On Friday 21 May Braindrop hits Matter for the first time ever. Top psy-promoters Halcyon have invited us to host the excellent room 2 for them, whilst they take care of things in the main arena.

Whilst Room 1 plays host to a jaw dropping psychedelic line up – including an exclusive and very rare live set from international megastars Infected Mushroom, we’ve organised a ridiculously fat up-and coming line up for our room. Joining The McMash Clan will be dubstep badman Flux Pavilion, Planet Angel favorite Cellardore, Braindrop resident Charlie Cutta, your beatboxing host Bass6 and Life 4 Land’s  Scamp.

Scamp is an immensely talented producer who has very cool dreads and makes huge, devastatingly tough d’n'b with a psychedelic twist. He’s a member of Cambridge’s infamous Life 4 Land collective, a crew of underground producers and artists who have had a real impact on the free party scene both nationally and abroad. A massively diverse group, the count the likes of Ed Cox, Monsta (of Goldie / Stenchman / Breakfastaz etc etc art fame), Stivs, Ghost, MDS and Senor Scram amongst their numbers.

We caught up with the Scampy one to ask him some questions about production, the election and other important tings. And the charming chap gave us a free tune of his to distribute for your download pleasure too. Enjoy . . .

BD – Hi mate how are you and what are you doing at this moment in time?

S – I’m all good thanks. At the moment I’m busy writing some new material for the mass of summer parties that await us all this year. Got to be prepared innit!

BD – How would you describe Scamp? What are your main influences?

S – For me Scamp represents dark futuristic dance music that encompasses and creates fusions of various styles in a hi-nrg package. My influences started within the metal and rock scene. People like Pantera and Rage Against the Machine were a staple diet. I went on my first rave ‘exodus’ in 97 and that’s where I found a love for dark d’n'b and jungle. Since then my influences have become too many to list but what inspires me the most is to create tunes that allow you to mosh away any negative experiences that we all pick up from day to day

BD – Where did you get the name from?

S – Scamp has been a nickname since high school due to my cheeky and mischievous nature – and ability to climb lol!

BD – You’re playing in the Braindrop arena at Matter on 21 May. What can we expect to hear in your set?

S – A Matter be prepared for an audio onslaught of dark dnb, hard-tek and dubstep – with the visuals of a dreadlocked nutter going mental on the stage.

BD – What gear do you use to produce?

S – I use only software at the moment … Cubase SL and various VST synths, including Abysynth, Massive and Circle.

BD – Top production tip for up and coming producers?

S – For all the new producers out there experimentation is the key. Try not to go into a track with a preconceived image of genre or you will always be trying to write something that already exists. Just have fun and create sounds that make you pull a silly face and just flow with that.

BD – Any big news? Releases / collaborations / festival dates?

S – I’m working on a few remixes at the moment. We have the Life 4 Land remix of ‘Fire’ about to drop and I recently got the acapellas from the great ‘SMB’ hip hop crew – so expect something filthy turning up with those guys soon. As for festival dates I’m mainly going to be playing at free parties all over the summer with rigs like dmt,toxic,guillotine,trauma etc. Keep your ears open:)

BD – How do you fit into the big Life 4 Land picture? In what way are you all different? And what do you have in common musically?

S – In Life4Land everybody has their own unique style of dance music and I suppose I’m covering the d’n'b heads’ corner. What brought us together is our love for innovative dance music to smash parties with – and that’s what has held us tight as a crew for the last 12 years plus.

BD – What are your thoughts on the upcoming election? Who’s getting Scamp’s vote?

S – Hmmm the Scampy vote obviously ain’t goin to BNP, Conservative or Labour. . . and I’m not sure whether I trust the others either. Still undecided at present.

BD – All time top 3 tunes?

S – Raaa! Top 3 tunes damn now that’s a question. No I can’t do it! There are far too many but 3 random faves spring to mind:

1. Tech Itch vs Dylan – The Legend
2. Pantera – 5 Minutes Alone
3. Nixt- Evil Resident

Thanks Scamp! Check him out on the 21st in the Braindrop arena at Matter. In the mean time download some tunage form the man himself below. Bo!

