Introducing the 6-member dubstep collective from Wales, LSN

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Introducing the 6-member dubstep collective from Wales, LSN

LSN White

Normally when we think about a band we automatically recognise a collective of non-electronic musicians, or at least, not a group of DJs. And especially with dubstep, it’s a matter of fact that most of those around the world leading the 140 game are solo producers and performers – with a few exceptions of course (Truth, Author, The Bug etc.) – so it’s both surprising and exciting to hear of a crew out of Wales, of all places, who are raising the bar and forwarding the expectations of dubstep music.

Welcoming LSN, the Welsh body featuring Feonix, who’s gained worldwide attention and critical acclaim with his recent releases, Noztaw, who adds a DnB influence to the fold, and 23KID, who brings an ambient touch and oversees visuals aspects having produced videos for Mindset, Outlook and Dimensions Festivals (!) to name but a few. Fialko represents the crew in London and helps spread their influence around the globe, while Na-Kika, whose experience and sheer determination is only matched by his talent for sampling and team organisation, is complimented by the sublime vocals of Simetra.

Having made an instant impact on the bass scene with their bone-rattling ‘Diyumi‘ – featured by Youngsta on his Rinse FM ‘Minimal Mondays’ show – LSN are exclusively signed to ‘Long Live The Future”s Uprise Audio and are due to release their first EP in the coming months. Set to play at dubstep’s biggest festival later in the year – Outlook – they’re an eclectic crew who have an amazing chemistry between them, something truly felt in their music.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to feature them, with the mix below being perhaps the most heartwarming dubstep music I’ve heard in a long time; the genre’s deeper roots are complimented by their music’s soul in every aspect. With the visuals a clear representation of 23KID’s talents and a clear reminder of why he produces clips for some of the world’s biggest gigs, you can read the interview below and listen to the mix while you do it.

We’ll be hearing a lot more of these guys, for sure. Get to know! – FacebookSoundcloud.


First of all, what brought you guys together? Was it a mutual connection or was it one member’s idea to start with?

It was a series of serendipitous meetings really. Four of us met when we moved to Bangor for university in 2010 and over the next couple of years got more involved in the local soundsystem scene, which is where we met Na-Kika. Everyone’s from fairly different musical backgrounds but a shared love of the deeper, bassier side of things brought us together and was the main drive to start producing together. We’d all been making tunes in some form and they just progressed to be more collaborative. LSN started as a way to differentiate the tunes that were more collective studio efforts than standard collabs between just a couple of us and grew from there.

What about Uprise Audio; how did that signing come about?

Once we were consistently getting beats finished we started sending them about a little to various contacts. Na-Kika had been networking and it was Verity who put us into contact with Ed. It was when we made Apollo that we really got their attention and things went from there. We went down to London to play at our first Uprise night at Silver Bullet which was a great event and gave us a chance to meet the team. Having Diyumi on the Live From The Future Extended Edition couldn’t have been a better first release; one of our tracks being featured alongside such inspiring artists was quite surreal.

Your music says a lot – it speaks worlds of ambience, drum & bass and of course dubstep, with the vocals of Simetra just making every tune that much more special. How do you work in the studio, though? With six people huddling around the room, surely there’d be some disagreements regarding some production?

We tend to put long shifts in when it comes to the studio, often putting down most of a track in one or two sessions. Workflow completely depends on the tune though, sometimes we’ll start with just a sample or two, sometimes a specific sound in mind. We take it in turns to add or edit ideas but all the major decisions come from a collective mindset with lots of thoughts bouncing off each other. Everyone’s got different areas that they’re particularly good at but there aren’t really any rules as to who does what. We’ve got a fair few instruments between us and everything is home produced. As with anything there are occasionally disagreements but we move on from them quickly and they help us to get the best sound we can.

How did you come across Simetra; had any of LSN worked with her before?

Towards the end of last year we were introduced to Simetra through mutual friends after hearing a recording of her singing and playing piano. She fit right in straight away and it turned out her vocals were exactly what we needed, helped by her moving in next door. She was probably the quickest to pick up production out of all of us and writes lyrics in English, Welsh and French.

How do you manage live shows – obviously you can’t really have six people DJing at the same time – how do you configure yourselves at festivals like Outlook? (Exciting!)

The ultimate goal is a full live set up where we’re all playing together but for now we DJ with Simetra providing vocals. We’ll usually split a set up and play a few tunes each but there’s constant discussion to make sure it’s a coherent mix. We’re probably going B2B on the boat party at Outlook and can’t wait. We’re on the biggest capacity boat alongside Seven, Truth, Asylum, Klax and Indiji and we know from experience that they always go off!

With reference to 23KID, he’s made visuals for some huge events. Do you have his visuals behind you at every show?

That’s something we’re working towards but we don’t quite have the technical set-up to be able to do every show yet. The installation on the house at Outlook and Dimensions was a massive opportunity to learn more about projection mapping and in the future we’re planning on putting that to good use. We’ve done a couple of visual based shows at exhibitions with a local artist called Mr Kobo and his Happy Medium collective. The visual aspect of things is definitely an important component, adding another sensory experience to sets. It’s another thing that we’d like to do be done live too, I worked with Ifan Dafydd on an audio-visual live set for a festival last summer and VJing real time gives you so much more creative control to fully match the music and the images.

And lastly, thanks for the mix, but what does LSN stand for? 

Unfortunately we are unable to divulge that information… Cheers for having us, the mix is a blend of our productions, some friends and a few favourites. Hopefully see you down under sometime!


No tracklist for this; exclusives all-round.

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