WHO THE HELL ARE

Bugz In The Attic

What's the buzz: You can hear them, can't you, scratching and scraping away at your favourite records. But don't call Rentokil, because Bugz In The Attic are here to infest your home with funky beats, and put antz in your Tommy Hilfigers. This insectoid collective, based in West London, have been divebombing the dancefloor with their ripped-up remixes of Macy Gray, Amp Fiddler, Amy Winehouse, 4Hero and Viktor Dupleix. An all-star cast of deckwrecking studio wizards, the Bugz are the prime movers and bootyshakers in the "broken beat" scene, a genre that's been lighting up the dancefloors in London and beyond. At the last count, there were nine Bugz: Orin "Afronaught" Walters, Paul "Seiji" Dolby, Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi, Cliff Scott, Mark Force, Matt "Thy" Lord and Mikey Stirton. Between them, they've put a sting in dance music's ongoing tale, with a combination of old-skool funk sensibility, drum 'n' bass dialectic, and brand-nu broken beats.

Tribal quest: Not sure when the Bugz first hatched out, but right now they're all over the place, and their influence can be heard in many of the new soul sounds coming up from the streets. Their origins may be shrouded in mystery, but there's no secret to their successful formula, which is to take that dead parrot called dance music and put 50,000 volts through it. Like knights of the round turntable, the Bugz are on a crusade to make music funky again, and each member brings his own experience and expertise to the party. Whether it's hosting the legendary Co-Op club night at London's Plastic People, running their own label (Bittasweet) or contributing to the Phuturistic Dancin' anthologies and Fabriclive mix discs, Bugz In The Attic sure do get around.

Beetle juice: The Bugz have pulled many of their major remixes together on a brand-new compilation, Got The Bug, on which they scuttle through Amira's My Desire, Macy Gray's When I See You, Vikter Duplaix's Looking For Love and Jazzanova's Mwela, Mwela (Here I Am). And they're spreading their antennae even wider with the release of new single, Booty La La, featuring vocals by M'pho and Bembé Sequé. Worldwide wundkerkind Gilles Peterson has made it his single of the year for 2004, and the tune, described as Parliament-Funkadelic meets Basement Jaxx, is set to get 2005 kicked off with a bootylicious bang.

Bugged Out: The Bugz will be breaking out of the attic and doing some DJ sets, special appearances and live shows in 2005, including Australia's Good Vibrations festival in February. And the Bugz In The Attic Remixes are just a taster for the collective's full studio album which, you can bet, will feature a whole swarm of superstar collaborators.