Influences: Mia Koden

“As if the original wasn’t heavy enough, VIVEK took this track to a next dimension. Spiritual business. The bassline is just too tuff and the percs are perfect. Anyone that goes to roots/dubstep dances knows the sheer power of hearing anthems like this on a beefy soundsystem. There’s nothing like it. My foundational days before and during Sicaria Sound included VIVEK’S System parties especially at The Dome in Tufnell Park (sometimes the ceiling started crumbling from the bass), University of Dub at Scala, DMZ/Deep Medi parties across London and of course heading to Outlook Festival, all to catch soundsystem music. I was brought up by a Reggae loving father with loud, bass heavy tunes constantly blasting at home and in the car. In fact, my mum tells me when we lived in Sheffield I was going to Blues parties (house parties run by the Afro-Caribbean community where there were homegrown sound systems) in her belly whilst she was pregnant and that my love of bass must have started there!”

“Growing up in Ghana and Nigeria there was constantly R&B and hip hop on satellite TV, which I supplemented with CDs from Woolworths if I had enough pocket money whenever we visited the UK. Years later when I moved on to records, one of the first ones I bought (from Flashback in Islington) was the double single ‘Ghetto Musick / She Lives In My Lap’ off this amazing split release from Outkast. I loved how kooky this album was for a mainstream release and also how fun it was to sing along to, still do! Big Boi’s side is obviously insanely good, but Andre 3000’s is slyly my favourite. There’s certain things about it I only appreciate now that I’m older, including some details of its storytelling and the fact that Andre 3000 produced most of his side. So many wildly different but impeccable songs: Some swaggy (‘Happy Valentine’s Day’); some sexy (‘Spread’); some pensive (‘She’s Alive’); some strange ‘A Life in the Day of Benjamin André’ etc. All great.”

“This one’s a stone-cold classic: Nina Simone’s debut album ‘Little Girl Blue’. Growing up I always remember my mum singing ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ and cranking her saxophone along to Stevie Wonder. At school I was to have a music teacher who clearly had a deep love for Afro-diasporic music. Alongside classical bits, we sang lots of Blues, Jazz and Gospel-adjacent songs in choir and in my solo singing. Nina Simone’s ‘I Loves You Porgy’, lots of Ella Fitzgerald, versions of ‘Stormy Weather’, ‘By The Rivers of Babylon’ etc. My words can never properly explain Nina’s immense talent, it’s soul stirring stuff. The interchangeable mix of deep / haunting / uplifting / nourishing tracks on this album have all stayed with me. A lifelong obsession with minor keys is partly rooted in music like this.”

“No band soundtracked my adolescence quite like QOTSA and I continue to be in awe of their output today, particularly the first couple albums post Kyuss. QOTSA albums were my early understanding of reverb, and my introduction to panning: The first time my headphones fell out of one of my ears at some point during the breakdown of ‘In My Head’ at 1.54 – 2.29, I realised I could clearly hear the bass guitar more on one side. This album is my pick for that being one of my favourite ever songs, but I’m equally as obsessed with ‘Songs For The Deaf’ for its bold but seamless interweaving of wacky, witty radio adverts throughout the album. I felt kind of emotional flying over the Nevada Desert enroute to play a Las Vegas show last year because I know that album was inspired by the band members driving through there and tuning in and out of radio stations.”

“There’s absolutely no way I’d be working in music today without my drum & bass foundations, it was my launch pad into bass music as a teenager. At the time Kasra’s Fabriclive came out, I was actually working at Fabric on the weekends in between doing a degree I couldn’t stand and darting around London dipping into other clubs. I love the way this release builds and bubbles, its big basslines balanced with deeper grooves and more stripped back moments. All with some trademark wicked sound design from d&b producers. I really wanted to get one of the Fabriclive series in this feature as several of them – and the club itself – have had a massive impact on me (like many dubstep heads, no. 37 was my gateway into the genre). And a beautiful full circle moment for me has been working with Ivy Lab, having caught wind of them in their first form as artists Sabre & Stray through an absolutely stunning track on this release: Oblique VIP ft. Frank Carter III.”

