Colin Lindo a.k.a Alpha Omega a.k.a Nubian Mindz is a well known name in the Drum&Bass scene for over ten years now. Starting his career as a producer in the early 90s, Colin had his breakthrough with two solo 12? one after the other in 1996 on the legendary Reinforced imprint. ?It feels like ?Alpha Omega? officially began when I signed to Reinforced Records and recorded those first two singles. That?s where I found a home for all my experiments and ideas and had a chance to develop as an artist as well as rub shoulders with some serious talent. Meeting guys like 4hero, Randall, L Double, Chris Energy, G-force & Seiji, Sonar Circle & Arcon2 was incredible. We?d always be playing new shit to one another down in Dollis Hill & bounced ideas between us non-stop.? In 1999, after numerous releases on ?the R?, his first album ?Journey to the 9th level? was released together with two other albums by G-Force & Seiji and Sonar Circle. Around the same time, Colin started to produce other styles under his Nubian Mindz alias. ?Nubian Mindz started as an outlet for everything I did that was non Drum&Bass. Reinforced always encouraged us to try different styles, genres and sounds and I was always into various styles of music so I wanted to try to produce a real hybrid of all my influences. That?s what the Nubian Mindz stuff is for me, a hybrid of all my influences growing up in London in the 70s and 80s then raving in the 90s as a teenager? With his first Nubian Mindz album in 2000 on Italian imprint Archive and various other tracks and remixes of other artists like 4hero, P?taah or Domu, Colin consolidated his musical career outside Drum&Bass as well. During the following years - and after Reinforced shut down after a glorious era of avant-garde Drum&Bass - the name Alpha Omega appears on various other labels like Advanced, Skunkrock, Trouble on Vinyl, Offshore, Outbreak, Invader and Sonica. And especially during the last two or three years Alpha Omega releases usually appear among the first catalogue numbers of young leftfield labels that see themselves in a tradition to Reinforced. ?For me it?s good to see labels around again that support stuff that?s not 180bpm Glam Rock masquerading under the ?Drum&Bass? banner. The more mainstream elements of Drum&Bass have gone in a direction that doesn?t particularly interest me. I don?t have a Rock background or even a cheesy Euro Pop background so I can?t do what some of these guys do and if I did I?d feel like a fraud and just wouldn?t be comfortable with it.? In the last couple of years, various tracks by the man saw a release in MP3 format on labels like Forestry Service, Exegene or Subtle Audio Digital. Doesn?t a Drum&Bass legend tend to hold on to hard wax? ?Net labels and MP3 online labels don?t have the overheads a vinyl based label has and don?t have to deal with distributors telling them ?it needs to sound more like such and such to sell?. This avenue now means good music that doesn?t need to follow the ?Superstar DJ? guidelines to how a tune should be done and can be allowed to exist and get out there for people to hear on it?s own merits. I guess the only rule you then have to follow is it has to be good! (?) However, despite all these technological developments I?ve noticed a lot of resistance from Drum&Bass fans which has been an eye opener. Every other form of music has moved on and embraced every new media tool possible so as to make the clubbing experience something that?s still new, exciting and constantly changing. (?) Vinyl is nice and was a great DJ tool in it?s time but if it was to die tomorrow then so be it. I?m versatile enough as a DJ/Live Act that it really doesn?t bother me. People really have to get over this nostalgic bullshit and move on.? Nuff said, bring on the tracks for Plainaudio!

Born and raised in Berlin, Bad Matter (formerly known as Fixed Frequency) underwent many musical influences in his life.Throughout the years his interest in music grew constantly and he started djing in 1992. Only 2 years later he purchased his first sequencer and synthesizer, which gave him the ability to work in diverse projects of various styles including collaborations with fellow musicians and works for theatre. Right from the beginning he was fascinated by \"broken\" rhythms and his musical development shifted more and more towards drum\'n\'bass and jungle. His style is energetic and intelligent. Complex drumwork and crystal-clear mastering marks the man\'s works. His dj-sets are evenly characteristic and unconventional and his tracks perfectly complement the plain productions catalogue.

