Rude Audio is a London-based production and DJ collective primarily centered around founding and core trio Mark Ratcliff, who as a solo producer and artist, has had releases played by acclaimed DJs Andrew Weatherall, Laurent Garnier, Kris Needs, Don Letts, Graeme Park and Rob da Bank, as well as BBC Radio 6’s Nemone and Gideon Coe; Owain Lloyd, who has made a career as a mixing engineer for the likes of Paul Oakenfold, Paul Weller, Niall Horan and a lengthy lists of others; and Dave “The Rave” Brennan, formerly of The End Recordings, and Bombis Records. And although each individual member of the collective’s core has an acclaimed career in their own right, the act as a whole has developed a critically applauded sound that seamlessly meshes elements of deep house, acid house, techno and dub. Additionally, they’re known for the legendary and highly-popular underground parties, including their residency at Kentish Towns’ Flaxon Ptootch, where electronic music heavyweights like The Chemical Brothers have been invited to drop by, dig deep into their record collections and playlists and play anything they want.
2016’s Rudest EP found the collective refining their sound — while still drawing from dub, the material increasingly leaned towards propulsive, club-banging house music. The acclaimed British electronic collective followed that effort up with 2018’s Rude Redux EP. Continuing a prolific and productive period for the British electronic collective, their forthcoming Street Light Interference is slated for a July 15, 2019 release through Zirkus Records. Interestingly, the album’s writing sessions found Ratcliff changing things up — inspired by the old adage about getting your head together in country, Ratcliff disappeared to the middle of nowhere for a few days, where he laid down the album’s basic tracks.
Ratcliff returned to London, where he worked with Owain Lloyd to bash the basic tracks he had laid down into shape. The duo’s mutual love of dub and left-field house and the incorporation of several shinier elements may make Street Light Interference some of the collective’s most trance-like in some time. Coincidentally, this may have been inspired by the fact that the collective’s Dave Brennan, who’s long been their voice of reason, pushing them away from their trance tendencies wasn’t around. The album also features remixes from some of the act’s favorite remixes and producers including Bedford Falls Players, Mark Cooper, Fearless Few Collective, Kitsch Kub, Valtow, Zar, and others “I had half an eye on some of the underground but outdoor summer parties proliferating in my manor when pulling together various elements on the release, although the likelihood of engaging with a blissful, sun kissed milieu in South London during July and August is less likely than engaging with a dirty rave in a damp squat, where everyone’s complaining about why we aren’t having a summer this year,” the collective’s Mark Ratcliff says in press notes.
Street Light Interference’s first single is the propulsive yet minimalist “Repeat Offender.” Centered by layers of arpeggiated synths, reverb-drenched drum machine, recalling classic dub, and a trancey vibe, the bears an uncanny resemblance to Kraftwerk and Octo Octa — but with the bracing iciness of stepping into a cool pool on a hot summer afternoon.
The recently released video follows a young boy, who internally may be one of the oldest young men you’ve ever seen, as he works a mundane office job at home. But everything isn’t as it seems. The boy finds a glowing orb, which initially confuses, then entrances and summons him before fading to black. Trippy indeed.
