Renegade Riddims: Kublai

Born and raised in Manchester, Kublai started his musical journey over ten years ago. After learning how to DJ in his late teens he took what he saw as the next logical step and fell deep into the music production rabbit hole.

After years spent learning the craft, he put out his first single on Goldfat Records in late 2020. Soon after this saw Kublai release on a number of different labels such as Vandal Records and Villem’s own MURKT imprint. In 2021 Kublai presented his debut ‘Free Flow’ EP on CIA Records founded by the legendary duo Total Science. This was the first of many releases on the label including a collaborative EP named ‘Future Motion’ with frequent collaborator Minor Forms and his follow-up sophomore EP ‘Don’t Rush’ which came out in 2022.

The new year brought in a fresh link up with Goldfat’s head honcho Mitekiss with a tune called ‘Raincoat’. This was the start of a string of releases planned for 2023 on labels such as Vandal, Sofa Sound Bristol and The Sauce Recordings.

With fresh music out on Sofa Sound’s latest VA, Sofa King Sick V, we invited Kublai to record a brand new mix featuring loads of dubs from himself and other artists, along with tracks from the likes of Noisia, Lenzman, DLR, Break, Total Science, Breakage, Myth and more!

Check out his mix below, this one is not available as a free download as there’s so many dubs! Grab Sofa King Sick V from here!

Q&A:

Sum up this mix in 10 words…

A real emphasis on heavy, underground, club focused DnB

What’s your personal favourite track on it?

Really hard to narrow it down to be honest so I’m not going to. Special mentions go to Creepin by Kusp, the new Break tune Don’t You Ever Stop, Empty Spaces by my brother Note, Deux from Primitive Instinct and a couple cheeky dubs hidden in there by some of my favourite artists.

What’s the special ingredient in this mix?

Probably all the dubs I’ve been lucky enough to have to throw in there.

Tell us about your next EP?

Latest release was my tune Relax on Sofa King Sick 5. Sofa sound is one of my favourite labels so it was wicked to contribute some funk to their yearly compilation which features a stack of quality music from some wicked artists.

What have you got coming up?

Not much lined up schedule wise. I’ve got a tune coming on the 3rd instalment of Outsauced from The Sauce Recordings and a collab coming with Myth on an EP of his for CIA over the coming months. Other than that I’ve just been working on some exciting collabs and trying to get some of my solo stuff rolling again.

When was the last time you actually raved?

Last time was in mid May. Popped my head in to see Azifm, Need For Mirrors and others do some damage.

And finally, do you have a special message for our readers?

Big up to all showing me support and love to Sofa Sound Bristol. Hope you enjoy the mix!

TRACKLIST:

Break – All That’s Left 

Ed:It – The Keep 

ID – ID

ID – ID

Total Science, Hydro & War – Straight G

Untrue – Woman Ghost 

ID – ID 

Kusp – Creepin 

Genic & Trakker – Sweet Chilli 

ID – ID

Kublai – ID 

Kublai – ID 

Skeptical – Thru My Head

Myth – Gherkin 

Kublai & Myth – ID

ID – ID 

Breakage – At The Controls

ID – ID

Jubei & Workforce – The Variant

Break – Don’t You Ever Stop 

Total Science – Run It

Kublai & Minor Forms – Future Motion 

Note – Empty Spaces

DLR – Pseudo Addiction 

L-Side – Untouchable 

Kublai – ID 

Alix Perez & Fracture – Realise 

Primitive Instinct – Deux 

GLXY – Gingerbread

Noisia – Motion Blur

Calyx & Teebee – Starstruck 

Lenzman – Empty Promise (Jubei Remix)