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Aphrodite
Aphrodite the club, DJ, producer and record label has been around in one form or another since the heady days of acid house. Most people recognise Gavin King's alter-ego for his production and remix credits on a string of classic's like 'Some Justice', 'Calling The People', 'We Enter' and 'Fire' - everyone a jump-up jungle anthem guaranteed to smash any dancefloor. I recently caught up with him at his flat in Bromley and hardly got a chance to say a word...

'My mum was a piano teacher, so I learnt to play the violin when I was four and kept it up until I was about eighteen. I got into jazz, funk and electro in my early teens, then I went mad on Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd for a while and finally acid house came along and I've never really come out of it I suppose.

'At the time, I was studying at university in Warwick and I had a few records, so I started a rave. We called it Aphrodite after the goddess of love, this was 1988 with love and harmony remember. My partner eventually left to go travelling and the name stuck with me. I left Warwick and came back to London and did a couple of events because it worked so well in Warwick. Although it was half full, I was so used to having a packed house I was totally gutted. I never made much money and I had to work hard just to keep the people happy, so I stopped it after two months and that was the last time I promoted a club. I was really skint and couldn't afford records, so I just made my own tunes on the Amiga. Eventually, I came up with 'Some Justice' and Mickey Finn, who I didn't know, heard me playing a demo version in a record shop. It was pretty much as you know it, but without the vocal or the breakbeat. Mickey came in and we changed it and both learnt a lot from the experience.'

Together they were Urban Shakedown of course, and this prototype jungle classic even made into the 1993 national top forty. Big things were expected, but things soured quickly. 'We had all this money coming in and promises from our record company, and it all went to my head. As soon as you get big-headed about what you've done, you lose form. Because you've made X-amount of money from one record, you think you can do it with any other, and if you make one a week like that, you're a millionaire in a year. It doesn't work like that - if you make music for money, you don't make good tunes. If you make a good tune, money will come. As soon as I learnt that lesson, I began to find my form again.'

Can you tell us more about Aphrodite the record label? 'I set up the label about three years ago with the intention of releasing my tracks as and when I'm ready. Anything that I'm involved in goes on Aphrodite Recordings, it's simply an outlet for my records. I'm in a position now where I don't feel the need to release things on other peoples labels, only remixes.'

Like many other drum 'n' bass producers, you're increasingly in demand from labels outside the jungle scene, do you approach these remixes differently? 'The way to approach any remix is - can you do it?. If you can - do it! Sometimes you can't do it - if you're given a load of shit to start with, it's difficult to turn it into something good. It's clear some remixers just do it for the money, which is fair enough, but if you're doing something for the money, then do it right. I think you should always put in a good amount of effort to every remix. That's what people are paying you for, whether it's a small or big amount. It makes no sense to me to rehash old ideas or not put in new ideas just because it's a remix. You've always got to do your best, because if you start slacking off and do one quickly for the money, people notice and they won't hire you again.'

What makes you different from other producers? 'A lot of people tend to use the same breakbeats, and I am guilty of that to a certain extent, but I like to look for my own sounds and beats rather than go out and buy a sample CD and find three or four loops that everyone else is using at the same time. I think I'm probably known for my bass and drum sounds. It's okay for some people to have one or two breakbeats going on and, if it works, then great, but I like to go over the top and have loads of different breaks and snares and amalgamate them all into one pounding beat. It is my own sound, but I can't define what makes it mine, only other people can. They work on the dancefloor, and that's what counts.'

Do you have any plans for an album? 'An album is in the pipeline for early next year. The tracks are almost done for it, but I shelved it because everyone else is doing one and I don't want to be seen as jumping on the album bandwagon. I'm looking to expand just now because my records are very underground. Only about half the dance shops in this country stock my stuff and I need to export more abroad as well. I'm looking to cross over the little barrier that people like Hype have done recently.'

Do major labels figure in these album plans then? 'A few months ago, all this big money was flying around, but I've got to the stage now where I don't really care about that any more. I just want to get it out because I know there are people out there that would enjoy it. As far as I'm concerned the major record companies can take it or leave it. I don't like the way some majors try and change what you do and the way you do it. They have a certain way of doing things and if you don't fit in, then you either leave or compromise. My music always has been, and always will be, too hard for the commercial radio stations and I'm not prepared to start toning it down or adding more vocals. I like having my tunes played out in clubs and making people have a good time At the end of the day if you're doing that, you can't go wrong.

You're also still a DJ, would you like more recognition for this? 'I was DJing long before I made my first record, so why does that make me a producer and not a DJ? There's an attitude people have in this country that you're either one or the other. The two seem to go hand in hand as soon as you go abroad - I'm doing a full tour of Holland soon and they haven't even heard me DJ! The DJs who make it are the ones who have talent and a loud voice. Now, there are also a lot of DJs out there who make it, that aren't talented but have a loud voice and vice versa. I enjoy the feeling of making people have a good time and setting the atmosphere of a club. I play to the crowd, I don't see any point of playing for myself because I can do that when I'm home. And another thing, if a record is good - play it. I'd rather play a good record that's a year old than a bad record that's a week old.'

Do you have any other future plans? 'Mickey Finn and I are launching a new label soon called Urban Takeover. The first release is by us and called 'Drop Top Caddy' and there are a few artists we know hustling around we're going to release and we're looking to sign new artists. Long term, I'd like to develop very strong record labels and spend more time doing different things like working with vocals and making some tunes that will last more than six months or a year. A classical composer like Mozart is still having his music played 400 years after he wrote it. Can you say the same thing about my latest release? I don't think so.'

What do you think the key to longevity is then? 'Longevity is nothing to do with a live element or anything, it's to do with music. If you come out with a tune that clicks with people then you've won. I think music is all about grabbing feelings - if you can portray a feeling in your music then all the better.'

So there you have it. Check out any of his three recent singles ('Woman That Rolls', 'Towerbase' and 'Mash Up') and see what all the fuss is about yourself.

