WOEBOT

Bass innit.

Fantastic Wiley Interview by Martin Clark at Hyperdub
I especially liked Wiley talking frankly about being transformed by Dizzy: "I wasn’t converted to an artist, that’s one thing. And I was just an MC. Listening to him made me convert to an artist, it made me open up my mind that it’s not just about garage. It’s music, just make music. Before that I didn’t have it in me, but I got energy from him." That seems to be the crucial thing about the axis around Roll Deep and it's influenced Grime too, there is a creative agenda. The problem with the "Ardkore continuum" is that the tradition is so lateral that it's easy for folk to just notch up another mark on the stick, to contribute without using their own mind, to float on the collective imagination. It's not like he's saying categorically that he doesn't belong to Grime, just that he's working on his own thing. Nice to see Wiley check Crazy Titch, his recent tune "I Can C U, U can C Me" on Aftershock, that was indeed a creative track. And yes, down at Sterns checking the latest Oriental releases!

Interesting Lemon D Interview by Mickey Toughlove.
A behind the scenes snapshot of Lemon D's and Dillanja's antics with the Big Bad Bass sound-system. Quite alot of Industry talk here. These boyz be working hard. I thought that their move into the sound-system territory was mighty brave and about the most avant thing conceivable in the static drum and bass arena, as if to acknowledge the music had settled down in the way Roots Reggae did. When you visit Abashanti or witness the Jah Shaka "sound" you're not expecting novelty and flashy thrills (back to Jess's piece here), but an assertion of fundamentals, an acknowledgment (akin to going to church) that in the end everything remains the same. It's a proud timeless refection and while not the way I prefer to digest culture, can be moving and powerful.