Artist profile · Drum & bass
Operate
Deep in the music.
Closer to the artist.
Operate is a drum and bass producer whose Overview records move between dark minimal tracks, liquid songwriting and the jump-up roots of his early work.
Behind the music
About Operate.
Operate makes drum and bass that follows the mood of the session. Dark, minimal tracks sit alongside liquid productions, with traces of the jump-up that first brought him into the scene. He has described getting bored when he works in one style for too long, preferring to learn something from each change of direction.
His early productions were more firmly jump-up, but a break from that approach gave him time to develop a different sound. Releases and collaborations connected him with Hospital Records, Shogun Audio and Overview Music, including work with T95, Monrroe and Rizzle.
The LSD EP for Overview in 2021 gathered several sides of his writing. The title track kept some jump-up energy, 2FACE drew on darker, dissonant ideas, and Notions paired him with vocalist Javeon. Degs and Duskee joined him on Diamonds, a brighter track written as lockdown restrictions began easing.
Metal, grunge and the atmosphere of late-2000s dubstep also influence the music. They surface in unsettling melodies and atmospheric intros. The EP lets those different impulses sit alongside each other.
Artist styles
Source-reviewed associations with parts of this artist’s work. Individual releases may differ.
Deep / Minimal
High confidence · Original dark minimal strand, explicitly including 2FACE (2021)
Liquid
High confidence · Original liquid writing including Notions with Javeon (2021)
Jump Up
High confidence · Early original catalogue; retained influence in LSD (2021), historical scope