Barth made his first experience in electronic music with an Amiga 500 running an old tracker software. He started producing simple HipHop beats, but soon got into more abstract concepts and minimal technoid structures. Infected by the Jungle hype in 94, Barth began to explore this kind of music. The technically outdated Amiga was replaced by a PC and a sampler enabling him to push his sound to a whole new level - to this day, Barth\'s tracks are marked by perfect sound design and top-notch production.

Buzz\'s enthusiasm for Drum\'n\'Bass was instilled by his mid-90ies heroes Jonny L, Optical and Photek. Around that time, Buzz made his first productions with a great deal of enthusiasm and a desire to experiment. His tracks, which were spread via the infamous \"Subway\"-Site, drew a lot of attention in the early German Drum\'n\'Bass scene. A couple of years later, the now notorious perfectionist found an ideal platform to infuse his musical development with new energy: plain productions and Alphacut. With both labels operating in similar territory, Buzz finally found a musical home. His sound is marked by soulful vocal-fx, feedback-delays and subsonic basslines, which melt with hammering breakbeats in his constantly well-heated sound-reactor. Buzz\' tracks - often abstract, frightening and gloomily sinister - show a great love of detail. Power, movement and complexity are the key criteria to constitute his style. The thickly layered and interwoven samples create a compact, yet stormy and intriguing sound. Buzz\' music represents a class of its own. He constantly breaks the restrictions of formalised Drum\'n\'Bass and thus renews the musical genre itself.

When you\'re tired of playing one game, just take out the cartridge and put in another. That\'s Cartridge in a nutshell - whether it\'s his personal style, his music, or his way of thinking. Having spent his younger years jumping wildly around the musical map, devouring anything from saccharine synth-pop to \'90s grunge to pretentiously harmless new age and everything in between, he settled down with drum and bass long enough to develop his production skills and release a few tunes on labels such as Freak, Bassbin, Dread, and Basement. It seemed at first to provide the ultimate forum to continue his stylistic explorations indefinitely; in theory, at least, the only guidelines to drum and bass are fast tempo and using electronic means of production. But having staked out his piece of the drum and bass pie with harder-edged material like \'Dark Shadows\' and \'Inside Your Mind\', he quickly discovered that in practice, there\'s a lot more to it than that. His exercises in studied cliche were proving far more successful than any of his whole-hearted artistic explorations...not in terms of money or even record sales, but in terms of recognition and hype. But, well, isn\'t the point of selling out to make money? What\'s wrong with this picture? So, out of the need for sanity and clarity, he moved on...leaving behind a fairly large selection of unreleased material produced over the years that just didn\'t sound enough like his so-called breakthrough hit for any of the big boys to take much notice. Find some of the gems from that time here on Plainaudio!

Cycom was first inspired by drum\'n\'bass when he witnessed Grooverider play the legendary Metalheadz Sunday Session@Blue Note in London. After spending countless hours developing his production skills and deciphering the rhythmic mayhem of breakbeat music, he released his first tracks to a large audience on mp3.com. From then on, things quickly evolved. He got in touch with Simon V from Santorin Records, the label which released his first 12\" only 3 months later (a remix of Simon V\'s \"Broken Promise\"). The press reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Cycom has released on various international labels and is renown for his distinctive sound and trademarkbeats.

Flowpro has been standing behind the turntables since 1995, convincing the audience with his energy fuelled sets. As junglehead of the first hour, he loves playful beats and basses of the fattest kind. After moving to Hamburg in 2000, he quickly connected to the Dunkelbunt crew, infamous for their legendary drum\'n\'bass parties. Only shortly after that, the contact to plain productions was established. Flowpro later moved to Berlin, where he has become a respected figure in the drum\'n\'bass circus with his sets that reveal a deepness which is seldom to be heard in Germany.

