INTERVIEW: DJ FRICTION

BW: So, I see you’re playing (legendary jungle night) AWOL….

FRICTION: Yeah, it’s funny because it was AWOL and the Lazerdrome in Peckham that I got into drum and bass through. I had a phone call from Darren Jay - he said, because you’re here now, the kids recognise you that might not know anything about AWOL.
They see you playing music from that era - you know, I’ve got all that music, I can’t wait. My first CD was AWOL Live at The Ministry, the one they recorded with all the crowd noise on there.

BW: That’s going to be an old skool selection then?

FRICTION: Definitely, yeah. Micky Finn rang me up and said ‘just to confirm you know what to play’ and I just texted back a big LOL (lots of laughs). He said, you’d be surprised…. No, you’ve booked me for AWOL and I’m going to get off on playing what got me into it.

BW: Is there one tune in particular you’re looking forward to playing?

FRICTION: ‘Silver Blade’ (by Cybotron aka Dillinja)

and ‘Dark Stranger’, the Origin Unknown remix. What I’ve started doing is getting a lot of tunes like that and speeding them up and re-eq-ing them and remastering them a bit and sending them to be cut like that. You’ve got tools now where you can speed things up and it doesn’t sound all funny, you know, so I’ve been doing that with a few tunes, trying to give a little something different when I’m playing.

I spent years and years and years trying to get where I am now and it’s brilliant. It is hard work but I love it, really really pleased to be in it and doing. Shogun’s gone mad and everyone’s going crazy about Shogun. What I’m trying to do now is go on that sub-genres thing, so when I play I literally will change my set for each venue. What’s happened in drum and bass is, since those AWOL days when it was inspired by rare groove and reggae, that was what started it, now you’ve got electro inspired tunes, hip-hop inspired tunes, you’ve got deep techno inspired tunes, you’ve got all these different tunes.

You’ve got raves like One Nation and random Concept, I’ll go there and really I think the people there want me to go and just smash it. They want to turn up there with an MC like Eksman or Evil B or Skibadee, that kind of thing, and absolutely batter it. They want to rave for an hour or 90 minutes, and that’s one side of the thing. Then you’ve got the Renegade Hardware thing which is all hard stuff.

And then I’ll do a gig like when we’ve did Shogun at The End,


or when we get a new London venue, where I just roll out, which is more what I made my label to be. If I’ve got a night where I’ve got a rave like that and then something like a Renegade Hardware, I have to take two boxes and literally there won’t be more than a couple of tunes which I have to take from one box and transfer to the other. It’s almost like playing two genres, which is cool, but it’s fucking complicated.

But it’s wicked and I think it’s good for the music because I think we’ve got all this different kind of stuff like a lot of the stuff - there’s lots of stuff from a Hardware night that wouldn’t get played on Annie Mac or Zane Lowe show. You know, I’ve just done a single from Hospital with K-Tee and I know Annie Mac and Zane Lowe are on that one really big. You’ve got all these different parts to the music now.

I think it’s good, I like playing all these different sets - you’ve got be clued up and know if you want me to play deep then don’t go to see me at One Nation. If you’re going to see me at a Hardware night then don’t expect me to play a big party tear your head off set. I think that’s why drum and bass is so unique - you’ve got to know where to go.

Now what I do is a lot of uni gigs - uni crowds that haven’t been into d&b for that long, they got into it through Pendulum or now Chase & Status. They kind of want the kind of more commercial d&b sound, I’ll tear it out and then take it down a bit and that is where - a two hour set at a uni gig -I think I can play more of a set with more styles in it. Or of I go abroad somewhere, if I’m in Japan. I’m constantly thinking about what I’m doing, about what style I’m going to play.

I don’t like to label all these different genres, people call things liquid or techno, that’s the one thing I disagreed about the drum and bass awards, they had different genres. I think the d&b nights were great, a packed night and brilliant for d&b, but that’s the one thing I didn’t agree with was having ‘Best Liquid DJ', 'Best Tech DJ’ - just give it to the best DJ. I was runner up in the best DJ category, but I play techhy d&b as well, so it’s a funny thing. It can be split up but don’t label it like that.

BW: Because there have been times when the scene was dominated by just one sound…

FRICTION: I think a good example of that is the 98 period when Ed Rush & Optical and Bad Company were ruling the scene with an iron rod. Literally, they absolutely dominated it with this hard, industrial sound, it was almost like before that the hip-hop orientated sound was massive and that almost disappeared, because of this whole one sound.