Ed Rush
For a label that's only released three 12"s in less than a year, coming with an album may seem a bit premature. But this isn't just any old label, this is Virus, home of the mighty Ed Rush & Optical. Entitled "Wormhole", I caught up with Ed Rush to talk about it only hours before his flight to Tokyo for their Japanese tour. This is the third time he's been to Japan, but he's still visibly excited at the prospect. "It's wicked out there," he enthuses. "It's a really good scene. Tokyo is brilliant because they put it on in the right venues. You turn up at a proper club with a great sound system and it's so futuristic. We're playing the Liquid Rooms this time round. They've got a huge cinema size screen with mad images coming up all night. They're really in it."
Ed Rush has come a long way from making tunes in an attic in the early 90s. Sitting on the rafters on sweltering hot summer days, it was here he made the darkcore classic "Bludclot Artattack" in 1991. This was the first Ed Rush tune that broke through large and there have been plenty more since. Previously, Ed Rush had just been a DJ. The hardcore scene had bitten him hard and he had begun developing ideas on what his own tunes would sound like. It just so happened he knew a guy called Nico Sykes who lived close by who was a studio engineer. He played him some of his hardcore tunes, developed some sort of rapport and Nico began engineering Ed Rush's productions in the aforementioned attic.
Nico then set up a record label called No U Turn and Ed Rush was one of its main artists alongside Trace and Fierce. He developed and refined his sound from the original paranoid-horror-film-sampling dark period of '92/'93 until, in '96, everyone came to know it as Techstep. This was mainly thanks to the "Mutant Jazz" remix and two albums: "Techsteppin'" (Emotif) and "Torque" (No U Turn). The sound was unmistakable with unbelievably huge distorted basslines, techno sci-fi sounds and the two step drum pattern that was practically unheard of at the time. This really brought Ed Rush to prominence and he's since gone on to release tracks for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene, namely Metalheadz, Prototype and V. He's not ruling out the occasional release on any of this trio, but these days he's mostly concentrating on releasing tracks for Virus. This is his new baby, so he's got to nurture it and let it grow.
One label conspicuous by its absence from this list of labels is No U Turn. This is because Nico no longer engineers for him, so what happened? "Basically, I just met up with Optical and the working relationship was a bit better. We share the same goals more or less. When I'm in the studio describing sounds I need to hear in the track, he knows what I mean and the processes to get to it very quickly. When you're making tunes, that's great, because you can make a track in a night. I just wanted to work with someone else and find a different sound, but I still go up to No U Turn and have a laugh. There's no big fall out, it's just one of those things, people work with other people. Also, I wanted to have my own label and decide on my own artwork and things like that. I'm not saying that Nico didn't give me that freedom, because he did, but it's nice to be completely in control of everything."
Ed Rush has been a major player in the scene for quite a few years now, but Optical has only really come through this year to join him. Obviously engineering and co-writing tracks on Goldie and Grooverider's albums has brought him a lot of mainstream attention, but those 'in the know' realise his best work is with Ed Rush. They've only been working together for just over a year, but there's definite chemistry between them. The quality and amount of tunes they've made together in such a relatively short space of time has already seen Virus rise quickly to the stage where every release is eagerly anticipated. "We both share the same ideas of where we're going musically and what works. When it comes down to speed in the studio, Optical is obviously a lot quicker because it's his equipment that we use. When it comes down to processes and production ideas, playing bass riffs, drum programming and things like that - the actual structure of the tune - we vibe off each other. We often swap roles, there's no set formula we stick to. The main thing is that we have fun. It's not like we're in the studio slaving over the machines. We're always jumping around, there's a lot of weed smoking going on and plenty of laughter. I think you can hear that in the music as well. It's not all tight and restricted, a lot of it's quite loose. Very often we don't even quantise things in the computer because that makes it too rigid."
Even though what Ed Rush is making now is very different to that '96 dark techstep sound, people still associate him with it. I suppose it takes a while for peoples perceptions to change. That style was very extreme and Ed Rush really took things to the limit with it, and after that he couldn't take it any further. It's just natural evolution - if there's no progression, things become boring, both for people making the music and those listening to it. He hasn't totally switched what he makes, he's just refined it and made it more balanced. "I really think we've moved on from there," he states. "That was all rigid, mechanical beats, I think it's a lot more rolling now. I think the funk has come back. I have been categorised to certain degree. Everyone is like 'that Ed Rush, he's fucking dark isn't he' but things we've done for V like "Funktion" / "Naked Lunch" and "Shrinkwrap" on the forthcoming "Planet V" album, are more jazzy groove things.
"People like to put you in pigeonholes," he continues, "but I must admit, of all the sounds I hear in the studio when I'm making a track, the one that drives me the most is a hard sound. Sound with attitude in it. However, we also use quite a lot of strings and little sounds that sound good when they bounce off each other. We're just trying to get a wider soundscape, layered tracks, and that involves using strings. It's quite nice to mix a nice Rhodes chord with dark riffs, the contrast works. We're just experimenting. Some days doing things, I wouldn't say light, but the vibe isn't so grim! "
Throughout his career, Ed Rush has been one of the pioneers, constantly pushing the boundaries, always keeping the drum & bass sound moving forward: "I've never really looked at it in that way. Always trying to do something different has been the main thing that has powered me. Once you've found a formula that works, be it the beats or the way that you arrange a track, it's very easy to just stick to it. That's boring. It's nice to try and really push the boat out. I've never intentionally wanted to do something that will change everything. We just try and do things that sound different and are interesting to listen to, yet still work on the floor."
"Wormhole" will be available on the usual formats - vinyl and CD - but the five piece vinyl release is out late October and the CD early next year. All ten tracks on the vinyl are new and exclusive and there are another four tracks on a separate double pack sampler. So what's the idea behind the album? "The album just happened really. We've been working a lot in the studio, so we had a lot of material and realised it was quite varied. There are a few sort of dubby vibe tracks with a lot of space in them, laidback kinda grooves if you like, then you've got your more rolling futuristic tracks as well and some are full-on with loads of bass, moving constantly and very hard.
"The title of the label describes the sound quite well - dirty," he continues, "but there are tracks on the album like "Compound" that don't sound over dirty, they're more wide soundscape tunes, almost quite clinical and dry. We thought they would sound good together as an album. We didn't start eight months ago saying 'let's make an album.' There was no pressure, which I think you can hear in the music. I think the music on the album is our sound up until now. "Splinter" is the oldest tune on there at eight months. I think music gets stale if it's left too long on dub plate. Music needs to be fresh and we've already recorded a few new tracks since the album like "Gasmask", "Sick Note" and "Water Melon". So we're trying to keep the ball rolling."
Why have you decided to release it yourself instead of on a major? "I think it's really hard not to get shaped by a major label. When you've accepted a huge pack of money from them, obviously they then want things done a certain way. I wanted to avoid that whole situation. It's possible to do it yourself, Ram have done it very well with their albums. I think it's great that we can control it down to the artwork, the sleeve notes, when it comes out, which interviews we do, what the poster looks like, where the launch party is going to be. It's all down to us and it's really nice to have hands on and be really involved. That's really important for us and what we're all about."
Ed Rush is one of the few people who has just a big a name as a producer as he does as a DJ. He genuinely loves the DJing - seeing how his tunes drop and travelling all across the globe. One of the most talked about events of '98 was the Planet V night at Bagleys on the August bank holiday weekend, and anyone I've spoke to who went says that Ed Rush and Optical were the pick of the bunch. A high compliment considering the line-up. "I really really enjoyed it," he admits. "We had just made a couple of new tunes in the studio and linked up with Andy C, so we had a few new bits. It just worked that night. I think we came on at a good time. The Bristol sound had been running for a while and it was going off in there, the vibe was already unbelievable. Then when we came with the fucking nails! The crowd were really great, they were ready for anything. The Bristol lot rolled it out. Krust is a bad man! Die has also been really twisting it out recently; experimenting with some different sounding stuff and it all sounds good. Everyone is getting so sick!"
So it looks like the infection is spreading. It's highly contagious and there's no cure. Don't even try and fight it, just succumb to the wormhole virus.

