Free Download: War Dubz II - Breen, Dark0, Arctic, Underclass, Epoch, Majora & more

It's been just under two weeks since Threnody launched his response to the war dubs and sends being flown out between grime's A-list producers, in which time there's been the round draw (documented brilliantly by Dark0), a week on the beats, the clash show on Sub.FM - which you can listen to again over here, or download here - and, following all of that, the official vote over here on Hedmuk.

So the votes are in and counted, and the winners are crowned as follows:

Dark0 [vs. Filter Dread]
SC: soundcloud.com/dark0

Kakarot [vs. Marcx]
SC: soundcloud.com/kakarotmakesmusic‎

Majora [vs. Mike Midnight]
SC: soundcloud.com/majoramusic

Name_pending [vs. Legend4ry]
SC: soundcloud.com/name_pending‎

Glot [vs. Strict Face]
SC: soundcloud.com/glot92

Epoch [vs. Underclass]
SC: soundcloud.com/epochalypso

Arctic [vs. Mella Dee]
SC: soundcloud.com/arctic

Rabit [vs. Breen]
SC: soundcloud.com/therabit‎

Zha [vs. Chemist]
SC: soundcloud.com/manlikezha

Crackatoa [vs. Mad EP]
SC: soundcloud.com/crackatoanotts

College Hill [vs. Dellity]
SC: soundcloud.com/collegehill

We also decided to name an overall winner, and picking one proved an easier task than the high standards across all the clashes might have first suggested: Rabit takes it home and leaves the rest of the pack trailing after ending 73 votes ahead of the nearest competitor at the poll's close.

As much as it does end there, it doesn't end entirely as we've a parting gift to everyone who's found themselves listening repeatedly over the clash entries since we posted them. The whole lot, bar Rabit and Chemist's efforts, are up for free download either individually or helpfully zipped up below:

Download: War Dubz II [.zip]





W.

Feature: War Dubz II

It all started with Bless Beats and an awkward attempt at something he used to be pretty good at, and from there the thinly-veiled Lord Of The Mics 5 promo stunt began to spiral with constant back-and-forths between the likes of Jammer, Wiley, JME, Preditah and Rude Kid over Twitter. Following this was a whole bundle of short, thrown-together pseudo-trap (and, admittedly, the odd banger) from not only the few producers who had started the whole thing but also, it seemed at least, anyone who's ever downloaded Fruity Loops and fancied a shot at the fast-dwindling limelight.

Severe quality control issues aside, the whole thing has had a fairly positive effect in terms of not only getting more producers back in front of their monitors again but also reigniting a debate about how grime sounds in 2013. And since we're not of the opinion that grime in 2013 sounds like trap, we were keen to see some younger blood coming through.

Wen came with a beat and arguably cleared the floor with everyone, and then wasn't included in the GrimeForum nominations. So it was that another previous guest of ours, Threnody, took it upon himself to instigate a new set of clashes, enlisting 22 of the best emerging grime producers to go head to head. Names were picked at random on Threnody's Sub.FM last week, with each producer given seven days to write a beat in their opponent's style but at a level that they could never reach.

The clashes are as follows, and will be aired live tonight, from 10-midnight GMT on Sub.FM.

1. Filter Dread vs. Dark0
2. Mella Dee vs. Arctic
3. Breen vs. Rabit
4. Chemist vs. Zha
5. Legend4ry vs. Name Pending
6. Mad EP vs. Crackatoa
7. Glot vs. Strict Face
8. Epoch vs. Underclass
9. Kakarot vs. Marcx
10. Dellity vs. College Hill
11. Majora vs. Mike Midnight

An unofficial vote will be judged from chatroom hype during the show, and an official vote will follow directly after the show right here on Hedmuk.

--- VOTING ---

The vote process is a simple one: all the clashes are available to stream in the players below, and the beat in each clash that has been favourited by the most people wins. To vote, simply click the 'Like' icon in the top right hand corner of the player.

Voting will close on Monday the 23th of September 2013.

1.   Filter Dread vs. Dark0


2.   Mella Dee vs. Arctic


3.   Breen vs. Rabit


4.   Chemist vs. Zha


5.   Legend4ry vs. Name Pending


6.   Mad EP vs. Crackatoa


7.   Glot vs. Strict Face


8.   Epoch vs. Underclass


9.   Kakarot vs. Marcx


10. Dellity vs. College Hill


11. Majora vs. Mike Midnight



To listen back to the War Dubz II show in full, use the player below to stream or download from here.

Threnody - War Dubz II - Sub FM by Threnody on Mixcloud

W.

Featuring: Wen

Ever since 'Takin Over' dropped in midway through Etch's Hedmuk Exclusive Mix, Wen has been firmly on the "to-feature" list. Someone else with their ear in was Blackdown, who stirred things up by asking 'what's all the commotion about?' Those in the know, of course, already knew - and that the track referred to was to fill out 12 inches of wax a few months later on the Keysound imprint came as no surprise. This, for many, was the first introduction to the abrupt rhythms, guttural space and stretched synths of the young producer from Margate. And a successful introduction it proved to be. Since then - and by then, we mean since the 'Commotion EP' sold out entirely - Wen's tunes have been picked up and rinsed by everyone from Kahn, Akkord, Elijah & Skilliam, My Nu Leng and, of course, the interlinked collection of producers who have spent the last year and half bouncing off each other and providing us with some of the most forward-thinking music the UK underground has to offer. Producers like Facta, Sepia, Underclass, Threnody and Etch have featured heavily across Hedmuk's pages and work within context of the UK's rich underground heritage - and with the releases mounting, it may not be long before they're commanding their own shared shelf in the record stores that have been at the heart of that heritage.

Hedmuk: To introduce those who might not already know, how would you describe your sound?

Wen: Dark and kind of violent, I guess - there are moments of cold emptiness interrupted with bright bursts of energy, there's a sense of urgency in the rolling versus stop/start pace of it and lots of contrast in the palette of sounds.

H: Your beats are minimal in the sense of leaving a lot of pregnant space, in the same way in which a lot of early grime instrumentals were very stripped back, and yet they don't seem to be as inviting to an MC: do you ever find yourself writing beats with an MC in mind? Is working directly with an MC something you'd be interested in doing, perhaps in the future? 