Born in Kingston- London UK Thushara, aka Fushara was brought up in the UK and was influenced by the dance music culture of the 1990\'s: artists which had a particular impact included The Prodigy and Leftfield. At around the same time drum and bass artists such as Adam F and Roni Size released their debut albums which provided a catalyst amongst a wealth of other music. A further inspiration to start making breakbeat music came when listening to the electro inspired debut album Visions from John B in the late 90\'s. It was from then that Fushara changed his focus to dance music but did not start to produce till much later. Fushara has a Saturday night radio show called Fushara Searching Sound on lifefm.co.uk in London. He is a new artist with debut releases on electronic labels, InDaJungle-Canada, OniRecords-New Zealand. He has also been receiving airplay from the likes of Chris Inperspective, Subject 13, Ren amongst others and also support from the SC:Digital network to which he belongs. He aims to produce breakbeat music consisting of the expression of all that has influenced him in the past and present.

Inspired by movies like \"Beat Street\" and \"Wild Style\" Hek187 started spinning Hiphop at the early age of 12. In 1993 he decided to play the drums and 6 months later he became member of the band \"And More\". Two years later this phase ended tragically with the suicide of the lead singer/guitarist. After ventures into Gabba Music, he was introduced to drum\'n\'bass in 1997. The music which should never let go of him. Meanwhile Hek187 has become a reknown producer and engineer. Since 1999 he\'s been working closely with Mc Santana as Heavy Rotation Berlin. His first release on Gyration Records in 2001 was followed by many productions including \"Satanic Messages\" on Silba R?cken Beatz and tracks by the \"Killa Hill Project\" (Hek187 & Pacd MC) on his own label.

Tim wasn?t too happy when we told him, that we plan to release his tracks in our Experimental section - ?I?ve rubbed against the concept of Drum&Bass for quite some time. Though my horizon has broadened, these tracks were made with the aim and mindset of producing Drum&Bass. I am still interested in the dancefloor as far as intensity and sound aesthetics are concerned, but today I tend to make the music I feel like I personally have to instead of working with static conceptions and guidelines. I\'m trying to do something very unique and personal which might be a small but hopefully relevant contribution?. Drum&Bass then? Yes, in a way. Hi-Lar?s tracks are interpretations, playing with the techniques, conceptions and formulas of uptempo breaks, trying to extend and exceed the genre while shaking hands with it at the same time. Experimental then? Yes, in a way. But also, in some way, the soundtrack taken from huge malfunctional machines working their way through an empty and deserted plane. Alphacutter LXC once described Hi-Lar?s music as D&B for the White Cube - ?Unfortunately, the Drum&Bass scene obviously lacks the feeling for art while the art scene lacks the knowledge of Drum&Bass. On the other hand I have never been out raving at a party and reflecting on the music at the same time either?. Although art and music didn?t seem to find a common ground, they both have been vital parts of Tim\'s life and career up to now. Besides studying graphic design and slowly moving on to fine arts, music production has been the most continous outlet for his creativity for years. Releases on Alphacut and Producer Network Records as well appearances on Cock Rock Disco and T-Free show the man?s talent. And there?ll be even some Anti-Anti-Dubstep around very soon. ?I don?t really know what kind of label I?d love to have a release on ? I am really happy if someone shows enough respect for my work to release it on his label or even bothers listening to it at all. Maybe the inability to categorize my sound is part of the program and a quality that stands for its own?. Fair enough! - Filed under: ?Experimental?

Iaka released his first Acidtracks on coloured vinyl in 1993. Despite his Indian roots, he escaped the back-then trendy goa-vibes and instead got involved with drum\'n\'bass. In 1997, he founded plain productions in order to freely distribute his musical ideas to other like-minded fellows, without having to compromise. Today\'s productions by Iaka are marked by a great love of detail and well-balanced arrangements. The foundation for his own blueprint of drum\'n\'bass is the modulation of sounds and beats. That\'s why there often are complex drum patterns and demanding beat structures in his tracks. In Hamburg, he is mostly known as a DJ and as one of the people organising the drumbule-parties. There, he regularly surprises people with two fisted club-sets, which stand in sharp contrast to his own productions.

