Check the making of the artwork for Noisia’s ‘Split the Atom’!
12.30.2011
2011 has been massive! If it was a monkey, it would be a gorilla. As we leap forward into 2012 lets look back at the Detonate moments that made our year…
New Year’s Eve 12.01am 2011, we enter! Chase & Status bring in the New Year at Rock City whilst Skream and Benga tear down Rescue Rooms.
3.08 on this vid sums up how everyone felt…
January’s Detonate at Stealth… Netsky’s set is too much for one girl who decides to try and steal his laptop whilst he’s in the mix. Pearson Sound plays his debut Nottingham set under his new name. The Prototypes cause a small riot and describe it as their best gig yet…
Tune of the night: Coki – Horrid Henry
12th Birthday Nero cause a roadblock at the Forum. Boddika plays his Nottingham debut having gone solo. Goldie causes mayhem in the DJ Booth with Tuning remix. Mele’ extends the boundaries of what’s acceptable music at Detonate by dropping ‘Don’t you want me Baby’ by the Human League. Tune of the night: Dkay & Lee - Tuning remix
Detonate Hospitality! Camo & Krooked finally make their Nottingham debut. Rodigan owns the Rescue Rooms. London Elektricity alternates between jazz hands and air guitar throughout his set. Tune of the night: The Ring of Fire – Jonny Cash
Detonate Indoor Festival 2011! Skream and Benga kill it in the forum, and then get fucked up – even by their standards. DJ EZ plays one of the best sets at Detonate ever. The Critical Music room is like a trap – anyone who steps foot in there is there till the end. Photek finally plays his Detonate debut 12 years after we first tried to book him. Yasmin and B-Traits play in the Digital Soundboy arena – easily the best looking line up of the year!
Detonate Boat Party at Outlook 2011 Detonate set sail across the Adriatic Sea at Sunset with S.P.Y, Commix, Brackles, Transit Mafia. Something we definitely won’t forget for a while! Tune of the night – SPY ‘By your side’
September’s Detonate at Stealth Shy FX makes everyone swing their tops round their heads to Chopper remix. Jubei and Spectrasoul play an impromptu back2 back set, keeping the Metalheadz room rolling until 6am. Tune of the night: Dillinja – Take My Life Away
Detonate Alldayer Skream steps in for a late running Pokes and MC’s for himself. Nero make Rock City’s stage look small with their enormous live set up. Alix Perez proves he’s more than a match for Nero by ramming out the Shogun Audio room whilst they’re on. Skream leads an all star stage diving frenzy… Tune of night - Skream ‘Anticipate’ (Netsky Remix)
Detonate Halloween special Andy C fills the Rescue Room stage with his breathtaking Andy C: Alive show. Phace makes his long awaited Detonate debut, and 16bit turn up in full Halloween fancy dress! Tune of the night: Noisia & Phace - Program
Detonate at Gatecrasher It raised a few eyebrows when we announced it but with Detonate stamped firmly on it, Gatecrasher was transformed into one of the best events of the year. Look out for Hospitality there in 2012!
Rinse FM Sheffield The first of our Detonate presents Rinse FM parties at Plug in Sheffield gets well out of hand – Skream nearly loses his trousers stage diving. P Money debuts his live PA, and then MC’s for every DJ after it.
Detonate would like to thank everyone who’s been to any of our events in 2011. To keep up to date with what’s happening in 2012 check…
Big up all the artists who’ve performed at Detonate 2011…..