Grooverider Few would disagree that Grooverider is the most famous jungle DJ there is. Goldie would be the most famous producer and, just as Goldie now also DJs, so Grooverider is a producer. Of course he's been producing for years under the Codename John alias on his own label Prototype, but he's finally put out a release under Grooverider. Not just any old release either, "Mysteries Of Funk" is his debut album for Sony imprint Higher Ground. This is the same label that released DJ Rap's album recently, but while Rap wants to be a pop star, Rider stays true to his roots and delivers a drum & bass album full of hardcore futuristic funk. However, he somehow manages to also make it accessible enough to appeal to a wider audience not purely into drum & bass - easier said than done. I won't bore you with Grooverider's background - his history has been so well documented I think we're all familiar with it by now. This feature is purely about the present and the future. If we're talking about now, then his album must be top of the agenda. "DJing is good and probably the best move I ever made," he says, "but there has always been other areas of music I wanted to explore. Doing an album was one of them. Going on the road and doing a live show is the next step for me. So this is the intro for that. Music is supposed to be there forever. Hopefully I will as well, so I've got to make steps for me to move on. The concept behind it is the future. I like to call my music future funk, so I had to make an album that portrays that and I think I have." Grooverider has never really been recognised as a producer in the same way he has as a DJ, and this is the biggest objective with the album. After a decade at the top, Grooverider's name has become almost as much as a brand name as Sony's and there was no way they were ever going to let him release it under any other name. He had never released anything under Grooverider before as he never felt ready for all the expectant eyes on him. It's now two years since he signed, so he has obviously been careful with the quality control, but at least it's a 15 track double album. The only time Grooverider felt confident about putting his name to music in the past was on remixes and he sometimes referred to himself as more of a remixer than a producer: "I still love remixing, it's so easy because I've always got ideas. If I hear a tune, I'll think Å’I can touch that, that would sound alright'. I always think like that because I'm a DJ. When you mix two records, that's what happens, that's what you're trying to do, make another tune. So remixing is a natural thing for me, so to challenge myself within the remixing now, I have to do things that aren't drum & bass." After his recent successful mix of 808 State's "Pacific State", next up is another classic from the era that made him, the Stone Roses' "Fools Gold". Grooverider has now transformed himself into a fully fledged producer, but he's had to adjust the way he listens to the world to do so: "It's only since I've started making music in the last few years that I've realised that we live in a world of so much sound. If you don't make music, you don't really notice so much. Even rustling a piece of paper would sound really abstract if you recorded it. These are the things you live with all day. I get sounds from everywhere, it's just a matter of picking them out." The problem with some futuristic music is that it can sometimes sound too cold and synthetic, but Grooverider has melded this with warm organic elements like live musical instruments and vocals to create the aural equivalent of The Borg in Star Trek TNG - the man machine. "It's not a mental thing, it comes from the heart, and that's why it has warmth. It's got hard sounds but there's feeling behind it - it's still got soul in there and that's what it's all about for me. Soul is the fundamental behind all music, if music hasn't got soul then it's not worth listening to. I'm not into making machine music for computers to dance to. It doesn't have to be soul music, it just has to have a bit of feeling and heart." You can probably tell Grooverider was slightly disillusioned recently, and basically because of the technology. "Music wasn't music anymore - it had lost the melody and soul. It's so easy to buy a module with all these sounds in it, but after a while you start to notice they're too digital - you can hear that it's not real. The whole point of these boxes was that you had a band or 60 piece orchestra in your house, but if you can get the money to go and get somebody to do that, that's even better then isn't it?" This financial backing was one of the main reasons behind signing with Sony, but not at the cost of losing complete freedom to do what he wanted artistically. They may be taking totally different paths, but these are the same reasons behind Rap signing to Higher Ground. Both their albums also take in a wide variety influences from other musical genres, but the big difference is that Grooverider stays within the amazingly flexible drum & bass blueprint: "I wanted to make music within drum & bass - not just drum & bass, so there are jazz and techno elements in it. My album is a drum & bass album, but it's got more things on there. I represent what I do, because I love what I do. I don't want to be something else, maybe in five years time, but not right now." This open-minded attitude is what has kept Grooverider one step ahead of the game. He can see the way music is moving - beginning and ending - way before most people and has the confidence to act on it too. To him, this is the art of being a DJ: "You've got to believe in yourself and not just follow what everyone else does. Don't try and sound like this or that person, because that's not going to make you survive as an individual or as a DJ. I can walk into an event and, after twenty minutes, I'll know who is playing without even hearing their name. That's what I want. Having your own sound is so important. If you hear something and you like it, don't be scared of it. Try and find more of it. Trust your instincts. Like I said, right now it's drum & bass for me, but I don't know what it's going to be in five years. I may still be drum & bass, it may not. I'm always on the look out." Optical, one of the most promising producers in drum & bass just now, engineered most of the tracks and a lot of people seem more willing to give him the credit for the album than Grooverider. Grooverider is obviously keen to point out that this is his solo album and Optical just pressed buttons. Grooverider can actually engineer himself and did so on a few of the tracks but readily admits that Optical is the better engineer of the two and was quite happy to relay his ideas through him: "He understands what I'm talking about, we've got a good working relationship and he pushes me, which is something I needed." The only other people involved left to mention are the vocalists on some of the tracks - Cleveland Watkiss, Sophie Barker and Roya (whose voice is on the latest single, "Rainbow Of Colour"). Each bring something to the track they're featured on and provide that human element necessary for major label releases. If one word sums up Grooverider it's challenging. When he plays or makes music, he's uncompromising, constantly pushing the boundaries further, demanding more than most from the audience. He also constantly challenges himself to do more and has the self-belief to lead not follow regardless of what other people are saying (something else Rap and Grooverider have in common): "I've always liked going against the grain. Sometimes people don't really agree with what I do, but they seem to come around in the end. I'm not a trend follower, I like to be a trend setter so you have to take risks sometimes. You've got to have hard skin as well, because not everybody is going to like what you do. These are the things that you have to have." If anyone knows Grooverider (apart from the man himself obviously), then it's Fabio and he recognises even more qualities that have not only taken him to the top and kept him there, and these are his work ethic, focus and motivation. Through all of this, Grooverider gets attention, although he claims he never seeks it. His extreme designer dress sense also makes him hard to miss, but that's another story. The next challenge for Grooverider on his continuing quest is a live tour. First he needs to get a band together and find some time for rehearsals in his hectic DJing schedule. He plans to include one major thing that's never been done before in any live drum & bass shows so far. Why? So he can take things that little bit further yet again: "When I first started talking about it, I was just toying with the idea, but the more I talk about it, the more I want to do it. Reprazent, Adam F, Goldie - when I see all this, it's making me say Å’yeah, I've got to do this thing, cos they're fucking good and it looks like fun. That's what it's all about for me, fun." Grooverider is having a lot more fun than he expected on his show with Fabio on Radio 1. He thought it might be a bit stiff upper lip because it's the BBC, but he has been pleasantly surprised and is really enjoying it. Prototype continues to roll along with forthcoming remixes of Trace's "Sonar" and Ed Rush's "Locust" and new releases from Optical and Fierce. There are already a couple of albums in the pipeline for next year on Prototype. Another artist album by Grooverider (under his Codename John alias) and a remix compilation album. So ends another episode in Grooverider's never ending mission to boldly go where no-one has gone before. A new episode is already in the making, so tune in again soon to see what happens... grooverider

