip forward a few years (when we started making beats together) and it was time to start properly pushing our music to people. We reminisced about the old minidisc and just went with that name - simple as that really! Our individual names 'Moriatti' & 'Adsassin' have no proper relevance to our collective name to be honest. They’re Just names we were given by friends rather than picked by ourselves! So we just rolled with that... although we don't release music or promote under our solo names at all, it’s all just pushed as Fused Forces.
What's been your greatest influence as musicians?
There's so many, from all sorts of places, key influences though to name a few... Our art teacher Phillip Diggle paid a big part in the way we look at music. And definitely contributed to us being involved in music production! He showed us how to interpret inspiration into art, and it’s the same mechanism when it comes to making our music. He was a clever guy, but he loved a drop of the hard stuff in lesson time! Haha! Our roots originally lay in Jungle/DnB. And producers such as Ed Rush & Optical, Dillinja and the local Ram Records crew had a massive impact on us. As time passed we got into hip hop, then obviously into Grime and Dubstep with all the early producers such as Macabre Unit, Slaughter Mob, Wiley, Hindzy D, Wonder, Lewi White, Skream and Mark One all contributing to shape our sound.
Could you tell us more about the new Fentplates release?
This is a release we are really proud to be onboard with! The response and support has been amazing, so we would like to say thanks to everyone who has supported the release! Over the years, our production has taken various twists and turns but over the past 9 months it has naturally edged its way into the darker, deeper side of Dubstep that we are now pushing forward with. This Fentplates release documents this well, and is a prime example of what's to come from us in the future.
What's the craziest thing that's happened during a DJ set?
There's a few that are definately best kept off the internet, hehe! Although letting off a fire extinguisher into the crowd and Moriatti MC'ing whilst seriously drunk are both up there with the craziest!
What would win in a fight: a bear or a large anaconda?
Haha the amount of conversations and debates we've had over things like this is incredible! After a think over a cuppa tea, gonna go with the bear! Wouldn’t put it past the anaconda taking it though, is a 'tuff one that!
What are the plans for the future?
To continue making, releasing and playing music that we love, more releases in the pipeline planned this year, including some exciting remixes. Our album is ready to drop this year, and we also have a busy gig list for 2011, including a U.S tour possibly lined up. So we're hoping it’s gonna be a fun year!
So here's our resident scientist's entry - all done on sweet, sweet vinyl - into the Outlook Festival competition, in which one lucky winner will win an all expenses paid trip to the legendary festival, as well as a DJ set with the champs and a bunch of Novation tings.
Here. Have a tracklist:
DMZ - Education Icicle - Xylophobia Pinch - Fighting Talk Fused Forces - Bunfire Goth-Trad - 2 Faced Kromestar & Dark Tantrums - Trianglez Silkie - Slow Jam Komonazmuk - Preset Whore Icicle - Minimal Dub Photek - Avalanche Silkie - Wonder DOK - Keep on Making Grime
If you are a DJ and are interested in throwing in your work, take a look at the DJ page -
Butterz are a label that keeps on giving. After a whole range of gifts over the past couple months, Butterz has rereleased the stems of Royal-T's huge song - Orangeade, for us to tinker with.
Here at Mad-Lab - as you can probably tell - we like brains, and Mindstep is a label that has plenty of 'em; it's style really doesn’t require too much explanation: it’s all in the name. Promoting intelligent, deep dubstep, Mindstep releases bring us back to the roots of a genre that evolved so rapidly that it’s core – those deep, bassy, clever rumbles - is too often being overlooked. On top of this it continues to innovate and push the sound, offering a wide variety of styles.
Their first release is candidly entitled “The Compilation” – a 17 track album showcasing the Mindstep sound. This is going to be released exclusively to Beatport on the 18th of this month, and distributed through major retailers on the 2nd of May. On the flip, by which I mean, included - is a mixed version by Mindstep boss man and Rinse.FM DJ - Crises.