But I think at that time that the scene got smaller, that’s why I think that it’s better to have all thoe different styles in it, but I don’t think we should label it. We don’t have to label it. It’s quite good to have One Nation and people know what that thing is all about, and then have Hardware, but don’t label our genre into other sub-genres, is what I think on the whole. I love going and playing different types of drum & bass, but I don’t think it should be necessarily labeled.

BW: Apart from anything else, it’s because there’s so much of it out there now.

FRICTION: I think that’s the good thing about the Pendulum explosion, and now the Chase & Status thing, because they’ve brought so many people into the music.

BW: It has to be accessible to people from the outside, that can only be healthy...

FRICTION: Yeah, because what happens now is that people get into d&b because of Pendulum or because a mate took them to a rave, and then they start going down other avenues and finding other music, and I think that is why it is such a big scene, that’s why there are so many angles to it.

BW: They (Pendulum) have managed to stay within d&b though…

FRICTION: There has been a big load of controversy about it, but they’re doing what they’re doing, and I know that to everyone now pendulum are massive and I know that to quite a few people in the scene they love to hate them, but at the end of the day you can’t get away from the fact that they have made the scene bigger. Chase & status are getting all this coverage now and they’ll do the same. They’ll bring people into the music. We’ve just got a very healthy musical thing going on in right now.

BW: In any case, when you’re booked for so many gigs it’d be grim to be playing he same set everywhere.

FRICTION: I have to have a change. I practice, still now, I mix two days a week. I go in my studio, turn the phone off, maybe take a couple of beers up there and mix tunes together for three or four hours. It’s like being a big fucking kid again. I sit there and discover mixes that work well to play out at the weekend. I have to be on top of my selection - it’s very demanding to do it as well as possible, so many styles of music, so much to listen to.

BW: It’s a kind of a courtesy to the people who go to a club to know a bit about what the club’s about…

FRICTION: Yeah, my agent thinks I’m an absolute nightmare because I want to know everything - I want to know this, that, whether they want me to play a certain style, who else is on the bill. It’s because I want to make sure I go there and do the right thing. The thing is, there are quite a few places I go to quite regularly so I know what to go there and do. It’s cool. I like it that way.

BW: Is the scene healthy worldwide at the moment?

FRICTION: Yeah, we did a show in LA, a Shogun party at a warehouse about three months ago with me, Alix (Perez) and Icicle,


and sold it out. It was so good, and just generally everything is sold out. The mainstream loves d&b, which since I’ve been into d&b and junglwe, bar the days of M Beat and General Levy, when it kind of got big for a bit, now the press loves us, the music’s cool again, it’s doing really well. I think that’s because there’s something for everyone. You might hear one tune and think ‘it’s too mental for me’ so what about this one, a D-Bridge tune.

BW: There’s always an in point for everyone

FRICTION: I can always find a d&b tune that someone will like. There might be one that they hate but there’ll be one they think is wicked.

BW: What’s happening with your label Shogun Audio?

FRICTION: It’s all very serious now. I started it off four years ago, was an emerging DJ, things were happening, so I wanted to start a record label. The first release I did was with Jay Frenzic from ATM, I’ve got the samples from ‘RType‘ (by Jo),


do you want to do it together? That was like the first release on the label, as it was getting bigger and moving along, it was just me running it and not really running it that professionally, I was paying people a bit of money to do a tune, it wasn’t really a serious business. About nine months ago K-Tee, who obviously I’ve known for years, one of my closest friends and we’ve made tunes together, came to me with an idea, that we should relaunch it with both of us being owners.

BW: It’s a very time consuming business.

FRICTION: Yeah, mental. So we relaunched the label and we have signed artists like Alix Perez

and Icicle now, it’s a real proper business now. The releases are getting really big, we’ve got the Spor thing floating about,



which is getting so much love it’s unbelievable, a track called ‘Aztec’, which has literally blown up, it’s gone crazy. Then we’ve got the Alix Perez album which will be out in September, that is going to cross over and twist people’s minds. It’s not just a mellow d&b album, if anyone thinks it’s gonna be, it’s awesome. The tunes we’ve got so far, we’ve got trip hop, ambient Zero 7 type stuff, working with loads of vocalists, and it’s just going to be a proper album. And then Icicle we’re working with, he’ll be next year when his album comes out.

