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The Bug is the main project for Kevin Martin, a producer who has headed a diverse range of projects. He is part of Techno Animal, Ice, and God (all with Justin Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu), King Midas Sound, Razor X Productions (with The Rootsman), Pressure, and Ladybug; runs his Pathological Records label; and has collaborated with noise jazz outfit 16-17, Pete "Sonic Boom" Kemper's E.A.R. project, John Zorn, Kevin Shields, El-P, and the Antipop Consortium. He has recorded for Rephlex, Position Chrome/Mille Plateaux, Word Sound, Hyperdub, City Slang, Tigerbeat 6, Grand Royal, and now Ninja Tune. He has been personally asked to remix Thom Yorke, Grace Jones, Einsturzende Neubauten, and Primal Scream, and compiled jazz and dub compilations for Virgin Records. London Zoo is the fruition of all these activities.

The album was born of three key moments: an introduction to the thriving dubstep scene (of which The Bug is very much a pioneer from before it carried a name) and its key producers (via Kode 9 and Loefah) where Martin realized there were others on the same sonic trajectory as himself; an introduction to Warrior Queen via his work with Wayne Lonesome on the Razor X Productions project; and a Mary Anne Hobbs Breezeblock session which introduced him to Flowdan (Roll Deep) and Ricky Ranking. All three of these figure heavily in the end result and live presentation.

The obvious entry point to the album is the dubstep tag, particularly after the success of the three lead-up singles, but London Zoo clearly reaches past, brings together, and celebrates reference points from dancehall, grime, hip-hop, and noise--it could have only come out of London sound-system culture, while its appeal spans cities and scenes.

From the opening strains of "Angry" (featuring reggae legend Tippa Irie) it's clear that the world has been served notice from the heart of the UK capital. The message is further strengthened as Ranking (best known for his work with Roots Manuva), Flowdan, Warrior Queen, Spaceape, Roger Robinson, Killa P, and Aya step up to lay waste to the boombastic rhythms put before them, eventually culminating in "Judgement" where Ranking leaves us with a prophecy: "So much people are losing their minds, because we're living in a serious time. I guess it come in like a judgment sign, the people have killing on their mind." Living in end times, indeed. Best start building the Marcus Garvey tug now.

On the second day of the fair, Darlington is electrocuted in a terrible accident, pronounced dead, and taken to the morgue. Two days later, an attendant there hears knocking from one of the corpse drawers. Armed with a shotgun and whiskey, he finds the young Darlington not only alive and well but babbling about future worlds he has visited and asking that everyone now calls him "Daedelus."

Tesla, both relieved that the boy has survived and embarrassed by the accident, allows him the run of his workshops. Over the next six months of the Fair, he devotes his time to building strange electronic instruments, and on the very last night of the Fair presents the Love To Make Music To Symphony, which, he claims, is the sound he heard in the future.

The events of the performance are shrouded in secrecy--widely believed to be a result of a cover-up by government and the vested commercial interests who had most to gain from the Fair's success. The few reports which have filtered out say that people go mad as they listen to the strange, alien sounds the young composer describes as "music," that they scream, laugh, pull off their clothes, have sex with each other and themselves, fall into reveries, and shout of "the hills, the beautiful hills." Daedelus himself is dragged from the stage and detained indefinitely in a mental hospital in Chicago, staying there until his mysterious disappearance on May 29, 1913, incidentally the night of the riots in Paris at the first performance of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.

But for another twist, the story would have ended there. Dr. John Thompsock of the Chicago Ultra-Arts & Science-Head Institute and one of the greatest living Tesla-ologists, was lucky enough to obtain a cache of Tesla's papers from a shadowy Eastern European in 1999. In among them he finds a cylinder disk. On playing it, he discovers that it contains the only recording made of Daedelus' first and last performance.

Digitized, cleaned of crackles and pops, and shorn of 45 minutes of detuned primitive oscillator noise, it as strange as the day it was first performed and as liable to bring on what one can only describe as "sexual fever." To ease the listener through--and hopefully hold the fever at bay--this version features commentary from a number of leading scientists including Om'mas Keith and Taz of the Sa-Ra Foundation, plus Dr. Michael Johnson, Prof. N'fa, Paperboy (Mphil), Dr. Erika Rose, and Prof. Laura Darling (of The Long Lost Institute). Of more than academic interest, this will appeal to all aficionados of Very Very Late Victorian Music.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Fair Weather Friends
Touchtone ft. Paperboy & Taz Arnold
Twist The Kids ft. N-fa
Get Off Your HiHats
My Beau ft. Paperboy & Erika Rose
Make It So ft. Michael Johnson
Only For The Heartstrings
I Car(ry) Us
I Took Two
Assembly Lines
Bass In It ft. Taz Arnold
Hrs:Mins:Secs
If We Should ft. Laura Darling
Drummery Jam
You're The One ft. Om'mas Keith

On the second day of the fair, Darlington is electrocuted in a terrible accident, pronounced dead, and taken to the morgue. Two days later, an attendant there hears knocking from one of the corpse drawers. Armed with a shotgun and whiskey, he finds the young Darlington not only alive and well but babbling about future worlds he has visited and asking that everyone now calls him "Daedelus."

