“The new album has transformed into this mixture of rockabilly, surf, and western guitar influence melded into the dance music stuff that I’m known for doing. It was a really cool, natural progression. What happened was I started playing a lot of rockabilly, a lot of the songs that I grew up with, that my mom was playing. I started doing rockabilly sets in bars, and then I started to incorporate a few songs into my DJ sets. And people would lose their shit! It was so out of the blue and unexpected, and so organic compared to how electronic my sets were. And just naturally, I started doing my own edits and bootlegs, and that’s how the album sort of got shaped this way. The album includes vocals and I also play guitar.” – Drop The Lime

As a 7 year old in Manhattan, falling helpless to the romance of rock n roll (specifically the dramatic glamour of Ritchie Valens in ‘La Bamba’), Luca’s first guitar teacher suggested he purchase a drum machine to stay on beat, a foreshadowing purchase for his beat-orientated explorations later on. In fact, various dots connect along the way of his musical path – being forced to join his school’s gospel choir, falling into the New York punk and hardcore scene as teenager, discovering New York’s hard techno rave scene in his late teens, fortuitously being handed D&B mixes recorded from London’s pirate radio waves at 16 – in a way that almost seems fated. It was only a matter of time until destiny led him to a group of likeminded spirits who shared his DIY attitude and art-driven ethos, and the Trouble & Bass empire began.

“I started to get more into the 4/4 versions of the grime tracks, the grime instrumentals; on the B-side, there’d always be a 4/4 version. I loved the idea of a house tempo drum & bass sound. I started trying to make my own versions of that, and Math Head (T&B co-founder) did as well, but we didn’t have anywhere to put it out so we made our own label.

We’re all best friends in T&B – we all hang out all the time, and it probably goes back to us all going to art school. We’re very DIY. We’ve always done things ourselves in terms of the artwork, the promotion; it’s always been very hands-on with everything. I hope that comes through with our branding – we want to make the crowd and the fans feel like they’re a part of something, a part of a family. We’ve recently been doing these series of singles called ‘Heavy Bass Champions of the World,’ and it’s just straight-up dance club tunes that are fun. I did it so that Trouble & Bass as a label can focus on albums and really build the artists – like myself, AC Slater, Little Jinder, Supra1, 77 Klash – and they can really do songs that aren’t only for the club. And ‘Heavy Bass Champions of the World’ are a series of club bangers. I don’t want to get pigeonholed as a strictly dance label, so I really wanted to make a separation between the two.” – Drop The Lime

Pigeonholes are gracefully obliterated, and Drop The Lime’s signature all-in-the-box DJing style encompassed, on the thrilling, adventurous FABRICLIVE 53. As with all DTL mixes, the most unlikely beats and artists suddenly make perfect sense alongside one another: the raw 303s of Maurice introduce acid to Untold’s future bump, Drop The Lime’s own housey summer hit ‘Sex Sax’ steps and twirls to the swing of Bill Haley & His Comets, and the glittery synth pop of Little Jinder fades into the melodic grace of Reso’s dubbed-out ambience. Filled with teasings of Drop The Lime’s newest work, and of course his unmistakable vocals, overall the mix is every bit as rare and passionate – and unpredictable – as the charismatic artist himself.

“I’m surprised I got away with putting rockabilly on a FABRICLIVE CD! I wanted to make the mix timeless; it’s tempting to pick all of the cool hype tracks, or all of the newest tracks, but I wanted to make something that you could listen to a few years down the line and still love it. And it’s something you can listen to, it’s a mix, not necessarily something you want to pump your first in the air to. That’s what the club is for; I feel like a mix is for listening to and really appreciating the music. I start on the deeper side of things, a little bit of techy house and then I go into the new future garage sound that’s coming out of London, like Untold, and then I go more into my signature heavy bass 4/4 sound into a little bit of Dutch-influenced stuff, into some tribal, percussive house tracks…it’s all over the place, but I really tried to build a rollercoaster of a ride. It goes huge, then gets taken back down, and built back up, and really ends beautifully with some ambient stuff.” – Drop The Lime

“For me personally, I don’t go for heavily publicising projects, I just let things take their natural course and treat things with the longer term in mind. Over the years that I’ve been DJing I’ve seen the popularity of techno rise and fall many, many times but this doesn’t panic or concern me, I do what I do and if it’s more or less popular then that’s just the way the universe operates. But fortunately I’m still able to survive through DJing, so as long as that’s the case then that’s okay. So many times for so many years I’ve noticed people say, ‘Well everything’s been done that you can possibly do with dance music.’ It reminds of something I heard about how in Victorian times they decided that all scientific discoveries had been discovered and that was all there was to learn; it was as if science was a shut book. It’s a bizarre thing to say, and it’s the same with music. If your motivation is down or your inspiration is down, then maybe it’s just the case that you’re not looking in the right place. There’s always something there to discover or to motivate you.” – Surgeon

Growing up in Kislingbury, a small village outside Northampton, Surgeon’s first forays into music began with lessons in classical instrumentation. But it was his tape deck experiments, from a very young age, that brought to light his producer mentality: bending sounds and re-shaping ideas whilst creating dense, immersive soundworlds.

“I got hold of one of the old quarter inch tape reel-to-reel decks and started doing razorblade editing and setting tape loops and things. That was influenced by what I’d read about the way that the Beatles recorded. That was a bit of an entrance in to some kind of avant-garde stuff. There were aspects in their music that fascinated me, the sound collage and manipulation. That really fascinated me, the collage aspect of sound much more than the melodic aspects, because when I was young I knew I was interested in music but I assumed that meant I had to play an instrument. So I tried piano, violin, guitar and all these things and I got on to an extent – but with the piano, for example, I’d open the top up and start banging the strings like, ‘Ah yeah, I like that a lot better. It’s so boring learning these scales.’ Different things suit different people.” – Surgeon

Becoming heavily influenced by a wide range of sounds and sonic textures – from those of experimental musicians Brian Eno and Isao Tomita to the impassioned and raw industrial flavours of Coil and Suicide, Surgeon relocated to Birmingham to persue an education in sound engineering. It was here that he started a club night, House of God, with a close knit circle of like minded friends in 1993; even now, 17 years later, it still runs strong.