W: I make my beats to hold their own on the dancefloor, it's never really been about making instrumentals for vocalists. They are sparse for the sake of being spacious and giving the rhythm some silent groove, not really to be filled with vocals. It's fun to chop vocals in like verses ([see] Patwah, Lo-Fidelity), but I prefer the impact of occasional lyrics - something to hold onto while the drums and bass roll out. So that's probably why they aren't inviting. Most of the time when I use vocals it's of a moment I enjoyed in a set, so I do write with that particular MC in mind, but I'm just trying to catch their vibe and energy, accentuate it a bit and take it further my way. I’d love to have the opportunity to work directly with an MC though for sure, it would be a completely different way of making music

H: And how does it feel to hear the likes of Wiley, Riko, Scratchy and God's Gift riding your beats on radio?

W: Yeah that was something else; it felt like a massive accomplishment, something I aspired to do when I started to make music and still will, it's not something that’s ticked off the list by any means. If I'm honest I kind of lost hope of that aspiration when the freestyle radio shows slipped away - Logan's show and Westwoods short lived 1Xtra Grime slot, they were the major ones I listened to potentially send instrumentals to. I sent stuff to a couple of blogs, Hyperfrank used one for an intro to a Griminal freestyle once, which was a bit of a tease, so it was great to finally hear some MC’s over my tune.



H: Your debut 12” on Keysound was one of the label’s biggest to date; how did you get involved with the label? Do you feel that working alongside a label which has a deep-rooted sense of influence and musical narratives with regards UK-based electronic music has helped with giving you a certain fixity and confidence when it comes to producing and pushing your own take on the underground electronic music of the last decade or so?

W: It feels right to be a part of Keysound, there's a lot of energy and a sense of focus within the crew. I got hooked on the label when I heard 'The Bits (feat. Trim)', it was one of those edgier instrumentals that Trim's known for but was actually accessible and had a path to follow (in contrast to Brain / T-Spark / Jerzey etc. who you didn't hear of, aside from on his mixtapes). I started checking Dusk + Blackdown on Rinse and eventually sent them some music. I think as a label it’s always been really quick to expose new sounds and make sure what it's doing is innovative. And that process feels continual, I find that important, it’s reassuring to know I can do my thing; I'm not expected to make tracks like the ones we did with the EP, it's more “cool, that was fun... let’s keep the momentum going".

H: In recent interviews with Threnody and Underclass, we touched on the idea of hybridity: in the mixture of influence, sound components and tropes or styles of music. Is this something that you can relate to in terms of your own music, and its apparent refusal to fit any preconceived or notional genre? 

W: I think that’s interesting, and I agree with the hybrid influences in my own music, but that’s probably as far as I consider it. I just draw from styles I like and found some space in 130 to try to do my own thing, the main reason I started to make beats at that tempo was 'cause I was listening to the Keysound Rinse show. I held that as a catalyst that I wanted to be a part of - through 2011 and particularly towards the end of that year there was something really exciting building, I wanted to be involved in that movement. I could never predict what they were going to play but I knew it was going to be cutting edge. I wasn't intentionally refusing to fit in with dubstep or grime, I was just addicted to this alien sound I discovered on their show.

H: Is this hybridity something that you see reflected in the 'cluster', as Blackdown himself puts it, of producers currently peddling this darker take on 130bpm music?

W: You can narrow it down to 'hybrid' but I feel it's quite dismissive, there's a lot more than a two-fold hybridity going on with us lot; if that was the case I'm sure a genre name would have been coined by us to label it and call it our own. We share a gravity, which is, in my opinion, UK underground music, LDN, no doubt it's the origin everyone draws considerable influence from. Blackdown talked about this idea of satellites before, it's the sickest image, every producer being a satellite, worldwide. It's important there are other styles and clusters in this thing, I kind of feel I need the colourful synths/rolling funky/zero rhythm grime/4 to the floor energy/swung 2-step/warm (and cold) jungle nods. All these sounds compliment each other and give me something to draw influence from, the scene's so healthy at the moment - "these are fine times".



H: You’ve since followed the Keysound release up with a vinyl-only 12" on Baitface’s Badimup; how important is it to you to be releasing your music on a physical format?

W: It's even more important than I thought it would be. I did two digital releases before the debut 12"; once that dropped and I held the full artwork record it completely changed the way I wanted to see my music being out there and represented. The first one with Epoch felt real 'cause he cut a few dubplates of it, so I did get my own physical copy. I'm not against digital by any means, just strongly prefer the idea of people buying my music in a tangible format. I felt really proud when I saw the record in shops, friends sending me photos of them buying it etc. I didn't feel that way when I saw my music up on a website for instant download - maybe a little bit at the time, but in hindsight it didn't compare at all. It's funny actually, I was more excited when my EP got leaked: despite it being annoying that someone we trusted had shared it, it was a compliment at the same time. Growing up hounding the grime forums for Rapidshare links, you know the hot music gets uploaded quick, so I'm quietly grateful. Anyway, yeah, the 'Swingin' vinyl: I felt I needed to balance out the physical/digital with the Badimup record, I'm glad Baitface was supportive of doing vinyl only. There was no process in choosing the tracks, I just sent him those two and they clicked with him instantly. In fact I thought the decision was kind of brash a couple of months later, it was a situation where there was such a big impulse connection between my music and Baitface it left me feeling it shouldn't have been so smooth, the whole thing was a natural process; even when he mentioned about 180g it felt like it would have been rude not to.

H: Bootlegs and versions have always been a big part of grime, and your ‘Strings Hoe’ refix has caught the attention of some of grime’s biggest DJs: how does it feel to be picked up on by the likes of Elijah, Skilliam, Score 5 and Logan Sama?

W: Yeah my favourite Dizzee instrumental. It was always a bit of a gamble doing that bootleg, but it seems to get nothing but love. Glad I finally have that connection to some of the grime DJs, particularly the Butterz guys I love what they're about.



H: As your music begins to attract more and more attention, do you feel a greater pressure to deliver or do you see it as an opportunity to push at your own creative boundaries?

W: It's all positive to be honest, pressure is good for me, I welcome it. I probably feel more pressure from the way my friends are getting exposure to be honest, not really in a seriously competitive way but there's this whole one-up ethos going on amidst the entire family moving forward. I'm just having fun with it right now, enjoying 2013 so far.