Scamp and Scrawn – Freddy vs Mephedrone

This week we sift through the brain of Tom from Handbaked Arcade. Any of you who have been to a Braindrop within the last 3 years will know about Handbaked. They provide the fantastic large screen old skool video games at all our parties. From large-scale projections onto canvas screens for epic multiplayer fun, right through to smaller arcade / handheld console installations, Tom provides events all over the UK with quality old skool gaming fun. Don’t miss the Handbaked Showcase at puregroove on Saturday 27 March – not only featuring his extensive collection of gaming installations, but also a banging roster of bass heavy tunage.

After a long and tiring chase, we finally found Tom, tied him up and played him Basshunter on loop until he talked . . .

BD – How did the Handbaked Arcade start?

HB – Well I was always known to have a Sega Megadrive at my house and often it became the star attraction at house parties and gatherings. I thought it would be great to combine the visual impact and playability of the Megadrive alongside some noisy breakcore. The birth of the Hand Baked Arcade was a midweek event at The Telegraph in Brixton… I can’t even remember how many years ago! 5 maybe? Turnout was low, but the idea of the event was great and the people that experienced it gave good feedback. From then onwards my collection of equipment and games has grown and grown.

BD – Where does your love for old skool games come from? Why choose old skool consoles over new flashy models like X-Box and PS3?

HB – When I was a kid I had a Sega Master System and then the Holy Grail… The Sega Megadrive. This was a joint Christmas present of mine and my brothers and it was played a hell of a lot. I do play the PS3 round a mate’s house and its good fun but games now a days are so in depth. Most games are completely orientated towards the hardcore gamers and focus largely on high resolution, life-like graphics. Although they look great, the ability to pick-up-and-play is completely lost. There are tons of buttons to worry about, and there is rarely such a thing as ‘a quick game’. Retro games are often big, bold colours and suitable for anyone to give a go, ideal for the likes of nightclub installations to attract people who would not be as excited if there was Medal of Honour or Gran Tourismo on show.

BD – SNES or Megadrive?

HB – You have probably guessed this answer already, Megadrive for me every time. The SNES is bloody good too but I guess childhood nostalgia wins for me.

BD – What’s the most popular game with the punters?

HB – Street Fighter 2 Turbo on the Super Nintendo (SNES) is a classic and always requested, quite often causing big queues of people waiting to show off their memory of the special moves.

BD – Where do you get the old consoles from?

HB – Friends passing them on to me as they know they will get more use than they will sitting in their loft or cupboard. EBay is also good for picking up the odd item, although not always particularly cheap. The vast majority of my consoles, games and accessories have been from Sunday morning dazed walks around boot fairs across the country, quite often the morning after a free party!

BD – Tell us about your Handbaked Showcase coming up at Puregroove on 27 March.

HB – Well where I start… I have wanted to organise a Hand Baked Event again for some time and finally I have found an awesome, intimate venue to host the evening. The event will be at Pure Groove records in East London, literally a 2 minute walk from Fabric. There will be a mass amount of equipment on display, many consoles and games, multiple sized screens and the 12v arcade enabling outside gaming for the smokers. Fingers crossed it will be the debut event for my new 2-player arcade machine to be featured. Anyone that saw the ‘ghetto arcade cab’ at earlier Braindrop events will know how popular it is. This machine will have hundreds of games from the 80s through to the late 90s. Along side the gaming haven there will be chiptunes and down-tempo wonk supplied by myself (E:LF), dubstep dubplates from DJ Planet Mu, DnB from The Virtue and an eclectic selection from Randomoidz. The event is from 7-11:30pm so is an ideal pre-night out for all you ravers

BD – Any other exciting news? Any festival appearances / club nights etc etc

HB – I will be doing a set-up at Hidden on the 9th April for the A.L.A.N promoters. This is set to be a great event with friendly vibes (www.wearealan.com). In May I will be doing an installation at a massive event planned for Cable in London Bridge, keep an eye on www.handbakedarcade.co.uk for details on this one… Hopefully the Arcade will also be seen at some festivals this year again, once details are confirmed they will be up on the Arcade website. Other big news is the relaunch of the musical output from Hand Baked. www.handbakedrecords.co.uk is now live with major updates occurring very soon. We are running a digital download store covering exclusive titles as well as licensed tracks from the likes of Tech Itch, Current Value, Stenchman & Bong Ra. Exclusive Hand Baked releases are coming very soon from Mattykore, Meta & DJ Spazmo. Supplying a healthy dose of hardtek, gameboy dub/2step and breakcore respectively. Free mixes soon available to stream and download from Schemeboy, The Virtue, Mattykore, Meta and Jakub23 with many more to come!