2562 16BIT A1 BASSLINE AGGERS & TK ANDY C ANNIE MAC ANT TC1 AZONICA B-TRAITS BAR9 BASHER BEN FAWCE BENGA BODDIKA BRACKLES BREAK BREAKAGE BROOKES BROTHERS BROWN & GAMMON BULLION CAMO & KROOKED CASPA CHASE & STATUS CHROMATIC COKI CRISES CULTURE SHOCK CUTLINE CYANTIFIC DANNY BYRD DAVID RAMJAM RODIGAN DAWNTREADER DBRIDGE DC BREAKS DELTA HEAVY DJ A.M.C DJ DIE DJ EZ DONAEO DRAMATIC & DBAUDIO DREAD MC DREAM DRUMSOUND & BASSLINE SMITH DUBLEY DUBSTARR DUKEBOX DYNAMITE MC ED:IT EMALKAY FABIO FABLE FILLER FOREIGN CONCEPT FRICTION G-A GIRL UNIT GOLDIE GOLI & ASHBURNER GREENMONEY HATCHA HAZARD HIGH CONTRAST HIGHNESS SOUNDSYSTEM HOAX ICICLE INSTRA:MENTAL JACK BEATS JACK SPARROW JIGSAW JIKAY JOKER JUBEI KASRA KENNY KEN KOAN SOUND KRYPTIC MINDS LAURENT LENZMAN LOADSTAR LOGISTICS LONDON ELEKTRICITY LOWPASS LX ONE MARCUS INTALEX MC DESCRY MC FREESTYLE MC GQ MC I.D MC JC MC KOAST MC LOWQUI MC LX ONE MC MAVERIC MC MESSY MC P-FINE MC RAGE MC ROD AZLAN MC RUTHLESS MC SP MC STAMINA MC WREC MELE MIKAL MISCHIEF N-TYPE NEED FOR MIRRORS NERO NETSKY NUTONE NYMFO P MONEY PADAWAN PEARSON SOUND PHACE PHIL HUSTLE PHOTEK PLASTICIAN REDLIGHT REGGAE RADIO RESO RETRAFLEX ROCKWELL ROOT ONE ROSKA + JAMIE GEORGE RSD S.P.Y SCRATCH PERVERTS SERIAL KILLAZ SHAKES SHY FX SIGMA SKEPTICAL SKISM SKREAM SMASHBOX SNATCH SOLERO SOLSTICE SOUL INTENT SPECTRASOUL STAMINA MC STARKEY STRIKE SUB FOCUS SYNIC SYNKRO TC THE ELEMENTZ THE PROTOTYPES TODDLA T TRANSIT MAFIA TSKELEM ULTERIOR MOTIVE UNTOLD WEDGE WILKINSON YASMIN YOUNGMAN YOUNGSTA ZINC
This year’s Countdown lineup features one of the most respected producers in Drum & Bass; a man who has been releasing forward-thinking D&B since the mid 90s, and owner of Commercial Suicide, KLUTE!
Klute is the recording alias of Tom Withers, who first turned to electronic production in the early 1990s, experimenting with techno before turning to Drum and Bass. In 1998 the debut Klute LP ‘Casual Bodies’ was released on the seminal Certificate 18 imprint; ‘Fear of People’ followed in 2000. In 2001 he established the label Commercial Suicide. This released his own material, including the albums ‘Lie, Cheat & Steal’ (2003), ‘No One’s Listening Anymore’ (2005) ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ (2007) and most recently ‘Music for prophet’ (2010).
All of these albums are double CDs with one drum and bass CD and another of downtempo techno and breakbeat, and received widespread acclaim in the electronic music community. The track “Time 4 Change” from No One’s Listening Anymore was the last tune played on-air by John Peel.
Klute’s style of drum and bass is deep and progressive, with flavours of house, dub and trance, and frequent use of vocals. Although Klute is one of the most melodic and musical producers in drum and bass, his tracks are still typically intended for the DJ and dancefloor. As well as releasing music on his own label, Klute has releases on Hospital Records, 31 Records, Soul:R, Metalheadz and Breakbeat Science Recordings.
The tenth artist confirmed for Countdown New Years Eve 2011 is a man who has climbed the ranks of the UK dubstep scene, to become one of the biggest names on the circuit, Dub Police’sSUBSCAPE!
Anthony Peters (aka Subscape) hails from Woking, and exploded onto the Dubstep scene in 2008 with his debut track ‘Tomahawk’, released as part of Dub Police’s ‘Licence To Thrill’ series. Fresh out of music college, the young producer had been picked from obscurity by Dubstep legend Caspa, and signed to his ‘Dub Police’ label, where he now releases alongside the likes of heavy hitters Rusko, Emalkay, Trolley Snatcha, D1, Doctor P & The Others.
In the years that have followed, Subscape has been responsible a consistent stream of crisp productions including ‘Nothings Wrong’, ‘Geordie Racer’ (with Caspa), ‘Mr Kipling’, remixes for the likes of Ed Sheeran & Ray Foxx, and most recently his ‘Universal EP’, which has gained support from some of the most prestigious names in the scene.
