Magnetude

Magnetude is the drum and bass partnership of Rustam Mansurov and James Peacock, whose productions place storytelling and musical detail at the centre. Their backgrounds included piano and violin, and they share an interest in the dynamics of orchestral music and film scores.

They met through Close 2 Death in 2012 and began collaborating in 2015. The Hyperdrive EP followed on Lifted Music in 2016, before releases for labels including Eatbrain, Renegade Hardware, Viper, and RAM. They later helped establish Evolution Chamber as a space for their own music and a wider group of artists.

Their 2025 single Muleta developed from Rustam’s core melody through several substantial revisions. Inspired by Spanish and Mexican music, they wanted to bring those influences into neurofunk without losing the sense of a scene unfolding. The work took around two and a half years, with the fourth version finally bringing the idea into focus.

They described listening closely to mariachi, reggaeton, and other Latin American styles while developing the track. Background details and changes in intensity were as important to their story as the central melody: the aim was to place the listener in an auditorium, watching the drama play out.