London-based Irish producer Bruk Rogers is back with his 2nd solo single on Tru Thoughts, venturing deeper into the bruk universe. While getting ready for a full album we're zooming in on his recent output, and premiering a brand-new tune that will come out next week.
Cian McCann aka Zero T aka Zero Tolerance has been a consistent name in the drum & bass/jungle scene since the early 2000s. Some of his tunes got licensed to 4hero's legendary Reinforced Records. This was also the time he frequently visited the iconic broken beat night called CoOp, which was the home of this sound that grew into a movement. Since all those UK-born sounds are cousins, it only makes sense that Cian would experiment with it at some point. When he played a set for the virtual version of Gilles Peterson's We Out Here Festival in 2021, he decided to play a set filled with broken beat heat. That inspired him to start playing around with it and finally make some bruk himself. One thing led to another, and Bruk Rogers was born. The name is inspired by a late 70s science fiction series called 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', hence the intergalactic references in his visuals, titles and social media posts.
The first EP under this moniker came out in March 2022 and is called Off Planet, released on original Bugz In The Attic founder Afronaut and Mark Force's CoOperation Records imprint. The 4-track EP got received pretty well and all bruk aficionados wanted to hear more of the man's venture into this sound. Thankfully it only took a few months before he appeared on another remix, this time around he flipped 'One For Misho' of the future classic self-titled Turbulance project by Kid Sublime, Bjazz11, and Mishulino. Learn more about it here.
In 2022 he remixed a track by the Nottingham-based duo MELONYX called 'Ujjayi', which came out on the Shapes: Spectrum compilation on Tru Thoughts. The Brighton-based label has been dropping a lot of great releases recently. With artists like WheelUP, Rebecca Vasmant, Kuna Maze, and Afronaut himself they've been one of the go-to labels for this sound.
2022 was definitely the year that put the Bruk Rogers alter ego on the map because in November he released the single 'LDN 303'. This track brought together inspiration from Detroit (303 is the area code), and London (LDN). The slightly darker aesthetic seems to be the perfect balance between Cian's past and the future.
On his next single 'Style' Rogers explores deep synth pads, sound system-like bass lines, a few occasional bleeps, and returning vocal samples echoing throughout. Something that would be right at home during the infamous Notting Hill Carnival in the summer.
“It’s cheeky, dark, funny and deep at various points in its sonic journey”. - Bruk Rogers
Both 'LDN 303' and 'Style' will be part of the forthcoming album which shall soon arrive in our universe. No date is set yet, but we're keepin' an eye and ear out for this one!
'Style' will be released via Tru Thoughts on February 21st.
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