Ed Rush - No U-turn Experience - Feb 1997

Biography of Ed Rush

Ben Settle, or better known as Ed Rush, is one of the current leaders of the new school drum and bass. One of the originators to bring back the dark sounds of drum and bass and push it to new levels, Ed Rush continues to make waves with each new release. Born in west London, Ed Rush originally started out as a b-boy (breakdancer), but eventually found the growing underground rave scene. Fascinated by the breaks in the hardcore sounds at the time, Ed Rush convinced his neighbor, Nico Sykes, to let him produce tracks with him. At the time, Nico was an engineer with his own label. Eventually they released 'Bludclot Artattack' in 1993 - a journey into the darkcore sounds. While most releases at the time had a certain momentum and feel, the track was like no other, and marked the shift of hardcore's split into drum and bass. Ed Rush eventually released follow-ups nearly two years later, this time with DJ Trace, on 'The Mutant' in 1995. 'Guncheck' soon followed, another track developed in a recognizable Ed Rush style - gangsta attitude, and crunchy basslines. Ed Rush soon found himself on the cusp of prominence, as his releases in 1996 on the Techsteppin' compilation, the Skylab EP on the Metalheadz label, and 'Killimanjaro' on the Prototype label all helped to define the genres' direction towards techstep, a two-step style of drum and bass. He subsequently released more tracks on various labels, and his popularity as an artist grew, as did his sound as a producer.

The greatest collaboration was ahead of him though, when he teamed up with Optical, another artist on the rise. They created their own label, Virus, and their first release was 'Medicine/Punchbag,' two tracks marked with technically precise drum programming along with a distorted, low, and crunchy bass line. Their eventual EP, Wormhole in 1998, was released to critical and underground success, as the sounds from that album again redefined the direction drum and bass was headed, and solidified their status as the forerunners of the new sound of drum and bass.

More recently, after a slew of other releases, Ed Rush and Optical have released another genre-defining EP, the Creeps. This was again met with critical and commercial success, as the album helped them to win Knowledge drum and bass award for producers of the year.

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DJ Trace - No U-turn Experience - Feb 1997

Biography of DJ Trace

DJ trace aka Duncan Hutchison was born in Hammersmith West London in 1974. Trace came from a artistic family and was sent to a creative art boarding school in the English home counties at 11 years old. When trace reached the young age of 13 he was taken to a acid house club in London Charing Cross area by a friend - 'This was my first club experience.'

The club was 'rage' and DJ's that night were Grooverider, Fabio, Colin Favor, Evil Eddie Richards and Colin Hudd. 'I went every week after that until the night it shut down'. Shortly after attending 'rage', Trace got a job working there selling records for Zoom records stand. 'It was there that I met the DJ's and chatted to the ravers' This was the start of getting to know people on the scene as Trace had decided that this is what he wanted to do, be involved in this scene.

Trace went to the big outdoor raves of 1989 'summer of love' - 'this is where the DJ's schooled me with the sounds of European Techno and hip hop dubs.' A year of so later and Trace had made his first production , Inception sold 1000 white labels in the first day and went onto enter the national charts on Orbital records. Following Inception Trace went on to collaborate with the infamous Ltj Bukem with a limited release entitled Teach Me To Fly.

It was then in 1992 that Trace decided that America was the next place to take the music to. So in summer 92 on a self funded mission DJ trace and Ryme Tyme headed off for US soil. It was here that they were surprise guests at the legendary club night N.A.S.A 'that night was the infusion of our lives.'

N.A.S.A's DB and Scotto are to blame for the success of DJ Trace in America 'they gave me the chance I could only have dreamed about at 17 years old.' Trace has gone on to play at almost every destination across Northern America and now the world. From mid 96 Trace had been heading a different direction from the jump up jungle with the tracks he made with Nico on the No U Turn label Trace had without meaning to created a new genre 'tech-step'. 'I had always come from a techno background and when I said the words tech-step it sounded neat.' This style of production acted as a catalyst for a whole new breed of darkcore style producers to emerge, and gave the scene a new direction to head in. Trace most recently can be seen collaborating with Bad Company with Thumpa and Nitrous. Bad company a crew that grew in strength during the tech step days With his Label Dsci4 now underway with 6 single releases and 2 EPS 1 LP and a second LP about to drop featuring the new wave of exciting and innovative dsci4 artists from obscure international locations.