Resolute is a new night launching this New Year's Eve in Maidstone, Kent and drawing together dubstep and roots music through the High Rollers soundsystem. Boasting an extensive, finely curated lineup that includes RDG coming over from Denmark, the first appearance of J:Kenzo's latest project alongside Mosaix under the Artikal moniker, Dub Police mic man Rod Azlan featuring alongside the likes of Pressa, Legend4ry and, the man behind the night, Crisp.
To support the night's launch, Pressa and Crisp are giving away their deep roller 'Atom', a tune that steps tightly with swung kick drums and a reverb heavy snare driving a warm, grooving bassline, exclusively through Hedmuk.
With the surprise giveaway of 'Icarus' earlier in the year as well as the recent long-awaited release of 'Myth' and 'Flow' TMSV has steadily been gathering the recognition and fanbase that his production is worthy of, and he's joined in with the giveaways this year too with a free EP of some of his early productions.
"I wanted to give away these 3 tunes to say thanks to everyone who's been supporting me this year. 2011 has been a very good year for me and I hope that 2012 will be even better.
Thank you for listening to my music, spending your hard earned money on my releases, downloading my mixes and coming to see me play...it really means a lot.
Sentinelese and Levitate are two of my earlier 140 bpm tunes, from 2007/2008. Smoke is from 2010.
Sleeper's multiple free downloads this year have been topped off by this Christmas giveaway, and celebration of reaching 2000 fans over on Facebook, from Distance's own Chestplate Records imprint. Featuring beats from the label boss himself as well as new signings Sleeper and District this EP, on top of the recent flurry of activity from the label including the announcement of their takeover of Fabric's third room in February, suggests that 2012 will be a busy year for the Chestplate crew.
Following up from 2009's 'Oh Geezus, It's Christmas' mixtape P Money, Blacks and Little Dee are back fronting this free eight track release. With features from some of the less known OG members and the beats being provided by a tight selection of some of the most in demand producers at the moment (just take a look at the beat selections from Lord Of The Mics 3 for an idea of how dominant these guys currently are) this is a welcome return to the mixtape format from the crew, who have remained relatively quiet since 'OG Season' and the departure of Dot Rotten.
1. OG'z - This Is GRIME! (feat. Kozzie, Jammin & Shower) (Prod. By Darq E Freaker) 2. OG'z - Taking It Old School (Prod. By Preditah) 3. OG'z - Who We Are (Prod. By Zdot) 4. Blacks - La La La (Prod. By Faze Miyake) 5. OG'z - Dead Battery Freestyle (Prod. By Faze Miyake) 6. Stormer - Sisters (Prod. By Preditah) 7. OG'z - Shutdown Vs. OG'z (Prod. By Sukh Knight) 8. OG'z - Numbers & Letters (Prod. By Faze Miyake)
Skream weighs in this Christmas with yet another huge, and apparently final, giveaway: this time he's collected eleven tracks which all date between 2004 and 2006 (a period many consider to be among the golden years of the garage off-shoots of both dubstep and grime). Coming with a slightly wry warning that 'This will not impress people who found dubstep in the last 3 years', the free zip should provide something of an insight to more recent fans as to the minimal and hugely experimental foundations from which the now-global sound has grown.
Featuring some Stella Session classics, such as 'Potent Cloud' and 'Hurt The Soundboy', this is a must have for everyone: regardless of when they were first introduced to the sound.
1. Zoned 2. Potent Cloud 3. Deeper Concentration 4. Dubbers Anonymous Pt.2 5. Hurt The Soundboy 6. Live & Learn 7. Sound Trak 8. Tale of the Haunted Flutes 9. Top Gear 10. All Hail 11. My Calculations
Following last year's 'Merry Christmas EP' Ghetts' has offered up another generous seasonal offering. The 19 track 'Momentum Mixtape', hosted by the infamous Whoo Kid, includes a number of collaborations with big names in the UK grime scene including the likes of Devlin, Mercston, Giggs and Badness.
1. Merry Xmas Intro 2. In A Zone 3. Karma 4. Red Pill (Ft. Mercston) 5. Insight 6. Venemous Tongue 7. Not Lose 8. No Comment (Ft. Giggs) 9. Rebel 10. Orions Belt 11. Troubled Man 12. Story of the Pauper 13. Girl At Home (Ft. Brutal) 14. System (Ft. Badness) 15. Roof Off (Ft. Rawz Artilla) 16. Ima Boss Version 17. Piping Up (Ft. Devlin) 18. 3Style (Ft. Kyzer) 19. Séyi – It’s Christmas
2011 has seen an explosion in interest for what, over the course of the year, has been termed and re-termed multiple times but ultimately is dubstep in its most elemental form. Perverse have risen through the ranks at an incredible speed this year and are on course to make the coming year their own: what is important about the duo, though, is a dedication (shared with a number of the year's other breakthrough producers, such as Killawatt, Thelem, District and Sleeper) to progression. With many people happy to level the lazy argument that the deeper end of the 140bpm spectrum has become 'boring' or 'repetitive' it is necessary for producers to continue to strive for originality and, to a certain extent, for the fans to demand it too. Originality is something that this New Zealand duo have, and to note it's correlation with their rapid ascent this year is key. We caught up with them for an interview and got them to lay down the latest instalment in our exclusive mix series.
