When it comes to bass-heavy sounds, perhaps no place in the world can match Bristol. The UK hub has been home to massive waves of jungle, trip-hop and dubstep, not to mention whatever one might call the bass-y techno hybrids currently being turned out by the city’s latest crop of young beatmakers. Throughout most of that history, Pinch has been a steady presence and a guiding hand, both through his mentorship of up-and-coming artists and more directly through his own productions and two labels, Tectonic and Cold Recordings. With a new EP called _Brain Scan_ surfacing this week on Australian imprint Aquatic Lab, he talks here about Bristol’s special relationship with low-end sounds, his love of collaboration, his future plans and why he returned to the classic dubstep template on this new record. Also popping in for a chat is the Hacker, a French mainstay known for his collaborations with Miss Kittin and their adventures in electroclash.
