The Mix 079: Mandidextrous

Never one to shy away from the weird and the wonderful, Mandidextrous has been a driving force behind burgeoning bass genres for decades. Jungletek pioneer and a figurehead for trans/non-binary people in drum 'n' bass, the Bristol-based DJ, producer and label head is once again on the cusp of a new movement. Minted earlier this year, their new imprint Speedbass Recordings was created with the intention of spreading and growing their new "speedbass" sound, which they describe as a "mish-mash of bassline, bass house, garage, things that have wobbly basslines and melodic elements, but keeping  faster, 4x4 element that is drum 'n' bass influenced."

Mandidextrous has just kicked off a four-date Speedbass tour with techno phenomenon Teletech, an unusual collaboration for an artist who is such a stalwart of the UK drum 'n' bass scene — but the speed, the free-wheeling genre-defiance and the opportunity to connect with younger crowds, has proved an irresistible prospect. "I've been floating around the drum 'n' bass scene for the last few years, and I think the thing which is a bit of a divide is that the younger audience that come to those shows are coming along wanting to hear those big tunes and those big mixes. The same curated shows from the pinnacle of that scene," they tell Mixmag. "But I think in the techno world - the Teletechs, the XXLs, the Verknipts, that kind of stuff - the ravers go in there with such an open mind to basically just get pummelled with kick drums. The energy that brings is just wild, there aren't any specific signature tunes that every single DJ has a blend with in every single set — instead they are switching between reverse bass or hard trance, acid techno etc., and just smash it all together. So yeah, I can't wait to dive in. It's going to be juicy." 

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Having grown from the free party scene of the late '90s/early '00s, Mandidextrous became obsessed with dance music via the likes of General Levy, Andy C, The Prodigy and more. "I found happy hardcore when I was a proper yute," they say. "My first free party was Exodus Festival in Milton Keynes, I got obsessed with all these different types of music, I loved techno, I loved hard house – hard house was such a big thing for us back then in the South. It was a big melting pot during the late '90s/early '00s, that was my formative years." 

Speedbass' sixth release landed earlier this month, 'Ravers Anonymous' - a collaborative single from Mandidextrous, Samurai Breaks and vocalist Leanne Louise - and with a tour, an album and the fourth year of their Spectrum 360 stage at Boomtown Festival looming, we enlisted the rave pioneer to gives us a glimpse into the future of Speedbass with their full-throttle edition of The Mix. Listen to it and read our Q&A with Mandidextrous below. 

Your new track ‘Ravers Anonymous’ sees you reunite with Samurai Breaks and Leanne Louise following ‘Phone Call Riddim’ earlier this year. can you tell us a bit ab,ut the process of creating the record?

So, for not only myself but for many artists, it started with Splice. What happened was, me and Sam [Samurai Breaks] got together at my studio and we had a bit of a session - we wrote 'Phone Call Riddim' with a vocal from Splice. I instantly recognised the singer, so I hit her up I told her we're working on this tune and it would be really cool if we could get a variation on the vocal to release it with, so our track is different from everyone else's with that hook. Leanne was an absolute don, sent us the vocal stem — but at the end of what she'd created, there was this extra bit. Me and Sam were like: "That is cold, we could write a whole tune just with that." So we did exactly that, we chopped it in half and we created 'Ravers Anonymous'.  

You launched Speedbass in March, right? Had you wanted to establish this label for a long time before then? 

Yeah, I think when my sound changed I needed somewhere to make that music sit. As always, I find my music is quite niche, there's a few different hemispheres and I've never been that knowledgeable about where to send my music. It was an amalgamation of what new music could be and I approached Cygnus [the distribution platform] and the rest is history really — this is now the sixth release. 

You're also in the middle of a Speedbass x Teletech tour right now, for you is Speedbass more than just a party or a label — but a new genre/movement?

Yeah, I mean I've always found it difficult to place music, like I said. In my head, I make up these genres... this is what happened the first time round with jungletek. I wouldn't say I invented jungletek, but I instigated the movement. With this new approach, speedbass, i'm putting together the eclectic sounds that I infuse into my music and thinking, "screw it, I'm going to just create another genre." I'm into dance music, not something genre-specific, so I can throw it together into one party or one record, I'm going to do it. 

