DVA

Leon Smart operates under the alternate monikers DVA and Scratcha DVA and ranks among the leading voices in the British bass music community. His catalog includes multiple outings on Hyperdub and Keysound as well as on the DVA Music imprint he founded himself. Whether crafting abrasive grime bangers or bright, buoyant U.K. funky cuts, his productions remain consistently original and forward-thinking. Beyond studio work he maintains a strong reputation as a DJ and has served for many years as a presenter on the London dance station Rinse FM.

He first entered music via the drum’n’bass circuit before turning to U.K. garage productions under the name Scratcher during the early 2000s. Together with Kobie he formed the grime duo Diverse Artz, whose white-label 12-inch “Kurb Krawl” became the inaugural release on DVA Music in 2003. He was also a member of the grime collective Aftershock and launched the Grimey Breakfast program on Rinse FM around 2005. After supplying tracks for MCs including Wiley, Durrty Goodz and Chipmunk and assembling the 2006 compilation The Voice of Grime, Vol. 1, DVA moved into solo releases toward the close of the decade. Garage outings “I’m Leaving” and The Jelly Roll EP appeared on DVA Music, while the grime single “Bullet A’ Go Fly” came out on Keysound; his first Hyperdub record, “Natty,” arrived in 2010. He also teamed with labelmate Cooly G for the DVA Music release Dis Boy.

Later Hyperdub material shifted toward broken beat and future soul, spotlighting vocalists such as Fatima and Viktor Duplaix. The singles “Just Vybe” and “Madness” preceded the vocal-oriented album Pretty Ugly, which surfaced in March 2012. That year also brought the more club-oriented Fly Juice EP, followed in 2013 by Mad Hatter, which included a remix from Chicago footwork originator DJ Rashad. Both EPs were later gathered onto a single CD that added bonus remixes. After stepping down from Grimey Breakfast in early 2012, DVA began hosting a monthly Hyperdub show on Rinse FM that regularly featured guests from the label roster. Limited 10-inch EPs Allyallrecords (2015) and Take It All (2016) appeared on the imprint, after which he issued the more experimental album NOTU_URONLINEU under the name DVA [Hi:Emotions].