Hedmuk: As an introduction, what are your names, where are you from and how would you describe your sound?
Brett & Alex: We are Brett & Alex [aka Perverse] and we're based in Auckland, New Zealand but originally from South Africa and Scotland respectively. We like to think of our sound as clean, deep, emotional, bass-driven and thought-provoking.
H: Had either of you previously been involved in making music in any form, or is Perverse your first real venture?
Brett: Both of us produced under different aliases before meeting: I produced under the name Ducer and Alex under the name Zander. For me, Perverse was the first serious thing I had done.
Alex: I had been messing around with producing for about 2 years before forming Perverse with Brett. I didn't really find my "sound" until about 4-5 months ago; I used to experiment in all kinds of beats like trip-hop, D&B and experimental stuff, but dubstep was always my favorite.
H: In only a matter of months you've successfully caught the ears of many of the most influential DJs and producers, including the likes of Youngsta and J:Kenzo: is there anything in particular that you would out this down to? Does this kind of support add an extra element of pressure when you come to making new beats?
B & A: The way we look at it, in most cases these guys are bombarded with tunes daily so it's not common that they just happen to stumble across up-and-comers. For us it was about chasing down those we felt might connect and feel the music we are producing, and only sending our best quality stuff: nothing we were unhappy with. We always sent what was, in our eyes, [music that was produced] to the best of our ability.
It does [add an extra element of pressure] in the respect that we have to maintain a standard, but that can only be a good thing.
H: How do you find producing as a duo? Do you always produce together, or have you other solo projects outside of Perverse?
Brett: We may not always start a tune together but we always finish it together. We spend most nights in the studio so just bounce ideas off each other and let the tune write itself a lot of the time. I think both of us have singular projects on the go as well, but not with the same passion I have for Perverse.
Alex: I found it very hard to work with others before working with Brett. We both work really well together and our styles seem to merge when making a tune. I make tunes on the side too but they won't see the light of day for a long time, I'm experimenting with loads of styles at the moment.
H: How much of a scene/following for dubstep is there in New Zealand? How did you first come into contact with dubstep, in particular the deeper sound that you're building yourselves?
B & A: Bass driven music has always had a huge following here, especially in drum and bass. The scene is extremely healthy catering to those of all tastes, it's continually growing and 9 times out of 10 in a positive way. Both of us were introduced to dubstep through friends and the internet, it became quite the addiction very quickly. The first artists we came into contact with were people like Mala, Vex'd, Distance, Burial, Pinch, Cyrus, Cluekid, Benga and Skream. I guess it was that first taste of the darker, minimal heavier vibe that we fell in love with and that is why we choose to reflect that in what we produce. You can possibly hear their influences in our stuff but hopefully it has an individual sound as well.
H: You've recently joined Rood FM, with your Monday night show: how did this come about? What sort of vibe do you aim to create with the show?
B & A: We were approached by Fish, one of the owners of RoodFM, saying he'd heard some of our stuff and wanted to know if we'd like a slot. To have a radio show was definitely a goal of ours but we didn't think it would come so quickly. We play anything we are feeling and we like to have a laugh. Anyone that has tuned in knows we don't take anything too seriously and we like to have fun, while interacting with the people in the chatroom and people on Facebook and AIM.
H: Can you take us through how you went about putting together your mix for us?
B & A: We just chucked a bunch of tunes we were feeling together and had a jam, as well as including a few of ours for good measure. To be honest, planning mixes for us never seems to really flow it's better just to have a jam and let the mix dictate itself.
H: Finally, are there any forthcomings or anything else in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out about?
B & A: Definitely. We're stoked with the reception the Innamind release has received and are truly honoured to be a part of a release with some good friends and people we look up to. 'Skylark' is currently sitting at #5 in the sales chart (shameless self-promotion).
We also have a forthcoming vinyl release featuring 3 of our favourite tracks, coming early next year as well as a few other releases and projects in the works which will hopefully see the light of day very soon. There's collabs too, with some of our favourite artists and people we really look up to.
Big shout out as well to all the people helping us, pushing us, buying the releases and chatting to us. Churrrrrrrr...
