Detboi

Detboi, the Dublin native whose given name is Desmond McGouran, crafts an expansive spectrum of transformed British bass sounds that stretch from high-energy ragga-garage to experimental jungle abstractions. His first appearance came through a digital EP on Craig Walsh’s On the Brink label, after which he delivered additional EPs on the big beat heavyweight Skint and on Hervé’s Cheap Thrills Records; these early tracks functioned as nonstop dancefloor catalysts suited to the fidget house style then in vogue. Outside his solo output, Detboi belonged to the electro-house supergroup Machines Don't Care, which also featured Drop the Lime, Sinden, Toddla T, and further members.

Cheap Thrills issued his debut solo album, Sliding Floors, in 2010; the set moved at a somewhat reduced tempo and opened up more breathing room than his preceding singles, yet it remained a lively and inventive body of U.K. garage. A pair of party-centric Curse of the Voodoo Drums EPs appeared next, together with the aptly titled Darkside, which surfaced in 2012.

Following the release of “I Can't Take It” early in 2013, Detboi stayed quiet until August 2015, when Dusk + Blackdown’s Keysound Recordings put out Scatter. The four-track EP represented a decisive reinvention, offering midtempo deconstructed jungle that referenced classic genre traits while reassembling them in unforeseen patterns. “Patterns” surfaced later that year on Nineteen Ninety Four Records, after which Detboi signed to the legendary Metalheadz label, a major influence on his musical direction. His first release for the imprint, Joyride, arrived in June 2016; the title track was a collaboration with Goldie, the label’s co-founder. Secrets appeared in 2017 and contained some of Detboi’s most rapid drum’n'bass material to date, and another Metalheadz EP, Ice Cold, followed in early 2018.