The UK club music continuum has legendary dub producer Adrian Sherwood to thank for a significant expansion of its territory. Spanning over 30 years, his career includes founding one of dub’s most recognisable labels, On-U Sound (home to acts such as Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, Little Annie, Asian Dub Foundation) and helping define the sound of a wide range of artists from Depeche Mode to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and the Beastie Boys.

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When Sherwood joined forces with Bristol dubstep ringleader and Tectonic Recordings boss Pinch, expectations were high for the two heavy-hitters’ first collaborative release. Titled Late Night Endless (Mute / On-U Sound, 2015), the album’s dub patterns and African and Jamaican sound samples drip and echo, displaced from cozy equator origins to the cold, resonant industrial chamber. Sherwood & Pinch’s brand-new follow-up, Man vs Sofa (Feb 2017) is hailed as much more diverse, refined and fractured, while still being comfortably sandwiched within massive UK dub beats. Including roll calls from Lee Scratch Perry, Martin Duffy (Primal Scream), Taz (Def Jam), and Skip McDonald (The Sugarhill Gang, Tackhead, Little Axe), the two veteran producers take many more risks this time around, often finding themselves far away from their comfort zones. These natural collaborators deliver electric live performances, being “so nimble and compatible now that they easily swing into echo chambers and white noise while keeping the speed up”. (Pitchfork)

Pinch collaborator Emika (Ninja Tune) describes her music as being somewhere at the junction between "futuristic storytelling, club context and classical influences“. Classically trained in piano and composition, she studied music technology and worked as a sound designer before pursuing music-making full-time, a career that she now manifests in writing, producing and mixing all of her own work. Her DJ sets reflect her productions: narrative-driven, singer-songwriter-meets-Berghain journeys.

Returning only a few months after his massive sonic face-off with Earth’s Dylan Carlson at CTM 2017, Kevin Martin aka The Bug will present a dub-heavy “Black Wax Attack 7-inch DJ session”. For over two decades, Martin has commandeered a multiverse of projects including the monstrous jazz maelstroms of God, the menacing, lead-heavy beats of Techno Animal, the feverish dreams of King Midas Sound, and the dread-infused dancehall of The Bug.

The evening will be rounded out by two tireless forces from behind-the-scenes. Former RinseFM host and DEEP MEDi backbone, DJ Steph takes the rare occasion to DJ a special mixed vinyl selection. Opium Hum aka Michail Stangl – organiser of Boiler Room Berlin, contributor to CTM’s music programme and co-organiser of the Leisure System parties nourishes his DJ sets via sombre, hazy drones and fantastical soundscapes to create a waking dream.