	Mulder Wednesday - 15:00 hours MISSION: Meet Mulder to discuss movements over the last year. MISSION FLAW: Haven't got the faintest idea what Mulder looks like. After our blind date type meeting (outside the Odeon cinema, I'll be the one holding the red rose - well, not quite!), we decided some caffeine stabilisation was in order to settle the nerves. So off headed we to the nearest cafe and got down to business. "So why do you call yourself Mulder?" I ask without seeing the answer staring me right in the face. "Well," he said, "people say I bear a striking resemblance to David Duchovny." The likeness is uncanny. Mulder (22) has started to make quite a name for himself in the jungle scene and not just in the UK, Europe as well having made successful trips to Austria and the like. He has matured quickly in his field, especially considering his age, but it comes as no surprise to learn that he has been messing with studio equipment since the tender, barely out of short trousers, age of 13. "I've always been into music," he remembers. "I didn't really know what I wanted to do but it just so happened that I got into hip hop and started DJing, the usual kind of story. Bukem was my lead into jungle really. I was into the rave scene at the time but then it started dividing into sections. I liked jungle and happy hardcore but then I found music like that of Bukem's and really got into it, so I decided to stay with drum & bass. "It just started off as a hobby," he continues, "just messing about with a hi-fi and tape deck. I finally managed to get some record decks, then a computer and I began to think 'I can do this'. I started sending off tapes to Aphrodite and he would send back tips on how to tidy them up. They gave me a lot of advice on how to write and arrange the music, so I learnt through them really. They could see I had some sort of talent. I could use a computer and set things out, but it was just making the music sound polished. So all this went on for about a year until he finally said 'yeah, you're getting there now, we're starting a new label, do you want to put a record out with us?' So I gave them a few tunes and that was it." Although his music career does seem to be moving along at a considerable rate of knots, he is still finding it difficult to convince some might say the easiest audience of all, his fellow Bristolians. "It's not hard to get respect because I'm with Urban Takeover," he explains. "They've got quite a high profile at the moment, especially in Europe, but I'm finding DJing here in Bristol quite hard. Basically, my tapes have been sent to the promoters all over the UK and Europe, so they just haven't reached the right people in Bristol. I would like to be known in my home town. I've played Lakota for Dave Cridge, and I'm involved on his Tribe label as well. I would like to play at the Powerhouse and the Thekla. The Thekla is quite small but it's well known." Mulder is best known as being a jump-up DJ and although this style is thought of as a dying limb of drum & bass by some, he is still heavily engrossed. "I would say that because drum & bass moves so quickly it's just coming to the end of its popularity for a bit," he reasons. "People are going to start to move into other areas but jump-up will always stay danceable, so it's my kind of music. I would like to move into some different styles though, perhaps more sort of ambient tunes like Bukem or maybe a Fat Boy Slim kind of thing. There's a breakbeat funk thing developing at the moment, and I'd like to start doing something like that as well." It's quite obvious that Mulder likes the Fat Boy Slim stylee seeing as he has just remixed his "Rockerfella Skank", as well as creating his own version of The Prodigy's "Funky Shit" (which can be heard on Mixmag's recent "Takeover Bid" compilation album): "I just thought they would make good jungle tracks, so I put the right format to them and sent them off rather than them approaching me and asking me to do it." Well, the 'right format' seemed to go down particularly well with both The Prodigy and Fat Boy Slim, with both parties using the remixes on future releases. However, the next big thing for Mulder is the release of his own tracks, "The Hardway" / "Getting Blunted" on Tribe. Both tracks are fast moving with rapid beats, and will make even the most sceptical of drum & bass fans get into the party mood. But being so young and popular already, does Mulder see this lasting forever? "I'm not really sure I want to become big and famous, that's not me at all. I just want to make music that stands the test of time. I've always loved music, I've never wanted to do anything else. I just want to progress and build up my studio so I can create bigger and better tunes."
	Dillinja Dillinja and Lemon D are two are old friends from the time Kevin (Lemon D) needed to mix down a tune and Clarky at Blackmarket put him in touch with Karl (Dillinja). Today, they're so close that they actually live next door to one another in a smart, art-deco south London apartment block. Both are still in their early twenties but, having started producing at onlysixteen, are already veterans of the scene. They never consciously intended to make careers as professional musicians back then, but now Dillinja and Lemon D have signed big album deals with London Records and R & S respectively, they're certainly that. While these are their mainstream outlets, with the birth of Valve they're definitely not forgetting their underground roots . "We've always used warm basslines and had a warm, fat, clean sound to our mixes", says Dillinja. "Old valve Shaka pre-amps [used to power reggae sound systems] also have that deep, warm sound and everything we're going to bring out on the label is going to have that sound, so that's why it's called Valve." The first release features a side apiece from them: Dillinja's "Violent" lives up to it's billing with fierce, pounding breaks and Lemon D's "12.01" belies his often funkier sound with an equally aggressive workout. The follow-up will be the "Acid Track", which already has an expectant buzz around it, but this will be on their other new label, Pain. This will be for their more extreme rollers or, as Kevin puts it, "hurting people"! There are also long term plans to release other artists apart from themselves and a label compilation. As if this wasn't enough, they'll continue to release tracks on labels like Prototype, Hard Leaders, V and Metalheadz plus the odd remix too (though not as many as in '96). If all this sounds like a dream come true, you'd be surprised how pissed off and frustrated they can get sometimes. "The demand is stressful," admits Lemon. "People think you've got a really good life, but a lot pressure comes with it. People are on you all the time and it can mount up, what with your personal life as well. At the end of the day you've still got to go back into the studio and make a track, and if you're not feeling one hundred percent, you're not going to do the track you want to do..." "You start making music that you know is going to work and not experiment," adds Dillinja. "There are so many people just making music for the sake of it - they're not trying anything new," continues Lemon. "There's no vibe 'cos no new talent is breaking through. No one wants to hear anything new either. We're definitely going to experiment more this year, but only on the album." "You can't do it at the moment with club stuff because it takes so long for people to understand it," adds Dillinja again. "It's too slow. They want new breaks to have the same impact and frequencies as breaks they're used to. It's all got to sound the same so that it blends in. Everything has to sound the same as the last big tune." "There's so many people doing it and you find yourself making that style as well," admits Lemon, "because if you didn't, it wouldn't work and you've got to make it work or you're not going to get the bills paid. Last year I put out stuff I didn't like, but not this year." They have a point, but the music is definitely more sophisticated now than say two or three years ago, and the scene is showing increasing signs of maturity. You can tell something is in the air when all these reluctant underground figures begin to talk to the mainstream music press. Like Andy C, Dillinja has kept a low profile outside the scene, but has still built up a cult following inside and outside through a string of severe, dark atmospheric singles, and who cares what the person behind them is like when they sound that good. The irony is of course, that refusing publicity has added to the mystique and aura of his music and made his name even bigger. You can tell he doesn't enjoy or understand the scrutiny, but he realises that he needs to promote his work now. "It's all coming together properly at last," he enthuses. "I'm concentrating on the labels now and I don't mind