Scottish DJ and producer Hostage (Alan Parley) is one of those people who was in the right place at the right time. From early hype on music blogs to a BBC Radio 1 Essential mix and worldwide gigs during the mid to late 2000s, Hostage carved out his unique brand of infectious rave stylings to much success.

I recently had the chance to catch up with Hostage on what changes he’s seen in the music industry over the past four or five years, probe deeper into what defines and influences his sensibilities as a DJ and producer, and ask him a few random questions for extra measure.

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Two-time DMC UK Champion and hiphop and drum n bass turntablist and producer JFB is not a man to rest on his laurels. Since winning his second DMC championship for the UK in 2011 (4th in the world championship), the Brighton-based DJ – Jean Marc to his friends – has been busy making other world records. JFB spent 2012 scratching at the Olympics, DJing at festivals and clubs across the world, making new dope tunes and of course continuing to promote and run his popular sampling live music night Battle Jam with beatboxer and long-time collaborator Beardyman.  Read more...

Most people these days party hard in their 20s, tone it down in their 30s and by their 40s, resort to the odd night out, perhaps a cheeky line added with a healthy dose of rosy nostalgic reminiscences – most, however, don’t write a novel about it.  Read more...

Aubreychenko and Sarah L. Photo: Timon Kuit

This August sees the first birthday for London promoters and DJs Aubreychenko (Alex) and Nathan Rivers, who run a monthly deep and tech house night called Sound Advice at London’s Cargo. Although Alex and Nathan are no strangers to the music scene – they’ve both spent the past decade DJing in Scotland and London respectively – this is their first stab at promoting their own parties, putting on established up-and-coming talent including Darius Syrossian, Alex Niggemann, Marcin Czubala, Deepgroove, and Sam Russo.  Read more...

I came across a Bill Vega and New Decade tune way back in 2003 when I first heard Weekend Rush on Bassrock Records. 2003 – 2006 was the golden years of Breaks for me and if you were into hardcore breaks or ‘Tear Out’ as it was known back then, then you’d have to be buying the wrong tunes to not have heard of Bill Vega and New Decade. These guys would be on my ‘buy on sight’ list and their tunes are up there with anything released on the giants of tear out: Bassrock, Broke, Mechanoise, Bombtraxx, Downbeat and all the others that are lost in the midsts of time (or the midsts of my memory).  Read more...