H: Tell us a little about how you went about putting together the mix you've done for us.

W: It's a collection of music I feel has been influential on me lately, lots of producers included who are new on my radar and others who I'm always listening to.

H: Finally, what do the coming months hold for Wen: are there any forthcomings or anything else in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?

W: There will be new Wen records out before 2013 is over. Doing a small tour of Australia at the end of August, gonna finally link Epoch out there - he's just moved to Melbourne - and Arctic too, hopefully be the grounds of some new collab projects. Also come join our bi-monthly Sunday Keysound Sessions at The Waiting Room, London - the E.M.M.A album launch was special.


Download: Wen - Hedmuk Exclusive Mix


Tracklist:

Skepta - Mastermind [Boy Better Know]
Walton - Haze [Dub]
Self Evident - Calgary [South Fork Sound]
My Nu Leng - Waltaknocks VIP [Dub]
Arka - Innamorta [Dub]
Akkord - Compound [Houndstooth]
Neana - Bow Kat [Dub]
Elmono - Shadows on the Moon [Cold Recordings]
Dizzee Rascal - Strings Hoe (Wen Refix) [Dub]
Luthor - STL [Dub]
Elsewhere - The Espers [Mindset]
Wen - Persian [Dub]
E.m.m.a - Nostrum (feat. Sully) [Forthcoming Keysound]
Facta - Hieroglyph [Dub]
>>> President T - Heard What I Said [Adamantium Music]
J-One - Ask Me [Dub]
LAS - Liketha [Forthcoming Signal Life]
Etch - Rise [Soundman Chronicles]
Teeth - Black Thigh Snakes [Forthcoming Signal Life]
K-Lone - Crunch [Dub]
>>> Lil Nasty - Firework [Rock N Rolla II]
Mickey Freeze - Carbon [Dub]
Kahn & Neek - Thief In The Law [Bandulu]
Dot Rotten - Give Me The Money [Ghetto Platinum Productions]
Epoch - The Steppenwolf (Gantz Remix) [Dub]

Wen - HEDMUK Exclusive Mix by Hedmuk on Mixcloud

W.

Featuring: Sepia

Photo by Ben Donoghue Photography

One of the reasons why it's so easy to like Sepia's music, or for that matter so difficult to dislike it, is the way in which each track captures a mood so effortlessly and coherently. And while maintaining a simple, linear mood or tone across six or so minutes of music isn't necessarily a stand-out achievement, to create, develop and challenge - through the deployment and subtraction of subtle rhythmic and tonal inflections - a complex atmospheric web is most definitely something to be celebrated; and when all that is built around big basslines, intensely intricate drums and a doffed cap to all that's worth nodding to from the past twenty or so years of UK dance music culture, then celebrating becomes all the more easy. The last time we were this excited about a new producer was probably the last time Sepia sent a new beat through. Or Etch did, or Facta did, or Underclass or - well, you can probably see that there's a pattern emerging here...


Hedmuk: To introduce yourself, what's your name, where are you from and how would you describe your sound?

Sepia: Hello. My name is Theo, I currently reside in East London and make tunes and DJ under the name of Sepia.

It's kind of hard to describe my sound, as it varies depending on what tempo I am working on or what mood I am in, but I think there are some consistencies in my tunes; for instance, you'll always find my tunes are very percussive and focus a lot on intricacies in the drum patterns. I play drums, so I think that influences my drum programming a lot. I also try to capture certain moods and atmospheres through the melodies I use and always a warm rumbling sub bass. I have only really just gotten my head around building synth patches. Most of my earlier works were literally just melodies, drums and sub bass, but it worked for the kind of vibe I was going for. So yeah, I just kind of make percussive and deep, bass-driven music. Sorry for rambling (laughs).

H: How long have you been involved in making music? What was it that first got you into making beats?

S: Well, throughout my teenage years I was writing music with old bands I was in until I was about 17 or 18. I still write music on that side, but have been more focused on electronic music since 2008 I guess; I have always been interested in it, but I never really got into making music or DJing until I went to a party in a forest where I used to live on the Isle of Wight (a little island down south, near Portsmouth). I remember watching my mate Ben (who also runs the rig and parties) playing an incredible set with tunes by Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert etc. and then later through the night another guy was playing a dubstep set and the sounds just drew me in. I was gone at the time (laughs) but thought 'I really wanna play at one of these parties'. So I acquired some turntables and started collecting records and started DJing.

I started producing towards the end of 2008, but was only really messing about, I got a copy of FL Studio 7 and taught myself how to produce. I was under a different name back then and still finding my feet, but when I moved to Brighton I was playing shows weekly with some huge people (Skream, N-Type, Coki, Joy Orbison, James Blake etc.), had residencies and played at nights like Subsplash, Supercharged, Aka Aka Roar etc. and it is through playing them shows and networking in Brighton that I got to meet and become friends with the likes of Riskotheque, Marchmellow, Southbound Hangers, Dismantle, Gangoon Dubz, Etch and Ashley (from Well Rounded). It was about late-2009/early-2010 that I really got to grips with my production and finally developed my own sound and I started taking it a bit more seriously.

And now here I am I guess, I am still learning new things every day with DJing and making tunes, but I guess everybody is really because music and methods are constantly evolving and changing. Nobody ever stops learning, to be honest.



H: In terms of where you take your influence from musically, your tunes give the impression that your listening ear is a open one: is this the case? Who would you say you most often find yourself looking towards for influence?

S: Yeah, you could say that. I listen to a lot of different music, man, a lot of which are bands. If honest, I'd have to say my biggest musical influence would be Sigur Ros: words can not describe the effect their music has on me, so I am not even going to try. You may not be able to hear their influence in all of my tunes, but if you listen carefully to some of the melodies and arrangements I put together (for example in my tune 'If Only We Could See Us Now'), you can detect a hint of the ambient and orchestral sounds I use in some of the intros and atmospheres I create.

