Live from London - Sin City, Plan B

J Da Flex & El-B

Ghost, London

For over a decade J Da Flex has been active in the UK underground. Stints in Soho record stores and on pirate stations saw J become part of the London thing in the late '90s. Once schooled in the necessaries, he soaked up influences in the emerging, darker sounding UK garage, mingling with the key players: Steve Gurley, Zed Bias, and Noodles. Alongside Burial's favourite El-B, J was part of the infamous Ghost Recordings. With their fresh 2-step sound and distinct logo of a Pacman ghost gone nasty, Ghost built up a cult following and are deemed integral to the birth of dubstep. Taking his music beyond clubs and record stores, for three years J held down a show on BBC 1Xtra, Underground Knowledge, gaining an invitation by the late great John Peel to showcase his sounds on BBC Radio 1. Personable and focused, J remains a popular character in the scene, and in 2010, Ghost are busy once again, linking with El-B and his Nu Levels collabo with Burial plus a host of known and not-so-known producers. Speaking of El-B: programming drums that a host of today's producers in dubstep cite as the benchmark and being one half of the powerful Groove Chronicles, he has become a cult figure on the London underground. B's ability to shape drum'n'bass ideas and heaviness into majestic garage tracks has influenced many an emerging bedroom producer. Burial was one such inspired teenager, longing to find a way of recreating the super hard dark garage hits of Ghost Recordings' main man. Here J and El-B flex their sonic muscles back-to-back at Brixton's Plan B. Stone cold.