BD – Finally can you tell us your 5 top ever old skool games?

HB – I can’t put these in order, it’s too difficult!

1. Metal Slug 1, 2 or 3 (all of them are amazing)
2. Street Fighter 2 Turbo
3. Mega Bomberman
4. Pitfall (Atari 2600 + Megadrive)
5. Pacman

Thanks Tom!

The lovely chap gave us a Handbaked EP to download for FREE. It’s by an artist called Squareway, and the EP is called “Bleep trip”. Ukranian chip tune bizniss! Download it HERE.

Follow this LINK to check the Facebook event for his Handbaked Showcase on the 27th.

Check the Handbaked website HERE

Check out their online MP3 store HERE

Go to their Myspace HERE

Follow dem pon Twitter HERE

And join their Facebook group HERE

We first met Kanji several years in 2006, when he would regularly come along with a group of mates to Braindrop at the Purple Turtle. The next time we bumped into him would be early 2009. In those few years he’d transformed himself from a bedroom producer learning the ropes to a massively respected, in demand artist and future bass pioneer.

He’s already officially remixed Roisin Murphy, AC Slater, Mikix the Cat, Kid 606, Drop the Lime, Adam Freeland and Subeena. And his recent rerub of 16 Bit’s earth shaking Chainsaw anthem should definitely win most ridiculously gurn inducing tune of 2009.

We caught up with in advance of his Braindrop @ Bloc set his to ask him some very important questions. And the lovely chap has given us one of his biggest anthems for FREE download – the absolutely massive Deep Down South. Link is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

BD – Hello mate – how are you?
KK – Good thanks! Been enjoying the London snow bringing everything to a halt…

BD – What’s new in the land of Kanji Kinetic? Any exciting news /collaborations / remixes / signings?
KK – Lots of stuff coming in the next few months actually! I have a new 12″ coming out soon on Senseless Records and another one to follow on Sleazetone, as well as something a bit different on Tigerbeat6! Very excited about getting these out there…
My remixes of 16bit’s Chainsaw Calligraphy and my Roisin Murphy remix have just been released, check em out! And a whole bunch more remixes in the pipeline!

BD – How would you describe your sound and what are your main influences?
KK – Without wanting to sound pretentious, I still don’t really know what genre to call most of my stuff really.  Basically I’m taking the framework of bassline and 4×4, and crossing it with ugly noises you might find in dubstep and drum & bass… but also heavily influenced by oldskool breakbeat hardcore, chipmusic and a bunch of other stuff!

BD – Where does the name come from?
KK – I’ve had a fascination with Japan since I realised as a kid that pretty much all the video games I loved came from this small island!  ‘Kanji’ are the pictograms that make up the Japanese language and I thought it would be a cool name to use since I was studying the language at the time.  I found there was another DJ Kanji so I added Kinetic on the end which is the energy created by movement, I thought this was pretty appropriate for music to go nuts to…

BD – You’re playing b2b with Raffertie for our Braindrop Bloc Weekend showcase – alongside DJ Hype, MJ Cole, Reso, Vent, AGT Rave Cru and ourselves. How does a Kanji vs Raffertie show work? What can we expect from your set?
KK – I’m very excited to be working live with Raffertie as it’s something we’ve been talking about for a while! I can say that there will be a bit more to it than a regular b2b session…

BD – What equipment / software do you use to make your music
KK – I use Logic Pro (still on version 7 – haven’t felt the need to upgrade) alongside Ableton Live 8, with various plugins.  I have a couple of MIDI keyboards for composing and the Akai APC40 for live stuff (lovely piece of kit).

BD – Which artists are you really rating at the moment and why?
I recently heard a bunch of new tracks from Sharkslayer which have been smashing up the dance, watch out for him! DJ Manaia is another madman producer, all his tracks are crazy in a different way.  Check out Mindtransit for some oldskool ravey vibes brought up to date… Also Egyptrixx has been pushing his house-influenced sound with all sorts of bizarre noises which is unlike anything else I’ve heard.

BD- You run your own label, Electrostimulation, alongside our mate Z-Kat. What’s the ethos of the label and what are your upcoming releases?
KK – The idea behind the label is to support undiscovered, emerging and established producers who we think are coming with fresh, unique sounds that deserve as much exposure as possible! We’re very excited to be releasing an EP from Temper D – known for his drum & bass productions and DJing, he’s moving into new territory with this release which will be out soon.  Also due shortly we have a release from Nonewyork (with a great remix from Squire of Gothos) and an EP of remixes of my ‘Splatterbass’ EP which I’m really looking forward to getting out there!

