MIXES

Artist: Low End Activist
Title: Invite Chaos ft. Sikka Rymes
Label: Low End Activism
Cat No: LEA002
Release Date: 9th April

A1 - Invite Chaos ft. Sikka Rymes
A2 - Invite Chaos (Instrumental)
B1 - Invite Chaos (Low Jack Remix)
B2 - Invite Chaos (Loraine James Remix)

Low End Activist on an industrial dancehall tip featuring Vybz Kartel approved vocalist Sikka Rymes and including alternate updates from Low Jack and Loraine James

Photo by Elsa Bleda

B1 - Invite Chaos ft. Sikka Rymes (Low Jack Remix)

The latest drop from Low End Activist finds him teaming up with East London’s Razor for a blistering, mutant grime throwdown. Razor has been coming up for some time now, and the clue is in his name. Staggering, swaggering, diamond-sharp lines bending and flexing over LEA’s 10-tonne beat. Stepping on from past work with the likes of Filthy Gears and Trooh Hippi, this is as clear a statement of Razor’s skills as you need to hear. His versatility reaches beyond purist grime to become something more malleable – the perfect fit for the grey area of bassbin pressure LEA occupies.

On the B side, the first remix comes from John T. Gast, who dubs ‘Get Dark’ out in superlative fashion. The downcast lead lick interplays with a warm, rounded sub and Razor pings through the echo chamber for a dreamy flip of the original. Oxford-rooted producer Silas brings something more slippery to his version, teasing a weightless lead-in which drops anchor in devastating fashion around a bass that curves time and space. Low End Activism continues to yield rule breaking sonic matter ruder than the rest.

B2 - Get Dark (Silas Remix)

Yes yes! 
Up next for the series we have none other than Low End Activist. His 140/breaks and grime influenced sound has seen him release some outstanding records over the last few years, on the likes of Sneaker Social Club and Seagrave. Very happy to bring the Berlin-based DJ and Producer to the pod!
We caught up with him for a chat below >> 

AM: Hey hey! What have you been up to recently? 

Holed up for years now! =/

Can't complain though tbh, i'm able to put food on the table, got a roof over our head.
Things are starting to open up here in Berlin, although cases are going up again!
Roll on the summer basically.

AM: We absolutely love the records you’ve been putting out over the last few years. Can you tell us about the inspiration for your latest EP on SCC, and the set up you use?

Yeah sure, the album was finished this time last year! but record production is loooong as we all know. I think i've written nearly 3 albums worth of tracks since lol
A lot of the source samples are taken from old news footage reporting on the riots on the estate I grew up on in Oxford, Blackbird Leys. Even sampling car screeches from the 'hotters' footage.
Shouts to Cando for the treasure trove of old tracks/ recordings from past local young Grime MCs doing bits at the time - 2G/ SFT + crew. There's a bunch of diff beat flexes on there, all spanning various decades of the continuum, but no straight up Breakbeat bits for a change, that was a challenge I set myself and you might hear some exhumed rave/ soundsystem ghosts of the past!
I went back to a lot of equipment I haven't used in a while, The Korg Triton, my beloved EMU E6400, some pedals but honestly it's 80% sample based and in the box. All tracks were expertly mixed down by my good friend Josh (FFT) - which is why I can confidently say it sounds great!
The whole album is a love letter to home, my love/ hate relationship with the place hence the title - Hostile Utopia, it touches on a misspent youth and nails home once again the message of the class divide that continues to choke the city of it's culture.

AM: The mix is really wicked, and spans through seems of different sounds and genres. Where and how did you record the mix? Any theme behind it too? 

1st run was recorded at home on my 1210's and shitty old CDJ800's and a few edits done in Ableton. No real theme tbh, starts slow, picks up the pace a bit. I knew I wanted to start with that Muzikon recording (which I sampled heavily on my first Sneaker 12") into the actual Courtney Melody 'Stop It' record,  and the rest was built it around a few tracks I defo wanted to include 'Space Afrika ft. Blackhaine' that 2min old Pepe Bradock jam, Shackleton's 'Naked', Lukid 'Hair of the Dog' and an unreleased Sneaker bit from Mantra.

AM: Whats next for you?

The album is out June 12th and I need to figure out what to do with all these other new tunes! will most likely just continue to self-release I reckon? we'll see.
Few gigs on the horizon here in Berlin, possible trip to Milan, Gottwood Festival in June. Are thing going back to normal? I hope so!
Thanks for having me! =)

AM Podcast #64 - Low End Activist

Low End Activist captures a sound that is not so much dark as it is low-lit, amplifying raw emotion over melancholy, ferocity over aggression.

https://www.factmag.com/2022/05/09/fact-mix-858-low-end-activist/

Fact Mixes 

Fact Mix 858: Low End Activist

Tracklist + Q&A: https://bit.ly/3DD3WAP

Sonic tug-of-war: @lowendactivist is telling stories of social division through exploratory bass

"It's a mixed bag of peripheral grime, techno, scuzzy UKG and some unreleased label bits. 23 tracks packed into an hour! Most tracks are sitting in the mix for no longer than a few mins - perfectly suited for the distracted listener!"