putting the effort in 'cos I know it's going to be there. I've been waiting for this time for years. Every year I've said I'll start a new label, but just never got round to it." One thing that surprised me about them is how dismissive they are of their music that sends so many people into raptures. On the recent Metalheadz' "Platinum Breaks" compilation sleeve notes, Goldie comments that Dillinja is "so unmoved about his own tunes. He is always pushin' to get the sound just right." So, is he a perfectionist? "Yeah, I suppose I am, as I'm not happy with my music at all yet, but it's getting there. When you make a track, you feel that you're just making do with what you're able to do. The more you learn, the more you're almost able to get what you want." Where did you learn to use studio equipment and do you think you're stilllearning then? "Everything was self-taught, just messing about experimenting with beats. I had this crap Cheetah sampler with about half a megabyte of RAM (Kevin bursts out laughing at this). I did! I used to mess about with it at home and then go down the studio and link it up with an S1000 and use them both. You're learning all the time though. Sometimes your sampler can run out of memory and you have to think of new ways to do certain things or use other pieces of equipment with it differently." They both DJ, but as Dillinja believes that producers' music changes for the worse when they start DJing seriously ("they make more rollers to mix in their sets easily"), don't expect to see their names on many bills. You'll probably have more chance of seeing them DJ abroad, but they have loose plans to start their own event here, but with their current hectic schedule they would need a lot more time or trustworthy people to help them, so don't hold your breath. For the time being you'll just have to make do with the music they make and that shouldn't be too hard.
	Aphrodite Aphrodite the club, DJ, producer and record label has been around in one form or another since the heady days of acid house. Most people recognise Gavin King's alter-ego for his production and remix credits on a string of classic's like 'Some Justice', 'Calling The People', 'We Enter' and 'Fire' - everyone a jump-up jungle anthem guaranteed to smash any dancefloor. I recently caught up with him at his flat in Bromley and hardly got a chance to say a word... 'My mum was a piano teacher, so I learnt to play the violin when I was four and kept it up until I was about eighteen. I got into jazz, funk and electro in my early teens, then I went mad on Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd for a while and finally acid house came along and I've never really come out of it I suppose. 'At the time, I was studying at university in Warwick and I had a few records, so I started a rave. We called it Aphrodite after the goddess of love, this was 1988 with love and harmony remember. My partner eventually left to go travelling and the name stuck with me. I left Warwick and came back to London and did a couple of events because it worked so well in Warwick. Although it was half full, I was so used to having a packed house I was totally gutted. I never made much money and I had to work hard just to keep the people happy, so I stopped it after two months and that was the last time I promoted a club. I was really skint and couldn't afford records, so I just made my own tunes on the Amiga. Eventually, I came up with 'Some Justice' and Mickey Finn, who I didn't know, heard me playing a demo version in a record shop. It was pretty much as you know it, but without the vocal or the breakbeat. Mickey came in and we changed it and both learnt a lot from the experience.' Together they were Urban Shakedown of course, and this prototype jungle classic even made into the 1993 national top forty. Big things were expected, but things soured quickly. 'We had all this money coming in and promises from our record company, and it all went to my head. As soon as you get big-headed about what you've done, you lose form. Because you've made X-amount of money from one record, you think you can do it with any other, and if you make one a week like that, you're a millionaire in a year. It doesn't work like that - if you make music for money, you don't make good tunes. If you make a good tune, money will come. As soon as I learnt that lesson, I began to find my form again.' Can you tell us more about Aphrodite the record label? 'I set up the label about three years ago with the intention of releasing my tracks as and when I'm ready. Anything that I'm involved in goes on Aphrodite Recordings, it's simply an outlet for my records. I'm in a position now where I don't feel the need to release things on other peoples labels, only remixes.' Like many other drum 'n' bass producers, you're increasingly in demand from labels outside the jungle scene, do you approach these remixes differently? 'The way to approach any remix is - can you do it?. If you can - do it! Sometimes you can't do it - if you're given a load of shit to start with, it's difficult to turn it into something good. It's clear some remixers just do it for the money, which is fair enough, but if you're doing something for the money, then do it right. I think you should always put in a good amount of effort to every remix. That's what people are paying you for, whether it's a small or big amount. It makes no sense to me to rehash old ideas or not put in new ideas just because it's a remix. You've always got to do your best, because if you start slacking off and do one quickly for the money, people notice and they won't hire you again.' What makes you different from other producers? 'A lot of people tend to use the same breakbeats, and I am guilty of that to a certain extent, but I like to look for my own sounds and beats rather than go out and buy a sample CD and find three or four loops that everyone else is using at the same time. I think I'm probably known for my bass and drum sounds. It's okay for some people to have one or two breakbeats going on and, if it works, then great, but I like to go over the top and have loads of different breaks and snares and amalgamate them all into one pounding beat. It is my own sound, but I can't define what makes it mine, only other people can. They work on the dancefloor, and that's what counts.' Do you have any plans for an album? 'An album is in the pipeline for early next year. The tracks are almost done for it, but I shelved it because everyone else is doing one and I don't want to be seen as jumping on the album bandwagon. I'm looking to expand just now because my records are very underground. Only about half the dance shops in this country stock my stuff and I need to export more abroad as well. I'm looking to cross over the little barrier that people like Hype have done recently.' Do major labels figure in these album plans then? 'A few months ago, all this big money was flying around, but I've got to the stage now where I don't really care about that any more. I just want to get it out because I know there are people out there that would enjoy it. As far as I'm concerned the major record companies can take it or leave it. I don't like the way some majors try and change what you do and the way you do it. They have a certain way of doing things and if you don't fit in, then you either leave or compromise. My music always has been, and always will be, too hard for the commercial radio stations and I'm not prepared to start toning it down or adding more vocals. I like having my tunes played out in clubs and making people have a good time At the end of the day if you're doing that, you can't go wrong. You're also still a DJ, would you like more recognition for this? 'I was DJing long before I made my first record, so why does that make me a producer and not a DJ? There's an attitude people have in this country that you're either one or the other. The two seem to go hand in hand as soon as you go abroad - I'm doing a full tour of Holland soon and they haven't even heard me DJ! The DJs who make it are the ones who have talent and a loud voice. Now, there are also a lot of DJs out there who make it, that aren't talented but have a loud voice and vice versa. I enjoy the feeling of making people have a good time and setting the atmosphere of a club. I play to the crowd, I don't see any point of playing for myself because I can do that when I'm home. And another thing, if a record is good - play it. I'd rather play a good record that's a year old than a bad record that's a week old.' Do you have any other future plans? 'Mickey Finn and I are launching a new label soon called Urban Takeover. The first release is by us and called 'Drop Top Caddy' and there are a few artists we know hustling around we're going to release and we're looking to sign new artists. Long term, I'd like to develop very strong record labels and spend more time doing different things like working with vocals and making some tunes that will last more than six months or a year. A classical composer like Mozart is still having his music played 400 years after he wrote it. Can you say the same thing about my latest release? I don't think so.' What do you think the key to longevity is then? 'Longevity is nothing to do with a live element or anything, it's to do with music. If you come out with a tune that clicks with people then you've won. I think music is all about grabbing feelings - if you can portray a feeling in your music then all the better.' So there you have it. Check out any of his three recent singles ('Woman That Rolls', 'Towerbase' and 'Mash Up') and see what all the fuss is about yourself.