As far as bass music goes, my influences will always be the first who got me into this sound, for instance Mala, Coki, Loefah, Burial, Kode 9,  El-B, Cluekid, Horsepower Productions, Steve Gurley etc. and then you have just some incredible producers such as Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, Luke Vibert, J Dilla, Quasimoto etc. I wouldn't say they influence the sounds I make, but they influenced me to experiment with electronic music in the first place, way before I even discovered dubstep or garage. Also, you have more recent producers such as Phaeleh, Congi, and DjRum whose music really blows me away.

But my influences go beyond music too: books, movies, people, situations, atmospheres, summer, past experiences and life itself are all influences in my sound. I guess everything has an influence on me, it also has a lot to do with where I am at the time musically, consciously, emotionally and physically: it all plays a part in my process of making music.

H: Your music covers a wide range of styles - from Grime to UK Funky to Garage and Dubstep and more - is this something you're conscious of? Do you approach making a tune with a certain idea or style in mind or is it a more organic process of just seeing where it takes you?

S: I am aware of it after the tune is completed, but it is not something that is planned or thought out. I never sit and think to make a certain genre. Going with influences again, it all just depends where my mind is at the time. I usually start my tunes with an 8-bar drum loop and from there I try out some little bass hooks to try get a feel of what kind of groove it is going to be. From there I separate everything and start from scratch and build an intro, drums, basses, synths, atmospheres etc. and start constructing the sounds I have made into a song. But it is hard to say really, as each tune is different; I never produce in a certain way, it's ever-changing. Not sure if that is a good thing or not, but it works.




H: How does it feel, despite not easily fitting into a particular genre category, to be receiving airplay and support from the likes of Joe Nice, Dusk & Blackdown, Phaeleh and B Traits? Do you feel like this recognition puts the pressure on to deliver more in the future, or does it just encourage you to progress with your sound?

S: I have been stoked and overwhelmed by the support and plays from the people who have been into my sounds. It might not be much to many people, but I am so stoked that 'Observer' got played on Radio 1. Even more stoked that Joe Nice cut 'Observer' and played it on Sub FM. Skream & Benga recently dropped my tune 'Cornered' on Radio 1 too which I am stoked about. And the support and plays that Dusk & Blackdown have given me have definitely influenced me to keep striving to push my sound further and excel.

I do feel that knowing that some people enjoy the music does influence me to progress my sound and deliver more, but at the same time it also scares me. Sometimes I make tunes and won't even show them to anybody as I don't feel they are worthy because some people might be looking for a certain sound and I am not sure that it will be the one they are looking for. This goes back to the way I produce, I can't stick to a certain sound or genre because I'm influenced and intrigued by so many things and I like to experiment with different sounds and styles sometimes. I don't like to think there are any restrictions or boundaries in music: everybody should just be allowed to go with their instinct and see where their creative flow takes them.

H: Tell us a bit about the mix you've put together for us.

S: The mix was recorded at my friend's house on his CDJs (big up Etch for letting me use them); when I play out I like to try and give the listener a taste of where I am at musically, so I tend to jump genres and create different atmospheres and also try to keep the listener interested by playing different things that hopefully everybody can enjoy at least a part of. A lot of the tunes in my mix are made by my friends, and that is something I am loving about the underground music scene right now: a lot of us are actually friends, we all network with each other and we are all bouncing off each other to excel and progress. So this mix features a lot of dubs, forthcoming pieces, and a few new releases by more established artists that I am feeling. There is a sneaky VIP in the mix also and an upcoming project too...



H: Finally, are there are anything forthcomings lined up or anything else in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on? 

S: Yes there is, 'Cornered' and 'Outbreak' are forthcoming on Redshift-One and are due out June 24th (available from all the usual digital outlets). I've got something else lined up too but nothing is 100% confirmed yet, so keep an eye out on my Soundcloud or Facebook for forthcoming releases, gigs and new music. Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me in the near future.
And lastly, big up and shouts to yourselves at Hedmuk, Etch, Atlas, J-One, Lex, Breen, Facta, Underclass, Rabit, Scalade, Konvex, Threnody, Dusk & Blackdown, Joe Nice, Phaeleh, Congi, Quest, Glacial Sound and too many more. And of course my girlfriend for putting up with my noise all hours of the day (laughs).





Download: Sepia - Hedmuk Exclusive Mix



Tracklist:


Sepia - Bullets [Dub]
Sepia - Because Of Me [Dub]
Wen - Swingin' [Badimup]
Sepia - Outbreak VIP [Dub]
Walton - Homage [Keysound]
Pearson Sound - Quivver [Nonplus+]
Fresh Paul - Sunblazed [Keysound]
Bloom - Quartz [Gobstopper]
Vivek - Asteroids [System Music]
??? - ??? [Dub]
Sepia - If Only We Could See Us Now [Free]
Sepia - Into The Abyss [Dub]
Sepia - Observer [Dub]
Sepia - Skyline [Dub]
Congi - Somnium VIP [Dub]
Sub Basics - In The Quiet [Dub]
Klax & Disonata - Lost Souls [Forthcoming Uprise Audio]
Daega Sound - Land In Motion [Black Box]
SPD - Habitus [Slime]
Sepia - Cornered [Forthcoming Redshift One]
DjRum - Honey [2nd Drop]

Sepia - HEDMUK Exclusive Mix by Hedmuk on Mixcloud

W.

Featuring: Underclass

Reflecting a period in which dubstep and grime were still just undefined - or perhaps even over-defined, carrying with them a multiplicity of different, and differently inadequate, names - offshoots of a similarly difficult dark strain of UK garage, Underclass is emblematic of that raw, somehow-cohesive multiplicity that had an increasing number of disenchanted and disillusioned garage heads entranced as the UK crept into the noughties. Similarly to the way in which the likes of Threnody, Etch, Wen, Beneath, Visionist all contain, in their music, nods towards the rich musical history they have - often simply by making music where they do - inherited, Underclass' beats are aware of their influences and rejoice in twisting them into a new, informed figure. But what is striking about tunes like 'Ecko', though, is the intensity of their sparsity; and while this may sound paradoxical, it's a concept well-illustrated and illuminated below as we receive an insight, as unlikely as it might be, into the influence of John Cage and of Futurist theorists on Underclass' music. The result is a sound which is very raw and very engaging.



Hedmuk: Your tunes tend to share a raw, stripped-back aesthetic: is this something you feel you aim for consciously, or does it seem to come naturally?