Tracklist + Q&A

Impact: Low End Activist

Last year Low End Activist mapped out the depth and breadth of his sound with the Hostile Utopia album on Sneaker Social Club and now he returns with a fresh payload of future shock-outs from the grimy depths of his sound well. Recent times have seen LEA releases tipping towards MC guest spots but on this EP he’s turning inward with three varied, mutant workouts for soundsystem immersion.

‘Sent West’ makes no bones about its inspiration from the tough, boxy end of early dubstep, but as ever the kink in the Activist’s sound comes from the detail around the rhythm and his embrace of off-centre textures. ‘Neurosis’ plumbs even further down in its dogged pursuit of infinite subs and dystopian atmospherics, offering the kind of subliminal, wayward stepper to tweak nervous minds to distraction. ‘Dry Chat, Wet Rag’ stretches out on the B side with a phantom dub pulled from rad-blasted wastelands, caked in slime and tough enough to withstand any fallout.

Calling to mind the introspective, evocative work on the likes of Engineers Origins EP, this is LEA using the hardcore continuum to tell his most murked-out tales.

Pre Order - https://sneakersocialclub.bandcamp.com/album/dry-chat-wet-rag

SNKR050

Dry Chat, Wet Rag

M U T A N T   
B E A T


https://sneakersocialclub.bandcamp.com/album/dry-chat-wet-rag

Sent West

Lies & Deceit

Climbing The Walls

Self Destruction

Wrong Turn, Dead End

Rush

Violence

Broke

TWOC

Just A Number (Institutionalised)

Innocence

Ravers Hour mix for BBC 6 Music

Mix/ words
https://www.hhv-mag.com/feature/guest-mix-low-end-activist/?lang=en

Space Afrika - sd/tl (Sferic)
NHK - Fu2 (PAN)
Beneath - Seeus (Berceuse Heroique)
Tribe of Colin - Paradise Lost (Honest Jon's)
WEN - Rain (Ninja Tune)
MOBBS - Doves (Promesses)
Kelman Duran - Dancehall, Audubon Ballroom (Scorpio Red)
Shelley Parker - Masonry Pier (Hessle Audio)
Andrea - Got To Forget (Daphne)
Yally - U-Eff-O (Diagonal)
Monolake - Invisible (Monolake / Imbalance Computer Music)
SnP 500 - Splean Addition (Doo Solution)
Diptera - Silver (Mana)
Demdike Stare - Cracked (Modern Love)
Millie - Path To Hell (Redemption Mix) (Daphne)
Mint - Phonogram (Profan)
Hanz - Reducer (Tri-Angle Records)
Equiknoxx - Flagged Up (Mark Ernestus Remix) (DDS)
Blackdown & Dusk - Crackle Blues (Burial Remix) (Keysound)
NY Graffiti - New Mask (Early Mix) (Peace Athem)
Carrier - Carpathian (Tender Spirits)
Xyn Cabal - Nowei (The Death of Rave) 
Double Helix - LDN (Keysound)
Novelist - Always Been This Way (Self-Release)

HHV Mix 035 - March 25

U Kno

Easy Money

Edge

Cheque

Take Me

Time Vampire

Outro

Trust Meeee

Jim's Dubs

Dougy's Ramp

Earl's Skank

Artist: Low End Activist x Tia Talks
Title: Fake Idols
Label: Sneaker Social Club
Cat No: SNKR068.1
Release Date: Oct 31st

The Activist returns to Sneaker Social Club with a fresh drop of mutant grime futurism featuring a deadly flow from Tia Talks

Low End Activist first came through centred on link-ups with grime MCs before widening the scope of his sound with purely instrumental, conceptually-charged albums. This sure-shot single reaffirms his affinity for outsider grime production as a vessel for deft bars from breakthrough talent.

On 'Fake Idols' there's an emphasis on sharply angled, glitchy production that bends and warps well outside the established formula of MC-focused beats. Constantly shifting, hyper-detailed and front-loaded with walloping slabs of bass, this devastating cut is presented in either
vocal or instrumental form. Tia Talks pulls no punches here stating her truth assisting LEA in continuing his peerless run of avant-Grime.

Mastered by Miles Whittaker
Artwork by Ben Arfur

Fake Idols

Fake Idols (Instrumental)

Cold cuts of mutant grime and dubby UK rave pressure

✉️ - lowendactivist@gmail.com

bookings - brendan@rhythmicculture.com

Low End Activist

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