Interview: Broken Bubble

Dance music is a lexical maze these days. The roots of the genre family tree are more intricately twisted than the soundwaves pounding your eardrums.

Not that there’s anything wrong with niches so long as music is constantly shifting and progressing, as Broken Bubble netlabel founder Guy Thompson would attest: “The reason there’s so many [names] is that genres tend to stagnate after a while so if you can look at things afresh then it’s a good thing. The group mentality means that everyone ends up taking too many similar elements to each other and so when something new springs out it’s one of the great things about the evolution of music. Now people can go from house to dubstep to techno to drum’n’bass to house to acid to anywhere else so it’s great if you can find a way to bring that all together in a meaningful experience...”

The development of dance music since dubstep nodded its head into a bass hungry public eye has served to further blur genre boundaries, so the dance family tree is more a forest and the resultant mixes make for varied listening. Those dabbling in post-dubstep have dipped into anything from reggae to jazz via funk and ambient IDM. If you ask any individual, they’ll label their sound differently. Broken Bubble artists Hurtdeer and Duskky call their output ‘dubfunk’, which Thompson agrees with, but the only certainty is that dubstep’s successors have presented a fork in the road.

“Some people still try to claim that dubstep’s a single genre but I think it’s blatantly split into at least two distinct styles. The very mid-range heavy stuff – I don’t really want to mention artists, but that kind of sound doesn’t connect with me on an emotional level at all. Then a lot of people are pushing the deeper sounds; that’s where names like future garage have come from. Duskky and Hurtdeer are calling their stuff ‘dubfunk’, which is quite a good catch-all term for the kind of sound they’re pushing. You could call some of the stuff my labelmates are making post-techno-funky-wonkstep, etc, etc and that still wouldn’t adequately describe the sound of the track.”

While Broken Bubble as a label opens its arms to a plethora of genres, there is a distinct sound emerging – one that owes a debt to the likes of Hotflush, Hyperdub, Echodub, Acroplane and Planet Mu, both in terms of forcing wide the mainstream gates for forward thinking and inspiration: “Burial’s albums obviously, Boxcutter’s Glyphic and Benga’s Diary of an Afrowarrior – they were all big inspirations that got me back into mixing tunes rather than just being a listener. From then it just seemed like I had a rare surge of motivation and decided that to get something going I might as well do it myself. Right now FaltyDL, Floating Points and Ital Tek are producers I look up to – he’s got his sound absolutely nailed on at the moment.”

From that surge, Sicknote was born. Thompson put his own decade’s worth of experience with DJing in deep house, prog house and broken beats into the fresh post-dubstep template of the late 2000s. Then, unafraid to stick to his guns with regular residents, including xxxy and From The Kites Of San Quentin’s Phil ‘Blood Boy’ Bretnall, he also gambled by bringing in the occasional imported non-Manc to headline.

“I’d met xxxy at a night called Offbeat Suburbia and got him on to do the first one, then had him as a resident for a while. Now things have gone extremely well for him; he’s headlining shows all over the place. I tried to focus on people who were away from the trends of the genres I suppose. The first one we did at the Corner in Fallowfield we brought Phaeleh up from Bristol for his Manchester debut and packed the place out – it was a really buzzing atmosphere. Again, he’s another one who’s gone on to have a huge amount of success.”

During a brief hiatus in Sicknote promotions, the Broken Bubble label has taken shape with the help of links with London-based Mothers Against Noise collective and the rapidly improving technologies accessible to anyone who puts the time into learning about them. Bandcamp is one of the online platforms that can help with music distribution by cutting out the middle man and collating similar sounds under one virtual roof.

“I think seeing people selling music that way showed that it was the thing to do. There’s a big trend for giving music away... for an artist the most important thing is to be heard as widely as possible, but at the same time there’s so much free music out there that people can perceive that it doesn’t have as much value as the stuff that’s being sold, so I’m trying to strike a balance with that. And there’s a lot of good music set ups now – I think Soundcloud really helps as a platform as well; helping like-minded producers to hear each other’s stuff – it’s been a major factor in getting such a good roster of artists together for the label.”

The roster has grown almost exponentially since Thompson’s DJing alter ego Cogidubnus launched the label in February with an EP entitled The Pan-Galactic Memory Bank. Others have followed and Duskky’s second digital album Rascality, released this week, is the eighth through Broken Bubble when including the superb 14-track mutual remixing compilation We Can Build You, which displays the kinship and respect shared between a group of producers whose shades of melody and rhythm can fuse harmoniously but equally command praise individually.

“Having been in contact with Duskky and Hurtdeer for a bit and swapping tunes with them, I realised we had all the wherewithal to do it ourselves, so I’ve been doing the artwork and distribution, whilst Sandy (aka Duskky) and Max (aka Hurtdeer) have been doing the mastering. They’ve been instrumental in helping me set up the label in the first place, adding a lot of ideas with all aspects of the process and it’s the same with a couple of the other guys.”