Underclass: I do separate the textures and the rhythms consciously. The beats and bass are about vibes, movement and flex whilst the textures are more precise and all about depth. If you listen to my beats the instruments might be stripped back, but that is just to leave space for the incidental sounds in the background.  I’ve always been interested in the ambience encasing sounds, natural reverb on mechanical sounds like a helicopter or traffic, so leaving other areas sparse to let ambience ring out is important.

H: What was it that first got you involved with producing and making beats?

U: I got into making beats through DJing. I have a decent collection of early grime and dubstep and have been mixing it for a long time now. Really I started making beats mainly because my old vinyls had more crackle than bass as I’d rinsed them, so I wanted to make something with that aesthetic but for this decade. I wanted music that was raw, dark, cold but also paid attention to detail. 10 years ago coming out with something made on a Playstation was acceptable and new, but whilst the melodies and beats are still sick the depth isn’t there in terms of texture.



H: It's clear that you draw a significant influence from early grime and dubstep sounds, but do you find yourself trying to step away from your influences, to an extent, in order to set your music within a new, fresh framework? Where else do you tend to draw influence from, is it mostly music or are there other things that you find to be inspiring?

U: Early grime and dubstep are just what I grew up with so those sounds and that aesthetic is just ingrained in me. I have some older friends who were junglists and it is the same with them, 'Amens' are part of their psyche. Alongside grime I listen to a lot of electroacoustic music and I've listened to that since before I locked onto grime. I felt grime fitted into that, especially early on it was abstract and vanguard in the same way Jonathan Harvey, Jonty Harrison, Pierre Schaeffer etc. are. I use a lot of those composers as references for sounds and textures, while my rhythms & bass come from grime. I don’t look to step away from or step towards my influences, I just see what comes. I never think ‘I want this track to sound like DJ Oddz/Luigi Russolo/Trevor Wishart’, I just write.

I’m not interested in going back and trying to recreate anything that isn’t already ingrained within me. I don’t want to go back further and make a rave, garage or jungle pastiche because that was then. I also don’t want to make a record that sounds like 'eski' or early grime, but these sounds and rhythms are just what are in my head and what my brain is wired to so they probably come out. If I ever write a track with an Amen or an obvious 2-step beat then I have sold out because I would deliberately be trying to be something I am not. I didn’t experience garage or jungle first hand and I don’t have a complex about that and feel the need to make neo-garage/jungle through guilt, so I just write what comes.

As for taking influence from other places, like I mentioned probably the biggest thing is how sound behaves in space and just using my ears at different times in different places and thinking ‘how do I make a police siren sound like it is travelling towards me at 120mph through a city at 3am, and how can I incorporate that in a tune’. Probably the single biggest influences on how I listen to sound comes from the Futurists and their writing, and also John Cage and his lectures. Reading those teaches you to really listen to everything and without the Futurists we probably wouldn’t treat the sounds of industry as music. It is almost 100 years ago now but without them I don’t think we would be open to sounds and textures in electronic music today.

H: Like many of the producers within this loose grouping which we've mentioned previously, you're taking certain core aspects of styles such as dubstep and grime and pulling them back to a slower 130 tempo: what was your initial thinking behind this, and how important is the extra space that doing this can give?

U: Well, I don’t write dubstep and apart from a few tracks and producers I’m not interested in it particularly these days. A lot of the grime I have on vinyl is slower than 140 too and the beats I was making weren’t halfstep so they didn’t need the extra tempo to drive them. 130 leaves enough space for the background sounds and textures and it is a bit of a coincidence that some other producers seem to be working at that tempo too. I thought when people talked about 130 they were talking about Swamp81 or Night Slugs and although I like some records from those labels it is a completely different sound, although the framework might be similar. It is the difference between standing in front of a speaker in a rave or listening to the beats from the back of the room. One is direct and the other has space. I think the same difference was present in grime vs. dubstep 10 years ago. I suppose the only thing linking a lot of this loose grouping is the use of grime aesthetic with early dubstep’s sense of space. Obviously a lot of new dubstep has moved from the back of the room to in front of the speaker and lost that space whilst other stuff is obsessed with the space and has lost the vibes.



H: You've recently been picked up by Dusk & Blackdown, receiving regular airplay on their Rinse show: how does it feel to be getting that level of recognition and exposure? 

U: I’m shocked that I have been picked up so quickly by some big names but I had spent a while working on tracks and I knew at the end of last year that I had reached the right level to send beats out. Initially Threnody played a few tracks and this got me a lot of attention very quickly. Blackdown messaged me to say he had heard my beats on Threnody’s show and asked if I could send some. I locked onto his show the next week and him & Dusk were playing them. Brackles and J:Kenzo have played them out too, which surprised me a bit, but I’m honored they like them and feel they work in their sets. If anyone plays my music then it means a lot and the fact that people I’m playing, like Filter Dread, Epoch and Rabit are playing me means more to me than if someone told me Skrillex had just dropped my track.

Hearing Blackdown & Dusk drop them was special as Keysound is on fire at the moment and that Rinse show is a monthly ritual for me. It’s good for me to get support from DJs because I’m not that up for the hype game of Facebook pages or whatever. I have a Twitter to communicate and a Soundcloud to put out some tunes, but I’d prefer to be judged by my beats than how many followers I have. DJs are the important people for repping my beats and getting them out to the wider public.

H: How did you go about putting together the mix you've done for us?

U: I started off by pulling out all my vinyl and thinking what I could put in but in the end the only track that did was an old SLT Mob one. I think it is far more important to rep what is now rather than what I like. I can listen to my vinyl for fun at any time. I did consider putting in a little live re-edit of Loefah’s 'Mud' that I do with 2 vinyls, but I just thought if I start messing around with vinyls and tunes everyone knows already it is too much of a vanity thing. Everyone knows and loves 'Mud' so it was too easy playing that.

After that I just sat down and mixed. A few producers have sent me dubs that I’m really feeling and I feel work with my tracks so I just hunched over the decks and treated it like any mix I do. Nothing was planned I just went with the mood.

H: Finally, are there any forthcomings or anything else in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?

