Biography
Boston-based DJ and electronic producer Dev/Null first attracted attention through his hyper-complex breakcore work, notably on the 2007 album Lazer Thrash, before redirecting his focus toward early jungle and breakbeat hardcore. He emerged as one of North America’s leading experts on those styles and played a key role in renewing interest in them. Through his site Blog to the Oldskool he brought long-unavailable recordings back into circulation while also posting numerous mixes, both his own and those by fellow selectors including Tim Reaper. His label 8205 Recordings later pressed previously unheard material onto vinyl. In addition he created darkside jungle tracks that surfaced on compilations as well as on his own 2020 album Pocket Selector.
Pete Cassin began amassing records in the early 1990s, drawn at first to abrasive styles such as grindcore, crust punk, and noise; he later performed on drums with the bands Grief and Fate of Icarus. Mid-decade he discovered jungle and drum’n’bass, then embraced breakcore as the genre took shape toward the end of the decade, appreciating its density and drive. He started crafting densely layered tracks that wove together his varied influences, among them oldskool rave, video-game soundtracks, vintage horror scores, and jazz fusion. His debut vinyl EP, E-Boyz Revenge: 230 BPM Eternal, appeared on the Tigerbeat6 subsidiary Violent Turd in 2004; he supplied further tracks to compilations and performed across the United States, Europe, and Japan. The full-length Lazer Thrash followed on Jason Forrest’s Cock Rock Disco imprint in 2007, succeeded a year later by the more grindcore-oriented digital release Necrobestial Sadobreaks.
During the peak of the music-blog period Cassin launched Blog to the Oldskool to circulate rare jungle and hardcore pressings from his collection. He stepped away from breakcore production after one last EP in the style, 2010’s Shards of Rhythm, and concentrated instead on collecting and DJing oldskool hardcore. He hosted a bi-weekly online radio show tied to the blog, eventually alongside U.K. producer and DJ Tim Reaper. As interest in these sounds rekindled throughout the 2010s, several previously obscure cuts featured on the site gained cult status. In 2014 Cassin founded 8205 Recordings to issue vintage dubplate-only tracks and material that had existed solely on private DAT tapes. He also collaborated on tracks for Dwarde and Tim Reaper’s Simpsons-themed Globex Corp EP series, and his album Pocket Selector—jungle pieces produced on a Pocket Operator micro-sampler—was released by Modern Urban Jazz in 2020.
Pete Cassin began amassing records in the early 1990s, drawn at first to abrasive styles such as grindcore, crust punk, and noise; he later performed on drums with the bands Grief and Fate of Icarus. Mid-decade he discovered jungle and drum’n’bass, then embraced breakcore as the genre took shape toward the end of the decade, appreciating its density and drive. He started crafting densely layered tracks that wove together his varied influences, among them oldskool rave, video-game soundtracks, vintage horror scores, and jazz fusion. His debut vinyl EP, E-Boyz Revenge: 230 BPM Eternal, appeared on the Tigerbeat6 subsidiary Violent Turd in 2004; he supplied further tracks to compilations and performed across the United States, Europe, and Japan. The full-length Lazer Thrash followed on Jason Forrest’s Cock Rock Disco imprint in 2007, succeeded a year later by the more grindcore-oriented digital release Necrobestial Sadobreaks.
During the peak of the music-blog period Cassin launched Blog to the Oldskool to circulate rare jungle and hardcore pressings from his collection. He stepped away from breakcore production after one last EP in the style, 2010’s Shards of Rhythm, and concentrated instead on collecting and DJing oldskool hardcore. He hosted a bi-weekly online radio show tied to the blog, eventually alongside U.K. producer and DJ Tim Reaper. As interest in these sounds rekindled throughout the 2010s, several previously obscure cuts featured on the site gained cult status. In 2014 Cassin founded 8205 Recordings to issue vintage dubplate-only tracks and material that had existed solely on private DAT tapes. He also collaborated on tracks for Dwarde and Tim Reaper’s Simpsons-themed Globex Corp EP series, and his album Pocket Selector—jungle pieces produced on a Pocket Operator micro-sampler—was released by Modern Urban Jazz in 2020.
Albums
Singles