	DJ SS Anyone who knows the history of hardcore will know the name of Leicester's DJ SS. Whether behind record decks or mixing desk, this original breakbeat pioneer has made an immense contribution to the development of today's jungle sound. He released the first of a string of classic singles on his co-owned label Formation in 1990, culminating with the seminal "Breakbeat Pressure" EP in 1993. Then, unexpectedly, came an absence which lasted nearly two years. "The reason I went quiet was 'cos that was when the ragga came in strong and I didn't want to do that", explains SS. "We were on a more experimental tip and wanted to do something different." Although he's mostly known for his hardcore and jungle releases, SS also owns house, soul and hip-hop labels (100%, Ruff Justice and F Project respectively) and spent most of his sabbatical from breakbeats co-producing material for them. Not all though. By the end of last year he decided the time was right to return, and he had so many new killer tracks to release "Rollers Convention Parts 1 & 2", two separate four track EPs. Their impact on the scene measured on the Richter Scale and we're still feeling the aftershock. DJ SS releases under many aliases, and in 1995 alone he's released "95 Rampage" by In Between The Lines, "Hearing Is Believing" by MA 2 and "Lighter" by Sound Of The Future. With it's unmistakable classical-sounding piano intro, "Lighter", is the stand-out release that you either seem to loathe or love. Judging by the way it still rinses out the dancefloor, the majority fall into the latter category. "One of the guys I make house tunes with was just messing around and playing the piano from "Love Story", and I thought "that sounds interesting"", remembers SS. "So I took it, speeded it up to 170 bpm and made it into a hardcore tune! It was supposed to be a special for Grooverider, but he caned it so much that I had so many phone calls and I had to release it. "It's not original. It's just so simple that it just works on the dancefloor. What everyone is trying to do is create original styles - cutting-up breaks, putting in weird noises and timestretching - but when they're cutting-up the breaks and changing, swapping and changing, people at a big rave are waiting and wondering "what's happening next?" and "what's going on here?" and that defeats the object. The object of our music is to make people dance". He might claim to be unoriginal, but it's obviously important for SS to be different. While not wanting to change what he has always done, he also feels it's time for something else after the long influence ragga has had on jungle. He plans to experiment more with light, dreamy drum & bass, but with the "power" to work on the dancefloor. Other projects include selecting and mixing the DJ's Delite compilation album that is out now, and "Highly Recommended", an album to be released soon featuring exclusive, unreleased material with guest artists like Grooverider and Roni Size. However, the number one plan is to release his own album by the end of the year. Does he enjoy being so busy? "Sometimes. I do when I'm doing good things I enjoy, but sometimes when I'm doing remixes it's "boy, I'll just get this out the way". I still love going out DJing, meeting people, seeing the scene, you know what I mean? "People used to tell me two years ago "hardcore is dead, it won't last another year", but you can't pull 25,000 people to a rave and have it disappear just like that. It's attracted too much attention to just disappear. There will always be some form of hardcore, whether it be techno, happy, jungle, drum & bass, whatever. It's stamped it's mark". As long as producers like DJ SS are around, I don't doubt it.
	Ed Rush For a label that's only released three 12"s in less than a year, coming with an album may seem a bit premature. But this isn't just any old label, this is Virus, home of the mighty Ed Rush & Optical. Entitled "Wormhole", I caught up with Ed Rush to talk about it only hours before his flight to Tokyo for their Japanese tour. This is the third time he's been to Japan, but he's still visibly excited at the prospect. "It's wicked out there," he enthuses. "It's a really good scene. Tokyo is brilliant because they put it on in the right venues. You turn up at a proper club with a great sound system and it's so futuristic. We're playing the Liquid Rooms this time round. They've got a huge cinema size screen with mad images coming up all night. They're really in it." Ed Rush has come a long way from making tunes in an attic in the early 90s. Sitting on the rafters on sweltering hot summer days, it was here he made the darkcore classic "Bludclot Artattack" in 1991. This was the first Ed Rush tune that broke through large and there have been plenty more since. Previously, Ed Rush had just been a DJ. The hardcore scene had bitten him hard and he had begun developing ideas on what his own tunes would sound like. It just so happened he knew a guy called Nico Sykes who lived close by who was a studio engineer. He played him some of his hardcore tunes, developed some sort of rapport and Nico began engineering Ed Rush's productions in the aforementioned attic. Nico then set up a record label called No U Turn and Ed Rush was one of its main artists alongside Trace and Fierce. He developed and refined his sound from the original paranoid-horror-film-sampling dark period of '92/'93 until, in '96, everyone came to know it as Techstep. This was mainly thanks to the "Mutant Jazz" remix and two albums: "Techsteppin'" (Emotif) and "Torque" (No U Turn). The sound was unmistakable with unbelievably huge distorted basslines, techno sci-fi sounds and the two step drum pattern that was practically unheard of at the time. This really brought Ed Rush to prominence and he's since gone on to release tracks for some of the most prestigious labels in the scene, namely Metalheadz, Prototype and V. He's not ruling out the occasional release on any of this trio, but these days he's mostly concentrating on releasing tracks for Virus. This is his new baby, so he's got to nurture it and let it grow. One label conspicuous by its absence from this list of labels is No U Turn. This is because Nico no longer engineers for him, so what happened? "Basically, I just met up with Optical and the working relationship was a bit better. We share the same goals more or less. When I'm in the studio describing sounds I need to hear in the track, he knows what I mean and the processes to get to it very quickly. When you're making tunes, that's great, because you can make a track in a night. I just wanted to work with someone else and find a different sound, but I still go up to No U Turn and have a laugh. There's no big fall out, it's just one of those things, people work with other people. Also, I wanted to have my own label and decide on my own artwork and things like that. I'm not saying that Nico didn't give me that freedom, because he did, but it's nice to be completely in control of everything." Ed Rush has been a major player in the scene for quite a few years now, but Optical has only really come through this year to join him. Obviously engineering and co-writing tracks on Goldie and Grooverider's albums has brought him a lot of mainstream attention, but those 'in the know' realise his best work is with Ed Rush. They've only been working together for just over a year, but there's definite chemistry between them. The quality and amount of tunes they've made together in such a relatively short space of time has already seen Virus rise quickly to the stage where every release is eagerly anticipated. "We both share the same ideas of where we're going musically and what works. When it comes down to speed in the studio, Optical is obviously a lot quicker because it's his equipment that we use. When it comes down to processes and production ideas, playing bass riffs, drum programming and things like that - the actual structure of the tune - we vibe off each other. We often swap roles, there's no set formula we stick to. The main thing is that we have fun. It's not like we're in the studio slaving over the