Touching Bass

A casual glance over the clubs listings for Edinburgh at any time of the year, festival or no festival, and one thing becomes apparent quite quickly. The drum and bass, breaks and bassline scene in Edinburgh is thriving in a way unlike anywhere else in Scotland. Actually, on paper, it seems huge.

"I wouldn't call it huge," says George MacDonald, creator of the Bass Syndicate night. "I'd describe it as consistent. I think one of the reasons it is successful is that there are a lot of English students here and they have always supported it."

Bass Syndicate's third birthday takes place at Faith on 22 August, featuring appearances from Cyantific and DJ Zinc. Cyantific will be performing his drum and bass set across three decks, living up to his reputation as one of the hardest working DJs around. Meanwhile, DJ Zinc will be headlining with a house set. "He's never played a house set in Edinburgh before, it should be pretty interesting".

Elsewhere this month, Xplicit presents Commix and Noisia to the capital, combining a strong line up with an excellent sound system and the festival special 5am license. Taking place at the Bongo Club on the 14 August, it is the first of two Xplicit festival parties, the second happening on 28 August. There they will hijack The Picturehouse and make full use of the 1400 capacity for the night which has London Elektricity, DJ Yoda, Herve and The Scratch Perverts all lined up.

Whilst undeniably in the shadows of the bigger nights that specialise in the genre, the smaller events still have plenty to offer in terms of resident DJ talent, if not big name guests. Coalition takes place at Sneaky Pete's and fuses breaks, bassline, electro and drum and bass on a weekly basis. Split is another weekly party, run by Shadowskills and the Edinburgh:Bassed collective who oversee the main room of the Cabaret Voltaire, rinsing out the heaviest in drum & bass and breaks alongside guests from hip-hop labels such as Local Product. Things switch up in the back room as Split founder Pyz plays techno and electro alongside fellow DJs Ingen and The Retard Playboy. In spite of being a tremendously successful evening, the night has never switched to a weekend slot and to this day still keeps its policy of free entry.

Barely any venue is Edinburgh is left untouched by the genre, with The Wee Red Bar hosting Touch Bass, the GRV opening its doors for Hybrid, and evening dedicated to dubstep, jungle and basslines. Finally Jungledub presents the finest in Scottish dub and jungle music at The Bongo Club.

At a time when more and more club nights would be expected to be feeling the pinch, it is both surprising and brilliant that the Edinburgh drum and bass circuit, with all its various offshoots, is not only surviving but growing. Diamond Dollar launches on 6 August at Faith, stirring a melting pot of dubstep, bassline, fidget, electro, baltimore bass, jungle, house and drum and bass. Refusing to rest on its laurels, their second event on 13 August features Rico Tubbs before their end of festival party on 27 August.