Zero dB

zero dB have been keeping busy at the cutting edge since the release of their debut ‘Bongos, Bleeps & Basslines’ via Ninja Tune. The seminal album has now been re-released by Brighton staple Tru Thoughts in 2022 with new remixes from Scottish producer Austin Ato and bruk DJ Szajna, as well as unreleased remixes brought back to life from the co-founder of iconic duo  Kruder & Dorfmeister, Peter Kruder and Tokyo-based artist Daisuke Tanabe. zero dB have been making killer club music under various monikers, and packing out dance floors with DJ sets in some of the biggest clubs with the best sound systems out there, including Plastic People and Japan’s Club Yellow.

Released in 2003, ‘Reconstruction’ is a collection of early remixes, including one for Ubiquity’s Sa Ra Creative Partners. It showcased zero dB’s astounding talent to expertly take apart a track and inject that extra dirty bassline goodness, establishing them as a formidable remix duo. The genre-defying ‘Bongos, Bleeps and Basslines’ came three years later, unleashing a cage of subs and bass quakes alongside jazz, electro, hip hop and house rhythms – firmly pinpointing them on the dance music map. Over the next two years, zero Db asked the 27 members of the Fluid Ounce crew, plus established big hitters like Peter Kruder and Daedulus, to step up to the remix plate, offering them ‘Bongos, Bleeps and Baselines’ as inspiration. The resulting album, ‘Heavyweight Gringos’ was released in 2008. 

Their ‘One-Offs, Remixes and B Sides’ compilation on Tru Thoughts has become an essential listen, not just for existing fans of zero dB’s unique concoction of Latin heat, jazz colour, startling beats and pure bassline filth, but for anyone who has been remotely moved by dance music in the last half-decade. Off the back of a big sync for Seat Leon, 2019 saw the re-release of zero dB’s tantalising dancefloor hit ‘Party Girl’ via Tru Thoughts, with remixes from drum and bass boss Fixate, and broken beat and jungle pioneer Marc Mac (4hero / Reinforced Records).