Bristol underground...

The city of Bristol has a long history of underground music, a cultural melting pot removed from the fast moving insular pressure trends of the London music scene.

Proud to be home to one of the largest dubstep scenes in the world outside London, these profiles exemplify of just some of the established and emerging talent to come out of the vibrant Bristol underground.

Forsaken

A lone gunman in the UK underground, Forsaken doesn’t run with a crew. Developing his cuts over the last few years, he has created an emotive & organic style rooted in the earthy UK traditions of breakbeat manipulation and raw drumfunk. Forsaken’s unique style encompasses elements of dubstep, breaks and griminess without conforming to any specific genre. His creative vision is unique and there’s no one quite like him.

Forsaken made his Dubloaded debut to a sell out crowd in February this year and immediately made his mark with a high energy set of quick mixes and rumbling bass pressure, blending grime anthems, dub step classics and his own dub plate selections. Regular appearances at Bristol’s Noir event attest to his djing prowess, always guaranteed to smash up a dance.

Forsaken mix

Wedge

Wedge has been making moves in the South West underground for a few years now, starting out co-promoting the ‘Underground’ event with Appleblim from Skull Disco.

Since then he has made Dj appearances at some of the leading nights in Bristol including Dubloaded, Drive By, and Dissident. Now a fully pledged member of the H.E.N.C.H crew, Wedge has the dubs for a guaranteed heavyweight selection each and every time.

Wedge has been honing his production skills, creating a soundscape of sinister atmospherics and punishing bass frequencies. Drawing on influences from a wide spectrum of producers, Wedge has attained a truly unique sound.

Dark FM is now the home to Wedge’s hugely successful weekly underground radio show, showcasing exclusive dubplate cuts from the top producers in the UK with the focus on pushing the Bristol and West country talents to the extreme. Tuesdays 10pm-12pm GMT.

Wedge mix

Headhunter

One of the three founding members of Bristol’s H.E.N.C.H. crew, Headhunter is another exciting production talent to emerge from the Bristol underground. His sound of deep, dark minimal rolling synthetic atmospherics has been causing quite a stir in the Bristol scene.

Headhunter has been gradually building a local following through the weekly H.E.N.C.H radio show on Bristol pirate station BS1 radio hosted by MC Scorpio, featuring dubplate selections from himself and fellow H.E.N.C.H crew Whiteboi, J@kes and Wedge. The variety in sounds from the H.E.N.C.H crew’s plates makes from an exciting journey though bass pressure such is the variety and depth to their sonic pallete.

With the success of their Dubloaded debut in March (and a headlining slot secured for May) and also high profile support slots at some of the bigger underground music events in the South West of England, 2006 is proving a busy year already for Headhunter.

May sees the first release on Ascension Records run in association with their close friend and Bristolian D’n’B superstar Tech Itch which features Headhunters track ‘7^th Curse’. Expect more from H.E.N.C.H. on Ascension throughout 2006!

Headhunter mix