After his first release, the now legendary ‘Surgeon EP,’ and his other work on Downwards (which somehow landed in the influential record crates of Dave Clarke and Jeff Mills – itself no mean feat considering this was pre-internet file sharing), his connection with fellow Downwards artist Regis (aka Karl O’Konnor) produced their vibrant, industrial-flavoured work as the British Murder Boys. “We really thought about every detail: about how it would look and sound, and the titles and the way it was presented, and the performance. So it was like playing at the image a lot more and very much influenced by Throbbing Gristle’s industrial records and the like.”

From his edgy, powerful albums which each spun techno in an entirely new direction (‘Basictonalvocabulary’ on Tresor in ’97 and ‘Balance’ on Tresor in ’98, ‘Force + Form’ on Tresor in ‘99); to his boundary-shattering mix CDs (‘Counterbalance Collection,’ ‘This Is For You Shits’); to releases on his own innovative labels Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension; to his Frequency 7 project with Ben Sims (“It’s like listening to our musical banter. Ben’s style of DJing is very precise structurally, we can fit it together very precisely and very quickly and it just builds this thing – we don’t know what it’s going to do and it just goes all over the place. It’s really fun and exciting for us.”); to the endless list of his EPs and remixes…Surgeon’s work always contains an uncompromising devotion to a resolute vision. Similarly, it’s within his deeply focused DJ sets that give his ideas a gifted freedom, with productions coming to life enriched with energy, subtlety, frequency and power. His sets are a winding, mind-bending, colliding sonic voyage, propelled by an intimate and intense back-and-forth connection between himself and the audience.

“I do change the way I’m playing at different places. It’s having an awareness of what people’s expectations are, and then stretching the boundaries of that, while trying to incorporate different styles into it. There have always been far more experimental and avant-garde electronic artists than anything that I do, but I like to work as a kind of breach between the fringes of the avant-garde and the experimental stuff – I try and bring an essence and a flavour of that in, but try to use techno as a carrier wave, or a as medium, to sort of transmit these more avant-garde elements in. I bring it in but make it more palatable and try to bring it to a wider audience. That’s my method and for me, it’s a more effective way of introducing these flavours and sounds. It’s like testing out boundaries and figuring out how far to go so you don’t completely lose people. A lot of the time in my sets, if I’m in a place that might be more difficult I’ll definitely follow up with something easier. It’s like giving a reward.”

Flicking easily from the heavy, sheets of sound produced by his old school contemporaries, Surgeon fuses the old with the new on fabric 53, creating connections between the oppressing and the minimal that have never been as simply decoded. Honing in on the idea that a lot of ‘modern’ bass music harks back to rave and constantly re-feeds on its memory for inspiration, (“just this idea of the breakbeat, the broken beat; it’s got some echoes of rave, there are some elements of that somewhere in it”), he includes music from a veritable liege of young producers. Instra:mental’s rolling ‘Forbidden’ is used early on and adds the kind of quickened bass texture that has been carefully incubated over their workings as they slow down from 175bpm drum & bass and Starkey’s ‘Spacecraft’ is used brilliantly to juxtapose the rolling pressure of what comes before it, eliminating the 4×4 pulse and adding thicker, more leading bass tones.

“It really is a current snapshot, it’s changed even now. When I did the mix, I opened my current set and deleted a few things and this is what I was left with. This is the music that I am enjoying and I feel it represents me; and on the other side, there were some newer or lesser known artists that I really wanted to represent. It’s about making people aware of different genres, to show the likeness. It’s taking T-Polar, Subeena, Ital Tek, Ancient Methods – and putting that next to Orphx, DJ Overdose and Russ Gabriel, and mixing them all up together. It’s kind of strange looking at the tracklist, but for me it’s very natural the way these things fit together. And really, to me, this is all techno. That’s the way I think of it; I don’t subdivide genres, the beats are just slightly different places in the bar. They all have different feels and textures, but I don’t differentiate, I just like all this music so I want to mix it together.

It’s another example of what I was saying about being caught up in the detail, and detail is important, of course, but you’ve got to be able to shift from this bigger picture down to detail and back up again and not just be caught up on one level of it.” – Surgeon

ARTIST: VARIOUS
LABEL: FABRIC RECORDS
UK/R.O.W. RELEASE: 12 JULY 2010
USA RELEASE: 24 AUGUST 2010

Growing up in a family of musicians in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt, T. was constantly surrounded by music – with “a varied mix of classical music, German pop, chart hits, rock and soul” as his soundtrack. It was as a young teenager, however, that he found his true calling: “All of a sudden, I lived in these two parallel worlds, alternating between mainstream chart pop and my own personal obsession, a love I could share with none of my school buddies, black music. At 13, I discovered break-dance; funk, soul, hip-hop, old school electro and Miami bass became the soundtrack to my heavily dance-influenced life. I had my first brush with electronic music in 1988, in the acid house-drenched summer of love, when Sven Väth opened Frankfurt’s seminal club Omen and kicked off a previously unknown flood of euphoria and get-up-and-go spirit in the local club scene. I fell for this sound straight away; hip-hop and broken beats were relegated to the sidelines. The following 15 years, I spent every single weekend on dancefloors.” – DJ T.

From the age of 16 onwards, T. accidentally fell into a prestigious career as a DJ – by 19, he was DJing 6+ hour sets to 1,500 punters. It’s no wonder that his own productions mirror the dancefloor experience into a headphone journey so effortlessly – he has an understanding of the dancefloor that’s impossible to top. And it’s one that he enjoys to no end.