“Duskky tends to take quite a break-beat science approach to his tunes. He likes pulling apart drum breaks and working a real rhythm with a lot of reggae and funk influences. Hurtdeer brings in influences from techno, breakcore and videogame music and explores different time signatures with a lot of tunes in 7/4 instead of 4/4, which makes them difficult to mix from for other people, but it sounds great when he does it!”

The roster isn’t limited to that core trio. Second Line has so far appeared on the compilation and has an EP pencilled in for September, while Macka’s eclectic combination of dubstep beats, freestyle melodics and the occasional Shakespearian quote gives his Piano Works digital record some of the standout Broken Bubble moments.

Beyond those are a couple of newcomers in Broke’nFolk (“he’s done a really cool EP made out of funk, jazzy drum breaks and a lot of interesting synth work as well”) and Gravious (“he had an early release on Hotflush and has had a quiet few years, but he’s back with a vengeance pushing a very fresh sound”) who promise to add yet more sonic colour to an already luminous palette.

Although there’s a scientific approach to making the synthesis, selected samples often originate from science fiction. Cogidubnus in particular is partial to building on ideas from sci-fi literature and soundtracks: “Pan-Galactic Memory Bank is named after a novel by Kilgore Trout, who’s a character in Kurt Vonnegut’s novels. I’d been reading his Breakfast of Champions book just before I made that track... Then there are a few samples from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and, yeah, it’s always interesting to explore your influences by sampling.”

Cogidubnus brings those influences with him to Chorlton’s Dulcimer bar on Thursday 14th July, where he, Duskky and Hurtdeer will share the limelight for what will be a Broken Bubble live showcase. Thompson’s latest foray into live mixing prior to this was at the Total Garage night at Joshua Brooks; a more diverse line-up in a sense, but Thompson profited from an open-minded audience: “I think it [Total Garage] went well. The crowd was open to exploring the possibilities of what garage could be, I was able to play a lot of the minimal, 2-step stuff that comes under the ‘future garage’ umbrella. It’s an area that has a lot of creativity with producers like Roof Light, Sorrow and Fedbymachines all making great sounds.”

“I think at the Now Then Manchester night we’re probably going to alternate; we’ve got about four hours or so and I think we’ll rotate with half an hour each and gradually build it up. Max (Hurtdeer) and Sandy (Duskky) have been working on stuff at 200bpm – one of the things about dubstep when it started was getting a good change of vibe from switching tempo between 70 and 40bpm, so they’re trying that with 100 and 200bpm.”

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of Broken Bubble & This City Is Ours

A taster of Cogidubnus' mixing vibes can be heard here.

Arts, Music & Events Preview, March 2011 (Part One)

It’s already been a busy month so far, hence the lack of preview until today. Chances are that the omission of a neat, overly wordy events navigation has spun your social compass into a magnetised frenzy. So to prevent any further blind stumbles through Manchester’s happenings, here’s a rundown of what’s to come.

Friday 11th’s evening seems as good a place to start as any, being as it is the starting point for Continue, a new post-dubstep, IDM styled affair at Sankeys. Hotflush Recordings label boss Paul Rose headlines in the split musicality of dark electronic sub-bassman Scuba and tech-fuelled alter-ego SCB, while the likes of Dark Sky and Mind On Fire compilation favourite XXXY fill other slots across the night.

Sunday 13th is one for Debt Records, who’ve lined up their entire roster plus a couple of extras for a charity-oriented Band on the Wall show. Keep the earlier-than-expected kick-off time in mind so as not to miss a stellar cast from John Fairhurst to Josephine.

Oliver Stone’s recent documentary, South of the Border, is free to waltz into on Monday 14th at the university's Open Media society. Fill your head with thoughts on the various propagandising of a North/South American divide before emptying it again amidst the mellowing tones of Submotion Orchestra, who top a Hit&Run bill at Mint Lounge. Keep an eye out for their forthcoming single ‘All Yours’; released later this month on Thursday 24th.

From the Americas to Africa in the space of a day; Ethiopian jazzman Mulatu Astatke (whose recent album was reviewed in Now Then Sheffield here) is booked in on Tuesday 15th for a Band on the Wall gig of the ilk you won’t see every day. In short: Do. Not. Miss.

Shifting marginally across the jazz plateau, highly recommended 2005 Mercury Music Prize nominees Polar Bear are Hear Here’s next offering on Wednesday 16th. They’ll be joined onstage at Sound Control by Portuguese rapper Jyager, and in support by former Now Then Manchester gig-closing soundwall merchants, King Capisce.

The sea of green fancy dress you’ll encounter on Thursday 17th is the major clue for the Ireland-related Guinness-athon that is St Patrick’s Day. Bar Centro plan an artistic angle under the eyebrow-raising moniker of The Trials and Tribulations of a Romano-Briton Snake-Hater. DJs are promised to give the visuals some audio accompaniment. Also in art that day, Blank Media is hosting an intriguing interpretation of the artworld’s similarities with religious dogma. MMU’s Ryan Higgins curates No Offence Intended at BLANKSPACE.

Finally for now, Friday 18th sees WARP’s Seefeel perform scuzzy mind-tingling shoegaze, courtesy of Now Wave and Islington Mill.