How did speedbass first come about as a genre?

It all came about from me and my best friend SHOSH, who's a dubstep artist, mixing bassline and garage at 170-175 BPM in the kitchen at our old gaff having a rave. She was a garage DJ, I play faster stuff, so we just sped-up all of her tunes and mixed it into drum 'n' bass. 

Considering you’ve essentially been a flagbearer for the UK underground since the ‘90s, is it important for you to keep reinventing yourself?

I think that part of what is important as an artist these days is being able to develop your sound. I feel like stagnation into one genre, unless you're really established, can sometimes be a hinderance. There's more to music than just dabbling within one sound, it's great to explore. That's a real strong value in what I do.

Maybe you'd also just be really bored if you were making one type of music all the time?

Yeah, exactly that. That's essentially what happened. People still ask me now, 'When are you going to release some hardtekk or jungletek stuff?' — I don't even know how to make that any more. I did 10-15 years of making that sound, but if I try to do that now, it just infuriates me. I can't do that any more, I've done that so much. I'm on a different vibe now.

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Do you think something that defines you and your sound, and has helped you remain so consistently popular, has been that you carve out your own scene — rather than relying on others?

It's really hard for artists to cut through nowadays, particularly when everything is so accessible. Being able to produce music is becoming a dying art, you've got AI now, people can just generate whatever they like. The same with DJing, the art of DJing  - beyond being able to read a room - the technical side of it, anyone can do that now. You've got 10-year-olds on TikTok making big drum 'n' bass bangers, so you do need to cut through. The thing for me, was always reinventing my sound and trying to tap into the younger audience and say, "Look, you don't have to just make jump up like Hedex. You don't have to just make hard house like Malugi, you can do whatever you want."

You’ve got producers like Samurai Breaks on the new label, and you’ve been playing with next-gen artists like [IVY], is it important to collaborative with younger generations?

For me, it's been quite a whirlwind getting to know [IVY] and Samurai Breaks. As a more mature artist it's interesting to see what they are doing and the inspirations they've taken on board with their sound has been very akin to what I've wanted to do; it's been really great being able to work with them, play shows with them, get to know them. Sam has got his SSBB imprint - Super Sonic Booty Bangers - and I love what he does, he's such an insanely talent artist. The same with [IVY], the drum 'n' bass 4x4 thing popped off, it had some hits in that field with Bish etc. But what [IVVY] has done is so cool, she's taken that sound and spliced that with this hyperpop-y vibe, it really reaches an amazing audience. I find them inspirational, there are so many artists of that elk where i'm like "wow", you know? 

Do you think you find a connection with this next generations quite fast-paced, genre-defiant appetites? 

Exactly, I think they inspire me to do it more too. The youth of today have been blessed in a way to have grown up with parents who are of my age group, who themselves grew up listening to rave music — that's rubbed off on the kids. So this younger generation are so clued up and educated on music and exposed to so many different styles, it's almost part and parcel of what they do now — they don't have to sit in one box. I really love it. Seeing some of the young artists playing, the tracks they draw for, they way they mix up, it's fucking cool.

Are you looking forward to going on tour with Teletech and getting to grips with that younger audience? 

I think for them, working with me is a bit of an experiment. What I do is very different to the big room hard techno acts that they book. I love what they book — I love that harder sound. Sometimes it blows my mind. We've been seeing people like Charlie Sparks playing tracks from Vandal or myself or Mat Weasle Busters, just slowed down from 190 BPM to 150 BPM. People in the audience are like: "What is this music?" But for us, as older people, it's mad seeing that. I love what Teletech have done, all the artists involved and the movement its created is so interesting. 

How do you feel dancefloors have changed in the last few years? Particularly as a trans non-binary person? Are you finding spaces more accessible and accepting? 

I think, from a person who wasn't really involved in the drum 'n' bass scene that much pre-COVID, post-COVID coming into it as a trans non-binary person, I've found that the young people attending events are desperate for more versatility and diversity — in music in general to be honest. Younger people now are way more open-minded, I think going through the COVID years was probably quite informative for them. We all sat online, with every big artist talking to camera — people are seeing a lot more stuff now and that has really shaped everything. The young people have this excitement around wanting to explore, to experience new stuff. So when they are getting the same kind of line-ups over and over again, the rinse and repeat of it all – yeah, they still buy tickets for it, but they are hunting for the anomalies.

