Rapidly Rising Drum & Bass Producer S.P.Y. Plays Elements Tonight, 9.15.11

Around a decade ago, drum and bass duo Total Science were considered by many to be the “hardest working producers” within the genre. They were known not only for their new releases that came out on an almost weekly basis, but also for the fact that they were signed to literally dozens of different independent labels (something almost unheard of in dance music). Although Total Science has since settled down, another producer has slowly but steadily been taking their place: S.P.Y.

A Brazilian native, it’s obvious that S.P.Y. developed connections almost instantly with DJ Marky and XRS, two of the most popular drum and bass artists from that country. It’s also no coincidence that S.P.Y.’s music was picked up early on by Total Science themselves, who have released several of his tracks on their Advanced Imprint. Beyond this, S.P.Y. has a resume loaded with releases on almost all the big stables: RAM, Innerground, Critical, Metalheadz, Spearhead, Renegade Hardware, Hospital, Subtitles, the list goes on. Even Claude Von Stroke has tapped him several times for remix duty, resulting in releases on Dirtybird too.

Much of S.P.Y.’s music is very soul-oriented, not abrasive at all. If you weren’t lucky enough to attend the Metalheadz sunday sessions at Blue Note in the UK in the mid-1990s, the work of S.P.Y. is essentially a rehash of what was played there. Only with the slickness of today’s current production stylings. Pretty fitting that one of the first tracks released by him was on the Metalheadz’ “Winter of Content” compilation in 2005. They still work together today, in fact his rerub of Rufige Kru’s iconic “Terminator” (released circa 1992) has been hammered by a number of A-list drum and bass DJ’s since its release earlier this year!

S.P.Y. plays Boston for the first time tonight at Elements. Opening set by Lenore, visuals by VJ Bonk. Phoenix Landing, 512 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 19+. $10.