!LEGEND ALERT! PINCH ON THE REWIND
The dub techno don and Tectonic Recordings kingpin Pinch stops by The Rewind.
The latest installment of The Rewind sees the dub techno Don and Tectonic Recordings kingpin Pinch stopping by to chat his beginnings in electronic music, the origins of his name, and his new album Reality Tunnels. Check out two tunes from the new album, horrendous English accent attempts by Veda and Lili Cupcakes, and an absolutely bonkers guest DJ mix by Pinch that hits all colors of the jungle, dubstep and techno spectrum.
Pinch is a pioneer of dubstep, the sound that sparked one of the biggest waves of musical creativity ever seen in the UK. Subloaded, which he began in his adopted hometown of Bristol back in 2004, was the first dedicated dubstep and grime night outside of FWD>> in London, and to this day the impact of the party still ripples through Bristol’s bass community.
Techno’s endless permutations are as much an inspiration as dub in Pinch’s music. His DJ sets and productions take the term “dub techno” not as a concrete blueprint laid down by Basic Channel in the 1990s, but as a creative springboard to explore and combine two of the most versatile music styles ever conceived. The bass and dynamics of dub are interwoven with the tense soundscapes and atmospheres of techno. This is why you might find Pinch scorching the dance floor at a techno club one week, before rolling out a set of the heaviest dub, dubstep and dancehall the next.
The vehicle for so much of Pinch’s work down the years has been Tectonic. Since founding the label in 2005, he’s released music from trailblazers like Loefah, Skream, Scientist, 2562, Photek, Digital Mystikz, Distance, Flying Lotus, Joker, Addison Groove and Peverelist, and he continues to cultivate fresh talent who have an eye on club music’s future. Seminal Pinch releases like the 2007 album Underwater Dancehall and tracks such as “Midnight Oil,” “Blow Out The Candle” and “The Boxer” have all appeared on Tectonic. Away from home, his releases and remixes have featured on leading labels like Planet Mu, Soul Jazz, Punch Drunk, Deep Medi, Swamp 81, Ninja Tune, Warp, Wichita, Wax and On-U Sound, collaborations that have yielded a few bass music classics—”Qawwali,” “Punisher,” “Croydon House,” “Swish.”