BD – You’ve been to Braindrop since the crazy days of the Purple Turtle. Number one Braindrop memory?
KK – Seeing Limewax a few years ago after you moved to Jacks Club, I turned up just in time to catch his set having not slept for 2-3 days, the atmosphere was amazing!

BD – All time 3 top tunes (anything at all)?
KK – That’s a tall order…. I can give you 3 tracks I like a lot:

1. Atari Teenage Riot – Revolution Action
2. Boards of Canada – Roygbiv
3. Ulver – Christmas

BD – Current dj top 10? What’s in your box?
KK – New stuff from Squire of Gothos, Sharkslayer, Syntonics, Mindtransit, Luke’s Anger, Ricorb, DJ Manaia, R1 Ryders, Noiz, Blackmass Plastics…

BD – Top 3 animals?

1. Lyrebird
2. Micropig
3. Narwhal

BD – Favorite Youtube video?
KK – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laXT4a_pkkg

Free tune download

Thanks Kanji – download his amazing Deep Down South below. We’ve been caning it in our sets and it always turns the dancefloor into a neon-rave mosh-pit.

[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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Remember you can catch him and Raffertie back to back at Braindrop @ Bloc Weekend. Get your Bloc tickets HERE

And grab his mental 16 Bit Chainsaw Caligraphy remix whilst you can – get it now from Chemical Records.

Check Kanji’s myspace HERE.

This week we speak to the fantastic Amental. A Norfolk based collective of jungle fanatics, these boys are establishing themselves as some of the most talented and dedicated young amen mashers around.

We’ve played with them a number of times over the last year – notably Braindrop @ Scala, Bloc Weekend and Jungle Syndicate Bristol. And they’ve smashed it every time with their Ableton based live show. And the lovely chaps have given us a track to download too.

We caught up with 2 of their key players, Dr Um…. and Badman Moriarty to chat about barn trance, amens and rat poo.

Interview

BD – Hello guys – how are you and what are you doing at the moment?

DU – Pretty Cold, Ill, Burning spliffs, Logs and Breaking beats!

BM – Pretty ill, burning things

BD – How would you describe Amental? What are your main influences?

BOTH – Amen-tal are a collective of like minded wrong’uns who like to make horrible noises at excessive volumes. We grew up playing in ska/metal/punk bands in our youth so the horrible element to our music has always been there from before we began!! this i guess has to be our biggest influence since that’s how we grew up…… An insatiable hunger for smoke-able plant matter mixed with a very unhealthy range of sleep disorders play a pretty large part in things too! There was a period where raves were kicking off every weekend around our ends so we all started to warm towards the idea of electronic music. After a few months of banging as fuck barn trance, piano house and old school parties… :-/ … we saw a little rig called structurally unsound (Life4Land) crop up at a multi rigger in the depths of Thetford forest and had a little musical epiphany! NOT EVERYONE WHO LIKES DANCE MUSIC LIKES SHIT MINDLESS 4X4 NONSENSE AIMED MAINLY FOR VEGETABLES!!! With this realisation and a collective hate for the commercial dance scene which dominates the area in which we operate and in general… We decided we’d give it a bash!

BD – Where did you get the name from?

BOTH- Our collective unhealthy obsession with the amen break. We never intended to steal it, but its also a name of a track by Amen Andrews.

BD – Any exciting news? Releases / remixes / collaborations /
festival appearances etc etc?

BOTH – ‘Amentalist Movement – Round Two’ was released on Acroplane, ideation and structural damage on the 23rd November + it’s free to download!!!! Check www.acroplane.org + www.ideation-records.com + www.structuraldamage.co.uk. We plan on sticking out a few more free releases over the course of 2010 so keep your eyes peeled! Go to www.amen-tal.co.uk for updates. Early this year probably around April we will being releasing the 3rd independent Amen-tal release long time itched over Amen 002 vinyl. We’ve been waiting for this for too long, and there’s some serious amen bizzniss in the pipeline for this one!!! As for festivals this year were playing at Bangface Weekender 2010 which anyone who has attended in the past will know is gonna be completely off the wall! www.bangface.com. Also were in talks with a few other promoters for some other festivals this year so stay tuned for some big announcements to come with any luck

BD – What equipment / software do you use to make your music?

