DJ Krust has been an integral part of drum and bass since its conception. He and Roni Size hooked up at the beginnings of the V Recordings label and they’ve been a big name through their individual projects, through mega-group Raprezent, and also through running the labels Full Cycle and offshoot Dope Dragon. Of late Krust has been a little quiet, but he’s sure to shake floors and hips again with his latest album ‘Hidden Knowledge’, a double studio album full of new compositions and a retrospective of his Full Cycle recordings.
“It’s a Krust album first and foremost,” Krust states about his new album. “What I wanted to do is make an album that was all me. It’s been such a long time since I’ve made an album I really wanted to focus on what I’m about and what my music is about and what people could expect from me. I didn’t want any guests, I didn’t want too many vocalists,” he tells me. “I tried about 4 vocal tracks but I wasn’t happy with them. The vocal track on there, How to Mutate, was the last track I made, and I changed that about six times until I was happy with it. It was a real conscious effort to make some music that was real typical of what I was about and what the label is about and where I’m coming from and where I am going. It was about asserting myself in the scene as an artist and as a producer.”
Krust has included a retrospective disc as well, featuring classics such as Warhead and Jazz Note, in an effort to school new listeners to his sound. “There is a whole core audience that doesn’t know the music, that doesn’t know the foundation of it. It’s to give people a reminder of what I was about, where I came from, and where they can get more of that from,” he claims. From this, I wonder if he thinks it’s a little strange that there is an audience out there that has listened to nothing but drum and bass. “I do find that strange, but I have to really break it down and see how it is for real,” he agrees
“I’m about the source, I try and get the essence of the whole thing. If I hear a record I might hear a great sample, and I’ll wanna know where that sample came from. So once I find the sample, I might buy the album, then a few more albums, and I think sometimes today I think the kids of today don’t know where the music comes from. but I think that’s changing very slowly though,” he smiles.
“This is the same generation that came into colour and cable TV and listened to CDs straight away. But that’s not their fault. They were born into that and they don’t know anything else, whereas we were born into a different generation. We never had colour television or CD players growing up. It’s a generational thing. My nephew who’s 22 is making music and we were talking and I said “Bro, you’ve got to listen to music, listen to records, vinyl, that’s the vibe you’ve got to understand”. And at least he asked the question and that’s good and I respect that of him. I hope more kids back pedal and look at the history of music.”
We then discussed the current state of dnb, with lots of great artist albums coming out and impressing not only traditional junglists, but making waves all over the place. “I think we went through a period where it really got stale, and I know a lot of people weren’t stimulated by the music so much. I myself kinda lost interest in it for a while,” he laments. “But the beauty of what’s going on now is that we’ve been through that cycle now, and the people who make drum and bass have decided to do what they do best, regardless of the scene is trying to dictate, or what the press is trying to dictate. I think it’s really interesting because we’re seeing some proper players talking about the music and the state of play and what they’re gonna do about it and where the music is going to next, that can only be healthy when it comes from within the scene.”