24-year-old Sheffield scamp Tom Bell, known to the music world as Toddla T, has become the latest DJ to compile a mix for the illustrious FabricLive CD series.

 

The young beatsmith has had a near-astronomical rise to fame over the last couple of years that has seen him work with the likes of Roots Manuva and Tinchy Stryder, remix Hot Chip and Esser and culminated in the release of his debut album, 'Skanky Skanky' on prodigious indie label 1965 Records in May of this year. However, he has no intentions of resting on his laurels just yet.

 

Since getting into hip hop as a young teenager, Bell has glutted himself on all the bass he can, listening to anything he could get his hands on, from dancehall to electro, from garage to jungle. Both his production and his DJing are an amalgamation of all these styles, although largely taking their cue from dancehall and ragga. For Bell it is all about "the wiggle, the groove".

 

The new FabricLive mix is a good representation of his musical manifesto. The mix effortlessly, yet artfully, weaves between everything from his trademark electro-dancehall to garage, from UK funky to b-more, from dubstep to drum & bass, to form a high-energy snapshot of UK bass music today.

 

"I just wanted to get across an average set at Fabric really," explains Bell. "But I didn't want it to just be in the moment, like you hear in a club, I wanted it to be a bit more long-term than that. There are a load of blends and exclusives and stuff like that that you can't hear anywhere else, so hopefully people will want to come back to it."

 

It is fun, club music at its heart, but the craftsmanship involved, eclectic track selection and ear for a groove make it far from simple throwaway club fodder. Bell's inclusive taste makes the mix a celebration of a lot of what is good in UK underground music today.

 

"When I DJ I don't play all my own shit," he states, "sometimes I never even play a single beat. I'm a music lover before anything else, so I get more excited about other people's shit than owt else."

 

And it is as a music lover that Bell is approaching his new monthly show on Radio 1. "It has genuinely made me really excited again," he explains about the chance to listen through and showcase some of the great music he gets sent. 

 

He has also recently set up his own label, Girls Music, with Raf who signed him to 1965, as another means of spreading his own love of music. The first release on the label will be Skream's remix of 'Rebel', a track of his featuring Benjamin Zephaniah and Joe Goddard, which is featured exclusively on the mix.

 

Apart from the label and the radio show, Bell is also "slowly starting to make another record without really thinking about it." Laying the foundations for starting work on his second album, he recently flew out to Jamaica to get a load of original vocals and instrumentation.

 

"I don't know what that is going to be for, I just did that off my own back because it was something I wanted to do," he admits. This displays the enthusiasm and love for all kinds of music that is at the very core of everything Bell does. As he will freely admit, "I dunno what else I would do with myself in the day if I wasn't doing music."

 

Toddla T is clearly only just getting started.

 

Words SDJ Collenette

 

Enter our competition to WIN this Fabric CD and 12 other Fabric compilations.

 

• Toddla T
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Related Links:

• Appleblim Fabriclive Promo Mix
• Cosmin TRG FABRICLIVE Promo Mix
• Kasra Mixes FABRICLIVE 62
• Ninja Tune Sign Toddla T
• Fabric Remains Open

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