In succession to many successful events under the Mindstep moniker, they’re also throwing their first Friday event tomorrow, with an absolutely massive line-up.
For those that aren't good at reading pictures that is:
>Quest (Deep Medi / Anti Social)
>Wonder (Rinse Fm)
>Clairvoyants (Rinse Fm)
>Crises (MindStep / Rinse Fm)
>G Double (MindStep / Rinse Fm)
>Syte (MindStep / Sub Fm)
>Advocate (Resonance / MindStep Music)
>Mileage (We Are Dubist / MindStep Music)
>Pressa (MindStep / Rood Fm)
>Legend4ry (MindStep / Rood Fm)
>Thelem (Orientis Records)
>Kreepah (MindStep Music)
>Crisp (MindStep Music)
Hosts:
>LX ONE (Tempa / Wheel & Deal)
>Sun of Selah (Vintage Dub / MindStep)
So scribble that in your jottas 'cause it's not one to miss.
15.04 - Label launch party
18.04 - Compilation release on Beatport
02.05 - Further release
We'll be doing another feature come the 2nd with the second wave of releases - featuring an interview with DJ Crises, and possibly a Mindstep competition.
Fent Plates are a label established only last October, but already they're bringing big things, securing a strong first wax release by UK underground legends - Fused Forces earlier last month, signing the original Bedford grime crew - Macabre Unit - and bringing out a full length 16-track compilation album for only 4 squid. Label head, Seizure, had a chat with us about all things Fent Plates.
Artists: Fused Forces, Macabre Unit, Box Mouse, Kochari, Blind Prophet, Twitch, Seizure, Gnome, A-List, Macabre Unit, Introspectionist, Gantz, Digital Native
Hey there
Hey man, thank you for having us for a little Q&A!
Could you tell us a bit about the label?
The label started in October 2010 with two main aims. One was to push deep and musical bass music through digital releases and vinyl releases, the other reason was to get under rated artists and and really push their music so that they can get picked up by bigger and better labels. Since we started we have had 9 digital releases, 1 vinyl release and a compilation CD entitled "Evolution" which was given away for free download too. We have achieved a great deal in roughly 5 months, so if this is what we can do in such a small time we hope that in a few years from now our achievements and scope will be huge.
The first vinyl release by Fused Forces is a limited release with only 285 pressed. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
We don't have a lot of finance and we really are a small label so going in to press vinyl is a big step for us. By creating a limited press (meaning it won't get repressed) along with a low quantity, it makes the vinyl collectable along with being 2 sides of serious bass weight. We don't have a P&D deal so financing each release is costly along with also having to personally distribute them to select stores allow us to get the limited release in stores for £5.99. The vinyl has done really well so far with half of the press has been sold. The press is in all good stores such as Chemical, Juno, Redeye & more but if you buy direct from Fent Plates, along with supporting the label directly, we will also pop in a free Evolution compilation CD.
What's the significane of the name?
Ahaha, erm, I personally have no idea. Masen Betts, our graphic designer at the time, designed the upside down fish logo with the name of the label being something to do with fish, but that's a little immature, so keeping the logo everyone in the room shouted out random words and I said "Fent" and that was that really. Bit silly but, oh well!
You're also looking to start a magazine...
When the company started it was a record label and magazine. After developing the magazine aspect and contacting designers and what not it became apparent that it is very difficult to create and seek the correct advertisement along with finding a distributor and financing it all is such a huge job! So instead, we decided to do justice to the music and focus on the record label for now. The magazine was going to be on the Urban arts of Photography, graffiti and street art. At the moment we still want to contribute to the arts scene by acting as an artist and photographer representation agency where we push artists work and gain them some form of publicity. We are at the moment collecting everyones portofolios and will set them up online soon. We hope that one day we can go into magazine manufacturing as we have the idea, the advertisers backing us along with a distribution company, it's just down to allocation of time and money for now.
What does the future hold for Fent Plates?
