The Bug

United Kingdom

Bedford

Bedford Esquires

Aurora Halal

DJ NOBU

Avalon Emerson

Bogdan Raczynski

Blawan

Buttechno

Special Request

Ben UFO

Arushi Jain

Casper Tielrooij

Carista

Charlie Bones

Charmaine

CrystallMess

Cymande

D.Dan

DjRUM

Donato Dozzy

DVS1

Calibre

Freddy K

Gabrielle Kwarteng

C.Frim

Ehua

Eversines

Fadi Mohem

FLOHIO

Forest Drive West

Gary Numan

Gop Tun DJs

Toma Kami

Spekki Webu

Feral

Helena Hauff

Hieroglyphic Being

Higher Intelligence Agency

Hudson Mohawke

Hyperaktivist

Identified Patient

Ikonika

Nene H

Interstellar Funk

ISAbella

Hyph11E

Jerzy Mączyński

Jane Fitz

Lucrecia Dalt

Marco Shuttle

Jako

Jeff Mills

DJ Koolt

Kate NV

livwutang

Mad Miran

upsammy

Mary Lake

Merel Rhizoom

Mika Oki

Moritz von Oswald

Msjy

Nala Sinephro

Naone

Nosedrip

Martyn

Nelly

Mathilde Nobel

MikeQ

Mohammad Reza Mortazavi

Nusantara Beat

Object Blue

Oceanic

Objekt

Paquita Gordon

Parrish Smith

Passion Deez

Rachika Nayar

Rey Colino

Roelien

Ronald Langestraat

Roza Terenzi

Rrose

Omar S

Peach

Raff

re:ni

Natalia Podgórska

PLO Man

Poly Chain

Rozaly

Salamanda

Sicaria Sound

Sandrien

Skee Mask

Tash LC

Slim Soledad

The DJ Producer

TSVI

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Amsterdamse Bos & Aan het IJ

Dekmantel Festival 2023

Upon the arrival of Tapping the Conversation (1997), the Bug appeared to be a one-off concept from Kevin Martin, the prolific British producer then known for his work with God, Ice, and Techno Animal, among other collaborative guises willfully deforming styles ranging from free jazz and hip-hop to noise and dub. Instead, the Bug soon became and remains one of Martin's primary outlets, even as his discography has expanded with King Midas Sound, Zonal, and a slew of ambient recordings under his full name, Kevin Richard Martin. Since bending styles such as dancehall, dub techno, grime, and early dubstep on Pressure (2003), London Zoo (2008), and Angels & Devils (2014), each one a showcase for a vast array of vocalists, Martin has both pared down and broadened his approach as the Bug. Concrete Desert (2017) and In Blue (2020) have respectively matched his bone-crunching rhythms and foreboding atmospheres on an intimate level with the guitar drones of Earth and the hushed incantations of Dis Fig. The Bug returned to the guest-heavy album format with 2021's Fire.

Allied with the Baltimore-based WordSound label, Martin hatched the Bug in 1997 with Tapping the Conversation. Inspired by The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola's classic mystery thriller, Martin evoked its mood with instrumentation from some of his Ice and God associates and drum samples provided by A. Gurov (or Andre Gurov, otherwise known as DJ Vadim). After a battering 12" for FatCat in 1999 (previewed the previous year on a compilation for Techno Animal partner Justin K. Broadrick's Lo Fibre label), Martin started to use the Bug as a platform for vocalists, and with fellow producer the Rootsman established the 7"-only Razor X label. The Bug and the Rootsman partnered for a handful of co-billed singles, such as the He-Man-fronted "Killer," from 2001 through 2003. "Killer" set the tone for (and appeared on) the second Bug album, Pressure, issued during the latter year with Daddy Freddy, Paul St. Hilaire, and future King Midas Sound conspirator Roger Robinson also taking turns in the vocal booth. The LP was released in the U.K. by Aphex Twin's Rephlex and in the U.S. by Kid606's Tigerbeat6. Intermediary Bug singles, as well as the album Killing Sound, credited to the alternate and more explosive Bug/Rootsman guise Razor X Productions, preceded the next Bug full-length. Consolidating a partnership with yet another artist-operated venture, Coldcut's Ninja Tune label, Martin unloaded the third Bug album, London Zoo, in 2008. The likes of Warrior Queen and the Spaceape were in the mix, as were Killa P and Roll Deep's Flowdan, the voices of "Skeng," circulated beforehand on 12" through Kode9's Hyperdub.

Following London Zoo, Martin directed more of his energy to King Midas Sound, his comparatively dubwise group with Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi, but he kept the Bug afloat with singles, including a trio on Acid Ragga, his descriptively named Ninja Tune subsidiary. The Bug's Angels & Devils, an album of distinct halves, arrived in 2014 with side one vocalists Liz Harris (aka Grouper) and Miss Red giving way to the aggressions of Death Grips, Warrior Queen, and Flowdan on the second side. Exit, a supplemental double pack, was out shortly thereafter. Through the latter half of the 2010s and into the next decade, Martin continued to split time between numerous pursuits. These included King Midas Sound (itself a project with an unpredictable evolution), outside productions (such as Miss Red's Murder and K.O.), collaborative releases on his Pressure label (like Flame 1 and Flame 2, partnered with Burial), and ambient explorations released under his birth name (the majority of them through another self-operated venture, Intercranial Recordings). This period also yielded a pair of Bug LPs created in tandem. For Concrete Desert, released in 2017, Martin worked with Earth, more specifically drone-riff master Dylan Carlson, fueled creatively by the writings of J.G. Ballard and the gray landscape and grimy underbelly of Los Angeles. Martin made his next move as the Bug beside Dis Fig with 2020's In Blue, a heady collision of dancehall, dub, and soul supported by Hyperdub. Fire, the third part of a triptych which began with London Zoo and Angels & Devils, appeared on Ninja Tune in 2021. Guests included past collaborators like Flowdan and Moor Mother along with newer names like FFSYTHO and Nazamba. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi

rock

electronic

reggae

Tzusing

William Basinski

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TraTraTrax

DJ Stingray 313

DJ Swisha

VTSS

Wishmountain

Sicaria

Voices from The Lake

Salome

Stranger

Shackleton

Shygirl

Shanti Celeste

Yazzus

Young Marco

The Bug

Events

The Bug

Bedford Esquires, Bedford

Dekmantel Festival 2023

Amsterdamse Bos & Aan het IJ, Amsterdam

About the artist

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