Events

Direct Drive Presents:
Saturday, December 15th, 2007

HIVE
(Violence Recordings)

Celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, its in the unassuming personality of futurist B-boy Hive that drum and bass finds its mightiest bridge between the UK and the US. His tracks have become staples of virtually all of drum and bass legends, from Andy C to Goldie, and make regular appearances on Grooveriders Radio 1 program-on which Hives towering Neo spent weeks at number one on the Five Mighty Rollers. Hives label Violence has registered sales comparable to Ram, Renegade Hardware, and Valve. He released a tremendous remix of Goldies and Rob Playfords The Shadow for Moving Shadow. Metalheadz has invited him to record an e.p. for the label. Hes toured worldwide, completing a month of dates in New Zealand and Australia in the fall of 2002, preceded by a month in the UK and Europe, which included a guest appearance for the Valve Soundsystem. No American has gained such complete entree into the heart of drum and bass. Hive came of age as a drum and bass producer in the late 90s, but hes long been active in underground music, with roots that extend deep into underground hip hop, embodied in a string of iconoclastic releases and credits that include recording O.D.s Beneath the Surface album, followed soon thereafter by his own first album Working with Sound, released on his own Mandala imprint. The album was largely centered around jazz-inflected instrumental hip hop, but glimmers of drum and bass flickering across the surface anticipated his forthcoming artistic development. It was on the strength of this album that London/FFRR signed him to an album deal. In 1998 he released Devious Methods, a hallucinatory fusion of hip hop and drum and bass. Lauded by critics in Urb, Spin, Raygun, Vice, and DJ Times, the album yielded the single Ultrasonic Sound, which ultimately made its way on to the soundtrack CD for The Matrix, which notched up double platinum sales, surely as much exposure as any drum and bass artist could hope forand beyond.

Yet beyond is where Hive has gone. Concurrent with his album was the establishment of Celestial Recordings. The label was dedicated to exposing underground hip hop and included luminaries Freestyle Fellowship, Awol One, O.D., Fat Jack, and The Shapeshifters alongside Hives own tracks. From Celestial sprung Vortex, a label dedicated purely to uncompromising drum and bass. Vortex included releases by Dillinja, Tech Itch, Pieter K, Juju, UFO!, Sage, and of course Hive, and established itself as one of the premier drum and bass labels in the US, improving not only on the sound of American releases, but on the overall package as well, with first rate design, promotion, and DJ support. His The Raw Uncut project was a rousing statement for the label, its triple-pack vinyl and eight track CD release gathering new fans both in the US and in the UK, represented most dramatically by Moving Shadows licensing of three tunes for Killa Bites 2. A club night to complement the expanding profile of the label was the next logical step, and Hive and label partner Daddy Kev opened the west coast franchise of New Yorks venerable Konkrete Jungle. Named best dance club in L.A. by Rolling Stone magazine, Konkrete Jungle positioned itself as Los Angeles premier drum and bass weekly until it closed its doors in 2001.

That same year, Hive and Kev dissolved Vortex, and Hive introduced his most recent label, Violence, which has exploded onto the drum and bass scene with ferocious determination. Featuring releases by Klute, Teebee, John Tejada, Gridlok, Keaton, Echo, Juju, and himself, Hive has steered the label into the vanguard of drum and bass. Since the inception of the label, Hives musical output has grown ever more assertive and daring, personified most clearly by Neo, one of 2003s great anthems. Neo has reached into virtually every corner of drum and bass, from dedicated ravers to disaffected breaks aficionados, binding fans of different stripes together in common cause. Hive has also been spending more time in the studio with collaborators, including Keaton of The Usual Suspects. The two of them were responsible The Plague, another massive anthem of 2003, released on Hardware. 2004 will see the release of their even more broadly appealing follow-up Bring it On, for Violence. Tough, propulsive, forged out of both the traditional sampled aesthetic and leading sound designs of contemporary drum and bass, the sound of Hive today bears the imprint of an artist searching for new ways to reinterpret the music by his own lights. Neither a retrospective purist, nor a follower of fashion, Hives music, his DJing, and his label strike a steely, inspiring balance, hewing closely to a tight creative vision that has propelled him into the forefront of drum and bass wherever it thrives.

DJ DARA
(Breakbeat Science | Planet of the Drums)

A member of the infamous Planet of the Drums crew alongside fellow drum n bass pioneers AK1200, Dieselboy, & J Messinian , this Irish transplant has been a dominant figure in the U.S. drum n bass scene since his arrival here in 1994. His discography includes 2 critically acclaimed full length artist albums, 8 DJ mix CDs, as well as numerous singles and remixes for artists such as Freq Nasty, Afrika Bambaata and Keoki. Dara co-founded the nation's first & largest drum n bass record store, Breakbeat Science , in NYC which doubles as his own imprint, Breakbeat Science Recordings. He has been featured in countless magazine articles and interviews both in the US and worldwide. He previously hosted one of the internet's most popular drum n bass broadcasts, Velocity, where he regularly interviewed leading drum n bass artists such as Jonny L, Kemistry & Storm, Trace, Ed Rush, Optical, Hype, Andy C, Zinc, and many others. Dara's long standing relationships with the world's drum n bass elite gives him access to an astounding amount of new and unreleased material. His brilliant recording endeavors along with his incessant touring markey by consistently awe-inspiring DJ sets have made him one of the most recognized and well respected DJs in the country.

ESHIN
(Direct Drive | Secret Night Of Science)

DJ Eshin first began DJing in 2000 as he began taking hip-hop tunes from his bedroom to house parties in the NYC area. Although he first delved into electronic music in 1996, Eshin did not start experimenting with DnB in his DJ sets until 2002 and hasn't looked back since then. Eshin made a big splash in 2004 by launching the eclectic Wednesday night weekly No Jacket Required in NYC with DJ/promoting partner Doctor Faustus. While the weekly finished its run a year after its launch, No Jacket Required still exists today as a NYC monthly event, bringing in prominent DnB talent from around the world, as well as NYCs finest. Eshin is also collaborating with Direct Drive, which has been a staple in the NYC dance scene for the past 8 years. Spanning from melodic and dubby sounds to tech-step and jump-up, Eshin showcases the ability to explore multiple styles in his sets. Eshin has played alongside international talent including Goldie, Total Science, Marcus Intalex, Pendulum, Sub Focus, Klute, London Elektricity, Juju, Logistics, and Digital, among others. As a member of the electronic music collective Bassbot, Eshin continues to spread his diverse sound in the American DnB circuit and beyond.

JUNGLIST@LARGE (Konkrete Jungle)

Mykey has been involved with the Jungle Drum and Bass scene since 1996, of course most of that involved dancing and supporting local events. If there was a party that evening, one could expect Mykey to be there showing his support. Soon enough, the title of "The Junglist-at-Large" became synonymous with his reliablity of being a fixture of support at any Jungle Drum and Bass event. His title not only represents his love for the music, but also his partcular sound. Straying from the disposable, "made-for-the moment" records, Mykey hand-picks only the tunes that remain true to what Jungle Drum and Bass is; Tunes that still hold the original vibes of Reggae, Dancehall, and Hard Step. He scoffs at those who say the "Amen" beat is "played out", for those people are not "Junglists" but merely front-runners. His specialty is spinning on three turntables, blending multiple tunes that create an energy level so intense that it should be illegal.

Mykey is responsible for bringing Konkrete Jungle THE premier sound system for a Jungle Drum and Bass weekly. Home-schooled in the art of audio engineering, Mykey transformed a neglected, rag-tag set of speakers and amps and created the hugest sound Konkrete Jungle has ever known: "In the years leading up to our current residency @ the Pyramid, I started with simple things like setting up decks and making sure the DJ's had a fully functional rig. Back in the day, it was common for DJ's to expect some sort of mishap, usually a shitty mixer or a bum deck. That drove me to bring my own mixer every week, and it started from there. When people play at the Pyramid, they're actually playing on MY decks, simply because I know they werk perfectly and I didn't want to deal with jacked club decks."

"When we moved to Pyramid, I thought it was the end of Konkrete Jungle. I mean, the place had a curse, no one wanted to go there. And when we first got there, the sound system was pathetic. I came to the realization that if we didn't rehab this system, no one would have a reason to come down. It's took some time, but the results are evident today. Ironicly, it's kinda like Field of Dreams, 'If you built it, they will come'." "I've had countless DJ's come up to me and say they'd play for free just to play on my system. To me, that's the greatest compliment I can get. I've always wanted to provide NYC Junglists with a sound system that shows how serious we take our music."

+ MC TC IZLAM (Hipstep)

Gypsy Tea
33 West 24th Street (5th & 6th Ave), NYC
21+ Bring ID, $10 before Midnight
Trains: F,V,N,R to 23rd Street
21+ w/ID
www.directdrive.net