Photo: Ben Cannon


Instra:mental are undoubtedly one of the most-talked about and revered musical entities of 2011 so far, and that’s no mean feat for a duo that started out in a tiny niche of drum-n-bass.

The London duo of Alexander Green (aka Al Bleek aka Boddika) and Damon Kirkham (aka Kid Drama aka Jon Convex) have, since their re-emergence in 2007, fought their way to prominence and brought the entire genre of dnb back into full public view along with them. Who knew?

After a few codeine-laced releases on Darkestral, Instra:mental teamed up with fellow London producer dBridge to champion what they called the Autonomic sound: an ethereal, twilight take on drum-n-bass focusing on atmospherics, subtlety, and above all the incorporation of unfamiliar and outside influences into a genre obsessed with its own tunnel vision. The genre-hopping Autonomic podcasts produced by the team rightly earned them a large following, and Club Autonomic was tapped for the fiftieth installment of the Fabriclive mix series to predictably warm reception.

By mid-2010 Autonomic was the the buzzword for the most exciting underground dance music, and with Autonomic’s rise came renewed interest in drum-n-bass itself.  But Instra:mental were only on the dnb tip for so long; through recent years they’ve explored dubstep, deep house, and electro, and it’s the Drexciyan waterworks of the latter that has come to define their most recent work, underpinned by Bleek’s sudden spurt of solo material under the name Boddika.

The duo have finally released their debut album Resolution 653 – on their own impeccable NonPlus+ imprint, also home to ASC, Actress, Kassem Mosse, and more of your favourite producers – a stunning and confident full-length statement focused around those electro expeditions, and in its own way the furthest stretch of the Autonomic sound as the duo abandon both the sonic signifiers and generic boundaries that once defined their most commonly identifiable sound.  But that they’ve constantly morphed and mutated and never lost any of their considerable following or acclaim – quite the opposite in fact – is a testament to their sheer expertise, the true extent of their talents.  The duo took some time out of their ridiculously busy schedules to talk to FACT’s Andrew Ryce about Resolution 653, electro, and where Autonomic goes from here.

“Most people didn’t get what we were doing, and the whole thing was labelled as minimal, which used to piss me off.”

How long have you two been wanting to do an album? And how long did the album actually take to write, record, and complete?

Alex Green: “Just like any artist, we always wanted to write an album from day dot. We started to write the album at the end of last summer, and I reckon we had it completed in three months.”

Were you at all planning for it to turn out the way it did, in that rugged electro style?

AG: “We decided we weren’t going to write an album at 170 beats per minute for multiple reasons. I felt that, after the Autonomic Fabric compilation, there were so many people writing ‘Autonomic’-style music that I didn’t want to do it anymore. Most people didn’t get what we were doing anyway, and the whole thing was labelled as minimal, which used to piss me off, to be honest.  I remember sitting down trying to write new music at 170bpm and it was a constant struggle to find interesting beat patterns and grooves. When I’m in the studio, I like to enjoy what I’m doing, not sitting there struggling. There were other factors involved in the decision, but I’m not going to talk about them.

“We had just recently brought a couple of new toys to the studio and they kind of shaped the way the album was written. I’m a huge fan of old-school electro – Drexciya, Underground Resistance, et al – and I’ve wanted to bring some of that to the table for quite a long time now.  The tempo we set to work at was between 115 and 135. I just remember how much fun it was to be writing again, that’s why the album came together pretty quickly…time flies when you’re having fun!”

Damon Kirkham: “I’ve always wanted to write an album that had shades of 90s Warp in it, and I’ve always loved Autechre and the way they fuse cold elements with glimmers of warmth occasionally shining through. I feel like with this album we’ve achieved that.”




Instra:mental – ‘Vicodin’


I remember hearing about a harddrive crash sometime last year. What happened, and did it affect the end product in any way?

AG: “Luckily, we managed to salvage it all.  There was real panic for about a week, because if we hadn’t been able to fix it, the album would have been lost and so would some of the recent Boddika releases. It would’ve been hell on earth.”

The album is quite far-removed from the drum-n-bass you guys have become known for in the past few years; was this a planned transition and how exactly did it all come about?

AG: “We both like dark and machine-like music, I guess. There was no plan behind the album at all. I don’t like to plan anything when I’m writing, I just like to go with the flow, get a beat up and running and start playing on the synths and effects units and see where the vibe takes me. It’s always been the same: if I go in with a plan, generally I come out with something completely different.”

DK: “So many factors shape the sounds that we are creating, and this album is a snapshot of where we were at that point in time.”

“I guess we have quite a dark vision for the future, but I don’t really care ‘cause we won’t be here.”

The influence of Detroit seems to be creeping up more and more in your music; first, it was in the luminescent chords and haunting melodies, and now, with the album there’s a distinct sense of twitchy, Drexciyan electro. What’s the full extent of Detroit influence on your music?

AG: “Okay, Detroit electronic music has played a big part in my life, but when I was co-writing the album, or any other music… I’m not sitting there thinking I want shit to sound Detroit, I’m just writing music. This is what comes out of me naturally, this is what I do; the sounds I produce come very naturally to me, I don’t have to think about them. I hear what I like and use it, simple. The album has definitely come out kind of dark and dystopian, and I love it; me and Drama both love science fiction and futuristic city stories, robots dominating the earth and all that kind of business. I guess we have quite a dark vision for the future, but I don’t really care ‘cause we won’t be here.”

Continuing on that note, I know that Drexciya is a very important group to Al. Do both of you share that obsession? What makes them special to you and such a prominent influence on your own music?

AG: “Drexciya, to me, are the ultimate electronic music producers. What they did as Drexciya and all their side projects was just so damn special, and I think the concepts behind the music were amazing. Although they were using 808s and other analogue synths that other people had, they just made them their own; their music is so simple yet massively effective, I could literally get lost in the music for days. Their melodies and chords just take me away to some amazing places in my mind, places I only go when listening to Drexciya.”

DK: “I love Drexciya material, and all of the aliases related to them, but to me Autechre carries the same importance as Drexciya for Alex.”

What are some of the other biggest influences (if any) on the album?

AG: “For me there were no influences, it was just written on pure vibes and impulses.”

DK: “For me, influences are all around, even if I don’t acknowledge them. Books I’m reading, stress I’m going through…there are so many subliminal factors.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.