Tesla, both relieved that the boy has survived and embarrassed by the accident, allows him the run of his workshops. Over the next six months of the Fair, he devotes his time to building strange electronic instruments, and on the very last night of the Fair presents the Love To Make Music To Symphony, which, he claims, is the sound he heard in the future.

The events of the performance are shrouded in secrecy-- widely believed to be a result of a cover-up by government and the vested commercial interests who had most to gain from the Fair's success. The few reports which have filtered out say that people go mad as they listen to the strange, alien sounds the young composer describes as "music," that they scream, laugh, pull off their clothes, have sex with each other and themselves, fall into reveries, and shout of "the hills, the beautiful hills." Daedelus himself is dragged from the stage and detained indefinitely in a mental hospital in Chicago, staying there until his mysterious disappearance on May 29, 1913, incidentally the night of the riots in Paris at the first performance of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.

But for another twist, the story would have ended there. Dr. John Thompsock of the Chicago Ultra-Arts & Science-Head Institute and one of the greatest living Tesla-ologists, was lucky enough to obtain a cache of Tesla's papers from a shadowy Eastern European in 1999. In among them he finds a cylinder disk. On playing it, he discovers that it contains the only recording made of Daedelus' first and last performance.

Digitized, cleaned of crackles and pops, and shorn of 45 minutes of detuned primitive oscillator noise, it as strange as the day it was first performed and as liable to bring on what one can only describe as "sexual fever." To ease the listener through-- and hopefully hold the fever at bay-- this version features commentary from a number of leading scientists including Om'mas Keith and Taz of the Sa-Ra Foundation, plus Dr. Michael Johnson, Prof. N'fa, Paperboy (Mphil), Dr. Erika Rose, and Prof. Laura Darling (of The Long Lost Institute). Of more than academic interest, this will appeal to all aficionados of Very Very Late Victorian Music.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Fair Weather Friends
Touchtone ft. Paperboy & Taz Arnold
Twist The Kids ft. N-fa
Get Off Your HiHats
My Beau ft. Paperboy & Erika Rose
Make It So ft. Michael Johnson
Only For The Heartstrings
I Car(ry) Us
I Took Two
Assembly Lines
Bass In It ft. Taz Arnold
Hrs:Mins:Secs
If We Should ft. Laura Darling
Drummery Jam
You're The One ft. Om'mas Keith

All the artists featured on the album are artists Kentaro has played with in the numerous events, live shows and tours he has performed at over the years and the hand-picked lineup is bound to bring a grin to many faces. One of the acts responsible for the new school movement in hip-hop in the 90s and still going strong today, Pharcyde. The Baltimore bred group on everyone's lips after releasing their debut album YoYoYoYoYo from Ninja sub-label Big Dada in 2006, Spank Rock. Veterans in the UK hip-hop scene after releasing 3 albums also on Big Dada, New Flesh. Leader of the Cincinatti hip-hop crew Five Deez and receiving just as much, if not more, praise for his solo works, producer/MC, Fat Jon.

Having such respected and skilled artists from around the world on one record is in itself a delight but the way all 4 artists ride and harmoniously fit DJ Kentaro's sound is a ride in itself. On the Japanese side are 3 sets of artists all with strong ties to Kentaro - while always laying their roots in the reggae/dub scene a band that continues to expand its horizons musically, Little Tempo. Creating a genre themselves by doing what they do with an MPC and a turntable before anyone else in the world, now on their way to becoming world renown, Hifana. The MC with the most original and absorbing style Japan has to offer, Hunger from the hip-hop group Gagle.

While all 3 tracks are of a totally different nature, Kentaro manages to give them all a certain touch that makes them distinctively a similar colour. As a fellow japanese, I can't help but be happy that their sound will now be known to the world through Ninja Tune.

But it's not only the tracks with guest vocalists that make up the album-- the instrumental tracks on the album are just as, if not more, expressive of Kentaro's musically liberated nature and they can be said to be the driving force of Enter. Each track was carefully crafted to stir the imagination, and the length to which they show the richness of Kentaro's expression will without a doubt leave a lasting impression on everyone that comes across it. Most of the tracks were also mixed by DJ Kentaro himself (half were done together with Alan Mawdsley, a mix engineer that mixes many of Ninja Tune artists) and his acute sound sensibility is also an aspect to check on the album.

How much influence will Enter have on the dance music scene the world over? And how will that influence reflect back to DJ Kentaro Questions I ask myself like this only make me restless waiting for the release date..2007, the year that will always be remembered as the year DJ Kentaro entered your world.