Raiden - Back2Back Special - Renegade Hardware - Jun 2004

Biography of Raiden

Raiden, aka Jarman has a background in music that combines tonal savagery and intricate grooves; his first public outings in the world of music were fronting a hardcore band in 94. Always a man on the look-out for new ideas, someone played him some No U-turn tunes in 97, and suddenly everything changed,the bass was exchanged for the complex depths of Logic Audio, and the sound that defines him began to coalesce.

A year of careful listening and research, a small tour of German squat-party venues, and then, in 98, he leapt straight into the relentless production schedule that is another one of his trademarks. Getting DJ slots by playing dnb sets at open-minded techno nights, he found he loved the timbres of techno, but couldnt shake his passion for a rolling break and conveyor belt basslines. He resolved to meld the two into a sound that growls like a crack-crazed pitbull, before sinking in its teeth with a grip that locks on and never lets go.

He studied at the I.M.T. in London for a year, and this led to a work placement at Airtight Studios, where he met DJ Nu Balance and DJ Friction, and began writing tunes for their label Transparent. The first of these was hugely sucessful 'Cenobyte ep', featuring the crushing 'Bulldoze'. Released at the end of 2k2 and played by such luminaries as Trace,Bad Company Kemal, Keaton, Technical Itch, Mampi Swift, Friction and Usual Suspects.

Renegade Hardware approached Raiden in mid 2k2. His debut release Fallin became a massive tune, being voted no.18 in the best tune awards of 2002 by Muzik Magazine. Fallin was also featured on the cover cd of November 2002 mixmag, which lead to wider exposure and more media attension. More epic cuts were planned for 2003, including 'All out war' Followed by his deubt Renegade Hardware e.p featuring 'Infection, 6ft Ditch, Falling(Friction and Nu Balance remix)and React'. Pigalle(Feat)Flow, and Pitbull Attack / Mindbomin as the launch release for TOV's new label Barcode as well as Pinball and a relentless rmx of his own Bulldoze on transparent. All recieving much support from some of the scenes biggest guns. He is also about launch is own label Off-Key recording to hoost his extremist brand of techno tinged funk.

This has resulted in Raiden being booked for Dj sets as far afield as the USA, South Africa, Israel, Japan, France, Beligum, Holland, Norway, Austria, Germany as well as many critically aclaimed club nights in London such as Calsh of the Titans and Angermangments 'Therapy sessions'. He is also a resident at the legendry Renegade Hardware nights at the world renouned End club in Central London, this is where Raiden first discovered the love for twisted basslines and frantic beats. Many people regard the End as spirtual home of Drum and Bass,in the same way that Detroit is to Techno.

Raidens ideal is progressive music with a beginning, middle and end, but retaining the off-key hooks, the ability to shock. The end result sounds a little (but not quite) like Axis remixing No U-Turn (or vice versa); heavy rolling tech-step breaks, vicious synth head noises, and basslines that you could mistake for seismic events. His ascent though the scene has been an unprecedented success, this rise is far from over, you have been warned!

Pendulum - Back2Back Special - Renegade Hardware - Jun 2004

Biography of Pendulum

Pendulum formed in their home-town of Perth (Western Australia) in 2002, when producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen teamed up with acclaimed local DJ Paul 'Elhornet' Harding. While their individual formative roots ranged from producing drum & bass, breakbeat and hardcore, to playing in metal and punk bands, their comparable talents proved an unstoppable force when they managed to single-handedly conquer the world of drum & bass in their first 12 months together.

After selling more than 100,000 units of their debut artist album 'Hold Your Colour', remixing for such respected artists as The Prodigy, being play-listed and featuring regularly on BBC Radio 1, all whilst continuing to tour the world over as DJs...Pendulum decided that was finally time to take things to the next level - performing live.

The last 12 months have seen Pendulum retreat to the depths of the underground to work on their second album, and to hone and perfect their sound for the live arena. Finding that using purely electronic sounds left something to be desired, they fetched their guitars and worked on perfecting their ultimate sound - an electronic Led Zeppelin, a crunked up Soundgarden, Tool meets Timbaland, combined with the synthetic aggression and sonic purity of the original Pendulum sound.

So apart from that, what the hell are Pendulum all about? In the words of the boys themselves...

'We want our music to be an escape. While technology continues to constantly advance production techniques and (arguably) sound quality, something has been lost in the process - that original sense of self-escape, the idea of leaving yourself open to experience something you don't necessarily find in every-day life. That was the energy we picked up on and liked about electronic music when we first got into it. It felt like the same energy found with bands like Led Zeppelin and even The Beatles, and still occasionally today with bands like Tool, The Mars Volta, Queens Of The Stone Age and others.

To us, it made perfect sense to combine the best of both worlds, but it had to be done in a way that didn't make it sound obvious. In the last 10 years you've had all these bands that tried to cross the bridge by recruiting a turntablist / using a synthesizer on their new single, or electronic artists who just threw an obvious guitar sample into a tune...but eventually it just came across as a gimmick or a bit cheesy. We thought we'd try and do it properly, because to us it still hasn't been done right and theres a lot of room for exploration.

If you turn on the radio today you'll hear 20 tracks in a row describing someone's every-day life, or songs with a one-line catchphrase chorus about shaking your ass in the club - the production is usually great but when you look deeper, there's nothing behind it...it doesn't offer you anything past its face value. We want to hear something different and exciting, but the material we want to hear isn't getting made. Thats why we spend nearly every waking moment trying to create music that takes you out of this universe - for ourselves and anyone else who wants to listen.'