BW: Tell us about Icicle…

FRICTION: He’s from Holland, he’s been bubbling around for a while now making nasty, proper kind of rollers, just really thick b-line tunes. Real old Certificate 18, Photek-style tunes - I know Photek really loves his stuff - and he’s been getting a lot of love. He’ll kind of be the next album project, and then hopefully me and K-Tee, we’ve been writing new tunes too. And we’ve got Spectrasoul, who are making some amazing music. They’ve got big so quickly, they’ve already got stuff on Metalheadz, Subtitles, Hardware, Critical, they’re really doing the rounds and making some great music so I really want to crack on with them.

BW: So we’ll be seeing some more Friction and K-Tee tunes soon?

FRICTION: We’ve just done a tune called ‘Fired up’, which is with Diane Charlemagne, which is a liquidy vocal thing which has been going off crazy, and that’s on the forthcoming Hospital album which is a compilation which I think is called the ‘Sick’ LP. I’ve got a track called ‘Set It Off’, and another called ’The Bleeps’, which are going to be two sides of a 12”.That’s a proper Shogun tune. I’ve sat down with K-Tee over the last few months and said; I want to get serious about writing tunes again, I know there are only a certain amount of hours in the day but together we can do it.

BW: You’ve been a prolific producer over the years though…

FRICTION: Yeah, but I wanted to get serious about production again, like when I was young. I’ve had a few things recently, like the ‘Back To Your roots’ remix (Johnny L), stuff like that, but I haven’t really given production my proper attention. I want to get back into it again, and hopefully write an album.

BW: You don’t feel you’ve given it your proper attention before?

FRICTION: My production career has been weird. I’ve written a good one, then I’ve written one that I wasn’t that happy with and finished it anyway because I wanted to have a new tune and I was thinking about my DJ gigs at the weekend. I am primarily a DJ but I know I can write music, I just need to give it my proper attention. I might even take some time off, a few months off from DJing, to really nail some big tunes.

BW: And there’s a Shogun mix album in the pipeline too...

FRICTION: I’ve done mix albums for other people before, the ’Next Level’ thing on Valve, the ’Drum & Bass Arena’ thing and one for Bingo, so I felt it was time I did my own one. But I want this to be my own brand, I’m just compiling it at the moment and really sorting everything out. I’ve got an hour and ten minutes to cover all these sub-genres. I’ll have the mix with SP doing the MCing on one CD, then on the second CD have the mix without it for those people who don’t want to hear an MC. Although I think SP is so good he can actually be on a mix CD without annoying people! He knows the right point to come in, and he’s got amazing lyrics.

BW: Is it a kind of ‘Best of Shogun Audio‘?

FRICTION: No, it will have Shogun tunes on there but it won’t just be Shogun tunes. I want it to really represent what I play, to be a real blend of different things, a journey CD.

FESTIVAL PLANS

Although I might yet be tempted by Grace Jones and Pet Shop Boys at L'Atitude despite the prospect of having to sit through Nick Cave, Doves and the rest of the indie landfill massive first, there are only two festivals to consider this summer:

Bangface Weekender


and Guilfest

MOZ WITH FLAGS

As London is preparing for another invasion from the Mozfather in May, let's pre-empt the inevitable debate between fans and ex-fans by returning to the scene of the so-called crime. It's often quoted that he 'came one stage' wearing a Union Jack, which as you'll see is simply not true - a fan threw it on.

GLAMOROUS GLUE: MADSTOCK, LONDON AUGUST 8, 1992


If anyone knows of the political implications of this Spanish flag-waving some fourteen years later, please comment.

TROUBLE LOVES ME: BENICASSIM, SPAIN, 06

REVIEW - HIGH CONTRAST - CONFIDENTIAL

Format: 2xCD album
Released: April 27
Label: Hospital

There is, of course, nothing confidential about High Contrast. He's graced more magazine covers than any d&b star with the exception of Goldie, and his unswerving dedication to trawling the country's clubs has ensured he is a household name in clubland.