U: Nothing is set in stone at the moment. I have given out a track with you and another one out for free with Below The Line, and then I'll be seeing which labels are interested. I’ve been chatting to a few and now just need to find the right home. I may just stick out a white label 12” to get a couple of tracks out there. Really it is only a couple of months since I came out the dark so I’d like to get a few gigs to hear my beats on a system within the space of a rave whilst continuing to develop new material too.



Download: Underclass - Hedmuk Exclusive Mix



Tracklist:


Steve Reich – Come Out (Underclass Edit) [Dub]
Underclass – Ecko [Dub]
Threnody – Emergency [Dub]
Underclass – The Revenge [Dub]
Sepia – No One Is Safe [Dub]
TMP – Battleground [Dub]
Rabit – Black Dragon (Shy Mix) [Dub]
Underclass – Klang [Free]
Name_Pending – 1snewve2 [Dub]
Filter Dread – She Glitched It [Dub]
Si Begg – UFO (Threnody Remix) [Dub]
Filter Dread – Murky [Dub]
Rabit – Air Port Systems [Dub]
Underclass – Istiklal Avenue [Dub]
Threnody – Ark [Dub]
Slaugter Mob – Fireweaver [Rephlex]
Underclass – Hype Dem [Dub]

Underclass - HEDMUK Exclusive Mix by Hedmuk on Mixcloud

W.

Free Download: Underclass - Rawkus

There are very few people who listen to dubstep, grime jungle or UK funky who could claim that they don't care what a snare sounds like; and if they do, then they're either lying or haven't realised that they care yet. 'Rawkus' is not just a snare workout, but it certainly includes one: a shower of different snares, claps and clicks all chopped and shuffled around until your head won't stop nodding; then just as it settles you, it pulls the floor from under your feet with a cavernous sub-bass.

Underclass jumped to our attention after Threnody included 'Ecko' and 'Klang' in his exclusive mix for us last month, and his sound - raw, and hinting at a strong and diverse range of influence - is one that keeps you coming back for more. Alongside the likes of Etch, Visionist, Beneath, Epoch, Wen and Threnody, Underclass is taking what is most exciting and attractive about British underground music and dragging all the way up to date.


Download: Underclass - Rawkus [WAV]
Download: Underclass - Rawkus [320kbps mp3]



Preacha.

Featuring: Threnody

Photo: Ali Wade

With the Etch feature, delivered back in March of this year, there was the sense that something was building afresh in the UK underground: after the expected backlash against the rapid, perhaps saturated, resurgence of dark half-step dubstep, it was interesting to see a producer who was still looking back to dubstep's roots but more so to its opposing garage offshoot of grime. He wasn't the only one either, as a series of tunes arriving in the Hedmuk inbox from another, Threnody, were making obvious. The important strand that can be vaguely strung between the likes of Etch, Threnody, Wen, Epoch, Visionist and Beneath (among others) is not grime, though; its rather what made grime so exciting at the point of its own mucky inception: an apparently inimitable reactive force, ultimately aimed at pushing at even those boundaries - be they of 'genre' or 'style' - laid down by the UK underground itself in pursuit of genuine, sometimes called raw, expression. A visceral music, then, and so a powerful influence for any producer to be weaving into their work, no doubt; add to that, years of production/DJing/industry experience, a highly professional attitude, and one of the sharpest tastes in music around and you've just about got Gordon Sweeney, aka Threnody.


Hedmuk: To introduce yourself, what's your name, where do you come from, and how would you describe your sound?

Threnody: I’m Gordon Sweeney, I’ve produced/DJed under the name Threnody since 2001. I’m originally from Maidenhead (in good company with Vex’d, DJ Fresh, John B and others also from the town) and I now live in Stafford.

Describing my sound is probably the most difficult thing for me to do but I suppose it is raw bass music. I like things to sound dark and atmospheric. It’s difficult as individual words mean different things to different people: not dark as in hammer horror and not raw as in under-produced. I know what influences my sound but it is difficult for me to say how I process this into music. Before I start any major project I do mixtapes of influences as reference points, and some of the references are constant whilst others change.

H: You seem to draw on a wide range of musical influences, particularly the garage offshoots of UK funky and grime: is this something you're conscious of? Or do you view it more as a natural progression from your interest in electronic music?

T: My first love in electronic music was D&B. I learnt to mix with it and it’s the first electronic stuff I wrote but around 2002 I started hearing the post-garage sounds that would evolve to be grime/dubstep and so I put my focus there. The sounds I liked the most were Sublow & Breakstep but by 2005 these were just subsumed by the grime/dubstep tag. Grime rhythms and textures have always been a key influence as I preferred the early grime to early dubstep but by 2005 I was making and playing more dubstep because people like Toasty, SLT Mob and Search & Destroy resonated more with me.

To be honest UK Funky largely passed me by. When it broke I wasn’t really listening to much in the scene outside of what I played on my show & my own music. Although I checked a few tracks it didn’t make a connection with me. It didn’t sound raw enough. I did search and dig but nothing really did it for me at the time. Now I hear DJ Champion, Visionist & Dusk & Blackdown making funky inspired beats and I have more of a connection with the stuff they are doing. I have only really done one track that fits with this, a beat called Tribal, but the Funky crew really picked up on it & it got quite a bit of hype. To be honest I think that beat was probably more influenced by the Mutant Bass crew like Kanji Kinetic, Hadean et al but when influences go through my production filters things get merged.

Really for me underground music was more breakbeat (like Botchit & Scarper/early Freq Nasty) in 1997 followed by D&B and then grime/dubstep by 2002. UKG for me wasn’t an underground thing as it was getting played in every pub and house party in Maidenhead (probably similar to dubstep today) so it just sounded like pop music, I enjoyed it on that level. I had always liked the darker side of underground music so garage only interested me when it got stripped back and raw in 2002. Retrospectively I now know there was an underground subculture in garage (as there currently is with dubstep) but I wasn’t clued in enough to know about it. It’s similar to rave music in 92 or early jungle in 94. I was too young to know about it other than the really popular side.



H: Alongside the likes of Etch, Wen and Visionist there seems to be a strong group of artists coming through who are adapting old school grime sounds in building a new refreshing sound; is this something you'd say you're aware of?

