Kevin Martin (British musician)
Encyclopedia
Kevin Martin is a London
-based British
musician
, record producer
, and journalist
. He moved to London around 1990, and he has been active for over a decade, in the genres of dub
, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall
, and dubstep
. His main projects include God, Techno Animal, Ice, Curse of the Golden Vampire, The Bug, and Pressure. He has collaborated with such figures as John Zorn
, Justin Broadrick
, Experimental Audio Research, El-P, Blixa Bargeld
, Alec Empire
, Dälek
, Vast Aire
, Anti-Pop Consortium, DJ Vadim
, Cutty Ranks
, Flow Dan
, Mark Stewart
and Keith Levene
.
Martin first began making music because he was attracted to a 'DIY' aesthetic. He first worked with a four-track recorder and effects pedal, and said that he "was interested in everything that wasn’t harmony, melody, and conservative musical structure. Dub seemed to tear everything to shreds, burn it up, and rearrange the embers..." (referring to Dub Music
). He has described his early experiences of music in London as being very influential for his style and appreciation of music, especially experiencing Iration Steppas and The Disciples
in the early '90s. He has described his experience in the London music scene as taking "a while to sync my ears up to ragga and digital dancehall," two genres of music for which he has become well known for.
and industrial metal
scenes. Justin Broadrick, formerly of Napalm Death
and later of Godflesh
, eventually joined. This was the first of Martin's collaborations with Broadrick, Techno Animal and Ice being subsequent. John Zorn
also worked with this group.
collaboration with Justin Broadrick
that also collaborated with Dälek
, Vast Aire
, and Anti-Pop Consortium. John Jobbagy also participated in the group.
, but with a more experimentalist bent, notably via Martin's free jazz
-influenced saxophone. By Bad Blood (In Bloom/Reprise
/Warner Bros. Records
), its second album, the band had absorbed a great deal of hip hop
influence, and nearly all the songs featured contributions from guests well-known in underground hip hop
, including El-P. However, the experimentalism continued, with singer Blixa Bargeld
of legendary industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten
appearing as well, often alongside the emcees. According to critic Ned Raggett, the experiments aren't always successful, but he credits the band for expanding its sound.
in an industrial hip-hop
vein. The second album, Mass Destruction, featured only Martin and Broadrick and moved into a more vicious breakcore
and digital hardcore
style with elements of grindcore
, industrial hip-hop
, and noise
/power electronics
.
, noise
, grime
, and hip hop
. More subtle influences include dubstep
and the dubtronica
and broken techno
of Basic Channel
and Pole
.
The Bug's first album, Tapping The Conversation, was released in 1997 on the seminal Wordsound label. The album was conceived as an alternative soundtrack to the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
film The Conversation
. In this incarnation The Bug consisted of Kevin Martin and DJ Vadim
was in more of a downtempo
and trip-hop vein.
From 2001-2004 The Bug collaborated with UK reggae soundsystem veteran The Rootsman on a number of limited edition 7" singles, released on the Razor X label. These releases were characterised by their harsh, aggressive nature both musically and vocally (vocal artists including Jamaican MCs such as He-Man and Wayne Lonesome).
The Bug's second album, Pressure was released on Rephlex Records
in 2003. It included a number of more ambient, dub
-influenced tracks alongside the ragga
-tinged onslaughts.
The Razor X singles were compiled on the Killing Sound album (along with newer material) which was released by Rephlex in 2006.
Bug projects have included collaborations with a number of singers and MCs including Cutty Ranks
, Flow Dan
, Warrior Queen
and Ras B. In 2005 he collaborated with Mark Stewart
and Keith Levene
and has released records on Rephlex, Tigerbeat6
and Klien Records. The Bug produced some radio sessions, including a clash with Soundmurderer on John Peel
and a 2006 Breezeblock session with 10 MCs.
In 2006, The Bug launched a monthly London-based reggae
club night entitled BASH, in collaboration with dubstep
producer Loefah. 2008 saw the release of London Zoo
, the third full release from the project, to critical acclaim.
project, with releases on the Hyperdub
label.
He also compiled the Macro Dub Infection (parts one and two), Isolationism
and Jazz Satellites CDs for the Virgin Ambient series
.
's Hyperdub
label. "Meltdown" also featured on the 5 Years Of Hyperdub
CD release in 2009.
, Adrian Sherwood
, King Tubby
, Lee Perry, Swans
, and Public Enemy.
and Jockey Slut
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He moved to London around 1990, and he has been active for over a decade, in the genres of dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
, and dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
. His main projects include God, Techno Animal, Ice, Curse of the Golden Vampire, The Bug, and Pressure. He has collaborated with such figures as John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, Justin Broadrick
Justin Broadrick
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music.-Biography:Broadrick was born in the council estates of inner...
