In brief:

Born in Fiji, raised in New Zealand and formed musically in the dance music revolution of London in the late 90’s, FreQ Nasty started his career on the seminal UK label Botchit & Scarper in the late nineties, moving to SKINT Records in 2003. He went on to release a slew of cutting-edge records, collaborating with and remixing a diverse range of artists including Fatboy Slim, Kelis, KRS One, Roots Manuva, Rodney P, and Reggae legend Junior Delgado. 2008 saw the release of ‘Creator’, his crossover hit collaboration with MIA producer Switch and NYC hipster Santogold, and the ground breaking FABRICLIVE 42 mix CD, which was picked as DJ Magazine’s compilation of the month. He is one of Burning Man festival’s most loved DJs, where he brings his signature mix of Drumstep, GlitchHop, DubStep and all things Bass heavy every year. The FreQ Nasty single ‘Dread at the Controls’ was released through California’s cutting edge bass music label Muti Music in January 2011. The A Side is a fusion of lush Detroit strings, skittery 2-step beats, wobble bass, and a stupendous glitched-out dub-step breakdown. The B Side ‘Drum Play’ is a drum-step roller with the speed of drum and bass and the swagger of dancehall. This release launched an Australia/New Zealand tour and the 17-stop North American ‘Monsters of Bass’ tour with Crunkstep producer Marty Party and GlitchHop artist Opiuo. 2011’s freshest releases are ‘1000 Buddhas in the Pureland of Bass (Moombhacore Remix)’ featured on Muti Music’s AcidCrunk compilation, and FreQ’s ‘Low FreQency Pureland EP’ both coming out in November.

His latest side project touring the California festival scene, Dub Kirtan Allstars, was formed by FreQ Nasty and David Starfire as way of opening up the Yoga tradition to underground dance music club audiences.

HISTORY:

Producer, breakbeat innovator, and international Bass Music DJ, FreQ Nasty established himself as one of the UK dance music scene’s pioneers early on by producing many of breakbeat’s defining moments. Not content with rehashing his genre-defining debut album FreQ’s Geeks and Mutilations (1999), he dropped his “Bring Me The Head Of Freq Nasty’ album in 2003 for SKINT records, creating the template for the ‘ragga breaks’ movement and simultaneously kicking off the breakbeat garage scene with signature tracks ‘Goose’ and ‘Amped’ effortlessly traversing genres, earning plaudits from breakbeat and garage DJ’s, as well as house and techno jocks internationally. ‘04 and ‘05 saw FreQ touring the world with his ‘Video Nasty Experience’ live show, an eye-melting DJ/VJ fusion of animation, graphics and live Vjing perpetrated by a hit squad of crack artists including fellow New Zealanders ‘Brother’s Mogg’ (Lord of the Rings/King Kong animators), and ‘Gorrillaz’ artist Jamie Hewlett’s company Zombie Flesh Eaters.

In 2006 FreQ took time out in California to avoid the perennial UK winter and ended up semi relocating to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles. As the Web 2.0 phenomenon exploded in part out of LA, home to Yahoo, Google, Myspace etc, he connected with music oriented tech renegades from Yahoo and Shopzilla and a cell of underground code junkies out of San Francisco and spent a good portion of his down time creating a website dedicated to enabling artists to use their musical clout to help make the world a better place. It launched in early ‘08 and he has since donated music for several campaigns exclusive to the Giveback site supporting freedom for the Tibetan people (with Bassnectar), an irrigation system for a village in Ethiopia (with Damien Marley), and a music studio for kids in an economically deprived area of San Francisco (with Michael Franti).

2007 found FreQ back in the studio working on prototypes for fresh new sounds that would take him in a new and exciting direction. In collaborating with MIA producer Switch they re-invented the idea of what dance music could be with the uncategorizable 2008 crossover hit ‘Creator’ featuring the vocals of the now ubiquitous Santogold, launching her career as an artist in the process.

The latest long-playing instalment of FreQ flavour dropped in the form of the FABRICLIVE 42 mix CD for legendary UK super club Fabric. Fabric described it as “Bridging the gaps between the most current sounds in the UK’s bass culture, FreQ rumbles with underground thunder in a staggering showcase of some of the rawest bass led beats around”. Evading the pitfalls of a genre controlled mix yet at the same time avoiding the stop-start feel of a mash-up mix, on FabricLive42 he imaginatively arranges a tightly connected blend of FreQy tracks including his hit with Switch and Santogold ‘Creator’. Along with other rave reviews, it was picked as DJ Magazine’s compilation of the month.