“Over the last two years or so, the DJ scene has gone through a huge generational shift. All around me, long-standing DJ veterans are starting to lose interest in spinning their stuff or simply don’t feel involved enough anymore to continue with this full-on rigmarole, including the latest batch of related requirements like internet visibility or the digital revolution, to name but a few. Many of the old guard simply can’t or don’t want to keep up with the change. I, for one, feel like I’m on a massive high and I owe a lot of that to the great success of my last tour. Right now, I love DJing more than ever and there is so much fantastic new music to be discovered that I often find myself wondering which of these gems I should play first…and that’s something I hadn’t experienced in a long while. A lot has changed in DJ and club culture, and certainly not all of it for the better, but I still manage to find enough that is good and beautiful and that inspires me to carry on.” – DJ T.

fabric 51: DJ T.’ serves as an unforgettable introduction to one of his astonishing DJ sets, a lively adventure full of sharp twists and unexpected turns. Deep, elegant and swelling, the mix transcends listeners to otherworldly soundscapes with a fantastically diverse ambience – at times sunny and bright, other times wild and mystifying, and always keeping a psychedelic and cinematic feel throughout. Featuring the off-beat spontaneity of dOP, the Latin infused bounce of Matias Aguayo, the percussive retreats of Bodycode – and plenty of hidden gems in-between – fabric 51 is a joy of a listen, a daydream-fuelling hideaway where each track is crammed with as many soul-fuelled moments and intricate charms as the next.

“This mix is definitely drenched in the spirit and musical vibe of my recent global tour. Right now, I am digging up all my musical roots – disco, soul, funk, early house and plenty of vocals. I play more vocal tracks than I have touched in ages and I don’t think I have ever whipped up a mix with so many vocals, either! While I usually mix from a more “functional” DJ perspective, this mix is the product of my current super-positive emotional state and definitely not your average dancefloor fodder – at least half of these tracks would never find their way into my DJ bag. Aesthetically speaking, it is more of a shimmering, sparkling disco funk concoction, a nod to the old school, but also 100 per cent in the here and now!” – DJ T.

UK/R.O.W. RELEASE: 22 MARCH 2010
USA RELEASE: 4 MAY 2010

“We bought this kuduro compilation and there were so many amazing ideas! Nothing was valid as a whole song, but the ideas, the loops, were amazing. The genre exploded in popularity at the beginning, then it went back to being something left field that producers were trying to develop; artists were exploring the possibilities, sampling really crazy things – and coming up with something people had never heard before. We just got a bunch of tracks and decided we need to do something with this.” – Buraka Som Sistema

Buraka’s sound is the result of a thoroughly modern post colonial cultural exchange between Portugal and Angola, a former Portuguese colony. It started out as kids trying to make techno music in Africa on old analogue equipment. By the time it hit Lisbon, European dance music had been added to the mix and things were set to go off. After working on a few genre-smashing kuduro re-edits, Buraka kicked off the night from which they later took their name. It was a sweating, heaving party that embodied the spirit of everything a club night should be. Raw and unadulterated, it was instantly recognisable as a landmark event, generating a tangible thrill of something special and new coming together.

“By the second night there was already a huge hype around the whole thing; we were on the cover of a newspaper, turned away 200 people at the door… it was crazy! There was a small stage in front of us and people just kept on coming up, dancing, grinding and doing all kinds of stuff. It was so hot, my laptop kept on crashing – a proper sweatbox. We did like four or five of those and then the club got shut down. We were stuck with this brilliant idea… this sound that everyone wanted to dance to, so we decided to run with it.” – Buraka Som Sistema

From here and through the internet, Buraka’s sound took on a life of its own. The guys got started during the “golden age of Myspace”, and in no time, the likes of Diplo and Sinden were loudly championing the cause. “Things just started happening, the right things happening at the right moment. A couple of months later MIA was calling us to work together and since then we haven’t stopped.” Their first fabric show followed soon after, and Buraka Som Sistema laid their cards on the table with a manic, rambunctious, unhinged live show for which they’ve become best known. “The album was everything we had wanted it to be but the live gigs are very fun, very explosive and very intense.” All that said, behind the live drumming, the dancing troupes and the stage invasions, the core of Buraka’s live show is still as simple and as devastatingly effective as that first club night in a small sweatbox in Lisbon.

And after a year of touring their debut album ‘Black Diamond’, the guys are taking things back to the beginning. FABRICLIVE 49 recaptures the same explosive dynamism, and ebullient enthusiasm of those original Buraka Som Sistema parties in Lisbon on disc; a vibrant reminder of the idea behind the name of the group – Buraka Sound System. Their FABRICLIVE CD encapsulates Buraka’s love for the lost art of the remix album, with a stackful of re-rubs of their own records, putting the emphasis on talent over big names (including versions from L-Vis 1990, Stenchman and A1 Bassline, for instance). Interestingly, what has become clear to Buraka over the last few years is the impact kuduro has had on club music the world over, with more and more sounds beginning to resemble, or show signs of the influence of, kuduro itself.

“A mix CD is at the core of what Buraka was about at the beginning. It’s like going back to the roots. At the same time, it’s very exciting to be out there doing different music and influencing different sounds. A lot of artists, like some dubstep artists and even some UK funky are picking up on the sound, and that’s amazing. That’s something that we are really happy to be part of. We also wanted to avoid making a compilation of 20 club bangers that two months from now are going to be totally forgotten and people are going to be totally sick of them because they’ve heard it in the club so many times already. We also wanted to have a lot of our fresh material on there. And thirdly, we wanted to achieve a kind of flow where there are moments in the mix for you to relax, like Zomby’s track.” – Buraka Som Sistema

We’ll start quite traditionally, how did you two meet?
H: We met in Chichester in ’99, we were both studying, and then…yeah, that was it! (Laughs)
G: Yeah, we moved in together and had about a year where we raved and just partied hard.
H: August was studying music and I was studying films and film production. I did it in Denmark as well. I was DJ’ing too but more the electronic side, I always wanted to try more jazzy stuff which is very much Augusts domain and we just ended up spiralling off towards each other musically.

