NO
U
TURN
WORDS
:
STEVE
GOODMAN
PICTURE
:
COURTNEY
HAMILTON
))NO U TURN
AFTER A QUIET PERIOD WHEN LABEL BOSS NICO SYKES WAS TRAVELLING IN
THE US NO U TURN HAS STARTED MOVING UP THROUGH THE GEARS AGAIN,
REFINING AND ACCELERATING THEIR “SURFBOARD INTO HELL” SOUND FOR
THE 21ST CENTURY. IN MID JUNE, THE LABEL IS ABOUT TO DELIVER ITS FIRST
AMERICAN DRUM & BASS RELEASE AND NICO IS POSITIVELY BUZZING ABOUT IT.
))
“My next No U Turn record gives me such a good get this first and you have that feeling in the US as well, Like an actor, Nico tends to get pigeon holed into a cer-
feeling. It’s like I’m putting out a good, tastey, Duracell except the fact is that we are a UK label and there is tain sound, that tearing No U Turn sound about which
of a fuckin’ track and I feel so passionate about that. It’s usually no fucking way that you are going to get these he is still so passionate. But he actually spends his time
called ‘Gateway’ by these guys Impulse - Rob F & MC things first. That’s all I kept hearing, that ‘we always engineering diverse moods across the bpm spectrum
Mecha from Washington DC. It’s a cool slice of future, have to get it late.’ So there were a few people who got and has just launched a stunning underground garage
‘on it’ funk that should be used for the lorry chase it early or well before or I would give them the CD of a label, Turn U On, with the Horsepower Productions
scene in Terminator 3 as far as I’m concerned. It is tune and say, ‘go and cut it, you will be the first person crew including Nasis, long time drum & bass production
impeccably done, I think. All the parts are nice, and to to have it in the world.’ And then a few weeks later Ed partner of MC Ryme Tyme.
be honest I don’t know how to make something that is Rush and so on might have it. It’s all part of running
going to damage me like this does without quite a lot of your own label and the fun you can have with it.” “So I’m feeling this record at 135bpm, it is sexy as fuck
work. They are called Sinthetix.” and I want it to be my new release. So I put it out
It was into this climate that Nico created the Nu Black on No U Turn. That is what I would love to do, but
You can tell that Nico has enjoyed watching the imprint (keep your ears open for Rukus & Nico’s apparently you can’t do that, it is like ‘hey, you have just
transformation which jungle has undergone from UK summer release ‘Defender2’) as a “reaction” label and got everyone into a certain sound and could you keep
underground scene to global epidemic. Like Kurtz from an “experiment”. “We were making all this good music giving it to them please.’ But I live 24 hours a day and
Apocalypse Now, Nico is a bit of a loose cannon. at the time, and because it is quite hard to put out more have more than just one kind of mood. So what should
Hotwiring the closed circuits of the Uk dub plate elite, than one record every eight weeks or so, I wanted the next No U Turn thing be? Personally I think it
Nico has taken pleasure in making sure that not just the to do a label that didn’t have any promotion at all. I should be even darker and even faster and even
top UK DJs get fresh releases first. “When I went to the wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t dub plate more reflective of the people who are into that stuff,
States, I often used to take 100 No U Turn promos over it, do mail outs or whatever. It just came out. These delivering the latest attempt at fixing you up straight
in my luggage and just hand them out randomly in were all the things DJs were asking for. They were away; one minute and you are high.”
skate shops and to DJs I met, or I would just go and sell saying to me ‘I want to keep it undercover. I don’t want
some to shops and stuff. I would do this maybe the people to know what I’ve got. I want it early.’ But how While the sci-fi noir machine funk of No U Turn is still his
week before it was coming out in England just because can we create a situation where everyone can have it core passion, Nico reminds us that cyborg music is about
I felt there should be some American drum & bass fans early. So the idea was to release it all on the same day the symbiosis of human and machine. “I kind of think it
who can acquire and hold a No U Turn release before in the shops and so whoever goes to the shop then better when it is machine and man mixed in a lovely new
everyone else in the UK gets it.” gets it first. The first four were really dark records and way. That is the delicious one. The lovely combo of new
were dubplated, but essentially they weren’t promoted. tech and processing but with immense bits of soul, slices
It is that drug of speed, of having the freshest cuts They didn’t sell as well as No U Turn but people found of reggae and so on. Everything ever recorded loaded
earliest that hooks DJs into the narcosonic addiction it. But it didn’t make much difference. I used it as a test. into one computer for decisions to be made.”
cycles of dub plate culture. “Well, that was the feeling I’m always looking to make bad music and get it out
Either way, in 2001 No U Turn are still…
that everyone in the UK always wanted. We wanted to with the minimum amount of hassle.” masters of the ruff ride. Hang tight!
38KNOWLEDGE
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