If you continue to follow the exploits of key figures on the drum and bass scene, you may well have noticed that lately these guys have been working themselves “to the bone.” Yes, of course, I am exaggerating considerably for effect here, but from the perspective of an outside listener, it seems that all these musicians around the Exit label are making the most effective possible use of the opportunities for experimentation, while immediately trying out something new under freshly minted creative aliases. They are testing the creative boundaries of what they can achieve through collaborations. And as things move from Heart Drive to The Binary Collective and Module Eight, you watch respected figures from the music scene test the waters in one another’s pools, first dipping in one finger at a time and cautiously determining the temperature with their feet, and then suddenly lowering their entire leg, sending splashes in every direction.
Fortunately for us, there is no secrecy in the creative process either. There were no attempts to distort the truth about who was who, and so, on learning that the project consisted of none other than dBridge, Skeptical, Loxy, Resound and Kid Drama, we immediately understood that all these guys needed to do was exchange a couple of emails and the project would be half finished. And perhaps because of our close friendship, we realized that we were in a very advantageous position. We warmly welcomed the news that five producers were working on new material for the Module Eight project, and it was even great that this came as a small surprise to some people. So we prepared this piece and are publishing the project’s central idea just ahead of the event dedicated to the album presentation. Everything has come together at exactly the right time.
The label’s information about the project says: “an album intended to reveal the participants’ musical tastes in drum and bass and show all the facets of their perception of this music.” Having heard about the collective work and its results, we would be more inclined to think that this integration is aimed not at satisfying the ambitions of already well-known musicians, but at the creative process of making tracks as such, in an attempt to improve and develop the ideas of their project colleagues. Each of them is already a talent within their chosen creative niche; we do not want to convince you in any way that the project’s music is flexible and lively—quite the opposite. All 13 tracks are recognizable and distinctive. And all of this is thanks to the consciousness of exceptionally talented musicians who have come together as a creative collective.
Skeptical: For a while, we worked on the tracks separately, and then the time came to get together and finish the work as a collective. We had no intention of putting our own names on these tracks, but after a little while, when it became clear that enough material was accumulating for a full-length album, we thought: why not come up with one common name for the project?
dBridge: I am a big fan of collaborative creative work—it is more than obvious from my career, I think. Over time, our idea of making some tracks for DJ purposes evolved into our joint project. Everything happened naturally.
Resound: This album became one large collage made from our ideas. Everything we created was the result of working online. We never all met in the same studio. Each of us added a little of our own, and before long something more complete and finished began to emerge. It was very interesting to observe the process.
Kid Drama: I do not remember how everything eventually became a collective project, but I remember that we were doing something together with Skeptical and then saving the work in a shared folder. I think these tracks were originally made for the Heart Drive podcast, and only later were they brought together into an album.
Loxy: It was Skeptical’s idea… We were writing tracks with Resound, while also recording something with dBridge and (Kid)Drama. Everything happened naturally.
dBridge: At the beginning, there was a shared folder that everyone had access to. We all had separate collaborations—Loxy worked with me, Skeptical recorded with Drama, and so on. At some point, we realized that exchanging ideas was the right way to see what each person could add to a track.
Resound: To a great extent, this is music that appeared by itself; we did not think too much about what should happen or how it should turn out. Planning something during a process involving five people is practically impossible. In general, you will not find any deep philosophy here. For us, it is a kind of manifesto for music that is not influenced by deadlines or anything else—no one was putting pressure on us…
Skeptical: Personally, for me, everything we created is music that we wanted to play ourselves. Over those two years, we tested the tracks, and it was great fun, because hardly anyone knew that we had written them. You can hear the influences in these tracks, and it is quite difficult to determine who recorded a particular track…
Kid Drama: We simply improvised. For me, the album has everything: an Autonomic sound, dub, and the influence of 1990s drum and bass. The essence of the whole process is that each person adds their own elements, and then we build it up layer by layer. We worked on several tracks at the same time.
dBridge: We all have our own style and character in music. I can hear that on the album. I do not think we planned to prove anything more with this work than other artists creating music together. It has simply become much easier to do this now.
Skeptical: One of us would usually put a sketch in the shared folder, then someone else could fill the track with their own elements, and the track would be moved to a separate folder for them. After that, all that remained was to develop the track further and do the final mixdown. The process went easily, but sometimes we had to slow things down because some participants were busy with something else. Coordinated work in the studio could have been a great way to spend time, but getting everyone into the same room at the same time was impossible!
dBridge: It is really great that we did not have to be physically present in the studio together to finish work on this album. We worked with different sets of equipment and used our own methods to create a shared project. Obviously, we are not the first people to work this way, but it is happening more and more often. Creative people from different parts of the world can communicate, share ideas and create something interesting. Being together is not bad either, but now many more musicians have the opportunity to work in precisely this way.
Original: “An oral guide to Module Eight”, fabric blog (fabriclondon.com). Translated from the Russian translation by Rustee (Vykhod Sily / Release of Power VKontakte community), 2015.