If someone had never heard of Husley & Gunz, how would you describe what it is that you do and how would you describe your sound?
H: A mix of house and techno with some clear jazzy undertones, jazzy and dubby undertones.
G: Yeah, dubby undertones, and then lots of samples. We infuse music with samples from our tracks or from the music that we play. And there are elements of improvisation on the keyboard and with effects, both from Jacob and me really.
H: It depends if you’re talking about the music we produce or the music we DJ because the experience is somewhat different. We do a live set but we also do a DJ and effects set. I also play basic guitar, piano and drums, August is the advanced one.
G: I play the keyboard and guitar.

I was reading a bit about your history, and saw that when you were performing as the Nocturnals you utilised a lot of live performance such as instruments on stage, singers, that sort of stuff. Does that still factor into what you’re doing now?
H: Not at present time.
G: I mean it does with the live instruments on stage, but the Nocturnals was more like a live show where now it’s more like an electronic show, a DJ show. Nocturnals was more of a band.
H: But I think that although we produce together anyway, strictly techno and house, we still implement a lot of live instruments in the productions. We know so many jazz musicians so we get somebody down and he will put down a hook. Most of our sounds, in fact pretty much everything, we do ourselves.
G: Lots of sampling and funny, quirky sounds from the studio.

What made you both want to do this? Become DJ’s, become musicians?
G: Childhood. A childhood dream, always playing music I think.
H: (Laughs) Yeah.
G: I’ve always played music since I was a kid and always wanted to be in a band, be on stage, and perform. We have fun together – it kind of made sense to go more on the clubbing scene. It’s a great show to play as well to get people dancing. Nocturnals wasn’t a dancing band really; it was like a listening band. I think we both wanted the clubbing thing so we started doing that.

Gunz, I’ve read that you have a BA in Jazz. Does that have a big impact on your sound?
G: I guess it has an impact in the sense that you know something about music, but not really, it doesn’t matter that much. Rhythmically I think…I don’t know. Does it have an influence?
H: I think it does. I feel that when we work together a lot of the time because of August’s education and depth in the music, he’ll come to me with a track for example and there will be like ten ideas in one track. I’ll be like, ‘That’s amazing!’, but we can’t use it on the floor, we need to simplify it, and I’m more the simplifier. I cut it down and make it more simple and understandable.
G: There are definitely elements of the jazz, but I think it comes more down to melodies. I tend to, from playing keyboard and playing all that stuff, find that you have so many notes to fill into a short space but in techno actually, you use the same notes but you need to stretch it out into a longer space so you get something that’s more understandable for people dancing instead of just sitting and listening. Sometimes I do bring lots of notes into it and then Jacob cut’s it down to something very simple that actually works.

Where do the names Husley & Gunz come from?
H: It’s a bit of a weird one. We were doing tracks as Nocturnals which was the jazzy, electronica sound but I really wanted to make a breaks track, well, a break/tech track. I had this idea so we got together and made one, we had this sample that went ‘Husley!’, we were laughing about the fact, that we couldn’t hear what it said at first, so we put it really slow and it went ‘Hu…Sley…’. It was quite a funny word, so I was like, well – I’ll be Husley!
G: Gunz came from a track we made called Bullet. Husley needed something to fire the bullet.
H: Yeah, yeah, I needed the gun, so it was Husley with the gun – Husley & Gunz.
G: It’s just a name. But it’s a funny one. (Laughs)

Yeah, it is a bit gangster!
G: (laughs) Yeah, I know! But it’s just one of those things that came by its self. It is funny when we go out and people call me Gunz. (Laughs)
H: Yeah!

Who are your major musical influences and heroes?
H: There are a lot of them. Personally I’ve travelled through so many different music styles; I used to MC, I’ve played in heavy rock and black metal bands. I actually made the change from black metal to drum ‘n bass because I couldn’t get it fast and heavy enough! (Laughs) When I heard my first drum n bass track, I was like, ‘Wow! This is amazing! Let’s do that.’ But at the same time I was brought up with classical music, so musical heroes is almost impossible to go into because it depends what genre your talking, Mozart is just as much as hero of mine as Minilog is.

Where are you currently performing?
H: We’re doing a few different projects. August is touring currently with Maps, I have my own solo residency in Egg with Always Fridays and Wet Yourself at Fabric on Sundays, then of course our gigs together. At the moment because we have a very busy schedule they are a little bit in between so we try and be very selective about our gigs as a duo.
G: We play in Fabric.
H: Yeah, we do the Fabric gigs, but only the really big nights like the Bank Holiday nights. We probably play about once every two months in Fabric as Husley & Gunz.
G: We do one offs as well.
H: And then we still hold on to our very old residency at Cafe 1001, which is quite funny, it’s in Brick Lane which is where we started out. We both think it is quite funny still to play there once in a while. For the last four months it was just August playing five, six hour sets.
G: It is always good fun there.
H: But we have a lot of music lying, waiting. We’ve been working on an album that we’re still hoping to get finished in this year, that’s why we’ve been holding back a little bit on releases.

What’s your current favourite night in London, either as a performer or a party goer?
H: Always Fridays and Wet Yourself! (Laughs)
G: Yeah, Wet Yourself. A lot of our friends go.
H: Always Fridays, as well, is a brilliant night.
G: It’s a good party.
H: I like going out to Trailer Trash and Lost Souls as well; we have a good relationship with them.