The ninth artist confirmed for Countdown New Years Eve 2011 has been described by Knowledge Magazine as “the biggest influence on drum and bass we’ve ever known” - he is the record breaking DJ FRESH !!
DJ Fresh (aka Daniel Stein) has had a massive 2011 - the highlight of which was becoming the first Drum & Bass or Dubstep act to secure a UK number one single, hitting the top spot with his summer anthem ‘Louder’:
Prior to his number one hit, Fresh had experienced previous chart success with his 2010 track ‘Gold Dust’:
Before becoming a solo act Fresh was one of the principal members of drum & bass supergroup, Bad Company, alongside DBridge, Maldini & Vegas; and was responsible for producing some of the biggest Drum & Bass anthems of all time:
And if that’s not enough Fresh also owns and runs the pioneering drum & bass label Breakbeat Kaos with Adam F, home to the likes of Pendulum, Nero and Chase & Status. Fresh has also released a number of his own singles via the label, including his 2010 remix of Dead Prez’s “It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop” (under his WTF!? guise):
After his sell out FRESH LIVE UK Tour, we are very excited to welcome DJ Fresh to Countdown 2011!
This year has been another non-stop rollercoaster ride for Friction with gigs from London to Sydney to Korea and even Hawaii. Although the schedule is fierce and unrivalled, a Friction set never falters; whether he’s on two or three decks, playing for two hours or four, to 500 to 20,000. Friction’s label, Shogun Audio, has become one of the most highly-respected, sophisticated labels – releasing music unlike any other from the likes of Icicle, Alix Perez, Rockwell, Spectrasoul and others. It’s no surprise that Friction was asked in 2010 to pioneer the first of Ministry of Sound’s ‘Mixed’ series, collating and mixing a forward-thinking, deep yet dancefloor compilation which was received, deservedly, to phenomenally high-acclaim.
Overseeing the signing of new distinctive artists to the label, Friction is ensuring that Shogun persistently grows to accommodate the constantly fresh and exciting movement that he has pioneered. With an ever-successful Brighton residency at Digital club and residency in the capital at London’s Cable, Shogun events, releases and artists are a storming and unquestioned success each time.
Production wise 2011 has been a huge year for Friction, his remixes over the last 6 months of Vato Gonzalez’s ‘Badman Riddim’, ‘Traktor’ by Wretch 32, and ‘Change The Way You Kiss Me’ by Example among others have cemented him as a true a-list remixer and DJ / Producer. His last single ‘Someone’ ft. Mclean received rave reviews as well as being Mixmag’s august single of the month. Now back in the studio Friction is knuckling down in the studio to writing his debut LP and 2012 looks like it could be his biggest year yet!
Friction joins the Countdown 2011 line up along with Ms Dynamite, Hudson Mohawke, dBrigde, Sub Focus, Youngsta & Mistajam, L-Vis 1990. But thats just the start of it! Full line up released soon!
Friction is the 8th act announced for Countdown NYE
11.26.2011
L-Vis 1990, AKA James Connolly has been releasing a singular brand of club music free of rules and genres since dropping his debut EP in 2008.
It’s almost impossible to categorise any of his tracks or remixes he has created over the past few years and it became quickly apparent that L-Vis 1990 has been doing things just a little differently.
While James was doing his thing, it caught the interest of Alex Sushon, AKA Bok Bok, who got in contact with L-Vis, thus beginning an enduring creative relation that would change the game as their ‘Night Slugs’ imprint was born.
As L-Vis 1990 relocated from Brighton to London, a take up of a primary residence at East Village began, playing along side guests such as Oneman, Lil Silva, Geeneus, Chrisitian Martin, Roska and Kode9 feeding into the night’s freewheeling attitude.
As ‘Night Slugs’ began to make an established name for itself, L-Vis was releasing some of his biggest tracks to date. In 2009 ‘Compass / Zahonda’ on Sound Pellegrino hit the shelves as did his colossal ‘United Groove’ for Mad Decent, which were supplemented by a slew of remixes for artists like Laidback Like & Diplo. The following year L-Vis and Bok Bok dropped The Night Slugs EP introducing Boks now famed style of artwork.
