Bristol-based Laurie 'Appleblim' Osborne has had a long history in the music biz. As a member of The Monsoon Bassoon, he even had a couple of NME "Singles of the Week" in the late '90s. But after a member left the band, the group soon disbanded and Osborne was left to start over again from square one.

Working in a record store and looking for inspiration anywhere he could find it, Osborne soon cottoned to the emerging sound of dubstep and, with Shackleton, began to craft strange tracks that seemed to reside at the edge of the genre. Brittle and metallic, they became celebrated alongside his Skull Disco labelmate's equally as off-kilter efforts for their otherworldly characteristics. He went on to form his own imprint, "Applepips" that expands on his exploration of sound between dubstep, techno and house with artists such as Ramadanman, Martyn, T++ and Peverelist.

www.myspace.com/appleblim

Drums of Death came to be after an encounter with a dark priest on a sorrowful night in Haiti. A musician known as Colin Bailey emerged from this near fatal encounter as you see him now: dark, dishevelled and disfigured. Cursed by magick, Bailey's heart was cut out and as he lay on the brink of death, the voodoo priest fixed a broken drum machine into his chest. The voodoo machine pulsed its artificial rhythm through his chest and around his blood, helping bind him to the earth whilst further fuelling his dark desires and terrible urges.

Now the property of Greco Roman, Drums of Death's music is borne out of these urges. Passion for the synthetic pulse of grime and techno mixed with the rhythms and primal lusts of low-down, swamp rock 'n roll. Add to this an electronic live show that solicits a hot mix of these influences and a desire to bring something wild to dark clubs and you have the ultimate rave-inflicting artist.

It's a testament to a youth spent in metal bands whilst growing up in a small Scottish town with subsequent discoveries of techno at raves in Glasgow and bass culture from his time in London.

The voice is just as an integral part to the Drums of Death experience than the profound bass pressure. Throwing out rhymes and lyrics with equal gusto, these twisted, FX-drenched flows and cut-up, destroyed yells trawl for influence from abstract sources, drawing upon strange imagery and bending reason and melody to breaking point.

Eschewing traditional production methods, Drums of Death seeks a rawer approach to recording in order to retain the fierce energy of the live shows.

Bass, blood and the beat. This is a message to Generation Hexed from the cracked mind of a Voodoo Hoodlum. Forthcoming album on Greco Roman.

www.drumsofdeath.com

DJ PINCH aka Rob Ellis is Bristol's godfather of bass. This man is singularly responsible for bringing more low-frequency rumble into the city than the builders of the M32. Pinch has got to be one of Bristol's most hard working scenesters; it's a wonder that he finds time for sleeping between split roles as internationally acclaimed DJ, producer, promoter and label boss of his own Tectonic imprint.

Now widely credited as a father figure in the scene, Pinch was the first to bring the sparse, austere and bass-heavy qualities of south London's 'dubstep' sound into Bristol's clubland long before its current state of omnipresence existed.

For the uninitiated amongst us, dubstep blossomed from a mutation of London-based garage music and is much darker, moodier and more bass-driven than its predecessor. Nowadays though, dubstep's musical turbulence can be felt through its exchange of ideas with genres as wide as techno, electronica, drum and bass, and with indie and nu-rave artists such as Hadouken! via 'grime' (dubstep's MC-oriented counterpart, made famous by the likes of Dizzee Rascal).