T: Each producer has their own sound but there is a similar vibe across the beats. The biggest parallel I can draw is with dubstep in 2004 when a lot of beats were sonically similar to grime (like Plasticman/Mark One) and also each producer had a very different sound (Vex’d, Search & Destroy, Toasty, DMZ, Skream etc) but there was an indefinable vibe that meant they were linked.

Since 2009 I have been listening to lots & hearing loads of great new hybrid sounds that fit in the UK bass music continuum. At first it was very disparate but now things are beginning to cluster. Every day I’m finding out about artists who fit with what I’m doing whilst approaching it from different angles. Early grime from 2002 to 2004 was the last big crossroads of underground bass music where people were experimenting with post-garage sounds. It makes sense that now at the next big crossroads people are sonically exploring the sounds that went on to form grime/dubstep and exploring paths or ideas that maybe were shut for whatever reason. Some sounds from this era will just become classic ‘dance music’ sounds: the new Amen break; Distorted 808 bass drum; 303 acid bass; 909 snare. I think the Pulse bass is a strong contender for a sound that can be recontextualised and it has appeared in a lot of tunes this year. On the flip I have also heard new tracks using early grime sounds but with nothing new added to them. Lots of tracks also seem to be using Wiley’s snares (another distinctive sound) but they are just straight-sampled. Remember the thing that made the amen break such a cornerstone of D&B was the fact each producer put their mark on the sound, either through processing or rhythmic variations through chopping it up. Dillinja commented on it being used as a barometer for a producer showing how technically gifted they were. There is a fine line between a sound becoming a classic and a sound getting rinsed.

It’s also worth remembering that early grime wasn’t just Wiley & Youngstar. There were people like Oddz, Eastwood, Shimano, Sticky, Donaeo, Jon E Cash etcetera. I think the thing that links the artists you mention and others like Underclass, Bloom, Filter Dread, Epoch, Beneath, Name_Pending, J-One and others is the fact they are taking influence from more than just Wiley & Youngstar. I can hear a Sublow influence in these artists & also stuff like Shimano‘s ‘An Unusual Sound’, but then although it sounds grimey it also has influences from lots of other places all tied together with a similar vibe.

There are lots of producers around at the moment who seem to be influenced by early grime: add Pedro123, Slackk, SameName, Sam Tiba and others to the mix. It is a difficult thing to adequately explain. These artists work alongside Etch & Wen but are different in vibe, maybe to the same subtle extent someone like SLT Mob were classed as dubstep whereas the Virus Syndicate were grime: tiny differences that equate to nothing more than something as potentially small as the use of reverb on a snare drum. You can draw quite a big circle around a lot of artists and say ‘this is grime-influenced new music’ and then you can draw smaller circles within that big circle to say this group have this certain vibe whilst that are more like that. It is the same as what happened with grime/sublow/eski/8bar/dubstep/breakstep. Over time smaller circles merge to form bigger circles.

I suppose the big question is whether it is just grime or actually something new. This can only be answered by the establishment within grime accepting or rejecting the new sounds: if Logan Sama or DJ Cameo played tunes by Etch or Wen then people would just hear it as grime; it is only when the establishment ignores a sound that it can’t be linked with that genre and therefore it has to become something new. It’s like J Da Flex was booked by 1Xtra as a garage DJ when the station launched. He was clued up and started playing early dubstep like Toasty and 1Xtra didn’t like the direction so they cancelled his show. This was quite a stark reminder that the establishment (in this case 1Xtra bosses) didn’t hear dubstep as the future of garage whereas other 1Xtra UKG DJs (like Cameo) were playing grime and didn’t lose their shows, so grime was seen as the continuation of garage.



H: And considering MCs have traditionally played such a large role in grime, do you make beats with a view to them being vocalled or does this not necessarily occur to you?

I’ve always loved MCs on beats. Whether that was Skibba & Shabba tearing up D&B sets or people like Rogue Star & Crazy D in a hosting role on dubstep. Although there are definitely good MCs and bad MCs I have always liked the energy and don’t agree with people who hate on MCs. In clubs I’ve played far more sets without an MC but I always like having someone there providing that extra layer. Rogue Star is my favourite MC for that: his hosting is deep!

When I was working in Preston for a year in 2004-05 I was based at a studio teaching youths how to make beats & DJ and most of my time was spent with the local MCs getting them to spit on my beats. There were some sick MCs there and that year taught me a lot about structuring beats with MCs in mind. When I moved away I simply didn’t have access to MCs so I switched my focus to creating beats that worked as instrumentals with strong melodies & variation & development.

This year is really the first time since 2005 I have thought about vocals, mainly as I have remixed StooShe, Roll Deep’s Discarda (under my Hyperchord alias) and a full vocal track by Tilt & Maria Nayler. It is a different process as the focus is on the vocal and not on the instruments as much. I find it really easy writing to an acapella and am really interested in working with vocals more in the future. I’d love to do a full vocal album with vocalists like Trim, Baby Blue, Gemma Fox, even Angel Haze.

To directly answer your question usually MCs are not really a consideration as MCing has been more of a live thing for me rather than committing bars to record. If I play a track in a club and it doesn’t suit an MC then they can shut up. Having said that, my next EP on UK Trends is 4 tracks that are deliberately minimal and would suit MCs: more grime instrumentals than complex album tracks.

This was a very deliberate thing as my first album, released last year, was written between 2005-10. It has more of a dubstep/breakstep/glitch/orchestral influence but even before the album had been released I was writing new beats that were more rooted in grime. The second album is now pretty much complete but it isn’t straight grime, like Preditah or someone, so I thought that in order for people to understand the music I needed to write some transitional stuff that is more minimal and grassroots so when people here the album material it makes sense as they will have more of an understanding of the process. It’s like when Youngstar wrote ‘Pulse X’ or ‘The Formula’ or Wiley did the original mix of ‘Igloo’ (the version with no beats). It was all about acclimatizing the audience to new forms and then these forms are elaborated on. The same thing happened with dubstep, tracks like ‘Horror Show’ for example. For people to understand half-step they needed tracks like ‘Horror Show’ to strip things back to the core elements. The same thing is happening with the new grime influenced strains (as premiered in this mix). Although naturally technology means production standards are far higher than early grime, there is the same space needed to let new forms breath. So this transitional EP is my attempt to explain the sound of my 2nd album by stripping the sound down to the minimal core elements. Hopefully the album will make more sense as a result.

