561 DRUM & BASS SPECIAL! 27-PAGES OF JUNGLIST GOODNESS! DJMAG.COM WHALE OF A TIME MOBY’S NEW BOOK TEKLIFE LIVING & BREATHING DANCE MUSIC! CREW DJMAG.COM LIVE ON DJ RASHAD’S FOOTWORK LEGACY THE CONTINUED WIDESCREEN ELI ESCOBAR DRUM & BASS OF IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS * MUSIC DOWNLOAD * CLUBS CONTENT BY HIGH JEWELZ & SPARKS, * TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY DANNY AVILA CONTRAST AND TUJAMO * HAS D&B COMMERCIALISATION GONE TOO FAR? SIGMA, GOLDIE, GROOVERIDER, FRICTION & MORE EXPLORE VOTE NOW! HOSPITALITY IN THE PARK UK’S FIRST D&B FEST D&B IN AMERICA — F*** YEAH! ALL THE No. 561 NOMINEES EXIT RECORDS PROFILED September 2016 TRUE TO THE CRAFT WE CZECH OUT No.561 September 2016 £4.95 LET IT ROLL & BEATS EVOLUTION £4.95 OCTAVE ONE, MACHINEDRUM, HERVÉ, THOMAS GANDEY, BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB, PLUS: FELIX DICKINSON, RECLOOSE, REBOOT, DE SLUWE VOS, SECRET CINEMA, SILKY… cover1.indd 1 12/08/2016 14:00 Untitled-1 1 18/07/2016 12:16 Contents Cover Shot: LARRY ROSTANT 032 WIDESCREEN DRUM & BASS High Contrast’s cinematic productions have made him the undisputed master of underground-credible yet mainstream-accessible d&b. DJ Mag heads to Cardiff to meet the man behind the music... FEATURES 038 COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES Following Sigma’s collab with Take That, we ask industry heavyweights to way up the pros and cons of commercial d&b 046 NON-CORPORATE HOSPITALITY Label heads London Elektricity and Chris Goss talk 20 years of Hospital Records 038 COMMERCIAL D&B 051 EXIT RECORDS and the UK’s fi rst ever d&b festival... 051 BOW DOWN TO THE EXIT We sit down with Exit Records boss dBridge to see why his boundary- breaking imprint stays true to the craft... 056 ROLLING WITH THE FLOW Why is the Czech Republic such a hotbed for d&b? We head to Beats Evolution conference and Let It Roll festival to fi nd out... 046 HOSPITALITY IN THE PARK 060 AMERICAN DRUM & BASS — FUCK YEAH! 008 COMIN’UP With d&b fi nally making real headway in Hervé, Call Super, De Sluwe Vos, The States, we zone in on the key playaz... Tensnake, Black Devil Disco Club, Moby... 098 ON THE FLOOR 064 THE JUKE OF EARL 052 ELI ESCOBAR Footwork prodigy DJ Earl is helping keep Reasons to head to Reasons fest, the DJ Rashad’s legacy alive on the new insanity of Exit, Secret Garden Party Teklife label... revealed, Butch in Berlin... 069 DJ MAG TECH AWARDS 123 MUSIC REVIEWS We’ve assembled our judges and once DJ Earl, Beyond The Wizard’s again the DJ Mag Tech Awards are upon Sleeve, Trim, Dusky, Zomby, Skudge, us. And the nominations are... Machinedrum, Gerd Janson... 086 IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 154 TECH DJ Mag catches up with the unsung hero Pioneer’s new sampler, Sennheiser 069 TECH AWARDS of New York house, Eli Escobar... HD25+, Behringer X-Touch, Octave One... 056 LET IT ROLL 104 SECRET GARDEN PARTY 064 DJ EARL/TEKLIFE djmag.com 003 DJ561.Intro-Contents.indd 3 15/08/2016 15:42 LARRY ROSTANT Pic: DJmag.com Ltd, 3A Chapel Market, NEXT ISSUE OUT London, N1 9EZ 29.09.16 Editorial Editor Carl Loben [email protected] Deputy Editor Adam Saville [email protected] Web/News Editor Charlotte Lucy Cijffers [email protected] Art Editor Martin Brown [email protected] Tech Editor Mick Wilson [email protected] Albums Editor Felicity Martin [email protected] Designer Chris Royle [email protected] Staff Writer Ben Hindle [email protected] Digital Staff Writer Rob McCallum [email protected] Fashion Helene Stokes [email protected] USA Editor Sarah Polonsky [email protected] Listings Editor Martin Guttridge-Hewitt [email protected] JUNGLIST MOVEMENT Digital I can’t remember what the first drum & bass record I heard was Head Of Digital Media Simon Kelly [email protected] — it must’ve been some futuristic missive at Labrynth in Dalston Digital Media Executive Euan McGraw [email protected] during the morphing from hardcore into jungle — but it didn’t Digital Media