Likewise, his remixes have been featured on the releases of artists as diverse as Adele, The Streets, Basement Jaxx and Missy Eliott - and the inclusion of 13 such mixes 9which forms CD2 of this collection), is a big selling point. Only one complaint - where is his astounding re-work of Kano's 'Reload It'?! A collectionm of former original glories, CD1 is perhaps less essential, unless you're simply curious about HC's work and yet to buy any. But that's not to take anything away from the glory of 'If We Ever' - the rave classic that never was - and the anthemic, wonky-riffed 'Basement Track'. While others have struggled after a decade to put together a decent album, HC is onto his greatest hits, and truly great it is too.
5/5

REVIEW - DAMIAN LAZARUS - SMOKE THE MONSTER OUT

Format: CD album
Released: May 6
Label: Get Physical

It's not often you can honestly say an album is as ntruiging and surprising an affair as this. Damian Lazarus has been at the edge of so many dance music movements it's unreal, from his role as club promoter - his PM Scientists night was a d&b fixture and then resurfaced to take its role within dubstep - to A&R man within the electro scene for City Rockers.

How refreshing then to find that come the time to release his own debut album (after many a mix affair) he's created something truly unclassifable. Not dance music by any description of the word, this is nevertheless borne out of the creative alchemy of electronica. But it's song rather than groove based, weird songs that stick in your head, sung in voices that defy description and are anything but easily classifiable. Best, perhaps, is the paranoid 'Memory Box', introspective and as genuinely scary as anything you'll find on the shelves this year. This is the sound of the post-club comedown rather than the music to ease your pattern through it - not for nothing is the last track called 'After Rave Delight' - but if you're tough enough to take it on, the rewards are satisfying.
5/5

REVIEW - KENNY GLASGOW - TASTE FOR THE LOW LIFE

Format: CD album
Released: May 18
Label: No19 Music

Don't be fooled by the name - Kenny Glasgow hails from Toronto, Canada. That said he does share one element of musical taste with a large section of the Scottish raving population - the lot that don't like Scooter that is - in other words, a serious dedication to Detroit techno and Chicago house of the late 80s.

It's easy at times during 'Taste For The Low Life' to forget that you are listening to one of 2009's releases - the rhythmic shuffle of 'Logan's Run' could be Carl Craig during his (excellent) 69 era. Likewise, the best track here, the truly irreistible 'Dance 2 The House', sounds like the work of Adonis, Marshall Jefferson or Steve 'Silk' Hurley.

Impeccable influences and a real nice feel throughout. If no19 Music had lied and said this was an undiscovered gem from 1987 getting a reissue then it'd be getting 5/5 - as it is, its over reliance on the past, and such a distinct era it makes Oasis look eclectic, has cost it a couple of marks.
3/5

REVIEW - BLACK CANVAS - RISE

Format: CD album
Released: June
Label: Cool & Deadly

On first glance, or at least on hearing the first three tracks of this album ('Listen to Me', 'Naturally' and 'We Rise'), you'd be forgiven for thinking Black Canvas aka Mr Melody and Rider Shafique, was a fairly straightforward reggae project. Melody's vocals are deep and distinctive, laden with conscious lyrics, while the beats are laid back and stoner, Caribbean in flavour, leading to an inevitable comparison with Roots Manuva.

It's only once we get to 'we fear Not' and their roots sound gets catapulated into an altogether more modern, breakbeat arena that the album becomes a more interesting prospect, and by the time Chase and Status lend a distinctly old skool, jungle sound system vibe to 'Broken Dreams', you release that reggae culture is just a launchpad for all manner of other adventures. Adventures which are not entirely comuter-based either - there's lush guitar playing (see 'Let Love Be') and other live elements which lend the beats and bass a real live, improvised feel.

The closing tune, 'Psalm 23', which sees Melody reading the Lord's Prayer over more smokey, chilled beats, is a little cringeworthy, and you could accuse the lyrics throughout of veering towards cliche. That aside, though, and unlike this pun, it's far from dread-ful.
3&1/2 /5

REVIEW - VENETIAN SNARES - FILTH

Format: CD/2 x LP
Released: April 27
Label: Planet Mu

A mysterious character from somewhere in the north of England, Venetian Snares has long sen it as his job to push the boundaries of dance music further than anyone else.

Specifically taking his inspiration from the frenetic energy of rave music, his sound - and 'Filth' is no exception - is super choppy, ultra-mental programming that makes Aphex Twin sound like a god of minimal. Opening with 'Deep Dicking', which veers between schizoid double speed acid house and pounding gabba being put through a jungle-style mincer, he takes us through ten tracks of ridiculously restless, anarchic electronics, with tracks like 'Crashing The Yoghurt Track', 'Calvin Kleening' and 'Pussy Skull' (surely the new Damien Hirst piece?)