?I got into music since the day I was born?. That makes Ijo a listener for over 23 years now. And so it seems just natural that he put out his first record when he was only 6 years old ? he recorded his early compositions for piano on his tape recorder. Overwhelmed by the highly energetic sound of Jungle and Drum&Bass, which he discovered around 1995, he started focusing his production on that particular kind of music. His constant flow of production didn?t seem to end and so the amount of tracks (not only Drum&Bass, but also Ambient, Electronica and Jazz) he wrote over the years grew bigger and bigger. His approach to music changed again in 2001 when he discovered Aphex Twin?s ?drukqs? and Squarepusher?s ?Go Plastic!? ? two pivotal albums that broadened his view of how far ?Drum&Bass? could (and should!) go. However, not only music seem to have influenced the Lithuanian teacher for English and German language. Ijo emphasizes the social and emotional aspect of his work: ?Inspiration to make music comes from everything that surrounds me, especially from relationship with others?. And in an interview, held in 2003, he stated: ?My music is based on my mood. I am really unstable - I like creating ambient music and I like to create chaos. I don\'t like to be restrained to just one musical direction because I want to be versatile in music. It has to be interesting and emotional?. Find out what that sounds like listening to his earlier releases. Debuting with an Ambient album on Surfaces in 2003, Ijo put out another album and an additional EP on Sutemos during the following years. Furthermore, his tracks and remixes appeared on various compilations. Being an active part of the Lithuanian electronic music scene, Ijo already performed live with German IDM combo Funkstorung, Ceephax Acid Crew (aka Squarepusher?s little brother) and The Doubtful Guest amongst others.

LXC is the man when it comes to hardcore Drum\'n\'Bass and weird Electronics from Leipzig. Just armed with an Akai and a Virus, he\'s been dropping ill shit since 1993, killing dancefloors all over Europe. Today, he enters the stage with an expanded live set-up, allowing for drastic noise treatments and making all ears bleed. Be aware of LXC\'s mighty label empire called Alphacut, which is obligatory for all dauntless breakbeat scientists out there. At the time when Alexdee of Phantomnoise and LXC launched their Strukturbruch party series, the streets of Leipzig were no longer safe. Fighting stylistic frontiers, supporting international acts and developing the early and boring Jungle vs. Breakcore concepts into an incredible Fakecore experience, these guys lived up to their ideas. Back in 2001, the impressive LXC vinyl debut on Phantomnoise 004 emphasized the tendency to more than just lazy 170 bpm loops just as later releases on labels like Santorin, Alphacut and Phantomnoise did, today even more than ever before. Make sure you take cover when the one they call the LXC hits your town - because the future certainly won\'t be silent at all!

Funky Drummer Macc is a pretty well known name in the Leftfield scene with a PhD in Drumscience. Various releases on Paradox\' Outsider Recordings, Counter Intelligence, Exegene amongst others and forthcoming bits on Breakin\', Mindrush Recordings and 13 Music witness the man\'s talents. Besides being a producer, Macc performs live Drumfunk across Europe as well - something one must not miss!

Manu Harmilapi is known for being the founder of plainaudio, one of the driving forces behind elektronikmilieu and as drum\'n\'bass-dj and organiser of the drumbule series of parties under his alias iaka. This double tracked approach results in an open-minded perspective and has been fuelling his music for years now. His style: slick-heavy electro-brown-bread with acid pickles, dismantled into 4/4. Short trips through the cut-off-caves of a dubtechexplorer shortly before the next error message. Self-made construction-site-electro with gnarling machine-bass, hi-tension-dub with the sound of rattling chains.