BOTH – Acid, Ableton, Logic, krk rokits, Akai mpd, things that make noise, things that record noise

BD -Top production tip?

DU – WHAT THAT NEEDS IS A BANGING DONK MATE…. and if i were you id put an amen break on it too…

BM – Break it, ruin it, do it all wrong

BD – Which artists are you really rating at the moment and why?

DU – There’s too many to list…. but off the top of my head without writing an entire book for you… Ghost – because of his amazingly intricate sound and second to none production skills! I wouldn’t hesitate to say Kenny has made some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life! Dj Vocoda – fresh new upcoming talent from our ways – this lad is barely out of nappies and is already writing jungle sick enough to make you spit out ya dummies. Axewound – one of the newest additions to the Amen-tal crew, allongside his mad amounts of musical talent which seemingly fall from his fingertips – he also won the title of boots most beautiful baby as a young’un

BM – Daytime Televisuals for relentlessly being at every dirty rave up possible supplying images for your eyes displeasure. We’ve worked closely with him this year check his stuff out!  Ghosts tracks have been stand out for years his mastering is an art of it’s own, enjoying a lot coming from Life 4 Land crew, MDS & Senor Scram especially. I’m rating crews of producers more this year. Jungle Syndicate, Junglist Alliance, Satta Sounds are raping my ears currently, I like the DIY vibe

BD – All time 3 top tunes (anything at all!)?

BOTH – that’s too hard!!!

DU

1. The Winstons – Amen brother (the world would be a very sad place without this tune)
2. Lynn Collins – Think (Again…just think of all the tunes that wouldn’t exist!)
3. Billie Holliday – Gloomy Sunday (original darkside bizzniss)

BM

1. The Beastie Boys – Ch-check it out
2. Voodoo Glow Skulls – El Coo Cool
3. Bob Dylan – Rainy Day Women 12 & 35

BD – What are the top 10 records smashing it in your sets at the mo?

1. Falling Down Escalators – The Devil’s Ring
2. 4a4 – Constant Mash Up
3. eN – Falmer Stn
4. Axewound – Insatiable Hunger
5. DSC – Burn Down The System
6. Dr…um + Axewound – Babylon Junglist
7. Badman Moriarty – Twisted Brain Wrong
8. Pastaman + Cherub – The Grudge
9. Ghost – Camber Acid
10. Dj Vocoda + Radman – Jamaica will rise

BD – All time 3 animals

DU – There’s more than three awesome animals!!

1. The Sarcastic Fringehead – (not an mouthy emo kid locked in the cupboard as you may imagine) these are fish that have the best name going in the animal kingdom!
2. My Chickens are pretty good as they provide eggy treats on a regular basis!
3. My Ratkid’s (R.I.P) – one of the most loyal an coolest pets…although smelliest… when they rarely did shit on the floor it was far less of an issue than your nan’s Great Dane unleashing jellified meaty chunks of semi digested food babies onto the carpet.

BM –

1. chickens for scrambled eggs
2. cats
3. goats

BD – Favorite Youtube video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI – this demo of Ableton – someone remaking Prodigy – Smack my bitch up… It’s a nice insight into Ableton + the world of sample manipulation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIFFcVEWClg& – its a stop time animation done by one of our friends a few years ago – the patience and skill that went in to making this is mind blowing!

BM – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvl0Nc3Mj98

We could do you a top 10000 Youtube clips… though we’re going to stop myself right there…

Free tune download

Big thanks to the Amen-tal massiiiive! Download Badman Moriarty’s Twisted Brain Wrong below . . .

[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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Check out the Amen-tal myspace

The Alliance say: “Don’t buy Rage Against The Machine OR the X Factor track and give money to Sony, download this track free, and give what you can to Farm Africa, supporting farmers in the third world”

Check the vid below - and check out the awful original in all its star studded glory below that!

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This week we chat to rave loving bass buccaneers Pirate Soundsystem. Part of the excellent Coin Operated imprint (alongside Kanji Kinetic, Squires of Gothos, Warlock etc etc) and Wide Recordings, signed to the Fat! DJ agency and residents at monthly bass frenzy the Z-Shed.