Words: Ian Pennington

ITC 2010 @ Band On The Wall, Thursday 14th October

If my impression of In The City is one of numerous musicians clamouring in a small dingy venue for the attentions of a solitary big league A&R who, a) has been bothered to leave their hotel room/bar, and b) actually has any budget for any negotiation of a loan destined to end in some tricky repayments, then at least the Band On The Wall venue itself differs from part of that preconception. As for A&R folk, who knows? But, as hinted at with this preamble, it might be worth aspiring recording artists avoiding the allure of such Sirens when their promised paradise floats so close to the rocks these days.

Having said all that, Anthony H Wilson’s lasting legacy wouldn’t have foreseen the industry’s 21st Century devolution, however the original premise of bringing London-centric major label players up north does now strike as a little outdated given the countless other options available to musicians in this era of technological mores.

Of this year’s fledglings, Now Wave have cherry-picked some of the brighter prospects around, with a running theme of two-guys-and-some-gadgets.


First on are worriedaboutsatan, a duo who’ve been around for a few years now (in fact, it’d be wrong to assume that any of those performing either at official or fringe ITC events have formed only a fortnight prior, but then it depends on whether your definition of ‘new’ is more closely aligned to that stated in the dictionary or by Edith Bowman). Facing each other with laptops primed, this time the set-up is one of a divided stage; as if competing in online Battleships. That is to compare it to the audience-facing Futuresonic appearance in 2007; an early slice of recognition for the pair. Since then worriedaboutsatan have also developed their sound, from post-rocky soundscapes to the more electronica-flecked, pulsing layers of clicks with flickering, flinching waves of guitar-infused echoes.

There are thicker, more muscular bass accompaniments in sections, such as those acting as foundations for the sample of Scuba’s ‘So You Think You’re Special’, but it’s the downtempo elements that resonate longest. Imagery conjured for the finale brings the sound of umpteen lonely drips amplified together for a steady shuffle along an underground rail track; slowly but naturally ceasing to a standstill.


Local two-piece D/R/U/G/S make their mark by shunting the tempo up a few notches courtesy of tectonic thumps and a smattering of ivory twinkles. Never ones to dwell on a beat for too long, the underlays bypass some Caribou and Four Tet’s ‘Plastic People’ in semblance, but always with a more imposing bassline artillery; up there on a par with tech trance bpms.

D/R/U/G/S, although due to appear on at least two other occasions during the ITC gigging window, have a buzz band appeal that attracts a roomful of wristband holders and, consequently, Walls’ audience is a whimper by contrast.


But Walls’ set is far more calculated, controlled and significantly less ADD than that of D/R/U/G/S, and although it’s not worthwhile comparing the two duos too far beyond the obvious personnel similarity, it’s hard to avoid linking the acts with only a short break separating them on the night. Signed to German electronic label Kompakt, Walls can command a certain respect, but also carry a certain expectation. Indeed their eponymous debut and its plaudits add to such anticipation in the diminished crowd, and it takes a while for the mellower tones to settle in with D/R/U/G/S’ rave-sparkers still ringing in your ears. But the slow-building static and cosmic iron lungs are a more fulfilling entity; Walls know where the speed dial can take them, but work themselves up to that level via restrained strata of vibrating pings and squashed minimal squeaks. When you reach the pinnacle it’s all the more rewarding than their predecessors’ musical Tourette’s.


‘Gaberdine’ exemplifies their steadiness, but there’s also the fuzzy Fuck Buttons-esque wake-up call of ‘Burnt Sienna’, erupting like the yawn of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Mount Kimbie are last on and attract some of the floating voter venue surfers back onto BOTW’s recently-pristine, now-blotched carpet. They drop initial beats akin to a low bouncing ball, which progresses as if thrown into a pond to ripple outwards; shivering the floorboards and forcing movement from the intrigued gathering.


This performance is not without its hitches, though. First of all, Kai Campos manages a wry smile at the first instance of unintentional silence, brought about due to guitar connection issues. Mildly chagrin expressions from Campos’s band-mate Dominic Maker illustrate the long pause later on while the aforementioned guitar DI is remedied; a ten-minute lull in proceedings that he jokes will be made available to buy on CD after the show. It’s nice to know they aren’t taking it quite as seriously as those who don’t stay to give them a second chance.

Despite the mishaps, the pair persevere with a modified set including Maker’s looped samples solo and a concluding effects-pedal-less version of ‘Field’ that sees a cleaner guitar join the echoing tongue clacks. The helium-voiced ‘Mayor’ is a standout with its live-specific builds, while the pitch-descending chimes leading into ‘Before I Move Off’ are met with appreciation from more than one animated audience member.


All of which can neither enhance nor damage the growing reputation of a duo who’ve become the namedrop of choice for many a post-dubstep commentator. And, as previously stated, ITC isn’t going to make-or-break your musical adventure, particularly when you’ve already released one of the albums of the year (Crooks & Lovers) via Scuba’s Hotflush record label.

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Simon Bray