Martsman got into Drum & Bass around 1998, when Goldie released \"Saturnz Return\". Together with Roni Size\'s famous \"New Forms\", these two pivotal albums were his introduction to the music. Artists like Sonar Circle, Alpha Omega and Squarepusher had a formative influence on him during that time and after witnessing a Paradox live set around 2001, his ever growing interest in Drum & Bass evolved to the point where he began to produce his own music. His vinyl debut in 2005 on New York based Leftfield flagship Offshore Recordings as well as digital releases on net-labels Exegene and Plainaudio have received recognition from all over the Leftfield scene. For 2006, new tracks and Remixes are already scheduled for Offshore, Bassbin/Breakin and Counter Intelligence amongst others. With his affection for prominent basslines and stumbling breaks in combination with glitchy edits and bleepy minimalism, Martsman has developed a unique musical style which extends and transcends the current perception of Drum & Bass.

Hailing from Moscow, Russia, Mikhail Kazanok aka Mendelayev comes with a very inspiring melange of Drill\'n\'Bass, Electronica and IDM elements fuzed together as the itchy Spasticore he is known for both in Russia and abroad. Having released two full albums already, \"xpom\" on Art-tec Rec. back in 2003 and \"Acid Mind\" on Asidsamovar Records three years later, the man also grabbed the attention of various central european labels such as Transmute and Syncopathic on which there are several tracks already lined up. We are very happy to have Mikhail on bord.

Bernd Eleazaar aka Mikrogram grew up in Ticul, Mexico, studied at the University of Pisa and received a Ph.D. degree in computer science and advanced metaphysics from the University of Lhasa. His main interests are in type theory and operational knob-twiddling, mostly for applications in music design, semantics, and implementation. His style actually can\'t be described that easily and covers a wide range from extroverted to introverted electronica to minimal-click-house and instrumental bliphop. Fresh beats are always being served and go down well with moody arrangements.

N-Noiz in his own words: \"I don\'t give a fuck if somebody says i make techno, and somebody says it\'s drum and bass and somebody says it\'s simply electronic music, and somebody else wonders if it\'s hip-hop... There is this epidemic of labeling, everybody labels everybody. i don\'t care what it\'s going to get called, i just want it to be good.\"

I?ve known Ram?n Le?n for five years now. What happened before that time is known to me from his countless anecdotes. In the late 80ies, no, he was born 1973, Ram?n put a drum kit in his parents\' spacious cellar and - inspired by \"no means no\" - became a punk rocker. In 1994 he rubbed his hands, spun records, found and loved the first electronic beats; and made the small step from djing to producing himself. \"Fletcher Mundson\" and \"Eargear\" where two projects that Ram?n launched together with Jens Kiefel. Fatherhood meant a production-break. In early 2004, he started a solo-project under his own name resulting in stylistically very different but always keen songs. I hope, some day I\'ll be able to take him out again...

Repetition|Distract is an archival project organised by Felix to document the work of his invisible cat. Her music is created on travels to places like the Krim peninsula, Tangier, Caracas or Halifax, in the solitude of run-down hotel rooms, usually in the earliy morning hours with the windows wide open to let in the wind and the rain. Utilizing an assortment of clunky machinery, a primitive drum computer, accordeon and the sounds you can find in the throats of seashells down by the freight harbour she makes music that is noisy yet fragile. Brittle overtones of a gently distorted drone backdrop sing in and out of tune with small melody fragments in these not-at-home-recordings, which have been attributed to Dostoevskian (haha :D) characteristics.

Born and raised in Vienna, Rmf grew up on a crossover diet of Classical, Contemporary, Jazz and Electronica. It was his fathers general appreciation of music that led him to the just emerging breakbeat sound at young age. Almost 6 years later he found himself in a club, hearing Drum?n?Bass on a large rig for the first time. Although you may argue about how things turned out for most of DnB after 2000 it was the beginning of a healthy love-hate relationship. Ultimately he started mixing up genres and creating music to push the boundaries, merging the electronic with the instrumental. It?s all about different speeds and a good balance between samples and synthesis, old and new. The best of both worlds.