Tell me about ‘Change’, your new single.
H: Well it’s funny; I think it was about 3 ½ years ago, August came to me with this track, I really, really liked it, but it was five tracks in one. There was so much going on in it; three different melodies, four different bass lines, all hanging in but it was really, really good, all of it was really good, but you could quite easily have made four tracks. It was one of those tracks that we kept speaking about; ‘When are we gonna do a remix, when are we gonna work together and make a version of this track’. We would do some than leave it again. Do some more, leave it again. That went on for three years (laughs)! Literally, on and off we would take it up again and go like ‘Yeah, we need to finish this thing’ in the end we decided this track needed to get f’in finished (laughs), so we did and it got signed. A lot of people were interested in it; Rui de Silva wanted to take it, and we sent it out to some other labels who were very interested as well but in the end we signed it to Betoko’s label, OKO Recordings. We’ve got a really good relationship with him and he’s an amazing producer, more to the point we see a great future in him, both as a producer and massively in the label too.
G: He did a remix for us as well.
H: First we asked for a remix from Delicious. They did a remix, but they did a remix of the old Change track! Not the old, old one, but one of the old versions (laughs). So we sent that out, Betoko said ‘Yes. I want it. I want this track’ but then we listened to it, and we were like, ‘we’re not really happy with it any more now.’
G: We want to change it again (laughs).
H: And then our friend, a Danish folk singer named I Love Twig came round and put some vocals down on this track, this ever changing track. So he sang, we put it down, then it was finally finished, sent it to Betoko, he took it, and actually after he took it we did yet another remix.
G: A re-re-re-remix. (Laughs)
H: We put the last little percussion thing on, and that was it. Done!
G: As long as you have it you can change things, but when it’s out, it’s out. And it is a really nice feeling to get it out.
H: A very good feeling! No more changing (Laughs).

What would you be doing if you weren’t DJ’ing?
G: Music in general. I play in bands, I produce for people, and I even teach a bit. I’d definitely always be doing something in the creative field.
H: Same for me. I’ve produced TV programs, documentaries, films, and I’ve organised festivals as well. Anything creative, basically.

Not going to work a 9-5, then?
H: Only to survive! Which you have to do sometimes.
G: Luckily we don’t have to do that to survive any more.

You’ve travelled the world playing some big name clubs and festivals. How does it feel to be making a career out of something you obviously love and are so passionate about?
G: I feel really privileged. It’s great. Most days you wake up smiling even though it’s hard and it’s not always as fun as it looks.
H: It’s just good when you do something in an industry that’s quite competitive. Its like, ‘Mum, I wanna be a musician’ – okay, maybe accept that one. ‘Yeah, mum, I wanna be a techno DJ’. You see, it can be very hard to prove yourself within this field. It’s not just going out to party every weekend, which, you know, I also want to do (Laughs)! But, if you are serious about it, it’s a very nice feeling when you actually get to that stage where other people are giving you recognition, both your family and friends and people in the industry, and everybody can see that what we said all along was actually true we weren’t just mucking around we were being serious. That recognition is really nice.

Whats the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?
H: I think I’ve had a lot of good advice. Ray Stanley said to me, ‘If you can’t dance to your own music, you can’t expect other people to.’ that is something that I always think about. Because too many DJ’s, they stand, and expect the dance floor to dance but they don’t move a muscle themselves. That’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever had. You can quote me on that (Laughs).

Great! It’s been good to meet you both, and I’m looking forward to hearing more big tunes from Husley & Gunz. Change by Husley & Gunz (with Betoko, Noianiz and Delicious remixes) is out now on i-Tunes and Beatport

Fleeing from the communist rule of Poland and relocating to Texas at the age of 9, her family ended up making a move right into the heart of Detroit. Her accidental entry into Detroit’s rave and underground party scene as a teenager (coincidentally being handed a flyer for a party “around the corner from my house”) was the kick-start she needed for a lifelong love affair. Soon all became a blur of cities (hopping the coast to New York), record stores, “small loft parties and gay house nights”; her life revolved entirely around the records on her cherished turntables. Around 1998 she moved back to the Motor City and, through mutual friends, scored a seat in the Minus label office, closely befriending boss Richie Hawtin and moving in with a then-on-the-rise Marc Houle (hence their collaborative Run Stop Restore work with Troy Pierce that came later). A move back to NYC in the early ‘00’s birthed her Gel & Weave night, embracing artists as far and wide as Daniel Bell, Theo Parrish, Zip, Jeff Samuel, and John Tejada.

“I did a small night called “Gel and Weave” and booked artists who inspired me like Zip, Dan Bell, and Theo Parrish among others. In return Zip invited me to Berlin to play for a Perlon/Playhouse party, which for me was a huge honour. My first show in Germany was at the old Panoramabar and it blew me away. The whole attitude towards electronic music was different. There were no rules it seemed. Just lots of time and people going crazy until all hours. The atmosphere of the city in general was very relaxed and a nice contrast to the hectic New York lifestyle. I knew I had to go there, so 6 months later I moved.” – Magda

These days, though living in Berlin, Magda isn’t home very often. Her tour schedule is incessantly full, with dancefloors around the world being treated to her unique sound: “I’ve always played a mixture of different things. From Detroit techno to Chicago house/jack to German minimal. As long as something is interesting and has a groove I like, then I try to include it in my sets. I have a soft spot for obscure electro/disco as well and I do tons of edits.” Stylistically, Magda grooves through opposition – creating sets that are emotion-led yet clinical (having profound expertise with digital technology: Final Scratch, FX’s, samplers, and so forth); trippy and disorientating, yet lucid and coherent; pairing up sparing beats with bass-swathed extremes. Beyond DJing, producing, and a myriad of releases – including her cult-worshipped mixed CDs ‘Fact And Friction’ and the impeccably jam-packed (with over 70 tracks mixed in) masterpiece ‘She’s A Dancing Machine’ – she also heads up the fascinating label Items & Things with her good friends Troy Pierce and Marc Houle. The label’s focus is always pinpointed on the off-kilter and the uncommon, sometimes even the borderline strange.

