The Bug

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Kevin Martin's work as the Bug synthesizes and detonates numerous styles including dancehall, ambient, and grime. Upon the arrival of Tapping the Conversation (1997), the Bug appeared to be a one-off concept from Martin, the prolific British producer then known for his work with <a href="spotify:artist:2rg0G4NyvLU2Q22FSXvW0Z">God</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:79LTPmVpO4ADpAmQbSanhs">Ice</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0wnipczytUzHtDCCoCWV6L">Techno Animal</a>, among other collaborative guises willfully deforming styles ranging from free jazz and hip-hop to noise and dub. Instead, the Bug soon became and remains one of Martin's primary outlets, even as his discography has expanded with <a href="spotify:artist:1VxbvYl7kJEZWVVCvqIO9M">King Midas Sound</a>, Zonal, and a slew of ambient recordings under his full name, <a href="spotify:artist:4UmR7UaeXgqjJwweJxGyZT">Kevin Richard Martin</a>. Since bending styles such as dancehall, dub techno, grime, and early dubstep on Pressure (2003), London Zoo (2008), and Angels & Devils (2014) -- each one a showcase for a vast array of vocalists -- Martin has both pared down and broadened his approach as the Bug. Concrete Desert (2017) and In Blue (2020) have respectively matched his bone-crunching rhythms and foreboding atmospheres on an intimate level with the guitar drones of <a href="spotify:artist:4mTFQE6aiehScgvreB9llC">Earth</a> and the hushed incantations of <a href="spotify:artist:7EeS5UL1zSLdOxbIDulIKC">Dis Fig</a>. The Bug returned to the guest-heavy album format with 2021's Fire, then issued the entirely solo and instrumental Machine in 2024. Allied with the Baltimore-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22WordSound%22">WordSound</a> label, Martin hatched the Bug in 1997 with Tapping the Conversation. Inspired by The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola's classic mystery thriller, Martin evoked its mood with instrumentation from some of his <a href="spotify:artist:79LTPmVpO4ADpAmQbSanhs">Ice</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2rg0G4NyvLU2Q22FSXvW0Z">God</a> associates and drum samples provided by A. Gurov (or Andre Gurov, otherwise known as <a href="spotify:artist:4vwzEW1kPK1BlgSBGrRyqZ">DJ Vadim</a>). After a battering 12" for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22FatCat%22">FatCat</a> in 1999 (previewed the previous year on a compilation for <a href="spotify:artist:0wnipczytUzHtDCCoCWV6L">Techno Animal</a> partner <a href="spotify:artist:3jxpqvEsYc7vrbihTd2F5A">Justin K. Broadrick</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Lo+Fibre%22">Lo Fibre</a> label), Martin started to use the Bug as a platform for vocalists, and with fellow producer <a href="spotify:artist:1w87Ioh9tj6JvGLAl9EQs9">the Rootsman</a> established the 7"-only Razor X label. The Bug and <a href="spotify:artist:1w87Ioh9tj6JvGLAl9EQs9">the Rootsman</a> partnered for a handful of co-billed singles, such as the He-Man-fronted "Killer," from 2001 through 2003. "Killer" set the tone for (and appeared on) the second Bug album, Pressure, issued during the latter year with <a href="spotify:artist:1V6f3JOvc36EUWcIaTBlfD">Daddy Freddy</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2z6qOkQVyn7h3XzUuNlRlM">Paul St. Hilaire</a>, and future <a href="spotify:artist:1VxbvYl7kJEZWVVCvqIO9M">King Midas Sound</a> conspirator <a href="spotify:artist:7aTVcGnRT0kjTwWKjTU3xR">Roger Robinson</a> also taking turns in the vocal booth. The LP was released in the U.K. by <a href="spotify:artist:6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG">Aphex Twin</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rephlex%22">Rephlex</a> and in the U.S. by <a href="spotify:artist:7kDf1ziRxPFtWbbZB1XmrM">Kid606</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tigerbeat6%22">Tigerbeat6</a>. Intermediary Bug singles, as well as the album Killing Sound, credited to the alternate and more explosive Bug/<a href="spotify:artist:1w87Ioh9tj6JvGLAl9EQs9">Rootsman</a> guise Razor X Productions, preceded the next Bug full-length. Consolidating a partnership with yet another artist-operated venture, <a href="spotify:artist:5wnhqlZzXIq8aO9awQO2ND">Coldcut</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ninja+Tune%22">Ninja Tune</a> label, Martin unloaded the third Bug album, London Zoo, in 