What if the key to electronic music production lies in a single, forgotten word: fun?<\/p>\n
Flux Pavilion<\/a> and Doctor P<\/a>\u00a0are bringing mischief back to the music, and they’re not playing by the numbers.\u00a0After two decades of collaboration, the British dubstep pioneers are finally releasing an album, which serves as both a time capsule of their teenage jams and a middle finger to the data-driven dourness creeping into today’s scene.<\/p>\n Wobble meets whimsy in the duo’s self-titled album, out now to align with their long-awaited return to Miami’s storied Ultra Music Festival.\u00a0A technicolor burst of bass-heavy brilliance, it shrugs off the shackles of streaming metrics to prioritize one core principle: fun.<\/p>\n The album smiles and snarls, fighting back against the Spotifyfication of dubstep. Speaking with Flux Pavilion and Doctor P, whose real names are Josh Steele and Shaun Brockhurst respectively, it’s clear they’ve tapped into a creative vein that’s as refreshing as it is rebellious\u2014a throwback to the genre’s wilder, less self-conscious days.<\/p>\n Dubstep is far from dying, despite its detractors continuing to waste their breath arguing otherwise. In fact, it’s evolving, according to Steele and Brockhurst, two mates who still love the game as much as they did when they were blowing out cheap speakers in their parents’ basements 23 years ago.<\/p>\n Not-so-subtle nods to their past anchor the album’s ethos: this isn’t just who they are now, but who they’ve always been. That depth comes through in their sound design, a fascinating exercise in irreverent storytelling that weaves both drama and humor without tipping into parody. It’s a balancing act they’ve honed despite industry pressures to pick a lane\u2014serious or silly.<\/p>\n We caught up with the influential founders of Circus Records to discuss the creative direction of their new album, and how they channeled their past to recapture the spontaneity and wild spirit of early dubstep. You can listen to\u00a0Doctor P & Flux Pavilion <\/em>below.<\/p>\n EDM.com:\u00a0You mentioned that this album encapsulates not just who you are now, but who you’ve been your entire lives. What’s a moment from your early years that directly influenced a track on this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n Doctor P:<\/strong> One of the first tracks we wrote for the album was “Turbo Time.” When Josh sent me the original demo I was instantly reminded of a song called “Plain Chocolate” that we made together when we were teenagers. The funky saxophone riff is very similar and it made me smile when I heard it.\u00a0I think that moment of remembering “Plain Chocolate” probably caused me to start taking more influence from our early music together.<\/p>\n Flux Pavilion:<\/strong> At that point in the album writing process we were just writing lots of simple demos and we had no idea what the album would end up becoming.<\/p>\n EDM.com: You\u2019ve been working together for over 20 years. If you had to pick one track on the album that perfectly embodies the essence of Flux Pavilion and Doctor P\u2014past, present and future\u2014which one would it be and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Doctor P: <\/strong>I think “Feel Good Ltd” is quite a good representation of us, even though it doesn’t necessarily sound exactly like anything we\u2019ve done before. It\u2019s packed full of sounds and grooves that feel very us and it came together relatively quickly and easily, which is always a sign that a song has arrived quite organically.<\/p>\n Flux Pavilion: <\/strong>The fact that it has a self-indulgent guitar solo really makes it stand out as a completely uncompromising Flux Pavilion and Doctor P track.<\/p>\n