Along with continued digital releases we have many more vinyl releases in the pipeline along with our own sticker range coming out where each design will have 20,000 stickers made. This will appeal to the street artists out there, I suppose you'd understand why I say that when you see the designs. We are also manufacturing our own Shisha which will be sold in July, slap bang in the middle of summer. We will be pushing lots of new talent and we will be making sure wax is will be going into shops. We will also be doing some Fent Plates events starting with a takeover at the Sheeps bar in Croydon sometime in July. Lastly, we will be getting the merchandise out too, the T-shirts and you have no idea how tempted we are to get mugs made!ahah! So the future is bright and we hope to be on the radar for all of you!
Big ups...
Straight big up to Madlab! Has to be done! Big up to Box Mouse, Kochari, Blind Prophet, Twitch, Gnome, A-List, Macabre Unit, Introspectionist, Fused Forces, Gantz, Quantax, Digital Native, Netrik, Module, Badhair, Basic A, De-Real, J-One, Kiev, Dfaultuzer, Pressa, Phrex, Triggy, Whyrez, Wiggle Baron, Piston Beneath & Forensics. Then I have to big up Mizan & Arif for some of their barring along with the graphic designers and photographers that are Lewis Yates, Masen Betts, Anand Jasani, Eamon Barrett & Benjamin Eddings. I'm sorry if I missed anyone out!
City Limits EP Vol 1.4 marks Silkie's 8th release on Deep Medi, with tracks Wonder and Slow Jam shoved into some beautiful, geometric artwork (omitting the classic caricatures drawn by Deep Medi producer/artist Tunnidge this time).
With Slow Jam maintaining the deep dubby mood that Deep Medi are renown for, Wonder seems to mix in a bit of instrumental grime, bringing forth that 'purple' sound that Silkie's been experimenting with for a while, brought to popularity by Joker a couple years back. Good stuff to be listening to in the UK sun.
A whilst you're on a Silkie vibe, check out his album released last year - City Limits (after which the EP is named).
Bassrael is - among other things - a leading Dubstep DJ and producer in his home nation of Germany. With his first vinyl release - Amsterdub - put on wax last year with over 350,000 views on YouTube and featured on GetDarker TV, as well as plenty of placements in compilations and a radio show on Make.TV, his name is quickly spreading through other nations. He had a word with us about his projects, his influences and the German Dubstep scene.
What's crackin', Bassrael? All good, mate! Winter is gone and I just got a confirmation for two major bookings this early summer at a new party I host.
How did you get started in the German dubstep scene?
I was introduced to the sound by my friend and DJ-buddy Napalm Dread who showed me the legendary Dubstep Warz on MAH Breezblock show in 2006. When I heard Anti-War Dub I fell in love with the sound. It was my first dubstep vinyl and is still one of my favorite tracks. I listened to The Streets, Dizzie and Wiley before but actually played ElectroHouse (Ed Banger, etc) back in 2006. I slowly started to end my sets with some grime and a couple of DMZ singles. I did my first strictly-dubstep set in 2007.
In early 2008 I started my own Livestream-show called Dubby_Terror_Show on Make.tv with my band-mate Chryzla. After my first show I got invited by Penelope from DΓΌsseldorf and we started a monthly party at Pretty Vacant Club. In March 2011 we had our 3rd birthday!
In 2009 LOWmax contacted me and released one of my first Dubstep tunes on his label Biggerdubz (former Barish Rec). Since then I have released another EP on Biggerdubz, a couple of tunes on SubTek from Brighton, Amsterdub on cologne based Basspraesidium Records and three tracks on great free compilations (Subbass / Enough Dubs 2).
Could you tell us a little bit more about it? Nowdays you can find Dubstep in every big city in Germany, I think. Especially last year, it exploded over here. The Wobblizm party in Dortmund started with about 40 people in the crowd; on the first birthday in January 2011 more than 400 people showed up.