, Experimental Audio Research, El-P, Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields...
, Alec Empire
Alec Empire
Alec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
, Dälek
Dälek
dälek is an American experimental hip hop duo from Newark, New Jersey. The group is composed of MC dälek and the Oktopus...
, Vast Aire
Vast Aire
Vast Aire is a rapper from New York City. He is one half of the New York hip hop duo Cannibal Ox, which consists of him and fellow rapper Vordul Mega. He is also a member of the rap group Atoms Family...
, Anti-Pop Consortium, DJ Vadim
DJ Vadim
DJ Vadim is a prolific DJ and producer, born in Leningrad, USSR , raised in London and currently residing in both New York and Berlin, whose music combines hip hop, soul, reggae and electronica...
, Cutty Ranks
Cutty Ranks
Philip Thomas, , better known as Cutty Ranks is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist.-Biography:Thomas was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1965. He began his career as a reggae artist at the age of 14 with the Gemini sound system, before moving on to work with Tony Rebel's Rebel Tone and Papa Roots,...
, Flow Dan
Roll Deep
Roll Deep are an Urban Music Awards-winning London-based grime music collective. They were founded in 2002, by a group of MCs including Wiley. Roll Deep were also closely associated with Boy Better Know with members in both. Their debut album, In at the Deep End, was released in June 2005...
, Mark Stewart
Mark Stewart (musician)
Mark Stewart is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. A pioneer of industrial hip-hop, he has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.-Career:...
and Keith Levene
Keith Levene
Keith Levene is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was an early member of The Clash, but is best known as being a founding member of Public Image Limited, along with John Lydon....
.
Early life
Martin first became interested in music as a teenager going to Handsome Dick's, a record store in Weymouth, England. As a teenager he was introduced to Joy Division, The Sex Pistols, Captain Beefheart, The Birthday Party, and Throbbing Gristle. He has described his initial interest in music as stemming from his difficult family situation during his childhood, and has said that "It seemed like everything that I hated about English conservative monoculture was being burned and turned upside down through music," and that, "Post-punk music was tearing up rule books and asking questions of everything, particularly structure in terms of music, art, politics, you know, the law.".Martin first began making music because he was attracted to a 'DIY' aesthetic. He first worked with a four-track recorder and effects pedal, and said that he "was interested in everything that wasn’t harmony, melody, and conservative musical structure. Dub seemed to tear everything to shreds, burn it up, and rearrange the embers..." (referring to Dub Music
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
). He has described his early experiences of music in London as being very influential for his style and appreciation of music, especially experiencing Iration Steppas and The Disciples
The Disciples
The Disciples is a 1993 spy thriller by Joe Andrew, who was chairman of the 2000 Democratic National Convention.-External links:*...
in the early '90s. He has described his experience in the London music scene as taking "a while to sync my ears up to ragga and digital dancehall," two genres of music for which he has become well known for.
God
God was a jazzcore group that was part of the grindcoreGrindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
and industrial metal
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
scenes. Justin Broadrick, formerly of Napalm Death
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...
and later of Godflesh
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...
, eventually joined. This was the first of Martin's collaborations with Broadrick, Techno Animal and Ice being subsequent. John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
also worked with this group.
Techno Animal
An industrial hip-hopIndustrial hip-hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion of the dissonance and dystopian subject matter of industrial music with the rhythms or vocals of hip hop music.-1980s:The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood...
collaboration with Justin Broadrick
Justin Broadrick
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music.-Biography:Broadrick was born in the council estates of inner...
that also collaborated with Dälek
Dälek
dälek is an American experimental hip hop duo from Newark, New Jersey. The group is composed of MC dälek and the Oktopus...
, Vast Aire
Vast Aire
Vast Aire is a rapper from New York City. He is one half of the New York hip hop duo Cannibal Ox, which consists of him and fellow rapper Vordul Mega. He is also a member of the rap group Atoms Family...
, and Anti-Pop Consortium. John Jobbagy also participated in the group.
Ice
Ice included Martin on vocals, saxophone, synthesizer, and turntables; Justin Broadrick on guitar; David Cochrane on bass; and Lou Ciccotelli on drums. Its first album, Under The Skin, was somewhat similar to the industrial metal of Broadrick's GodfleshGodflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...
, but with a more experimentalist bent, notably via Martin's free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
-influenced saxophone. By Bad Blood (In Bloom/Reprise
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
/Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
), its second album, the band had absorbed a great deal of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
influence, and nearly all the songs featured contributions from guests well-known in underground hip hop
Underground hip hop
Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....
