The Bug

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