“This is one of the most weird and wonderful albums I have ever found, having caught the track ‘Fake Ass Beatnik’ on someone’s radio show many moons ago and being curious to hear more. It’s composed of lots of short tracks, some of which feel like fragments of ideas that leave you hanging once there’s a sudden switch up to the next tune. The whole thing comes like madhatter’s mixtape: There’s loads of oddball beats with bizarre but charming vocals, resulting in so many different personalities in each track. I love how out there it is; the tracks could be in any order and you’d still be left just as confused. Finding music like this was part of a deep digging stage in my life (at uni). I had this music blog on Tumblr where I’d post bass and electronic stuff, highlights from working at Fabric, Josh Homme content and obscure finds like this.”

“The beauty of this record is how madly different the A & B sides are, almost laughably so if they weren’t both absolute heaters in very different ways. ‘Sinners’ is my pick for its dubby hypnosis but this easily could have been ‘Goblin’ if you’d asked me many moons ago whilst getting gassed for a night out. Either way, they’re opposite-spectrummed dubstep that are a real flex to the versatility of the genre, making this a perfect plate to own from two stalwarts of dubstep. A regret of mine: That it’s one of my most beat up records from early days of learning how to DJ. Of course I didn’t realise at the time how much pricier they’d get though! It all started at uni when I’d finally spotted a cheap enough pair of 1210s on Gumtree and headed down to the end of the Croydon tram line on my own, determined to get them. Soon after I picked up a basic Numark two channel mixer and the rest is history really. Records like this remind me of that golden trial and error era of mixing: Rinsing and repeating the same records until your collection expanded meant you really cherished what you had.”

“It’s a typical day at my aunty and grandad’s living room in Leeds: On the TV; Congolese Rumba, Soukous and the YouTube algorithm’s offering of modern day music from across Africa (particularly East and Central). Most likely live performances from Pépé Kallé or Kanda Bongo Man, my grandad’s favourite artists. ‘Isambe’ is a classic off his album Zing Zong, with tracks featuring Kanda’s dulcet toned vocals and infectious rhythms. This side of my family are South Sudanese and came to the UK as refugees in the 1980’s due to the conflict in then Sudan. Besides English, Arabic and Bongo are the family languages spoken but my late grandma’s name – which is my middle one, Ndeko – actually means ‘family/brother/sister’ in Lingala. So the Congo connection, strengthened by the music, is there for us. I loved my grandad so much and held his hand as he passed on to the afterlife. A few days before that, he’d indicated that he wanted to watch his favourite live recording of Kanda Bongo Man and it was such a special moment. My track ‘Après Vous’ off my recent release partly samples a Kanda Bongo Man interview and is called ‘After You’ to honour ancestors like my grandad who came before me.”

“Commodo is one of my musical heroes and production inspiration (and an all round g). The sonic identity he’s built and continues to expand on never lacks in quality and innovation. He’s a sample don and top finesser of obscure, unpredictable moments that work insanely well. Initially being known for making dubstep, it’s genuinely been amazing to witness the pivot to more genre bending but always low end loving music. As per, this is an extremely well conceptualised set of tracks that still sit cohesively with his current output despite their sonic differences. I’ve been listening to Commodo’s music – including this EP – way ahead of becoming a producer but now I do make music I learn so much from studying his work. If this is (somehow?!) anyone’s first time hearing about Commodo, please don’t make it your last. Go deep dive that catalogue and get as inspired as me and so many others are. P.s. Dom mate we need a movie score ASAP from you, thanks xox”

“As someone working within electronic music, this is seminal history in a record. ‘Out of This World’ came about in 1976 via the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, which pioneered an experimental approach to developing sound fx. To me what’s also special about this record is the presence of women in what was then such a male dominated industry: It was put together by Glynis Jones (who also contributed sounds made by her) and there’s also tracks by Delia Derbyshire. This isn’t so much a ‘musical’ record, but it definitely is a great one to listen to and get lost in its eerie, sci-fi esque soundscapes. I also picked this one partly for influencing my recent EP ‘Decode’ as I’d set out to incorporate similar electronic sounds (beepy boops and spacey fx) into dubstep adjacent music. It’s also great inspiration for the fact that each sound was made, not sampled (although the irony to what I’m saying is this LP has gone on to be sampled loads, with good reason). I’m aiming to get into more intricate sound design in my productions, so instead of re-listening to records like this thinking “what can I sample” I want to try to think more about how to make the sound. And then go try making it!”