You've spoken about being embedded in the free party scene in the '90s/'00s, is that something you still draw from? Considering now its becoming really popular again, hard house is really having its moment, etc.

Yeah, all the time. I'm hearing so much of the influence from those times coming into music now, what Malugi and Marlon Hoffstadt do – artists who are picking from those old sounds and reinventing them. For the kids and even the older generation, it's so exciting. I love how everything goes round in circles, but with so much innovation there. What I really love right now is the likes of Sammy Virji, Oppidan and MG8 who are taking the garage sound but really reinventing it into something new. It's really cool, I think it's fucking amazing actually. 

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You’re also on track for a new album on Neuroheadz, which is going to be inspired by your early drum ’n’ bass inspirations – how has it been to have one foot in that and another in trying your hand at something completely new with Speedbass?

It's been a bit of a madness [laughs]. The grounding of all of it has been one of my best friend's Matt Scratch, he runs Amen4Tekno now alongside a few others. But, me and Matt have always prolifically made music together and we share the exact same influences, we're so in tune with each other in the studio that before I've even made an edit he's like, "we need to make that edit." We're on that level. This album came as a result of loads of sessions, where we've written an entire tune and just forgotten about it on the hard drive and it kind of got to the point where we're going back over all these tracks and we're like: "We've got an album, what are we doing here? We need to put this out to the world."

It's a bit of an expression of your friendship/artistic relationship with Matt Scratch then? 

Yeah, we've released so much music over the years and we work so well together — so it's just so great to be able to to do this again, with one of my best friends. 

What's coming up next for you? 

I run a venue at Boomtown called Spectrum 360, which is centred around the queer community and diversity on line-ups and the music. Next year will be the fourth year of doing that at Boomtown next year, but it's going to be the second year of doing it here in Bristol - which is coming up on December 6. We haven't dropped the line-up yet, but it's coming soon.  Also, the release of an EP called 'Deadheadz' on my old record label is coming up — me and Matt Scratch again. I'm really excited for those two projects, but also working towards a solo album next year. There's loads happening! I'm off to Australia and the US again soon, so it's all go... always all go. 

Can you tell us about you mix? 

Speedbass has always been about pushing boundaries. This mix is a snapshot of where the sound is headed - full-throttle rave energy, nostalgic at times, but built for the future.

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter

Tracklist: 
Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks ft. Leanne Louise — Ravers Anonymous
Mandidextrous and Inja — Enter The Rave
Mandidextrous — Just VIP
Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks ft. Leanne Louise — Phone Call Riddim
Mandidextrous — Needed You
Samurai Breaks — Numba 1 (SSBB Mix)
Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks - Danger (unreleased)
Dr Apollo - RXR (unreleased)
Samurai Breaks and Audio Gutter – Free Your Mind
Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks - You Had It [remix] (unreleased)
Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks - Vigilante Kru (unreleased)
Spooky Bizzle — Baby (Mandidextrous and Samurai Breaks dub)
Bish — Leng Riddim
DTCH — Blow My Mind (Mandidextrous VIP Mix)
Mandidextrous — Every Night
Mandidextrous — Don’t Be Scared
FooR and Eddie Craig — Premonition 2025 (Mandidextrous Speedbass RMX)
Mandidextrous — Electric
Shy Fx — Nutter (Mandidextrous dub)
Zero and Tempa T — Watch The Shank (Mandidextrous dub)
Gray — Rubadub (Mandidextrous dub)
Bish — I Want U
Mandidextrous ft. Maddy V & Beanie - Lights Go Out (unreleased)
AIRGLO and Mandidextrous — CONTROL
Mandidextrous — Movement
Mandidextrous and Matt Scratch — Night Raver
Mandidextrous — The Energiser
Alok — Let’s Get Fucked Up (Mandidextrous Flip)
Mandidextrous and Maddy V — Deep On This