He has made appearances at famed station Rinse, London's Fabric, and dubstep's foundational club, Forward>> all in the span of 18 months. Such is his hype, he's currently having to turn down remixes and keep music off air because "things end up on YouTube within an hour or being on radio."
Speaking of his mysterious guise “live performance and music in general these days seems to be about the celebrity of it. Something I'm not into. The music I make is slightly unexpected and the mask is part of that idea. I'm really into old cultures and new, also my background has roots globally. Its inspired the way I conceptually write music, and in the end it’s just the visual identity of that. Everyone knows what SBTRKT looks like and that's enough, I just want people to focus on the music, not on where I grew up or what I ate for lunch!
Celebrated by the likes of the BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, Mary Anne Hobbs, Rob Da Bank, Mistajam, Benji B and Gilles Peterson and fellow DJs Toddla T and Sinden, who says that SBTRKT is “one of my favourite artists this year ... Seriously this guy is a mega talent and one for the future and ruling my Kiss show since the turn of the year. He keeps blowing my mind, not just with his dubstep output but all the other music he's producing.”
This July he releases his self-titled debut LP. Its first single Wildfire swims out of production bathed in UK garage and post-dubstep waters, with Swedish electro-pop troupe Little Dragon guesting. Bursting with fresh ideas, and yet sounding immediately familiar, the sound-patterns and rhythms can easily soundtrack the ecstatic hands in the air dance floor moments as well as reliving the monotony of the morning commute. Its influences are incorporated with subtlety and sophistication: dense enough to interpret, light enough to dance to. House, dubstep, techno, funk and soul - it's all here - but twisted and turned the only way SBTRKT knows how. The album is full of absolute moments and is sure to soundtrack many a night out, in and everything in between from here on in.
It’s set to be a busy 2011 for SBTRKT, performing at some of Europe’s biggest festivals throughout the Northern summer including Roskilde, Fuji Rock, Global Gathering, Field Day, Bestival, Reading and Leeds.