, including El-P. However, the experimentalism continued, with singer Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld is a composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in a number of artistic fields...
of legendary industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
appearing as well, often alongside the emcees. According to critic Ned Raggett, the experiments aren't always successful, but he credits the band for expanding its sound.
Curse of the Golden Vampire
Originally a collaboration between Techno Animal and Alec EmpireAlec Empire
Alec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
in an industrial hip-hop
Industrial hip-hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion of the dissonance and dystopian subject matter of industrial music with the rhythms or vocals of hip hop music.-1980s:The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood...
vein. The second album, Mass Destruction, featured only Martin and Broadrick and moved into a more vicious breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
and digital hardcore
Digital hardcore
Digital hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk incorporating influences from electronic music. Digital hardcore fuses elements of hardcore punk with various forms of electronic music...
style with elements of grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
, industrial hip-hop
Industrial hip-hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion of the dissonance and dystopian subject matter of industrial music with the rhythms or vocals of hip hop music.-1980s:The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood...
, and noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
/power electronics
Power electronics (music)
Power electronics was originally coined by William Bennett as part of the sleevenotes to the Whitehouse album Psychopathia Sexualis, and is related to the early industrial records scene but later became more identified with noise music...
.
The Bug
The Bug's music draws influence from dancehallDancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
, noise
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
, grime
Grime (music)
Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...
, and hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. More subtle influences include dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
and the dubtronica
Dubtronica
Dubtronica is a neologism that has been used to describe electronic dance music that evidences the influence of dub. The origin is thought to be either the experimental English dub of On-U Sound Records and Mad Professor in the 1980s, Note that the term is not universally accepted by both artists...
and broken techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
of Basic Channel
Basic Channel
Basic Channel is a production team and record label, composed of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, that originated in Berlin, Germany in 1993. The duo released a number of vinyl-only tracks under various aliases, each of which employed their signature brand of dissonant dub techno...
and Pole
Pole (musician)
Pole is the artistic name of Stefan Betke, a German electronic music artist commonly associated with the glitch genre as well as dubtronica.-History:Pole took his name from a Waldorf 4-Pole filter which he accidentally dropped and broke in 1996...
.
The Bug's first album, Tapping The Conversation, was released in 1997 on the seminal Wordsound label. The album was conceived as an alternative soundtrack to the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
film The Conversation
The Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
. In this incarnation The Bug consisted of Kevin Martin and DJ Vadim
DJ Vadim
DJ Vadim is a prolific DJ and producer, born in Leningrad, USSR , raised in London and currently residing in both New York and Berlin, whose music combines hip hop, soul, reggae and electronica...
was in more of a downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
and trip-hop vein.
From 2001-2004 The Bug collaborated with UK reggae soundsystem veteran The Rootsman on a number of limited edition 7" singles, released on the Razor X label. These releases were characterised by their harsh, aggressive nature both musically and vocally (vocal artists including Jamaican MCs such as He-Man and Wayne Lonesome).
The Bug's second album, Pressure was released on Rephlex Records
Rephlex Records
Rephlex Records is a record label started in 1991 by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. Rephlex coined the term braindance to describe the otherwise uncategorisable output of Aphex Twin and Rephlex Records...
in 2003. It included a number of more ambient, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
-influenced tracks alongside the ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
-tinged onslaughts.
The Razor X singles were compiled on the Killing Sound album (along with newer material) which was released by Rephlex in 2006.
Bug projects have included collaborations with a number of singers and MCs including Cutty Ranks
Cutty Ranks
Philip Thomas, , better known as Cutty Ranks is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist.-Biography:Thomas was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1965. He began his career as a reggae artist at the age of 14 with the Gemini sound system, before moving on to work with Tony Rebel's Rebel Tone and Papa Roots,...
, Flow Dan
Roll Deep
Roll Deep are an Urban Music Awards-winning London-based grime music collective. They were founded in 2002, by a group of MCs including Wiley. Roll Deep were also closely associated with Boy Better Know with members in both. Their debut album, In at the Deep End, was released in June 2005...