For the main it's like listening to an old style modem (anyone remember them?) in the middle of downtown Baghdad during a bombing raid - not at all pleasant at times, almost garuanteed to produce nausea at others. As sonmeone willing to take the rich heritage of dance music culture and ride gloriously roughshod over it, pushing it to new limits in every direction from speed and lack of repetition to distortion, harmonic queasiness and sonic degradation, he deserves props. Is that enough, in this case, to ever make you want to put it on again? Alas not.
2/5

REVIEW - FAZE ACTION - STRATUS ENERGY

Format: CD album
Released: May 18
Label: Word & Sound

Faze Action, or brothers Simon and Robin Lee to their mum, first burst onto the music scene in the late 90s with 'In The Trees', helping to launch what was for a while the trendiest house label around, the now defunct Nuphonic.

That single was unique because, at a time when everyone was making ultra-cheesy handbag or desperately serious Detroit techo, it took an effortless house groove and added layers of stirring cellos and strings that took it to another, hithertoo unexplored place.

Circa 2009, and it's suddenly clear where that unlikely soundclash came from. 'Startus Energy' is unashamedly retro, pulling heavily on 70s disco like the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack (big on strings) as well as other trademark sounds of the era like 'Popcorn' and 'Oxygene'.

So, depending on how you react to such influences, you'll either find tracks like 'I Wanna Dancer', 'Starship' and 'Disco Warrior' an abomination of nature or the best fun since that drug dealer started chucking out bundles of cash onto the Mexican freewway.

At least they've had the guts to go the whole hog and re-create the sound in all its complex, multi-musician glory - rather than just help themselves to the samples. They've certainly got the most important element right - the sheer joy and unretrained, utterly uncool (in a way) goofiness of the era, expressed through simple but effective grooviness.
4/5

REVIEW - SURVIVAL: SURVIVAL

Format: CD album
Released: June 15
Label: Exit

Former Bad Company cohort D-Bridge not only makes unusual and original music - now, it seems in both drum and bas and dubstep form - he also has an ear for equally enthralling music in his A&R role running Exit Records.

Here he's picked up on the debut album by London duo Steve Kielty and Roy Mcabe, who go for a similarly slanted, if slightly differently flavoured, mixture of fierce beats and deep, almost meditational atmospheres. Kielty has a track record that stretches back as far as the early days of jungle/d&b, when he made tunes for Partisan and Vinyl Addiction in 1993/4, and that experience shows through clearly here.

The opening salvo of tunes, 'Walk On By', 'Heeding The Sign' and 'Hit You When You're Down' all operate on fairly familiar terriotry, namely driving, heads down d&b, hard edged but still completely devoid of the gnarly wobble bass cliches of jump up. 'Even Up' is more ingenious still, choppy jungle breaks giving it an old skool feel but combined again with a swirling, ethereal feel.

The next section of the album goes into less palatable jazz-influenced territory, 'Feelings Gone' with its Portsihead-like vocals from Christina Nicola and 'Baker Street'-style saxophone soaring, and 'Still Don't Know' with its twittering flutes proving cliched in places. But 'Terrain' quickly dispels that, much more original as distorted giitars simmer below the surface while bongos and an almost Detroit techno keyboard riff keep the momentum up. 'Ascendancy' is the album's seemingly obligatory 'Bladerunner' reference, but 'Seventh Sign's onslaught of chunky, churning techstep beats is a real highlight, the spectre of No U Turn/Ed Rush & Optical continuing on into 'Too Little Too Late'.

'Survival' is a strange mixture - rigidly stuck in the laws and speed of d&b (there's no sign of a downbeat, dubstep or hip-hop moment here), nevertheless still managing to find real vibe and flavour within those constraints.
3&1/2 /5

REVIEW: LO FIDELITY ALLSTARS - NORTHERN STOMP

Format: CD album
Released: April 13
Label: Corsair

Arriving somewhat late to the big beat party, former signings to the Fatboy Slim-associated Skint label were much hyped by a music press eager to put saleable faces to yet another anonymous DJ culture.

Of course, when their debut album 'How To Operate With A Blown Mind' failed to propel them to stadium status and the band's line up splintered, they lost interest. Now on Corsair Records, who brought the world the marvellous IDC, their third album sees them straddling the world of pop and dance music as ever but perhaps with an even stronger slant towards songwriting.