One third of Austrian band of brothers \'Winterstrand\', Simon/Off joins the Plainaudio Electronic music roster. Starting spinning Breaks and D&B back in 1998 he soon moved on exploring different terrains of IDM, Minimal and Breakcore also productionwise. At the same time he began to organize and promote events in and around Graz and contributed building up the local music scene. His first solo 12\" appeared in 2005 on \'Houseverbot\' records followed by an album featuring his brothers on netlabel \'Kikapu\' records. Thus, getting in contact with a steadily growing netlabel scene, he not only became a \'netaudio hunter\', as he puts it, but also took the next step releasing more of his music in digital format on labels like \'Miga\' as well as a netaudio-only-mix on German \'Mixotic\' imprint. For this year, there\'s even more in the pipeline: \'In 2007 I?m going to release more of my solo stuff which is currently kind of electroid deep / dubby danceable Breakbeat as well as two albums by Winterstrand\', he reveals. When he wasn\'t locked in the studio, Simon/Off performed at international festivals and venues alongside with names like Super Collider, Plaid and DJ/Rupture as well as D&B honchos Zinc, LTJ Bukem or Flight not to mention Nightmares on Wax, Christian Vogel and helluva lot more...and he still does - so make sure you not only get your hands on the finished product(s) but also see the man twist some knobs sometime.

Our man Sub is a DnB-producer and DJ currently living in Innsbruck, Austria. Since 2007 he\'s also known as being the founder of Syncopathic.Recordings, a label featuring artists like Equinox, Macc, Con.Struct, Cycom or Mendelayev amongst others. His passion for music has always been the primary force in his life. Starting as a bassplayer in various crossover bands, he later became addicted to broken beats. Sub\'s productions are influenced by complex drumpatterns, heavy subbass and deep atmospheres, whereas his DJ-sets are more eclectic, embracing everything from atmospheric music, Good-Looking style and Drumfunk up to Jungle, Amen-choppage and Hardstep. Don\'t miss his regular Club event in Innsbruck!

\'UV\' is one of the various alter-egos of Matthew Stenning, a UK based producer who has been making electronic music since his early-teens. Born in Preston, England in 1977, his love of electronic and melodic music was guaranteed thanks to a parental bombardment of Jean Michel Jarre, E.L.O, Cosmos (Vangelis), Roxy Music and Mozart, amongst others. He was later heavily influenced by A-Ha\'s \'Hunting High & Low\' album - its epic, reverberating sound tied melancholic melodies with warm analogue synths and a healthy dose of abstract samples - a sound still reflected in the music he makes today. By the time he was a teenager, Acid House was merging into Hardcore, and his obsession with music was cemented after hearing Signal Radio\'s \'New Dawn\' show and mix tapes from events like Quest, Shelleys, Fantazia, etc. The Prodigy, 808 State, F.S.O.L and labels like Reinforced/Metalheadz, Production House, XL, Rising High, Suburban Base, R & S and Kickin\' all confirmed his love of breaks, synths, samples and, importantly, atmosphere. Technology has changed considerably since those days; starting off dabbling with simplistic hardcore via ProTracker on an Amiga 500, Maff got hooked on writing, and later, hardware - over the years he has bought synths, samplers, and drum machines, only to recently come full circle and get back to writing mainly on a simple Macbook Pro laptop. The UV sound is an insular one and unintentionally disrespectful of genre - the point is to simply write what \'needs\' to be written at that time, as opposed to curtailing to tempo, style or other restrictive boundaries - the mood could be dark, playful, energetic, organic, technological and so on - a simple case of \'whatever comes out\'....a feeling, or vibe is prioritised, not category. We\'re glad to have found this talented producer and proudly present his debut EP.