And that same ethos is audible in her latest tour de force, fabric 49, a thumping trip into the otherworldly that breeds a rare feel of mystique and discovery, without ever compromising the groove. Crafted with meticulous detail and loving precision, it carries the weight of any Magda DJ set: intricate 4/4 licks that are bass-laden to devastating effect. Dramatic sounds and eccentric basslines carry the fast-moving, multilayered mix through the rising swells of Circlesquare, the haunting vocals of Luciano, the chilling chords and offbeat pop elements of her kindred spirits at Minus (Gaiser, Marc Houle and Heartthrob), and the funk-filled soundscapes of Magda’s own productions. A watertight compilation that brims with lively character, and skitters with Magda’s personal touches and effects, fabric 49 is a reminder of how rarely DJs truly break the mould. A mix CD with as much artistry, perfection and vision as an original album.

“The mix is inspired by Italian horror film soundtracks from the 70′s. I included the band Goblin, who made some very interesting dark disco, with trippy and drawn out psychedelic elements. I wanted to create something dark and groovy with a soundtrack feel to it, where sounds emerge and disappear, creating a spooky atmosphere. I chose tracks which were somewhat experimental along with dance tracks I like. I was very happy to be able to use “Heavy Whispers” by Yello because they are one of the most interesting bands for me. They had the ability to combine very different sounds and make some of my favorite new wave/electro/disco tracks ever. I also used a lot of unreleased tracks from producers whom I’ve met online and received demos from. It’s nice to be able to support younger artists and their sound when I can.” – Magda

“Electroclash really made sense to us, as it bought together both worlds, and had elements of fashion and art…Kill Em All was born out of our love for new bands like The Rapture & LCD Soundsystem, as well as bands like Roxy Music & Talking Heads. ‘The House of Jealous Lovers’ had just come out, as had ‘Losing My Edge’: they just captured a sound we loved. Our record bags became full of labels like Output and DFA as we tried to convert the Camden indie scene to this sound. We always put equal emphasis on booking live acts and DJs, which made the night different from many others at the time.” – Filthy Dukes.

As Kill Em All grew, the lovechild of indie and electronic music matured hand in hand, and before long the Filthy Dukes found themselves and their night Kill Em All hosting a room at fabric. “Within the gloriously grotty Barfly, Kill Em All began to earn a reputation for putting on a great night and spotting talent early. We couldn’t quite believe it when fabric invited Kill Em All to move into their club and no one was quite sure if it would work. Three years on and having had the likes of Justice, Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, Boys Noize, Crystal Castles, Cut Copy, Digitalism, Zombie Nation, Brodinski, James Murphy, Jackson & His Computer Band, Metronomy, Maccabees, In Flagranti, Santigold, WhoMadeWho and loads more, it seems like it worked and Kill Em All has established itself.” – Filthy Dukes

With Kill Em All lineups packing out fabric without need for distinction or segragation between dance, indie, electro, pop – it seems the general public is open to accepting that good music is good music, regardless of the tag (or its correlating “scene”)…and the Filthy Dukes proudly occupy the murky waters where all their streams merge. After years spent conquering the London club world and mastering the DJ booth, their attentions recently turned to the studio, where Tim and Olly were joined by third band member Mark Ralph. This year’s ‘Nonsense in the Dark’ was the result: their debut artist album on Fiction Records. Disco pop plucked from the top drawer, it takes its lead from the Gallic electronica of Daft Punk, Justice et al and the 80s synth-genius of the likes of Depeche Mode – but is truly a sum of all the parts that make Filthy Dukes.

“‘Nonsense in The Dark’ is very much a song-based dance album and we wanted to create an energy that combined a live and electronic sound. I think when the album came out some people were surprised, having known us as DJs playing a harder straighter sort of dance set. I do think it’s very indicative of our style though, it takes in many influences, from krautrock to hip hop and disco to electronica and pop. Live on stage, we all play synth, samplers, guitars, bass and Tim sings. We also have a drummer. We’ve done a couple of amazing live shows at fabric. DJing is still a great love though and it’s great to come back to after playling live. If anything, playing live has reignited our love for DJing.”

And it’s back to what they know best on FABRICLIVE 48: uproarious, incendiary DJ sets that sizzle through a smorgasboard of genres, not so much traversing boundaries as obliterating them, coupling pulsating kick drums, with dreamy melodies and song-writing sensibilities with an ability to turn a dancefloor upside down. The mix ducks and dives through styles and sounds without a moment’s respite – setting the pace from the off with their own gloriously synth-laden stomper ‘This Rhythm’, they move through ‘Beat The Clock’ by the legendary Sparks, Aeroplane’s disgustingly brilliant Italo remix of Sebastian Tellier – straight out of the Gospel of Daft Punk, and even manage to drift in and out of Aphex Twin’s classic ‘Windowlicker’ before the close. This is care-free, it’s joyous, it’s the sound of two mates, who know their music inside out, throwing their favourite records around the room. Throw down your preconceptions and discard your notions of the sounds of a fabric main room, this is Filthy Dukes, and this is how they Kill Em All.