2008. The likes of Warrior Queen and the Spaceape were in the mix, as were <a href="spotify:artist:0yZqTQF0ULKX2gFE6fBHXZ">Killa P</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4gpElxNt5pL515njzmZaZG">Roll Deep</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:07CimrZi5vs9iEao47TNQ4">Flowdan</a>, the voices of "Skeng," circulated beforehand on 12" through <a href="spotify:artist:5Z3GyWBvJZgJ35TS0cmXll">Kode9</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hyperdub%22">Hyperdub</a>. Following London Zoo, Martin directed more of his energy to <a href="spotify:artist:1VxbvYl7kJEZWVVCvqIO9M">King Midas Sound</a>, his comparatively dubwise group with <a href="spotify:artist:7aTVcGnRT0kjTwWKjTU3xR">Roger Robinson</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5EEjHpz83vanome84qPozd">Kiki Hitomi</a>, but he kept the Bug afloat with singles, including a trio on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Acid+Ragga%22">Acid Ragga</a>, his descriptively named <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ninja+Tune%22">Ninja Tune</a> subsidiary. The Bug's Angels & Devils, an album of distinct halves, arrived in 2014 with side one vocalists Liz Harris (aka <a href="spotify:artist:31uyAcnY0kjjKKIQZMKX4i">Grouper</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:6kl7XzoUkSIDKjUL3pjoMH">Miss Red</a> giving way to the aggressions of <a href="spotify:artist:5RADpgYLOuS2ZxDq7ggYYH">Death Grips</a>, Warrior Queen, and <a href="spotify:artist:07CimrZi5vs9iEao47TNQ4">Flowdan</a> on the second side. Exit, a supplemental double pack, was out shortly thereafter. Through the latter half of the 2010s and into the next decade, Martin continued to split time between numerous pursuits. These included <a href="spotify:artist:1VxbvYl7kJEZWVVCvqIO9M">King Midas Sound</a> (itself a project with an unpredictable evolution), outside productions (such as <a href="spotify:artist:6kl7XzoUkSIDKjUL3pjoMH">Miss Red</a>'s Murder and K.O.), collaborative releases on his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pressure%22">Pressure</a> label (like Flame 1 and <a href="spotify:artist:79DyOQ76ciPLz1QsDXufDG">Flame 2</a>, partnered with <a href="spotify:artist:0uCCBpmg6MrPb1KY2msceF">Burial</a>), and ambient explorations released under his birth name (the majority of them through another self-operated venture, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Intercranial+Recordings%22">Intercranial Recordings</a>). This period also yielded a pair of Bug LPs created in tandem. For Concrete Desert, released in 2017, Martin worked with <a href="spotify:artist:4mTFQE6aiehScgvreB9llC">Earth</a>, more specifically drone-riff master <a href="spotify:artist:1dDX5u6NxFxiGmOjbVmZ4a">Dylan Carlson</a>, fueled creatively by the writings of J.G. Ballard and the gray landscape and grimy underbelly of Los Angeles. Martin made his next move as the Bug beside <a href="spotify:artist:7EeS5UL1zSLdOxbIDulIKC">Dis Fig</a> with 2020's In Blue, a heady collision of dancehall, dub, and soul supported by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hyperdub%22">Hyperdub</a>. Fire, the third part of a triptych that began with London Zoo and Angels & Devils, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ninja+Tune%22">Ninja Tune</a> in 2021. Guests included past collaborators like <a href="spotify:artist:07CimrZi5vs9iEao47TNQ4">Flowdan</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4kANxfLenUobb7t5fHSrgA">Moor Mother</a> along with newer names like FFSYTHO and <a href="spotify:artist:4VqHq2AKycABRwXxTGVHSG">Nazamba</a>. In 2022, the Bug shared the split EP Rosin with <a href="spotify:artist:7IGPw7LhHa9rzaE2bgERnO">Al Cisneros</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:4Mt6w4tDGiPgV5q6JWPlrI">Sleep</a>. Absent Riddim, a full-length of tracks based on the same rhythm, featured collaborators such as <a href="spotify:artist:1zDrsLJJfYel0jJruLe4Yp">Dälek</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:54T6Gso8zGPk4czyWlnUw5">Jaimie Branch</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0p9SsqmppyP3CY3Rp78opc">Mark Stewart</a>. The Bug began releasing the Machine series of instrumental EPs in early 2023, and five volumes appeared before highlights were chosen and released as the Machine full-length in 2024. The full five volumes were also issued as the compilation Machines I-V. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi