Bias & Gurley - Roll / Roll (Blackdown Remix)

Keysound present the first proper collaboration between two of the UK bass underground’s most seminal producers, Zed Bias and Steve Gurley. Entitled ‘Roll’, it’s an explosive dark UK funky record that’s brimming with garage swing, vocoder funk, jungle rudeness and an edginess straight out of the “roots of” era dubstep. The 12” is backed with a rolling “Debt Repaid” remix from Keysound label boss Blackdown, in recognition of what current music owes the co-authors of ‘Roll’. Steve Gurley has had a defining influence on pirate music since the early years of jungle, when he was part of seminal outfit Foul Play, releasing a string of classic 12”s. He went on to be a defining figure in UK garage, displaying a deft touch for marrying ruff b-lines and razor sharp snares with joyous feminine pressure. His darker garage beats would have a profound influence on the handful of producers, Bias included, who would go on to invent dubstep. His ‘Hotboys’ refix appeared on the Tempa-released ‘Roots Of Dubstep’ retrospective collection. In later years Dave Jones aka Zed Bias aka Maddslinky would also acknowledge the influence Steve Gurley had on him personally. As mates in the mid 90s, Jones – then an aspiring producer – was given valuable early breaks by Gurley. And that’s not just a break as in “a helping hand,” but also literally “breakbeats,” samples of funk drum loops or 808 drum machine hits as Octamed samples or on Amiga floppy disc. In reverence of this era of early software technology and the amazing sounds it produced, the ‘Roll’ 12” label artwork is adorned with a grimey Amiga computer and on the flip a shot of Octamed, which made music through assigning of zeros of ones on a gritty, pixelated screen. From those technologically humble beginnings, Jones blossomed into a prolific producer, at first making his name in UK garage with anthems like ‘Neighbourhood’ and his remixes for then label mate The Streets (long before Mike Skinner was massive). As the millennium turned, he worked in parallel with producers like El-B and his Ghost camp, as well as Horsepower, Oris Jay, and Artwork, to help give birth to what is now called dubstep. His two albums from that era, Maddslinky’s ‘Make Your Peace’ and Phuturistics ‘Feel It Out’ were a decade ahead of their time.

A. Roll   B. Roll (Blackdown’s A Debt Repaid Remix)

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