machines. We're always jumping around, there's a lot of weed smoking going on and plenty of laughter. I think you can hear that in the music as well. It's not all tight and restricted, a lot of it's quite loose. Very often we don't even quantise things in the computer because that makes it too rigid." Even though what Ed Rush is making now is very different to that '96 dark techstep sound, people still associate him with it. I suppose it takes a while for peoples perceptions to change. That style was very extreme and Ed Rush really took things to the limit with it, and after that he couldn't take it any further. It's just natural evolution - if there's no progression, things become boring, both for people making the music and those listening to it. He hasn't totally switched what he makes, he's just refined it and made it more balanced. "I really think we've moved on from there," he states. "That was all rigid, mechanical beats, I think it's a lot more rolling now. I think the funk has come back. I have been categorised to certain degree. Everyone is like 'that Ed Rush, he's fucking dark isn't he' but things we've done for V like "Funktion" / "Naked Lunch" and "Shrinkwrap" on the forthcoming "Planet V" album, are more jazzy groove things. "People like to put you in pigeonholes," he continues, "but I must admit, of all the sounds I hear in the studio when I'm making a track, the one that drives me the most is a hard sound. Sound with attitude in it. However, we also use quite a lot of strings and little sounds that sound good when they bounce off each other. We're just trying to get a wider soundscape, layered tracks, and that involves using strings. It's quite nice to mix a nice Rhodes chord with dark riffs, the contrast works. We're just experimenting. Some days doing things, I wouldn't say light, but the vibe isn't so grim! " Throughout his career, Ed Rush has been one of the pioneers, constantly pushing the boundaries, always keeping the drum & bass sound moving forward: "I've never really looked at it in that way. Always trying to do something different has been the main thing that has powered me. Once you've found a formula that works, be it the beats or the way that you arrange a track, it's very easy to just stick to it. That's boring. It's nice to try and really push the boat out. I've never intentionally wanted to do something that will change everything. We just try and do things that sound different and are interesting to listen to, yet still work on the floor." "Wormhole" will be available on the usual formats - vinyl and CD - but the five piece vinyl release is out late October and the CD early next year. All ten tracks on the vinyl are new and exclusive and there are another four tracks on a separate double pack sampler. So what's the idea behind the album? "The album just happened really. We've been working a lot in the studio, so we had a lot of material and realised it was quite varied. There are a few sort of dubby vibe tracks with a lot of space in them, laidback kinda grooves if you like, then you've got your more rolling futuristic tracks as well and some are full-on with loads of bass, moving constantly and very hard. "The title of the label describes the sound quite well - dirty," he continues, "but there are tracks on the album like "Compound" that don't sound over dirty, they're more wide soundscape tunes, almost quite clinical and dry. We thought they would sound good together as an album. We didn't start eight months ago saying 'let's make an album.' There was no pressure, which I think you can hear in the music. I think the music on the album is our sound up until now. "Splinter" is the oldest tune on there at eight months. I think music gets stale if it's left too long on dub plate. Music needs to be fresh and we've already recorded a few new tracks since the album like "Gasmask", "Sick Note" and "Water Melon". So we're trying to keep the ball rolling." Why have you decided to release it yourself instead of on a major? "I think it's really hard not to get shaped by a major label. When you've accepted a huge pack of money from them, obviously they then want things done a certain way. I wanted to avoid that whole situation. It's possible to do it yourself, Ram have done it very well with their albums. I think it's great that we can control it down to the artwork, the sleeve notes, when it comes out, which interviews we do, what the poster looks like, where the launch party is going to be. It's all down to us and it's really nice to have hands on and be really involved. That's really important for us and what we're all about." Ed Rush is one of the few people who has just a big a name as a producer as he does as a DJ. He genuinely loves the DJing - seeing how his tunes drop and travelling all across the globe. One of the most talked about events of '98 was the Planet V night at Bagleys on the August bank holiday weekend, and anyone I've spoke to who went says that Ed Rush and Optical were the pick of the bunch. A high compliment considering the line-up. "I really really enjoyed it," he admits. "We had just made a couple of new tunes in the studio and linked up with Andy C, so we had a few new bits. It just worked that night. I think we came on at a good time. The Bristol sound had been running for a while and it was going off in there, the vibe was already unbelievable. Then when we came with the fucking nails! The crowd were really great, they were ready for anything. The Bristol lot rolled it out. Krust is a bad man! Die has also been really twisting it out recently; experimenting with some different sounding stuff and it all sounds good. Everyone is getting so sick!" So it looks like the infection is spreading. It's highly contagious and there's no cure. Don't even try and fight it, just succumb to the wormhole virus.
	Technical Itch In the past few years, the Decoder and Technical Itch names have made a big impression on the drum & bass scene, moving from the relative periphery to becoming two of the biggest, most prolific and respected producers of the genre. To the uninitiated it may seem like a meteoric rise, but the two members of these production teams, Mark Caro and Darren Beale, have been involved in the scene on a grass roots level since day one. Now, with the Technical Itch name signed to Moving Shadow, the Decoder tag cropping up on a diverse range of labels and their own Tech Itch imprint getting the recognition it deserves - the time seems right to meet up with the boys and discuss their very distinctive brand of beats - past, present and future. Mark and Darren have both been involved in the dance scene for the past six years recording for x-amount of labels under x-amount of aliases. They were both part of the transformation and mutation of the hardcore sound from the energy rush of rave to the more mature, but equally exciting sound of modern drum & bass. However, it wasn't until after this point that they first worked together. Back in '91, Mark was based in Birmingham, into hip-hop during his skool daze but turning to rave after experiencing one of the legendary Amnesia House parties. Having caught the bug, he began DJing at a few local parties and experimenting with the limited equipment he had at the time. Meanwhile, back in Bristol, Darren was already getting hooked on the production tip with then partner Dave Main, achieving quite a level of success with their Orca project on the now defunct Lucky Spin label. Mark and Darren first met through a mutual friend who was involved in the Orca PA and, although they didn't work together straight away, the meeting brought Mark to realise that if he was going take the production game seriously, then he had to fix up some proper kit. This he did, and began to work on some tunes that were eventually released under the ENTT monicker on original junglist label - Ibiza. ItÂ¹s now 1993, rave's euphoric bubble has burst and Darren has moved his sound on from the synthetic Orca highs to a more thoughtful, melancholic style. He released tracks as Atlas, Code Blue, Koda and Wild Orkid on Lucky Spin and Dee Jay, but really without getting the proper recognition for being at the forefront of the burgeoning 'intelligent' sound. Up in Birmingham, Mark had been working away at his technique and, after dashing a DAT off to Brain Records, he got the nod from Bizzy B who wanted to release some of the tracks. Mark then hooked up with Darren down in Bristol, re-licked a track known as Â³WaterbabiesÂ², wrote two further tracks on his own and released them all on the first Â³Plasmic LifeÂ² EP. Further releases were to come on Brain, including the nightmarish Â³Death TripÂ², but Mark had the burning desire to start up his own label. Therefore Tech(nical) Itch Recordings was born. To begin with, Mark had mixed success with the label, mainly due to distribution problems, but this did not hamper his productivity