, Warrior Queen
Warrior Queen (singer)
Warrior Queen is a vocalist in reggae influenced styles including dub and dubstep. She has collaborated with artists such as The Bug, Sunship, Vex'd, and Skream...
and Ras B. In 2005 he collaborated with Mark Stewart
Mark Stewart (musician)
Mark Stewart is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. A pioneer of industrial hip-hop, he has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.-Career:...
and Keith Levene
Keith Levene
Keith Levene is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was an early member of The Clash, but is best known as being a founding member of Public Image Limited, along with John Lydon....
and has released records on Rephlex, Tigerbeat6
Tigerbeat6
Tigerbeat6 is a San Francisco and Berlin based independent and electronic record label run by Kid606. The name reflects Kid606's obsession with cats, which also comes to light in the catalogue numbers, all of which start with MEOW, and is also a loose reference to the top-selling teen magazine,...
and Klien Records. The Bug produced some radio sessions, including a clash with Soundmurderer on John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
and a 2006 Breezeblock session with 10 MCs.
In 2006, The Bug launched a monthly London-based reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
club night entitled BASH, in collaboration with dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
producer Loefah. 2008 saw the release of London Zoo
London Zoo (album)
-Release history:-External links:* at Ninja Tune...
, the third full release from the project, to critical acclaim.
Pressure
A dubstepDubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
project, with releases on the Hyperdub
Hyperdub
Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9 Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9...
label.
He also compiled the Macro Dub Infection (parts one and two), Isolationism
Isolationism (album)
Ambient 4: Isolationism is a 1994 compilation album released on the Virgin Records label, part of its Ambient series. The compilation was issued as a double CD, packaged in a slimline case...
and Jazz Satellites CDs for the Virgin Ambient series
Virgin Ambient series
The Virgin Ambient Series was a series of albums released on the UK Virgin Records label between 1993 and 1997. Of the 24 albums released in the series, 13 were compilations.-Discography:...
.
King Midas Sound
King Midas Sound is a musical crossover project, composed of Martin, London/Trinidad poet Roger Robinson and Japanese artist and singer Kiki Hitomi. Their first 12" release "(HDB014) Cool Out" and debut album Waiting For You... are both released through Kode9Kode9
Kode9 is a London-based electronic music artist, DJ, and owner of the Hyperdub record label. An MC, The Spaceape, is a frequent collaborator...
's Hyperdub
Hyperdub
Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9 Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9...
label. "Meltdown" also featured on the 5 Years Of Hyperdub
Hyperdub
Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9 Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9...
CD release in 2009.
Influences
Kevin Martin has discussed his admiration for Jah ShakaJah Shaka
Jah Shaka has been operating a South East London-based, roots reggae Jamaican sound system since the early 1970s. His name is an amalgamation of the Rastafarian term for God and that of a Zulu warrior, Shaka Zulu.-Career:...
, Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy...
, King Tubby
King Tubby
King Tubby was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of dub in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Lee Perry, Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, and Public Enemy.
Journalism
He has previously written for music magazines such as MuzikMuzik
Muzik was a UK dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003.Muzik was created by two former Melody Maker journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of Muzik from its launch until he left the magazine in 1998, at which point Turner took over as editor...
and Jockey Slut
Jockey Slut
Jockey Slut was a British music magazine which ran between 1993 and 2004, focusing mainly on dance music and club culture. It started as a self-published bi-monthly fanzine in 1993 before graduating to a monthly by 1999, following a buy-out from Swinstead Publishing...
.
Albums
- Breach Birth (1990)
- LocoLoco (GOD album)Loco is the first live album of the Experimental band GOD, released in 1991 by Pathological Records.-Reception:Music critic Piero Scaruffi gave the record a 5 out of 10, calling it too "bizarre" and criticizing the length of the songs.-Track listing:...
[live album] (1991) - Possession (1992)
- Consumed [live album] (1993)
- The Anatomy of AddictionThe Anatomy of Addiction-Personnel:GOD*Justin Broadrick – guitar*Lou Ciccotelli – drums, percussion*Dave Cochrane – bass guitar*John Edwards – double bass*Tim Hodgkinson – saxophone*Gary Jeff – bass guitar*Scott Kiehl – percussion...
(1994) - Appeal to Human Greed (1995)
Albums
- GhostsGhosts (Techno Animal album)Ghosts is the debut album of the Illbient band Techno Animal, released on Pathological Records in 1991.-Reception:Simon Reynolds, in reviewing the album for Melody Maker, said, "Ghosts isn't quite the long-awaited breakthrough, the one that makes The Young Gods seem ancient, but it's a brave stab...
(1991) - Re-Entry (1995)
- Babylon Seeker (1996)
- Radio Hades (1998)
- Techno Animal Versus Reality (1998)
- Symbiotics (1999, with Porter Ricks)
- The Brotherhood Of The Bomb (2001)
Singles & EPs
- Unmanned (1996)
- Demonoid (1997)
- Phobic (1997)
- Cyclops (1998)
- Dead Man's Curse (2001)
- We Can Build You (2001)
Ice
- Under the Skin (1993)
- Bad BloodBad Blood (Ice album)Bad Blood is the second and final album by Ice. The album is most notable for its fusion of industrial music and hip hop, as well as the number of guests on the album.-Track listing:#"X-1" – 7:13#*Vocals – Blixa Bargeld, Sebastian Laws...