And for those familiar with dubstep but not with that of the man himself, Pinch looks to offer something different from the mainstream when he DJs, always pushing his unique dance-floor sound. His beats are more skippy and organic than most, more akin to the 2-step sound that dubstep draws influence from, while his own groundbreaking production work often uses vocals to achieve an altogether more soulful, funky feel.

www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

A somewhat mysterious producer from Berlin, Germany, Ulrich Schnauss debuted under his own name in 2001 with Far Away Trains Passing By. Released by City Centre Offices, the album seemingly came from nowhere and wound up on several journalists' year-end favorites lists, impressing many with a beguiling level of charm that referenced the shimmer of the Cocteau Twins and the beat mining of the Black Dog. 2003's A Strangely Isolated Place, which was much closer to shoegaze than U.K. techno, was followed in 2007 by Goodbye. Schnauss has also had his hands in a number of other projects, including Hexaquart (minimal echno-house) and Ethereal 77 (drum'n'bass), in addition to engineering work for a number of other artists.

www.myspace.com/ulrichschnauss

It sometimes takes a while for the world to catch up with the musical vision of legends. In the case of Maurizio Dami aka Alexander Robotnick after he wrote one of the defining tracks of the early 80's Italo Electro disco craze "Problemes D'Amour" the music went out of fashion and his focus changed from his trademark Italo disco sound to ambient and film soundtracks.

Years later a new generation of electro and disco musicians rediscovered the past greats and championed the productions of Alexander Robotnick which inspired Maurizio to start making and playing music again. Since then he has produced 2 artist albums as well as numerous 12" and remixes. He continues to tour the world with his rocking live set as well as DJ performances.

www.robotnick.it

Marc Mac is better known as one half of 4hero, the duo that founded legendary drum and bass label Reinforced Records and changed the shape of UK electronic music. Production credits include tracks for Jill Scott, Vikter Duplaix, Ultra Nate, Terry Callier, Ursula Rucker, and Shaun Escoffery to name a few and he has a long list of remixes under his belt from Masters at Work to John Coltrane. He also produced in the early 90's under the alias Manix.

www.4hero.co.uk

A classic synth duo in the mould of Pet Shop Boys or Soft Cell, Heartbreak are Argentinian singer Sebastian Muravchix and British/French keyboardist Ali Renault. Fusing the modernity of electro with the melodic drama of early 80s Italo Disco, spiked with the dark energy of metal bands such as Black Sabbath, the London-based pair's powerful synth-pop has been described by Vice magazine as "how the '80s would sound today if the '90s hadn't got in the way". Others have christened it, with good reason, "metallo".

Championed early on by the likes of Aphex Twin, Vitalic and Klaxons, Heartbreak's music is rooted in the underground techno and disco of their youth. Yet it only takes one listen to "We're Back", "Robot's Got The Feeling" or "Akin To Dancing" to appreciate Heartbreak's timelesness... Then you see them live, catch Sebastian in his element, and it makes even more sense.

Wherever they play, Heartbreak kill it. At grimy electro nights, ritzy disco clubs, art parties, between rock bands in a pub, or at festivals, Heartbreak leave all mortals dancing with tears in their eyes.

www.myspace.com/heartbreak1

Christopher Mercer, aka Rusko was born in Leeds in 1985 to a musical family. From day dot Rusko was surrounded by music whether it be his families piano's, guitars, banjo's and saxophones...or in his later years the heavy reggae and dub sound systems of Leeds, music has always been an integral part of Rusko's life.

After graduating from Leeds university with a degree in musical performance, Rusko discovered the world of dubstep through SUB DUB and a debut appearance from the "Digital Mystikz", having spent the past 10 years making future dub alongside Leeds very own Iration Steppas, Rusko connected with the sound and moved down to London to further advance his musical opportunities with Sub Soldiers label mate Caspa.

Veering away from the dark, serious side of the sound Rusko bought a highly driven energy and fun approach to the dubstep massive and quickly coined his own take on the genre and turned the scene upside down. His sound appealed to many people outside of the dubstep world as his productions became more adventurous in formula, sound and energy. His huge hit "Cockney Thug" has been played by everyone from Pete Tong, Switch, Diplo and Santogold. And has been remixed by Buraka Som sistema, Diplo, Drop the Lime and the Scratch Perverts.

His sound continues to develop with different BPM's that lean to jungle, house, hip hop or electro, either way, whatever BPM or tempo...you can immediately tell a Rusko track.

www.myspace.com/ruskonfire