Bristol is a city full of artists operating in the space between techno and dubstep, but none of them sound quite like Lurka.

When the producer emerged on Black Box in 2011, he was making traditional dubstep. Five years later, he’s joined fellow Bristol producers like Hodge and Peverelist in making music that stretches techno to breaking point.

Despite his association with the Bristol scene, Lurka’s music has been ploughing its own path since the wrong-footed rhythms and brittle textures of 2013’s ‘Full Clip’.  His next release is on longstanding friend Batu’s Timedance label, and is the biggest curveball yet from a producer that’s become more adventurous as he’s grown.

“I moved to Bristol in 2011 from a small town in Devon, having been obsessed with the dubstep scene since 2005,” he explains over email. “I was keen to get there and get involved, but when I did arrive in Bristol there was absolutely no dubstep scene. Apart from the odd Subloaded and the tail end of the excellent Dubloaded nights, you couldn’t get a dubstep night for love nor money.”

“As I started to meet people around Bristol my horizons started broadening in terms of what I thought i could do with my own music. Meeting open-minded, enthusiastic and massively encouraging people was instrumental in helping me open up, try different things and embrace the weirdness a bit more.”

Released on May 27, the two-track Beater EP includes Lurka’s most unusual moment yet, a title track that takes influence from classic Warp and ‘80s industrial grooves.

“I made it about a year ago at a time when I was absolutely battering Powell and Autechre records, as well as listening to droves of road rap on YouTube, so I was going for this IDM, EBM and hip-hop hybrid,” he explains.

“Slowing it down to 115BPM really helped to open up space in the beat and give the kicks room to be extra chunky and hopefully lend the beat a bit more swagger.”

Beyond his release for Timedance, Lurka has a label called Fringe White that just launched with a collaboration between himself and Batu. He’s also set to appear on SWU.FM, Bristol’s brand new radio station.

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