The Pirates make big, fat and high octane 4×4 rave influenced bass music. Their remix skills have been sought by the likes of Drop The Lime, Wiley, A1 Bassline, DZ, Ctrl Z & The Freestylers, Merka, Zomby, Si Begg, Hadouken! and Bonde Do Role to name a few.

We caught up with the boys to chat about all our favorite things…And the lovely fellows gave us an exclusive track for free download – their BANGING, brand new and unreleased remix of Double 99’s RIP Groove. Read on for production tips, musical inspiration and funny dogs!

Interview

BD – Good evening chaps – how are you and what are you doing at the moment?
DON - In my jim-jams, listening to recent purchases & drinking coffee.
JOSH – Bombastic. Just trying to polish of a couple of EPs that we have on the go at the moment.

BD – How would you describe Pirate Soundsystem? What are your main influences?
JOSH – The whole idea of Pirate Soundsystem was to create music that combined our favourite bits from various genres of music. I’d describe us as… bass rave producers… ‘bass’ & ‘rave’ might not be the best terms but they are definitely the two words I associate with the most.
Recently, my influences are from people like Tim Wright, Kanji Kinetic, D’explicit, Si Begg, Squires Of Gothos…. People who make the bass noises really. Coffee has a big part in my life.
DON – Rum N Bass? Older acts that have influenced us are Tim Wright, The Wideboys, Altern8 and The KLF.

BD – Where does the name come from?
DON – In early 2004 we were going to start a night called “Pirate Club”. Then a promoter mate asked us to DJ at his night, and he needed a DJ name for us quickly as he was about to send the flyer to the printers. “Pirate Soundsystem” was the first thing that popped into my head, and we never really felt the need to change it.

BD – Any exciting news? Releases / remixes / collaborations / festival appearances etc etc?
DON - We’re just finishing up our new EP “Riddim Is A Dancer” at the moment. It’s got a more grimey/dancehall/soca flavour than our last two EPs – some of that influence you can hear in the RIP Groove remix.

BD – You gave us your fat new remix of RIP Groove for the Braindrop family to download. Do you come from a garage background?
JOSH - I got into garage about the same time as I got into hard house really. I was looking for a music that combined all the little things that I liked and garage ticked the most boxes really. The 2-step drum programming just blew me away… that tight choppy, skippy sound with all the little pitched up vocal bits and gunshots. Tracks like the Dem 2 mix of Basement Jaxx – Jump N Shout and Phuturistix – Blind Faith were the things that made me want to reach for the drum machines. In my mind the only thing that could of made these tracks better would of been some hard house bass going on. I got into more 4×4 stuff and speed garage later and that kind of phased out my need for hard house in my life.
DON - I come more from a rave & jungle background. It’s the combination of rave/jungle and garage/hard-house influences that really shape our sound.

BD -  What equipment / software do you use to make your music?
JOSH – Renoise… It’s like brain gym and music production in one.
DON - Native Instruments Massive for bass sounds. It sounds amazing, but it’s easy to go overboard with the unusual oscillators and end up with a bass sound that doesn’t have any real weight. You can layer a nice sub underneath, but that’s a long ting, so these days I try to include at least one oldskool oscillator to keep the bass-patches sounding warm.
Massive also has a tendency to create sounds that overly dominate the mix, so I generally tame it with Oxford EQ and add a touch of PSP Mixbass to bring out the subs.

BD -  Which artists are you really rating at the moment and why?
JOSH - At the moment D’explicit is coming through with some really interesting bass. Definitely gets respect for releasing an album that’s so focused.
DON – 100% to the above, and I’d add R1 Ryders (just for *that* bass/lead sound) and DJ Manaia who’s really killing it on the Tropical Bass thing.

BD -  Who would you most like to work with? Anyone at all…
JOSH – I’d love to work with Tim Wright… His production is craaaaaaazy. The most banging 2-step techno. The balance between all the intricate skippy sounds and big gurning basslines is amazing.
DON - Snoooooooooooop.

BD -  All time 3 top tunes (anything at all)
JOSH – Wow… ok…
1. Tim Wright – The Lunge
2. Aquasky vs Masterblaster f/ Ragga Twins – Coffee
3. Acen – Close Your Eyes (Optikonfusion)
DON
1. Prodigy – Ruff In The Jungle Bizness (Uplifting Vibes Mix)
2. Foul Play – Dub In U (Remix)
3. The Clash – Guns of Brixton

BD -  What are the top 10 records smashing it in your sets at the mo?