To bring it back to the original question, these 4 beats are the only ones that have been written with MCs in mind and I have written parts of them around grime acapellas. I would challenge any MC to ride some of my 2nd album tracks and keep their flow though! (laughs) I did put a mix together a few months ago that uses these grime acapellas on the transitional beats so people can make the connection and understand this is an important influence, even if by the time things get on the album the melodies do the talking.



H: Your label UK Trends has been fairly quiet for the last year or so: are there future plans for the label, or is it currently taking more of a back seat to your productions?

T: Since my album came out on UK Trends about a year ago it has been quite quiet, with 2 releases this year and probably 2 more before the end of the year. Ideally I would put out 6-8 records a year. This has partly been down to artists working on EPs for me and not getting them finished yet (Mad EP & Side9000 are both working on releases). I guess before if an artist hadn’t quite finished an EP in time I would just put out some new beats by me but stuff of mine I would have put out was signed by labels like Black Hole & Red Volume and I have another 8 tracks that form my 2nd album so I wanted to hold off on putting them out as 2 EPs.

Things have been developing behind the scenes. I have taken on the supremely-talented Riglow (who runs the Skank The F**k Out blog) to build a new website and run the social media for the label and he has been working really hard on a new site, which looks incredible, and also putting the back catalogue on Youtube and doing other social media black arts (laughs).

When the site is live I am putting out a free compilation album via the site and we have a really strong bunch of tunes to put out. (Although it isn’t really a re-launch as we have released music this year it is kind of a rebirth when the new site goes live.)

H:You've also got a show on Sub.FM: how and when did you first get involved with the station? What can people expect to hear on your show?

T: Well I celebrated my 5 year anniversary on the station this year with a move to the peak time 10pm-12am slot on a Thursday night. I first got involved in 2007 off the back of my first couple of releases. It has been a great opportunity to push my sound and artists I have supported over the years.

I guess the sound has changed over the years, people can judge for themselves as there are archives of mine stretching back to 2007 on the Sub FM site. At the moment I am playing quite a large range of stuff in keeping with the fact underground music is at such an exciting, transitional phase. I am playing a lot of the sort of deeper, darker grime influenced stuff (similar to the mix I‘ve recorded for you) but also more hype stuff like my alias Hyperchord, Lenkemz, Mak & Pasteman, The Mutant Bass crew and some straight grime. I’ve also delved into the 160 realms especially supporting people like Sarantis & Warlock. I’m really feeling some of the grime influenced 160 stuff.

Really the radio show matches what I play in club sets, there is a lot of variety whilst still having grime undercurrents. The show is 2 hours so there is enough time to let the sets go places and create different moods.



H: Take us through how you went about approaching the mix you've put together for us.

T: This mix purposefully is a small band of producers that I think are working within a similar vibe. Although each producer sounds different you can hear similar elements: swung garage hi-hats; reverb drenched sounds; footwork-inspired vocals but spat by grime MCs rather than US rappers; early dubstep’s sense of space and bass; jungle pads; the staccato, vanguard rhythms of grime. These are the elements that contribute to the vibe and sense of continuity across the productions.

There are hard-hitting moments like the beats by Underclass (in particular his 3rd drops!), and deeper moments like Etch & J-One with ‘Sounds’.  I have also thrown in a couple of classic vinyls to try and highlight some of the sounds I think work as reference points of influence. The Loefah track is one from before he went completely half-step and I think is an interesting track because it shows Loefah’s influences before his sound got more defined. You can hear the tribal beats and sub bass and there is a definite jungle influence to the track. The Jon E Cash track is probably my favourite from the early grime. It stands up in the mix to beats today (that a lot of early grime doesn’t due to production values and texture) and has great development in the bass and melodies.

It is interesting that both those beats were released in 2004. I think this current new strain takes a lot of influence from 2004 when words like 8-bar, sublow, breakstep and eski were interchangeable with grime and dubstep. Really 2004 was the last exciting time for the underground in terms of immense creativity with regards to new directions and forms so I suppose it’s natural that a lot of the new sounds now are influenced by that last crossroads before things became more formulated into the overall terms of grime and dubstep that subsumed the rest. Obviously now there are other influences but it is really interesting to see paths that were shut (such as sublow) being given new life through the filters of producers today.

H: Finally, are there any forthcomings or anything in the pipeline that you'd like to put the word out on?

T: Well next up is the EP on UK Trends with the more minimal new forms as the transition for my album that is coming out early next year. I have written 90% of the tracks, it will probably also come out on UK Trends unless I get an offer I can’t refuse. Also watch out for the new UK Trends site and free compilation in the next week or so on www.uktrendsmusic.co.uk

Finally, I have been taking a bit of time off DJing following my first album and its tour, mainly as I have a been busy in the studio working on the new album and I also wanted to create a bit of distance between the first album and where I am now sonically. However I’m now itching to get back in the clubs and I’m putting together dates now in the lead up to the album and also a tour to support its release. If you want to book me you can email me directly at threnody@threnody.co.uk and hit me up here if you have any music you want me to hear as well.




Download: Threnody - Hedmuk Exclusive Mix



Tracklist:


Etch – Right Foot FWD [Dub]
Epoch – The Steppenwolf [Dub]
Name_Pending – Mindf__k [Dub]
Underclass – Ecko [Dub]
Wen – Walk Tha Walk [Dub]
Wen & Epoch – Hydraulics (Epoch Bass Mix feat. Joshua Idehen) [Egyptian Avenue Dub]
Wen & Epoch – Hydraulics [Egyptian Avenue Dub]
Underclass – Klang [Dub]
Threnody – Subminimal [Dub]
Blackdown & Dusk – High Road [Keysound]
Etch & J-One – Sounds [Dub]
Underclass – Banana Boat [Dub]
Loefah - Bombay Squad [Rephlex]
Side9000 – THX Riddim [Dub]
Threnody – Synchronic [Dub]
Wen – Swingin' [Dub]
Jon E Cash – Spanish [Black Ops]
Etch – See Me On The Road [Dub]
Threnody – Depth [Dub]

Threnody - HEDMUK Exclusive Mix by Hedmuk on Mixcloud

Preacha.