In the darkest recesses of dubstep, 'Skeng' is the mutant beast that refuses to die. When it dropped on Hyperdub in 2007 (with that devastating Kode9 remix and those peerless vocal turns from Flowdan and Killa P), it broke countless necks and went down as one of the tracks that - despite the scene's infancy - quickly became an underground classic. Even now 'Skeng' murders a room, and the man responsible hasn't lost that evil glint in his mind's eye, either.With his solo project The Bug and band King Midas Sound (imagine Björk and Skunk Anansie howling into the wind together), Kevin Martin's heady renderings of dub, ragga, grime, dubstep, hip hop and techno were canonised with 2008's London Zoo - one of the few albums to emerge from dubstep unscathed by withering fashions - and set the bar pretty damn high for whatever was to follow. Now, word's come that his new album, Angels & Devils, is set to be some of his most adventurous and punishing to date.Looking at the track list, he hasn't skimped on decent collaborations either. Death Grips, Liz Harris (of Grouper), Gonjasufi, copeland (formerly of Hype Williams), Flowdan, Miss Red, Justin Broadrick (of Godflesh and Jesu), Manga (of Roll Deep), and Warrior Queen all feature; a line-up as heavyweight as Martin's sound. To mark the news of the release, and in anticipation for how many things we're going to break in the room as soon as it drops, we caught up with The Bug from his new base in Berlin about the dichotomies in play on his latest work, and how pain fuelled him.You can stream a first listen to the Gonjasufi and Death Grips collaborations from Angels & Devils below.
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