Subtle Audio : Artists : Fracture and Neptune

Fracture

Born in West London, Charlie's parents moved to Hackney in East London when he was still a baby. As Charlie puts it, "I love living here, and I always will do. It truly is home to me." Charlie's musical heritage can be attributed to his father's record collection: "I used to listen to – and now sample from – lots of old blues and rock records, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and stuff like that. Dad is a guitarist, so naturally I started playing guitar. Dad was mortified when I started to listen to all this bloody hardcore music on Pulse FM and stuff!" says Charlie, laughing. "I used to listen to techno, too. Everything, really!" Like many within the scene, the pirate radio network that sprang up in London in the early 90s drew Charlie into the newly forming dnb scene – "I used to listen to pirates in like 91, and it just grew from there really. I played on Rude 88.2 FM for a few years, from about 1999, I think."

These days, Charlie spends a lot of time checking for jazz and funk. "I'm after that break that no-one has used, or the original of a break that most people have from some dodgy sample CD. The sample CD is a swear word in our studio! Breaks are what motivate me to make music. There's so much music I love. Nautilus by Bob James usually gets a play when I'm chilling. Squarepusher and Weather Report are a regular feature on my stereo at the moment." Hip hop plays an important part of Charlie's musical heritage, too. "The whole RJD2 LP is amazing," he says. "I'll still be listening to that in 30 years time, for sure." Drum n bass wise, Charlie listens to a lot of older material. "I'm starting to listen to newer stuff now, too. I never listen to my own stuff, though!" he states. Outside of music, Charlie describes his influences as sci fi and psychedelic – "I love sci fi stuff. Anything sci fi or psychedelic and I will probably be in it."

Neptune

"I live in North London, up in Islington, and have lived there all my life. It's in the centre of London and there are a lot of things happening every day. There are many different cultures located in this area so it opens you up to lots of different ideas. Inner city environments can sometimes make you grow up fast as well," states Nelson. Describing his musical heritage, he continues: "I grew up listening to electronic music, 80s music, funk and soul. I’ve loved James Brown since I first heard it in the 1980s. James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, John Barry – they’ve all had an influence on me. I remember listening to Kraftwerk and watching movies like Breakdance when I was about 7. I also admire people like Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Cassetteboy. There is so much music that I like and it’s all so varied. I guess I could mention a soundtrack called Koyaanisqatsi by Phillip Glass that I play a lot because it seems to touch my soul. In about 1993, when I was at secondary school, everyone was listening to hardcore so I picked up on that. I used to listen to hardcore and jungle on pirate radio all the time. It got me through school! I have been listening to this type of music ever since then. I began making breakbeat dnb and DJing properly about 4 years ago now."

Meeting his partner in crime, DJ Fracture, whilst at college, Nelson decided that after college he would buy some Technics. "Then a couple of years later we bought a sampler together after mucking about on a friend's ESI-32 in his bedroom. Then we built up more of a studio and decided to start handing out demo CDs of our stuff." It was Danny Breaks that gave the pair their first chance within the scene. "When Danny Breaks said he wanted to sign one of our tunes, I couldn't believe it. I was on cloud nine for about a week. When it came out and I had a copy in my hand, that was nice too, and seeing it in HMV." This first release, Deadlands, retains a special place in Nelson’s heart: "My favourite piece of my own music has to be Deadlands because it was our first release. It got played on Radio 1 and Kiss and I'll never forget that."