1. DJ Luck & MC Neat – A Little Bit of Luck (Original vs Dub Militia Edit)
2. Moves – All Skate
3. Pirate Soundsystem – Rush Around
4. Adam Freeland – Bring It Hard (Kanji Kinetic Remix)
5. James Dixon – Welcome To Jamrock / Helicopter VIP
6. The Count & Sinden – Strange Things (R1 Ryders Remix)
7. Sharps – The Limit
8. Jinder – Youth Blood (Squire Of Gothos Remix)
9. Ctrl Z vs Freestylers – Ruffneck (Pirate Soundsystem Remix)
10. R1 Remix – Beautiful Girls

BD -  All time 3 animals
JOSH
1. My Cat
2. Polar Bears
3. Slow Loris
DON
1. Tyrannosaurus Rex
2. Ankylosaurus
3. Baryonx

BD -  Favorite Youtube video?
JOSH - Hol’ on tight -  pug pushes stoller!
DON - Eastern birthday jam!

Free tune download

Big up guys and thanks for the words! Download their massive and very tropical remix of Double 99’s RIP Groove below. Big!

[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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Check the Pirates on Myspace

Welcome to the first of our artist interview / free download series. Every week we’ll be interviewing an artist we massively love and respect  and asking them for a cheeky exclusive download or 2.

First off we have the fantastic Bruce Stallion. Bruce’s party smashing sets and productions straddle dubstep, electro, heavy bass and wobble happy rave. His tunes caught the discerning ears of Kid 606, who promtly signed him up to his infamous Tigerbeat6 label.

Bruce smashed our Braindrop main room to pieces back in September. We caught up with him to ask the man himself some important questions about music, production . . and animals.

BD: Hello mate – how are you and what are you doing at the moment?

BS: Why hello, I am very well thanks. At the current moment in time I’m just being a really boring bastard and looking at stupid pictures at Skullswap which is possibly my favorite blog in the world, it mainly features random pictures from all corners of ‘pop’ culture, today we’ve got a still of Shredder and Krang eating a bowl of popcorn. It’s also where I found this first, for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure.

BD: How would you describe Bruce Stallion? What are your main influences?

BS: Er….bah, guh. Werp? I guess when I started doing stuff that wasn’t breakcore I was trying to rip off Drop The Lime a bit and the other Trouble and Bass stuff. But as I kinda got more into it I guess I found a bit more of my own sound. One of my main influences is actually Ebola, he’s a good mate and we swap ideas and stuff. You may have noticed him following a similar breakcore – bass trajectory! And obviously Kid 606 is a massive influence, I sent stuff to Tigerbass just on a random chance and he came back and put it out which is amazing. He’s really good at giving constructive criticisism, when a track isn’t quite there yet he’s knows just what to say to get it going. He basically taught me how to write stuff for the dancefloor and Im really fucking greatful for that!

At the mo I’m listening to a lot of stuff that falls into the gap between funky and dubstep. I’m starting to feel the same way about wobbly LFO’s as I did about breakcore a couple of years ago, its still cool but it doesn’t really grab the imagination in the same way anymore. I still enjoy a but of the old WAA WAA WOOOGA WOOOGA WEEEERP WEEERP but at the moment I’m enjoying more of the deeper stuff (jesus I hate the word deeper it sounds so wanky). And I fucking love Zomby, I buy everything that dude does. Mans a god, despite the ugly rumours!

BD: Where did you get the name from?

BS: Once, long ago in the mists of fucking years ago me, Ebola and Joe of out Metronomy (yes really) were part of a little hiphop night in Brighton called ‘Why’ you gotta front’. I’d just started writing tunes, so I picked the name Bruce Stallion from a totally awesome (but terrible) film called ‘Ninja terminator’, I thought it sounded welll hiphop . Years later when I sent stuff to Tigerbass I used the name Black Rabbit, but had to change it after another Dj called Black Rabbit emailed me, I believe their fameous but no one I know has heard of them. Read into that what you will! Thinking back, I remembered the name Bruce Stallion as being fucking awesome so I used that. Heres some Bruce Stallion biznizz on Youtube. I think hes the evil red ninja. Hes a boss is Bruce.

