A bassline splinters and crisp beats pulse out of the monitors at the Audio Bullys studio. Tom Dinsdale and Simon Franks are lost in the sound and the moment, because they’re doing what Audio Bullys do best: creating instant music.
They expertly mix up house and garage, beats and basslines, music and words to make a sound that could only occur from within London’s metropolitan sprawl. Their 2003 album ‘Ego War’ introduced the duo and their singles – ‘We Don’t Care’, ‘The Things’ and ‘Way Too Long’ were neither pure hip hop, nor uncut house or rudimentary garage, but all three - a uniquely young, British and energetic musical chemistry. More profoundly articulate and insightful than the average vocalist, Simon’s lyrics articulate the important stories and aspects of life. Meanwhile, the bedrock of the Bullys sound lies in more than a decade’s study of club music. It stretches back through hip hop’s major-league alumni (Dre, DJ Premier and The Neptunes) and back to the visionary pioneers like Daft Punk, The Prodigy, and Armand Van Helden. The final unmistakeable layer is an instinctive understanding of the dynamics of pop songwriting: the knack of locating the killer hooks, riffs, breakdowns and melody that have consistently lifted their tracks out of the DJ underground and into stratosphere of radio play and chart presence. This summer’s undeniable chart hit (number 3) and club anthem ‘Shot You Down’ being a case in point.
A lot has changed in the two years since ‘Ego War’, and it shows throughout ‘Generation’. The new album has developed into a broader palette of sound and emotion; tracks like the Suggs collaboration ‘This Road’ duly reveals a far more nuanced sense of musicianship. Subtlety is where ‘Generation’ is at. ‘The more you make music, the more you can have an idea and just make exactly that thing happen,’ says Dindsdale. ‘The more relaxed you are, the easier you find it.’
The interim of intensive, self-imposed studio lockdown was punctuated by a series of incendiary festival slots, club dates and live outings during which Dinsdale and Franks forged an up-close connection with their audience. ‘It’s great when you see the music actually connect,’ says Simon. ‘The other day I was on my way home and heard “Shot You Down” coming out of a car. That doesn’t happen often. But there are little moments when you realise it’s getting out there properly.’ Their dedication to stylistic perfection remains unchanged. ‘Snoop Dog, Jay Z, Biggie Smalls… that’s the stuff I love,’ says Simon, ‘So we’re taking that influence and do it in our own way. I let the records do the work.’ In more ways than one Audio Bully’s’ music speaks for itself.
It also means focusing more closely on the danger-zone frequencies in Tom’s programming that distinguish an Audio Bully’s track from the margarine-mass of standard dance production. They’re captivated by, and getting closer to, the perfect edit - the ultimate audio X-factor. ‘There’s something about not being taught by other people’ says Tom, ‘playing stuff that shouldn’t necessarily be right - but it is. Someone like RZA’s tracks always do mad things. He’ll use a loop where no-one else would: like a vocal that doesn’t say anything but just sounds good.’
Think of the red-hot immediacy of Daft Punk’s repertoire – an influence they’re happy to cite – or to the releases on Thomas Bangalter’s Roulé imprint, and the echo runs through Bullys productions like the choppy ‘Bring Light’ and ‘Generation’’s own title track. ‘I try and play a bassline that will punch out and take it that little bit higher,’ adds Simon. ‘Hunting for that moment when you really feel the music and you KNOW at that one moment you can feel how it’s gonna connect, because it’s hitting you there.’ ‘Music has to move forward. What we’re doing is the modern rock & roll. This is the future of music. These are the new instruments.’ says Simon
Generation also comes with a further ambition, simultaneously modest and massive. On ‘Keep On Moving’, Simon raps, ‘we make a few tunes for mankind to play’. ‘Our ambition is to be the biggest, to be honest,’ says Tom. ‘I’ve come round to thinking that. I’ve seen how people react to this and I know there’s a magic to it. It was only a matter of time before everyone else saw it.’ Listen to ‘Generation’, and you instantly get what Tom means. A deeper, subtler and edgier progression on ‘Ego War’, this album is about the music and people of 2005 and beyond. It is the score to the lives of Tom and Simon’s generation.
This summer, it’s Audio Bullys world - we just go partying in it.
Protection - we do a lot of it these days. Sun cream for our skin, sunglasses for our eyes, condoms for you know where - but do you remember to protect your hearing?
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I'm In Love..with Audio Bullys
