Tape B

I think we can safely say, without too much presumptuousness, that sleepy towns in the northern part of Yorkshire don’t generally tend to be known for turning out cutting-edge electronic musicians at any kind of prolific rate, but that does little to change the fact that the town of Wheldrake managed at least one with Rusko; he’s been one of the UK dubstep scene’s most interesting and colorful characters over the past ten years. He started making music in 2006 after graduating from the Leeds College of Music, and quickly moved south to London, where he became involved with the dance label Sub Soldiers. It was through his work with that imprint that he came to be associated with fellow dubstep producer Caspa, and his first full-length release was a collaboration with his contemporary, entitled FabricLive.37.

Since then, he’s turned out two further solo albums of his own; the painfully-titled “O.M.G!” (if you think that’s bad, check out the album art) dropped in May of 2010 and introduced Mercer’s erratic style to the genre proper, and when he followed it up in March of 2012 with “Songs”, he proved that he could work on his unique spin on the style without the need for high-profile collaborations; where the likes of Gucci Mane and Dirty Projectors had popped up on “O.M.G.!”, “Songs” did almost entirely without guests, instead cementing Rusko’s reputation as one of his scene’s most promising talents.