“With the mix we tried to capture the energy of one of our DJ sets and reflect our night Kill Em All. When we book Kill Em All, we think about it like a DJ set, booking acts that reflect our taste in music and creating a night that builds. We start off with disco sounds, some live bands, move into house and techno and different sub-genres of both, getting a bit darker and heavier the later it gets. The mix reflects this and, like our DJ sets; it’s also quite unpredictable with tracks by artists like Mr Oizo next to Jack Penate. We have always been passionate about new music and new bands but also fun, so this is a proper party mix – a true reflection of both Filthy Dukes & Kill Em All. A lot of the artists on the mix have performed at Kill Em All: Emperor Machine, Phenomenal Handclap Band, WhoMadeWho, Discodeine, Braxe & Menace, Aeroplane, Popof, Brodinski, Joakim, Zombie Nation, Proxy. So it feels like a representation of the ultimate Kill Em All night in one mix.” – Filthy Dukes

UK/R.O.W. Retail: 12th October 2009
USA: 17th November 2009

“I love doing the Radio Slave stuff, it’s a real passion for me: the night clubbing culture and the perfecting of making music for clubs. But it’s good as a producer to be able to switch between different aliases, because you can’t write the same tracks all the time, it’d drive you mad. You learn a lot of things from working at different tempos, it’s a good learning process, and one thing can influence the other.” – Radio Slave

Growing up in an artistically led family in South London, Matt Edwards’ taste buds initially whetted when exploring the vast record collection of his father (who happened to design record sleeves as a profession), which makes sense of his schizophrenic, and voracious, musical appetite. In fact, all of his aliases seem to be tied by this same motif of imagination and experimentation. In his 20s, gaining a background education in playing downtempo tracks and Balearic beats, Edwards’ first forays into DJing were at the future-forward ‘Open All Hours’ night at Ministry of Sound in 1992. Perhaps his downtempo upbringing provides the explanation behind his Quiet Village project with partner, and fellow vinyl-obsessive, Joel Martin. And the poppy feel of Quiet Village, meanwhile, lends to the pop dance grooves he creates as Sea Devils, his work with celebrated musician Caged Baby. As Matthew E, he creates jackin’ house beats that groove and pulse under the most unexpected colour spectrum, which is the flipside to the soul-led and more articulate pull of Rekid, whose gold run of 12″s set the underground radar alight. His ‘Made In Menorca’ album (on Soul Jazz Records) as Rekid was a righteous success by critics and fans alike, breeding house beats that truly set a new precedent.

As Radio Slave, a name which originally started out as a temporary venture (tongue firmly in cheek) as he attacked remixes of more mainstream-focused and radio-friendly tracks, he started off best known for his techy remixes of some of the biggest names in pop (including Kylie Minogue, Gwen Stefani and Sir Elton John, to name but a few). Remix after remix, 12″ after 12″, and Radio Slave’s teched-out sound has since managed to find its way into an incomparable globe-spanning career, creating productions and compilations that are both exploratory and accessible. His ‘No Sleep’ EP series – launched in 2006, and now on its 6th edition – has become one of the most sought-after and eagerly anticipated set of 12″s in the 4/4 world.

But there’s yet one more crucial, and perfectly tuned, string to Edwards’ ever-expanding bow – Rekids, his hugely respected imprint shared with businessman James Masters. Kicking off in 2006 with Radio Slave’s anthemic ‘My Bleep EP’, the label has since gone from strength to strength, incorporating artists as far reaching as Luke Solomon, Toby Tobias, Spencer Parker and Mr G, among others. Rekids continually sets the blueprint for big-room grooves and hypnotic house and techno beats.

“We’ve got a number of album projects coming up from some new artists; an artist from Canada, from Montreal called James Teej, who we’ve been working with. The Jjak Hogan album is finished; we’ve been mixing and mastering that. We’ve been trying to broaden the label; with different projects, especially with the album projects. We’ve also got a girl from Russia called Nina Kraviz who’s a singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist, she sounds like a Russian Moodymann; it’s very Detroit inspired. She’s getting a lot of props from American producers, she’s just been working with Jus-Ed. We’ve got a few compilation projects that James and I have been working on, we’re doing a “best of” Radio Slave remixes compilation which, because of the fabric compilation, will be coming out in November. We’ll also be doing a Quiet Village compilation of “best of” remixes.” – Radio Slave

On fabric 48, like any Radio Slave production, the devil is in the details. Unlike a typical DJ mix that crams as much as possible into a relentlessly full tracklist, Radio Slave strips back and grooves with only 13 productions, each as incandescent and hypnotic as the next. This is no quick-fix mix, fabric 48 slow-burns each beat and sizzles with a crisp sense of timelessness. All tracks are elegantly drawn out and pulled in directions unknown, creating drama through the smallest effects and bringing back the feel of classic DJ experimentation from the heyday of Larry Levan. Designing soundscapes that breed rich, deep tones and colourful percussive builds, the mix tours tempos and glows with Cadenza’s Michel Cleis, the tech-laced grace of 2000 & One, plus exclusives and re-edits from Radio Slave’s own unstoppable Rekids imprint.

“It’s a mix of new and old tracks, something that people outside of the dance music snoberity would enjoy! I just wanted this mix to be a true reflection of my DJ sets, so I tried to capture the vibe of what I’ve been playing over the last year, and expose listeners to the kind of sets that I play at fabric. The club has the best sound system in the UK and this gives me the opportunity to really stretch out tracks and experiment with different sounds and atmospheres. Tracks like ‘La Mezcla’ have been in my record box for well over 6 months but it’s still a track that’s a great pleasure to play, plus there’s two new tracks from me, an amazing track from Boola and Nergu and an unreleased song by Rekids latest signing Nina Kraviz. All in all, a modern mix of electronic sounds from around the globe!” – Radio Slave

Bold reflects Exclusive & Unreleased track.

UK/R.O.W. Retail: 14th September 2009
USA: 20th October 2009

Brodinski is one of the most exciting electronic artists to explode onto the scene in recent years. Hailing from Reims, Lille in France, Brodinski’s musical style joins the dots between noisy techno, bass heavy house through to melodic minimal and is renowned for his tight, impeccable programming and unfailing energy behind the decks- the probable reason why he has a rammed global DJ diary playing for the likes of Fabric, Wax:On, Sonar, I Love Techno, Radio Soulwax, Turbo and not forgetting Bugged Out!