The energy surrounding the Night Slugs camp reached a critical mass and at the start of 2010 the label was launched via Mosca’s Square One. By August the label had put out outstanding music from the likes of Girl Unit, Egyptixx, Lil Silva and Jam City and was already being spoken of as the ‘label of the year’. This considerable momentum spilled over into 2011 with overwhelming releases from the likes of Pearson Sound, Kingdom and more!
L-Vis 1990 now has a fortnightly show on RinseFM with Bok Bok and is continuing to produce some of the most forward thinking music to remain a pioneer in his own style of music.
L-Vis 1990 joins the Countdown 2011 line up along with Ms Dynamite, Hudson Mohawke, dBrigde, Sub Focus, Youngsta & Mistajam. But thats just the start of it! Next artist is released at 1400 ‘likes’ on the Countdown Like Page.
L-Vis 1990 is the seventh act announced for Countdown
11.24.2011
Award winning DJ and Radio presenter for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra, Mistajam, is the sixth name to be announced for this year’s countdown.
Forget trying to nail MistaJam to a genre, he’s a DJ who’s from the school of thought where only those who’ve perfected the art of mixing need apply. If it has a big beat, bassline and melody, chances are Jam’s in it. He’s risen through the ranks of BBC 1Xtra and Radio 1 at lightning speed. Joining BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2005 after being talent scouted at one of his own Nottingham events to host an overnight Thursday night Hip Hop show, his attempts at injecting humour and taking musical risks didn’t go amiss. Moving up the ladder onto other, higher profile radio slots to show the multi-genre skills he learnt from his youth soundsystem days has subsequently led to the peak time evening slot he now holds.
MistaJam is now regarded as one of the go-to-men for breaking new music in British radio. This position was recently bolstered with TV work both in front (as presenter) and behind the camera (as music consultant) on the show I-D magazine described as “pioneering the future for Youth Culture” – No Hats No Trainers. Hoping for the broadcasting longevity and versatility of Terry Wogan, the technical skills & deck-confidence of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the kudos of his broadcasting heroes the late John Peel, legendary David Rodigan, ultra credible Pete Tong and groundbreaking Trevor Nelson.
Youngsta is easily one of the most talented and finest DJs in Dubstep. His seamless mixing and flawless selection position him at the forefront of the scene. Representing flagship label Tempa, his sets take you on a journey through the full impacts of the genre. Youngsta quickly got noticed as a dubstep pioneer, and in 2005 was made the second DJ to release a mix as part of the Dubstep Allstars series. However, that wasn’t enough as a year later Dubstep Allstars Volume 4 was released with another stunning mix from Youngsta, alongside fellow veteren DJ, Hatcha.
Residencies at FWD and Rinse FM set him apart as a tastemaker, supporting early productions from the likes of Skream, Benga, Loefah, Digital Mystikz, El-B and Horsepower. More recently Youngsta has been working alongside Kryptic Minds, SP:MC, LX One, Seven and Freeze (Icicle) on some massive collaborations. As well as finding time to drop another superb mix CD, as part of the Rinse FM mix series.
Youngsta joins the Countdown line up with Ms Dynamite, Hudson Mohawke, dBridge & Sub Focus. Next artist is released at 1200 ‘Likes’ on the Countdown Like Page, so get liking and sharing!
SUB FOCUS is the forth act confirmed at the NYE Countdown 2011 Event.
Without doubt Sub Focus is one of the biggest artists to come out from the Drum & Bass scene. Since signing for Andy C’s Ram Records imprint, he’s had a string of numbers 1’s in the UK Dance Charts with tunes like ‘X-Ray’, ‘Rock it’ and ‘Timewarp’. In 2010 Sub Focus crossed boundaries with his huge Electro anthem ‘Could this be Real’. As well as hitting the UK Charts it caught the attention of the wider dance music community with Annie Mac, Jack Beats, and Zinc all picking up on it, and Radio One giving it daytime airings.
His remix of Rusko’s track ‘Hold On’ further established him as a 360 degree artist. Sub Focus linked up with follow former label mates Chase & Status with ‘Flashing Lights’. Having spent much of 2010 touring his live show, he’s now due to release a brand new album on Mercury.
Sub Focus joins the Countdown line up with Ms Dynamite, Hudson Mohawke & dBridge. Next artist is released at 1100 ‘Likes’ on the Countdown Like Page, so get liking and sharing! CLICK HERE FOR LIKE PAGE
