Causing Friction

DJ Friction - Shogun Audio boss drum and bass bigwig - is trying his hand at breaks. The Brighton-based junglist, also known as Ed Seeley, has hooked up with Aquasky's Passenger Records to mix their forthcoming compilation, 'This Way Up'.

Not out until September, all the exclusive tracks on the mix will be released as vinyl singles throughout the summer, with the first -Nick Thayer & Micah's 'Scrambler' flipped with Phetsta's 'Four:Eight:Three' - out now.

'This Way Up' will also contain Friction's first foray into the realm of breakbeat production, a tearing beast of a cut entitled 'Control Freek', constructed alongside Aquasky themselves and MC Spyda.

Drum & bass producers like Noisia and Chase & Status are increasingly trying their hand at breaks, with Friction the latest artist to diversify into a sound he's been checking for a while.

"There's a big breaks scene in Brighton. I've always kept an eye on it," Friction explains. "Me and Krafty Kuts are good mates and we go down to Supercharged. I thought, 'Fuck it, I'm going to do a breaks set somewhere. I did Breaking Ground, Supercharged and it built up from there, really."

A few storming DJ sets later and Friction was collaborating with Aquasky.
"I kind of used their sounds, played a riff in and then they worked on it. Then Spyda, the vocalist, got on there and we had a wicked track."

Friction's hit upon a fresh new breaks form, which he intends to develop further, alongside his established d&b DJ sets and productions.
"Eight years ago, if I had the stature then that I have now and I'd made a breaks track, I'd have been lynched!" Friction reckons. "But now I don't really see boundaries in the music. I'll do a breaks track on one side and a d&b song on the other."
Friction is making sparks fly.