What is The Bug?

Information about The Bug

For the satirical newspaper, see The Bug (newspaper).
For the song by Dire Straits, see The Bug (song).


The Bug is the main current music project of London-based producer Kevin Martin. The Bug's music draws influence from dancehall, noise, grime, and hip hop. More subdued influences would include dubstep and the dubtronica and broken techno of Basic Channel and Pole.

Albums and Collaborations

The Bug's first album Tapping The Conversation was released in 1997 on the seminal Wordsound label. The album was conceived as an alternative soundtrack to the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation. In this incarnation The Bug consisted of Kevin Martin and DJ Vadim.

From 2001-2004 The Bug collaborated with UK reggae soundsystem veteran The Rootsman on a number of limited edition 7" singles, released on the Razor X label. These releases were characterised by their harsh, aggressive nature both musically and vocally (vocal artists including Jamaican MCs such as He-Man and Wayne Lonesome).

The Bug's second album, Pressure was released on Rephlex Records in 2003. It included a number of more ambient, dub-flavoured tracks alongside the ragga-tinged onslaughts.

The Razor X singles were compiled on the Killing Sound album (along with newer material) which was released by Rephlex in 2006.

Bug projects have included collaborations with a number of singers and MCs including Cutty Ranks, Warrior Queen and Ras B. In 2005 he collaborated with Mark Stewart and Keith Levene and has released records on Rephlex, Tigerbeat6 and Klien Records.

Other Musical Activities

Kevin has started a record label called Lady Bug (for releases featuring female vocalists and MCs).

The Bug has produced some radio sessions, including a clash with Soundmurderer on John Peel and a 2006 Breezeblock session with 10 MCs.

In 2006 The Bug launched a monthly London-based reggae club night entitled BASH, in collaboration with dubstep producer Loefah.

Discography

  • Tapping The Conversation (1997)
  • Low Rider (FatCat 1999)
  • Seismic (2001)
  • Beats, Bombs, Bass, Weapons (2003)
  • Buckle Up (2003)
  • Gun Disease (2003)
  • Pressure (2003)
  • Aktion Pak (2004)
  • Dem A Bomb We (2005)
  • Fire (2005)
  • Jah War (2007)

External links

The Bug is a satirical newspaper and website based in Australia.

According to the paper's website Bug contributors briefly presented news satire on ABC Radio National, but were axed after complaints about their coverage of the 2004 Asian Tsunami.
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B-side(s) Twisting By The Pool
Released 1992
Format CD, 7"
Recorded 1991
Genre Rock
Label Vertigo
Writer(s) Mark Knopfler

Dire Straits singles chronology

"On Every Street"
(1992) "The Bug"
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Kevin Martin is a London-based musician, record producer, and journalist.

His musical projects have included:
  • GOD
  • Techno Animal (with Justin Broadrick)
  • Ice (band)
  • The Bug
  • Pressure (a dubstep project, with releases on the Hyperdub label)

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Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed around the late 70's, with exponents such as Yellowman and Shabba Ranks. It is also known as bashment.
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since September 2007.

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Grime may refer to:
  • Grime, a word for soot or other forms of dirt
  • Grime (music), a genre of music
  • GrimE, an adventure game engine
  • Grime (album), an album by Danish death metal band Iniquity
  • J.

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Dubstep is a genre of electronic music which has its roots in London's early 2000s UK garage scene. The genre's name was coined by Ammunition Promotions.<ref name="wire279" /> Musically, dubstep is distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on
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Dubtronica is a genre of music that combines electronica and dub in a subtle way. The origin is thought to be either the experimental English dub of On-U Sound Records and Mad Professor in the 1980s or glitch techno of Germany during the 1990s.
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Techno is a form of electronic dance music that had its early beginnings in Western Europe in the late 1970s[1] and later developed and established as a genre in Detroit, Michigan during the 1980s.
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Basic Channel is a minimal techno production team and record label, composed of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, that originated in Berlin, Germany in 1993.[1] The duo released a number of vinyl-only tracks under various aliases, such as Phylyps, q1.
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Pole is Stefan Betke, a German electronic music artist commonly associated with the glitch genre as well as dubtronica.

Pole takes his name from a Waldorf 4-Pole filter which he accidentally dropped and broke in 1996.
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album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on
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Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola at Cannes 2001

Born March 7 1939 (1939--) (age 68)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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IMDb profile
The Conversation is an Academy Award nominated 1974 mystery thriller about audio surveillance, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Teri Garr, and Cindy Williams; it also features an early performance
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DJ Vadim (aka Vadim Peare) is a prolific DJ and producer born in St. Petersburg, Russia, raised in London and now residing in New York. His music combines hip hop, Soul, Reggae and electronica and his recording technique primarily involves very precise sampling as well as, to a
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Rephlex Records is an influential record label started in 1991 by acclaimed electronic musician Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) and Grant Wilson-Claridge, without the intention of making large profits.
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Cutty Ranks, born Philip Thomas in Jamaica in 1965, is a reggae and dancehall artist. His stage name stems from his former employment as a butcher.

At the age of 14, he began his career as a reggae artist on sound systems such as Gemini, Rebel Tone, and Papa Roots.
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Mark Stewart (born South Shields, Tyne & Wear) is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. He makes polemical noise-funk with a hip-hop reggae dub feel and has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.
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Keith Levene (born Julian Keith Levene, July 18, 1957, London) is an English guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of Public Image Limited.

Levene was an early member of The Clash and The Flowers of Romance (most notable for also featuring a pre-Sex Pistols Sid
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Tigerbeat6 is a San Francisco based independent record label run by Kid 606. The name reflects Kid 606's obsession with cats, which also comes to light in the catalogue numbers, all of which start with MEOW.
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John Peel

The cover of Peel's autobiography - Margrave of the Marshes.
Birth name John Robert Parker Ravenscroft
Born 30 July 1939(1939--)
Heswall, England
Died
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The Breezeblock was a weekly radio program on BBC Radio 1 that premiered on 17 February 1997 and focused on electronic music. The show's earliest broadcasts were unmixed and featured individual songs, some of which were recordings of live sessions from BBC's Maida Vale
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Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

The term 'reggae' is sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, although the word specifically indicates a particular music style that originated after the development of ska and
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Dubstep is a genre of electronic music which has its roots in London's early 2000s UK garage scene. The genre's name was coined by Ammunition Promotions.<ref name="wire279" /> Musically, dubstep is distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on
..... Read more.
Fatcat and its various imprints (Splinter Series / 130701 / Split Series / 7” Series / E-RMX) has nurtured: from divergent forms of electronica to all manner of post rock and indie; downtempo breaks to minimal techno; sparse piano compositions to abstract / explosive
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