as he rinsed tracks through Midlands labels Back2Basics and Second Movement, as well as his own. Things began to roll now and Mark was spending more time in Bristol and more time working on tracks with Darren. Their music caught the attention of Kenny Ken, who cut almost an entire DAT of tunes that they had sent him and played them on his Kiss FM show - this proved to be the break that Mark and Darren were waiting for. Listening to the show that night was Rob 'Omni Trio' Haigh who then passed on the tapes to Moving Shadow label boss Rob Playford. He liked what he heard and after meeting Mark, proceeded to sign Technical Itch to one of the scene's most prestigious labels. The future now looked a bit more certain and, with this in mind, Mark decided to move down to Bristol - something he is now very glad he did. Since the move, Mark and Darren have been two of the most in demand producers and remixers in the country, with a blossoming DJ career that has already taken them around Europe. As a result, there was Technical Itch and Decoder product available on a multitude of labels, but with this popularity wasn't there the possible danger of overkill? "Well to be honest there was a little bit, because there was a time when we'd look in the magazines and we'd be on five compilations and have four releases out,Â² admits Darren honestly, "but I think it did do our name well and besides we've cut it dead now." "Yeah,Â² continues Mark, "we're concentrating more on our own label, Moving Shadow and Elementz (Peshay's new label) really, there hasn't been a new release for a couple of months, not since Â³FuseÂ²Â²(on Elementz). Prior to the Moving Shadow deal, you could also find Technical Itch sourced product going under many different aliases but, with the Technical Itch monicker now being signed to Shadow, Mark and Darren decided to concentrate on just one name for projects on both their own and other labels. The name they decided on is, as you all now know, Decoder (the name having previously appeared on a Tech Itch release). Now stripped down to the core of Decoder and Technical Itch as artist names, wouldn't the boys feel a little bit nervous about using just those two after a history of covering their tracks with aliases. "Nah", sneers Darren, "some people say that if you keep releasing stuff under the same name then people will get bored with it, but if the tunes are bad then people are still gonna buy 'em." Bad tunes they certainly are, but how would Mark and Darren explain their very distinctive sound and the unparalleled production rate that they achieve. "We're just 100% in it,Â² begins Darren, "it really is all we do. At the moment we're releasing nearly every track that we're working on." Picking up the thread of conversation, Mark continues, "previously we used to make up a DAT of tunes and then decide where they were going, but now each tune is written with a home to go to." "We set ourselves standards though," says Darren, "and we always know what we want from a tune. Sometimes we get there quickly, like in a day, but sometimes it takes a bit longer. But for us, if a tune takes more then four days then it ain't runnin', so we'll scrap it." So now to the sound - how do Mark and Darren themselves view the industrial sonic boom that characterises much of their recent output. "Soundscape music with beats you can put in a wheel barrow,Â² jokes Darren, but then this isn't too far off the mark. Their beats are dense but simultaneously retain a razor sharp quality, and their sound undoubtedly errs toward the cinematic as opposed to a predominantly melodic strain of drum & bass. This wasn't always the case though, as Mark explains, "we went through a phase where we didn't really know where we were. We were making jump-up tunes, jazzy things and all-sorts, but without concentrating on giving ourselves a particular sound. Then we heard Peshay play up at The End a couple of years ago, and he was playing some mental stuff which really grabbed us. I had always been into that sound though, because the early Technical Itch tracks were predominantly dark and weird." The influence of this occasion is plain to hear on tracks like the incendiary Â³Circuit BreakerÂ², Â³QuakeÂ² and Â³UXB / Nu-GenÂ² on Tech Itch, while not forgetting tunes like Â³The DreamerÂ² and Â³VirusÂ² on Moving Shadow. However, there is a subtle difference in vibe between the Decoder and Technical Itch tracks which, as Darren explains, is the reflection of a fundamental decision they both had to make. "Basically, before now, me and Mark used to work on everything together, but we both have strong ideas about what we like. For example, if Mark was doing some beats and I didn't like them, I'd tell him, but Mark is a bit more chilled than me and if I'm doing something he's not into, he might not say anything." At which point Mark slowly turns his head to Darren - "I will if it's crap", he says through a smile. "Well, yeah,Â² continues Darren, "but it's a personal thing, something that Mark likes might not be my cup of tea but I know that a lot of people do like it. Therefore I don't want to start telling him what to do and vice versa, so we've slightly separated it. For a Technical Itch track we'll both be involved, but it'll be more Mark's ideas and vice versa for the Decoder stuff. Having said that though we're working in the same studio all the time, so it's only natural that we're gonna get entwined in each other's tracks". This is the groove that Mark and Darren hope to continue on with their music, although both are keeping an eye on the horizon and an open mind to other projects - which I'll come to later. "At the moment", remarks Darren, "we're both trying to concentrate mainly on the (dance)floor but still keeping an element of our own personal identity in there. We've also simplified our sound a bit, because some of the really heavy tech stuff scares a lot of people off" [which we don't want now do we!] "Essentially, we're concentrating on twelves that are played by DJs for the dancefloor. Take Dillinjah's Â³Acid TrackÂ² for example, that's a typical floor tune and it smashes it every time, but it's got the originality there." A lot of producers today are getting frustrated by the restrictions of the 12" format, hence the more diverse album releases from artists like Goldie, Photek and T Power. Mark and Darren can relate to this to some extent, so, as you can imagine, they are very excited about the Technical Itch album that has just been confirmed by Moving Shadow. This desire to experiment with different styles is also partly behind their decision to issue the next Decoder release on Tech Itch - the Â³DecodedÂ² EP - as a 12" double-pack and six track CD. The vinyl pack remains as four highly original slices of tek-funk, but on the CD are the first examples of Decoder's 'big beat' style. Taking the samples from the four drum and bass tracks, the boys twist then into two downbeat grooves that are worthy of gracing the best labels of that genre. As to future releases in this vein, the boys are playing their cards close to their chests. "Once we've got the vocal and live room sorted out in the studio, then we may begin a different project," hints Mark. "On a vocal tip, but still incorporating the futuristic biznizz." So what of the immediate future? Well, apart from the imminent release of the Â³DecodedÂ² EP and the Technical Itch wax Â³Stronghold / Hidden SoundÂ² on Shadow, theyÂ¹re also producing Peshay's new album for Mo' Wax. This is testament to how far Mark and Darren have come in the last two years, for Peshay has virtually relocated to Bristol to enlist the production talents of this remarkable duo. The first single has been finished, which should see a late Autumn release, but the rest of the album is still being kept firmly under wraps, although the single will give you a good idea as to the direction of the entire project. So how have the boys taken to producing an artist on a venture like this? "It's quite stressful," says Mark immediately, with Darren nodding his agreement. Â³If someone explains how they want something to sound, and you interpret it in a different way, you can strive for hours on something without achieving the results". "But the more you work with someone, the more you know what they want,Â² adds Darren, "so it's coming much quicker now". So there you have it, a small insight into the lives of Decoder and Technical Itch, although this feature could have been twice its length to really do justice to the production careers of Mark and Darren. However, at the end of the day, their music speaks loudly enough for itself. So if this article leaves you wanting more, get down to your nearest vinyl stockist and there I guarantee you'll find a heavyweight slab of vinyl that was once just an evil scheme in one of their minds! Amen to that.

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