I really have to say that most of the people I meet are really great guys with a lot of passion for the music. I'm just happy being a part of some kind of community that's mainly about good vibes. Even though there are a lot of younger people now who want more of the jump up stuff, I still feel comfortable at dubstep parties. I can't go to a hip-hop party any more, for example.
What's one thing about the scene that may be unique? There are lots of parties featuring local artists instead of booking big UK names, which seems a little different to some other countries, I guess. That gives me the opportunity to play out quite a lot.
What are your greatest influences as an artist? I listen to a lot of different music and was happy to get a great musical education from my dad. He's got loads of records, too. He even sometimes DJs with me! I'm influenced by live music and jamming with fellow musicians right know. It's still the original hip-hop vibe for me: each one teach one and that sort of stuff. I really like the community feeling with dubstep, it sometimes feels like back in my hip-hop days.
We highly promote the use of vinyl at the Lab. What's your stance on 'em? I come from a hip-hop background and started DJing & scratching in the late 90s. I've been a vinyl addict since then and buy a lot of records every month. It was one of my dreams to release a record one day and I'm really happy that it finally happened, even if we released and financed it ourself and don't make money with it. As a DJ I tried using CDJs one time to drop some of my tunes in 2009, but didn't like it at all. Vinyl rules, end of story. I do use Serato Scratch though for my own productions and dubs I get sent. It's still a record, though. At my party in DΓΌsseldorf with Penelope we only book strictly-vinyl-DJs, which is really getting hard apparently.
'Amsterdub' has almost 350,000 tunes on youtube! Could you tell us about that? I was asked by a guy called Erik to send him this tune for his YouTube channel DubstepTunez, which quite a lot of people check out, I guess. After just a month there were already more than 100,000 clicks! But only about 20-30,000 views are actually people watching the video. All the other clicks are autoplays when someone checks his channel, he explained. I didn't know that and thought there was something crazy going on ze interwebz. It is so strange because you can still buy the record. It is a very limited vinyl-only release (300 copies). I think it's very strange to have so many views but not many people actually buying the tune. Amsterdub featured on GetDarker
What are your plans for the future? I'm working on a new promo mix and on a live set with some instruments & turntables with my buddies Tourette and Bassador. There are a couple of my tunes forthcoming on Biggerdubz & Subtek and I have some plans with RKNS (Distortured) for a new party in Cologne later this year. I also will be recording an album with my band BOHAI, where i rap & scratch.
Big Ups... Basspraesidium Crew, Penelope, LOWmAX (Biggerdubz), SubTek Rec, Bukez Finezt, rkns, DJ Foster (Sub.FM), Darkside, Dubby_Terror_Show Crew, BonnBetterKnow Crew, all the promoters & Djs who booked me and all the heads.
Despite fabric posting it on their site on the 1st of April, it's not likely to be a joke. Jackmaster is next in line to fly the FabricLive banner, making him the 57th name on the expansive roster. Combine this with his new Rinse.FM spot, and he's set for some big things in the future. Sharing his Scottish ancestry with the likes of Kode9, Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, and plenty others, earlier this year saw Jackmaster combining his labels - Dress 2 Sweat and Wireblock - with Glaswegian dance giant, Numbers. There aren't many DJ's who get along solely on their DJ prowess these days, but Jackmaster's been one of them. Fabric's site describes it:
The mix itself brings a taste of the relentless nature of the Numbers dancefloor, where the parties are fast, frantic and intense. With a tracklist running to almost 30 tracks in just 70 minutes, they come short and sharp, running the whole gamut of what’s considered ‘party music’, from Detroit techno classics to the orphaned children of garage, dubstep and grime, the only thing that stays consistent is the upbeat tempo
Leading on from Ramadanman/Pearson Sound's incredible, spacey mix, Jackmaster should do a good job of pushing up the tempo and getting people on their feet. We've already been provided a tracklist. Lovely.