Opening tune 'Northern Stomp' samples Happy Mondays' 'Halleluah' and sticks it through the glitch blender. But the baggy influence is short lived. In fact, 'I Know I'm A King' sounds more like The Beatles if they'd had a sampler to play with, and the clever programming which used to make their sound so vital definitely tuned down from equal partner to subtle addition.

There's plenty of memorable stuff here, not least current download giveaway 'On My Mind' and 'Smash and Grab World'. It definitely feels like they're starting from scratch rather than building on past glories - whether it's a success depends largely on whether they can translate this preened, classy pop sound to the live arena.
3/5

REVIEW: SHITMAT - ONE FOOT IN THE RAVE

Format: CD/2xLP
Released: May 18
Label: Planet Mu

The late great Sir John Peel once commented he was delighted to hear that so-called intelligent jungle existed because that suggested there was some truly unintelligent jungle out there that he was really keen to hear!

It's perhaps no co-incidence that Peel later discovered Shitmat. A renegade producer of preposterously chopped up jungle, he made his mark with daft but gloriously hooligan junglist versions of TV themes like 'Mastermind' and 'The Archers'.

You perhaps won't be surprised to hear that the latest in his prolific array of albums doesn't contain a wholesale move to emo, r&b or anything else currently trendy. This is trademark hardcore dance music from the MC counting down to the first beats on 'The Golden Age Of British Dance', to Snap-on-speed workout 'Nasty Rabbits' and the Shut Up and Dance-like slippery Amen breaks of 'Downer'.

His sense of humour is definitely taking a bit more of a backseat on'One Foot...' but it's still present in the sounds and psychotic beat programming. Less blatantly novelty, but by no means highbrow or pretentious, you can't help but feel Peel is looking down from a cloud up there in the sky and smiling approvingly.
3/5

REVIEW: ED RUSH & OPTICAL - TRAVEL THE GALAXY

Format: CD album
Released: Late April
Labl: Virus

Both esteemed producers in their own right beforehand, the moment when West Londoners Ed Rush & Optical teamed up for their debut album 'Wormhole' in 1999 has proved a watershed moment in drum and bass.

The sound they came up with was unique - tougher than the mellow 'Swerve'/jazzy sound, techhy-sounding but more organic not as grim as techstep, and certainy sleeker and deeper than the jump-up jungle that dominated at the time.

Since then they've experimented with different moods and even tempos, from hip-hop to techno and breakbeat. But many will no doubt be pleased to hear that on this, their third LP together, they're harking back to their most famous work for inspiration and in their own words 'having some fun'.

From the sci-fi opening 'City 17' onwards, the trademarks are there. The beats are unrelenting and yet somehow less static and more organically funky than most of today's d&b. There are sonic echoes of techno and old hardcore rave, certainly in the mind boggling intro to 'Temper' and the pulsing analogue keyboard stabs that underpin the superlative 'Padded Cells', 'Move It, 'The Kindred' and many others here. It's become a cliche, but there are parallels with the heart tugging swoops and soars of the 'Bladerunner' soundtrack, especially on 'Chubrub', and the futuristic, sci-fi influence that gave 'Wormhole' its name is present throughout. As ever, it's the friction between thess sterile, ice-cold sonics and the fresh energy of the drums and bass end warmth that provides the thrills.

Some might argue that this nostalgic slant isn't bringing anything new to the d&b table, and admittedly not much beyond 'G Force Jesus' with its haunting choirs and house speed breakdown, truly forges new territory. Similarly, its almost exclusively instrumental status lends precious little in the way of crossover potential.

But the truth is their decision to take their own path rather than slavishly follow current trends back in 1999 has served them well. Unlike so much d&b around today - 'bubblegum' that does its job but loses its flavour on the metaphorical bedpost seemingly overnight - this is instantly recognisable and bears up to repeated listening. Still light years ahead of their competition.
4/5

MISTABISHI

One of the highlights of 'Drop!', the debut album from drum and bass sensation Mistabishi (out now on Hospital Records). It's made up of those annoying malfunctioning printer noises; plus plenty of breakbeat phatness too.

PRINTER JAM


The legend has it that Mistabishi - I'm yet to see his real name printed anywhere - made much of the album in the investment bank where he worked as the business collapsed around him. In keeping with that mood, there are tracks called 'Greed' (which samples economist Gordon Gecko) and 'White Collar Grime'.

Check for my full interview with him in the current ATM mag.