(1998)
Albums
- Tapping The Conversation (WordSound, 1997)
- Pressure (Rephlex RecordsRephlex RecordsRephlex Records is a record label started in 1991 by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. Rephlex coined the term braindance to describe the otherwise uncategorisable output of Aphex Twin and Rephlex Records...
, 2003) - London ZooLondon Zoo (album)-Release history:-External links:* at Ninja Tune...
(Ninja TuneNinja TuneNinja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
, 2008)
Singles (incomplete)
- Low Rider - 12" Single (Fat CatFat Cat RecordsFat Cat Records is an independent label based in Brighton on England’s South Coast. Their output includes electronica, post rock, indie, downtempo, minimal techno, noise and punk-pop...
, 1999) - Seismic - 12" Single (Morpheus, 2001)
- Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons - 7" Single (Klein, 2003)
- Buckle Up - 12" Single (Buckout, 2003)
- Gun Disease - 12" Single (Rephlex RecordsRephlex RecordsRephlex Records is a record label started in 1991 by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. Rephlex coined the term braindance to describe the otherwise uncategorisable output of Aphex Twin and Rephlex Records...
, 2003) - Aktion Pak - 12" Single (Rephlex RecordsRephlex RecordsRephlex Records is a record label started in 1991 by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. Rephlex coined the term braindance to describe the otherwise uncategorisable output of Aphex Twin and Rephlex Records...
, 2004) - Dem A Bomb We - 12" Single (Soul Jazz RecordsSoul Jazz RecordsSoul Jazz Records is a British-based record label. The label started in the 1990s, releasing compilation albums of predominantly black music, including reggae, soul, ska, Dub and jazz...
, 2005) - Fire - 12" Single (Klein, 2005)
- Poison Dart - 12" Single (Ninja TuneNinja TuneNinja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
, 2007) - Jah War - 12" Single (Ninja TuneNinja TuneNinja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
, 2007) - Skeng - 12" Single (HyperdubHyperdubHyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9 Hyperdub is a London-based record label, founded and run by Steve Goodman, aka Kode9.Artists who have released on Hyperdub include label owner Kode9...
, 2007) - Ganja / Flying - 12" Single (Ninja TuneNinja TuneNinja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
, 2008)
Remixes (incomplete)
- Harrowdown Hill - Originally by Thom YorkeThom YorkeThomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
- Satellite - Originally by The KillsThe KillsThe Kills is a rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince . Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow, and Midnight Boom, have garnered much critical praise...
- Malarkey - Originally by The Earlyman
- Emergency Room - Originally by Ford & LopatinFord & LopatinFord & Lopatin is an American electronic music duo whose first recordings were released in 2010.Ford & Lopatin is composed of electronic musician Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford of the group Tigercity...
- Make Some Noise - Originally by Beastie BoysBeastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
- Black Stacey - Originally by Saul WilliamsSaul WilliamsSaul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...
- Le Haine - Originally by Asian Dub FoundationAsian Dub FoundationAsian Dub Foundation are a British electronica band that plays a mix of rapcore, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence...
Curse of the Golden Vampire
- Curse of the Golden VampireCurse of the Golden VampireThe Curse of the Golden Vampire is an album by electronic artists Alec Empire and Techno Animal, released in 1998. A second Curse Of the Golden Vampire album, entitled Mass Destruction, was released in June 2003 on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings label, but for unknown reasons Empire was not...
, 1998 - Mass DestructionCurse of the Golden VampireThe Curse of the Golden Vampire is an album by electronic artists Alec Empire and Techno Animal, released in 1998. A second Curse Of the Golden Vampire album, entitled Mass Destruction, was released in June 2003 on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings label, but for unknown reasons Empire was not...
, 2003
Reviews
- http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6930&Itemid=90The Bug review at Brainwashed.comBrainwashed (website)Brainwashed is a not-for-profit online music publication offering news and reviews of eclectic music. Over fifty people contribute to the archives of Brainwashed. Brainwashed hosts websites for many bands, artists and record labels...
] - The Bug reviewed on reggae-reviews.com
- The Bug - London Zoo reviewed at Aural States, Recommended Album
- http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/142132-the-bug-london-zoo reviewed at Pitchfork MediaPitchfork MediaPitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, rated 8.6 out of 10. - http://www.ninjatune.net/ninja/artist.php?id=135
- http://www.uncarved.org/dub/bug/bug.html