BD: Any exciting news? Releases / remixes / collaborations / festival appearances etc etc

BS: Ooooooh. Well none that I can talk about yet. I’ve got loads of new stuff that’s waiting to come out on a label, cant really talk about it quite yet! I’m pretty proud of the new stuff, its got some analogue synth stuff going on and theres a little more of a house influence as well. I’ve tried to keep the hiphoppyness of Black Rims but make it a bit more musical as well. Got some remixes as well, but they havnt come out yet either, hmmm. Watch this space!

BD: Can you give us a quick run through of the 4 track ep you’ve given us for download on braindrop.co.uk?

BS: Bad Pillz and Juice Cup are both VIPs of older tunes I did to bring the production a bit more up to date…their pretty different to the originals. The other two tracks are kinda tracks done at the same time as Black Rims that didn’t quite make it onto that release, similar kinda hiphop rave vibe, obsessed with pills n’ glowsticks. I’ve kinda got that outta my system a bit, but I may say something else when its festival season, so if you see me in a field somewhere smeared in Vics with eyes like dinner plates you know I’ve changed my mind again.

BD: We first booked you for Braindrop under your alter ego DJ Floorclearer. Which artist do you prefer playing as?

BS: Both have their good points. Being Bruce Stallion is more about trying to keep people dancing and get a vibe going. Floorclearer is more metal, more attitude. I’ve kinda retired from Floorclearer, but Im gonna do some stuff in a more Dj Scud vein (noise, bass) after a while so it’s only temporary retirement. Breakcore needs to go back to the old school, really.

BD: What equipment / software do you use to make your music?

BS: Logic 7 (don’t wanna upgrade, I like Logic the way it is thanks!), an Ms10, some modular synths, Moog Voyager Old school (Yes!!!), Massive and a suprisingly small selction of plugins. I use the built in Logic bitcrusher and Ringshifter (the lfo on that is insane) a lot as well. I try to avoid using too many fx plug ins, you can usually hear them used on stuff and personally hearing a really noticeable plugin tends to put me off a bit.

BD: Which artists are you really rating at the moment and why?

BS: I’m liking a lot of stuff by Joy Orbision, Slugabed, Squire of Gothos, Kanji Kinetic, Martyn, Emvee, Untold, Raffertie, Debruit, Silkie,Taz Buckfaster. Shit, theres so much good stuff! All kinda blending lines in between hiphop, dubstep and other stuff.
I also enjoy everything by Ebola, oh and Ladyscraper is stilling shitting out awesome gabber, not a genre I normally enjoy much anymore but I still love everything he puts out. Its got more a metal feel, which is kinda what I like. I’m a old time metal dude and I still love all that stuff.
Im also listening to an enourmous amount of dark stuff like Ahab, Xela, Sunn 0))). Ahab are my new favorite band by the way, they play funeral dooooooooooom and they sing exclusively about the sea. Their amazing, but I think they should change their name to ‘Brine’. Or maybe ‘Crill’

BD: You’re part of the infamous, Radio 1 championed Countryside Alliance Crew. I hear rumours of a Christmas release. Going for Christmas number one?

BS: Yes! Watch this space. I don’t know if Im allowed to talk about it. Say to say, its going to be amazing. We’ve all being practicing our pop star “oh my god I’m cumming ”faces all week.

BD: All time 3 top tunes?

BS: Arrrrgh. Um! I believe that is impossible but her goes

1) Dj Scud – You Know the Score
2) Frank Zappa – Watermelon in Easter Hay
3) Slayer – Rain in Blood

BD: What are the top 10 records smashing it in your sets at the mo?
1) Akira Kiteshi – Boom N Pow (Raffertie remix)
2) Silkie – Cats Eyes
3) Debruit – I’m Goin’ Wit’ You (feat Om’Mas Keith) (Octa Push Remix)
4) Taz Buckfaster – Murder Skank
5) Untold – Stop what your doing (James Blake remix)
6) Raffertie – Wobble Horror
7) Kanji Kinetic – Densetsu Riddim
8 ) Bruce Stallion – Drugs = Bad (Squire of Gothos remix)
9) Zomby – Helter Skelter
10) Terror Danjah – Stealth Mode

BD: All time 3 animals
1) Rabbits
2) Cats
3) Bat eating centipede

BD: Favorite Youtube video?
BS: That changes on a daily basis. Today its this one Ninja Terminator trailer

Fucking class.

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Thanks Bruce! Download his exclusive EP below. He picked these tunes especially for the Braindrop family – so enjoy. . .

[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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[Visit blog to listen to audio]

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Visit Bruce’s Myspace