Assistant Jon Dommett [email protected] take me long to be hooked. Living in Hackney, jungle/drum & bass was literally birthed on my doorstep and I soon became an Contributors evangelist for the sound. From the mid-‘90s onwards I Paul Clarke, Ben Murphy, Claire Hughes, Louise Brailey, Neil Kulkarni, Sherman, Ian interviewed all the main playaz and would go to all the London McQuaid, Joe Roberts, Richard Brophy, Found Sounds, Dan Reid, Zara Wladawsky, Larry nights — Metalheadz, Speed, PM Scientists, and then Movement Rostant, Oli Marlow, Ben Arnold, Kristan J Caryl, Luke Pepper, Kris Needs, Ben Osborne, every Thursday, where I even got to DJ a couple of times. Tim Stark, Kutski, Jonathan Burnip, Manu Ekanayake, Katie Palmer, Sunil Chauhan, Leon Clarkson, Whisky Kicks, Ashley Zlatopolsky, Chris Davison, Stephen Flynn, Erin Sharoni, As the Millennium approached and the dark tech-step sound Dani Deahl, Anna Wall , Angus Thomas Paterson, Kirsty Allison came into vogue, I started to get back into other genres again, but was then delighted when bright, uplifting d&b tracks like Advertising ‘Shake Ur Body’ by Shy FX & T-Power and ‘LK’ by Marky & XRS Sales & Marketing Director Heath Holmes [email protected] smashed into the charts. These were proper, scene-sanctioned Sales Manager [email protected] underground tracks that crossed over from club dancefloors Chris Blackhall and onto daytime radio — thanks largely to their sunny Advertising Manager Iain McGoldrick [email protected] disposition, I guess. When Andy C & Shimon’s ‘Body Rock’ followed soon after, d&b was on a roll. Managerial Now that the scene is global, and the sound isn’t controlled so Publisher James Robertson much by a clutch of the main UK DJs, it’s more likely that gratingly Managing Director Martin Carvell [email protected] cheesy drum & bass is going to appear every so often. But just Accounts Patricia Jordan [email protected] where should the line be drawn? For many, Sigma’s collab with Take That was a step too far — or was it? We explore the nature Events of commercialism in drum & bass from page 38 onwards in this Head of Events Adam Saville [email protected] issue, while we salute cinematic d&b DJ/producer High Contrast in the cover story on page 32 — someone who’s infiltrated the Events Manager Alex Anderson [email protected] mainstream on his own terms. We also celebrate the amazing sounds of Exit Records (p51), and look forward to d&b’s first Subscriptions [email protected] ever stand-alone festival later this month — Hospitality In The +44 20 7684 4881 Park (p46). subscribe.djmag.com Drum & bass wouldn’t be so healthy if it hadn’t had a weekly DJ Magazine is published by Thrust Publishing Ltd. under licence. DJ COMPETITION RULES: To enter a competition you can send your answer by post to [name of competition], DJ Magazine, 3A Chapel Market, London, N1 3EZ or email home in central London for the past 16 years, courtesy of Fabric. [email protected] to be received on or before the closing date. By sending your entry you agree to these competition rules and you confirm you are happy to receive details of future offers and promotions from DJmag.com ltd.The winner will be notified within 28 days of the closing date. Competitions are only open to UK residents. 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SEND POSTAL ENTRIES TO: (Name of Competition), DJmag, 3A Chapel Market, London, N1 9EZ SEND EMAIL ENTRIES TO: CARL LOBEN [email protected] Editor THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF INDIVIDUALS AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY SHARED BY DJ MAGAZINE. 004 djmag.com DJ561.Intro-Intro.indd 4 15/08/2016 15:28 Untitled-1 1 15/08/2016 14:47 Untitled-1 1 16/05/2016 15:17 Untitled-1 1 16/05/2016 15:18 Comin’ Up Upbeat updates - all the stuff you need to know! ARMIN VAN BUUREN ANNOUNCED FOR LONDON TOP 100 DJS PARTY! All-star O2 Academy Brixton line-up also features Ferry Corsten presenting Gouryella, Markus Schulz and Marlo..