01. The Fantastic Aleems - Release Yourself 02. Inner City - Big Fun (Magic Juan Remix) 03. Gregor Salto - Classic Beat Tool 04. Model 500 - Night Drive (Thru-Babylon) 05. Kim English - Nite Life (Retail Club Mix) 06. Anthony Shakir - Plugged In 07. Martyn - Alldayallnight 08. Geiom feat. Terrible Shock - 2 4 6 09. Doug Willis - Dougswana (Audiowhores Beats) 10. Jook 10 - Emotions 11. Larry Heard presents Mr. White - The Sun Can't Compare 12. Addison Groove - Make Um Bounce 13. SBTRKT & Sinden - Seekwal 14. Splack Pack - Shake That Ass Bitch 15. Mad Mike featuring Davina - Don't You Want It 16. Sia - Little Man (Wookie Remix) 17. CLS - Can You Feel It? (In House Dub) 18. DJ Deeon - The Freaks 19. The Outlander - Vamp 20. Splack Pack - Scrub Da Ground 21. Underground Resistance - Jupiter Jazz 22. Thomas Bangalter - What To Do 23. Fix - Flash 24. Hudson Mohawke - Fuse 25. Machinedrum - La Bomba 26. DJ Funk - Pussy Ride 27. AFX - VBS.Redlof.B 28. Skepta - Doin' It Again 29. Radiohead - Idioteque
d-T-r is one to look out for. Based in the South East (but spending most of his time in London), his unique style combines the best parts of graffiti, design, doodles and drawing, resulting in sleek, striking pieces of work. He was kind enough to take a break from cooking dinner to discuss his methodology and ideology with the Lab.
Hey d-T-r. What’s going on? I’m currently working on two different design projects for some people, which is cool because it's been a while. Theprojects aren't really orientated around my own art, but I’m forcing myself to pick up the pen regularly just to keep the shapes and lines fresh and in and out of my head.
What influenced your art style? I think graffiti influenced my style a lot to begin with. Even after I quit writing, I still kept the aesthetic and vibe present in my drawings. My actual style was born out of me doodling on my worktable in college over the course of a few months. It eventually turned into one big 'piece' which I liked the style of and things just gradually developed over the last 5 or 6 years. It's always a hard question to answer though. I admire way too many artists and pieces of art to mention, who may have consciously or subconsciously influenced me in some way… Anything that’s raw.
Can you mention a couple? Craola, Ian Stevenson and Doze Green are the first few that come to mind. Not in terms of influencing my style but in terms of what they're about in general
I noticed you also produce music. Do you think there’s a strong link between the music you write a listen to, and your drawings? My music taste is pretty varied but there probably is some kind of tangible link. Some of the music I like has that initial first reaction impact that i might try and transfer into my drawing. What I’m listening to will effect what I draw as, so I usually go for something fast/complex if I’m trying to create a visual head fuck...or if I’m in a more relaxed mood then something a bit more downtempo. I find I’m always switching between wanting to draw something 'ugly' in a visually overwhelming kind of way and trying to make something that has a more peaceful atmosphere. The first comes easier than the latter but I think that’s gradually shifting.
What’s the subconscious/conscious relationship in your work? Do you know what you want to draw beforehand, do you just roll with it, or is it a combination? Kind of a combination. It's mostly 'freestyled' so – apart from the general mood of the piece - I’m not usually 100% sure of the outcome to begin with. After a while of regularly rotating the paper as I draw, I usually get a rough sense of something emerging from it a and then move towards developing that.
Could your elaborate on the design projects that you mentioned earlier? One's an album cover/set of promotional photos and a logo, and the other is a bit more formal and in its early stages so I wont say too much about that one.
What do you see in the future for your art? Hopefully transferring my ideas into full-animated works. At the moment things are kind of on a VJ 'able type of level but I’m still teaching myself as i go on that front so I’m just going to see how it develops. I’m sure animation will bring a lot of my stuff to life and hopefully lead to new avenues of thought in terms of my whole creative process. I’m also going to work hard on pulling in some more design commissions which should also help inspire me to continue doing my own thing on the side.