Brodinski first pricked everyone’s ears when his debut track Bad Runner was leaked onto blog sites months before its release on Swiss imprint Mental Groove in October 2007. Supported by everyone from Soulwax, Tiga, Chloe, Erol Alkan, A Trak, Busy P, Switch and Laurent Garnier; the peak time techno track (which featured what sounded like martian’s yakking through it) was one of the biggest tunes of the year.

Since Bad Runner Brodinski has been heavily in demand for his remix duties, having the ability to apply his varied taste in music to each individual track. From the acidic (D.I.M), to vocal techno (Das Pop), to melancholic end-of-nighters (Klaxons), Bonde de Role, Shoes, DJ Mehdi and Adam Sky have also been lucky to have the Brodinski remix treatment of late.

Suck My Deck By Brodinski encapsulates both the Frenchman’s sound and Bugged Out!’s style. Opening with Duke Dumont’s remix of Bathroom Gurgle by Late Of The Pier, a selection of tracks come from the likes of electro dandy Tiga (Shoes), current production collaborator Yuksek (We R Not Supermenz), fellow French techno don Popof (High & Down) and Wolfen by Boy 8-Bit plus party bangers from DJ Zinc Blunt Edge, Tom Flynn Blow Out and Iron Curtis Solgerwood all help combine the dark, bouncy, percussive and transcendent elements of this compilation.

“Expect to be hearing a lot more about Brodinski this year and beyond!” (Annie Mac)

With a huge summer DJ diary and production projects with Yuksek, Ebony Bones, Mumdance and Noob, watch Brodinski make a big impact in 2009!

Label: New State Music
Catalog: NEWCD9048
Released: 6th July 2009

First picking up a set of turntables aged 12 (hence the Toddla moniker) after a cousin got him hooked on hip hop, it all began four years later when he discovered the skankier sounds of Sheffield: dancehall, ragga, grime and techno. “I grew up in an area that was mixed; I went to a mixed school and was really encouraged to get stuck into all kinds of cultures and people. It’s the only way I’ve known. If it was any different, it would be a bit weird. I was encouraged to get stuck into everything and it paid off now with the music. Seeing music as being one thing rather than little pockets of things, it’s all just one thing to me really.” – Toddla T

This inclusive attitude, which epitomizes British music in 2009, has driven his DJing since day one, and it’s the fuel for his creative fire. And it’s contagious. In fact, it’s the reason why, aged 18, he was picked up as a studio engineer at the Kenwood Studios in Sheffield where Dizzee Rascal had made ‘Boy In Da Corner’, working with the likes of Cash Money and Roots Manuva, with no previous experience to speak of. “The only reason I got into the engineering side was because it was the only way; I didn’t know anyone who made music so the only way to do it was learn myself. I spent a few years doing that and it was amazing, I met some wicked people and I learnt how to be in studio environments with everyone from local bands to pop stars.”

Toddla’s first taste of being an artist in his own right came with his original production setup, Small Arms Fiya; a collaboration with fellow producer Scott Moncrieff which yielded several releases and remixes. But it was the combination of releasing his ‘Ghettoblaster’ mixtape and working solo on production that firmly put him on the map. “I wanted to put the mixtape out because I wanted to represent what I was about – not just a couple of rhythm tracks. And then it just went berserk, it got out of hand really! Then I got signed to an album off the back of it, which was just incredible.”

This signing, to 1965 Records – a Sony subsidiary – led to the release of his debut album, ‘Skanky Skanky’, in May of this year. In the couple of years leading to the album, he had carved a name for himself as a producer and remixer of massive repute. From his show stealing production on Roots Manuva’s ‘Buff Nuff’ and ‘Do Nah Bodda Mi’ to the unbridled personality injections in his remixes of the likes of Hot Chip, Tricky and Esser – he repeatedly proved his ability to sculpt tracks that buzz with the crackling energy of dancehall and gut-wrenching low-end.

As for what the young artist is currently working on production-wise, the list is virtually endless. But it’s best put in his own words (which may require a translator) – for, as seen on his cult-worshipped Toddla TV youtube series, there’s no such thing as a conversation with Toddla T; it’s all a whirlwind of character, liveliness and whim.”I’ve been doing some production, I did 2 tracks for Bashy’s album, ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ one of which was lead single – ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.’ I’ve done a track for Tinchy Stryder’s album, which he absolutely murked. Been in with Roisin Murphy working on her record. I’m goin’ to Jamaica in a couple of months for a coupla days in the studio…READY. Also about to go in with Trojan Soundsystem. Started my monthly Radio 1 show, every third Friday of the month, 2-4am….Steel City sonix nation wiiide!!!”

In comes the Steel City via FABRICLIVE 47, a living, breathing summation of all that is exciting about club music today, and for years to come. Veering from genre to genre, never missing a beat, Toddla – aided by the vocals of long term sparring partner MC Serocee – scorches through a searing seventy minute mix that lurches from the familiar electro dancehall of Cavemen’s remix of Duffy and Toddla’s own ‘Fill Up Mi Portion;’ to the Bristol jump-up drum & wobble of the Clipz/Toddla collabo; to the funky of Geeneus and Lil Silva; to dubstep from Untold and Caspa, with plenty of bends and tangents in between. Laced with VIPs, edits, medleys and exclusives throughout, this mix is the sound of one of the world’s most boxfresh artists, standing absolutely on top of the game. “I really wanted to represent an average DJ set in fabric from Toddla T & Serocee, Sheffield sonic stylee – as if a sweaty Sheffield basement was deported to Farringdon for the night! I’ve got exclusives and unreleased stuff from Roots Manuva, Skream, Drums Of Death, Untold, Shake Alleti, Toddla T (obviously), Martelo, Oris Jay, Oneman & Mr Versatile, as well as a few cheeky blends that have never been done before! So hopefully a lot of stuff will be brand new to people’s ears. This is fierce club kinda fodder!” – Toddla T

UK/R.O.W. Retail: 17th August 2009
USA: 8th September 2009