Where were you in 2009?

We know exactly where we were… Setting the foundations for a brand that has taken over our lives and characterised our musical framework for almost an entire decade. The mission was simple: to find and support the most exciting acts emerging in the new wave of bass music at the time. That mission, now set over three channels, remains the same today.

Nine years, 2500+ uploads, 500+ artists, 20+ albums, 100+ parties in over 20 countries later: we’re still just as excited and motivated by the ever-accelerating, mutating and evolving shape of bass music. If not more.

To celebrate our anniversary we’ve asked nine of the most prominent acts who’ve appeared across our channels for their own persy favourite from our network. From Cookie Monsta getting headlocked by a bouncer for rewinding Emalkay to Camo & Krooked and Noisia both totally coincidentally picking the same tune via some classic teenage memories from Virtual Riot, they’ve picked a perfect cross-section of the vibes we’ve been supporting since day one. Enjoy!

 

Camo & Krooked

Favourite upload: Noisia (feat Foreign Beggars) – Shellshock

“Noisia have always been one of our favourite D&B producers and with this video they showed that not only their production and sound design is ahead of their time, even their music-video is next level! One of the highest quality sound and video production that stood the test of time, obviously hosted by UKF, one of the biggest connection between D&B music and the fans for already nine years! Happy Birthday!”

 

Cookie Monsta

Favourite upload: Emalkay – When I look At You

“I was once in Manchester DJing with Borgore. He played it and I instantly wheeled the tune. A massive tank of a bouncer come ploughing through the crowd and got me in a headlock then Borgore got on the mic and said ‘stop! He’s one of the DJs!’ Shit was legendary just like the tune! P.S. Fuck the bouncers.”

 

Eptic

Favourite upload: Plan B – Love Goes Down (Doctor P Remix)

“This is my favourite upload because it’s simply one of my favourite electronic songs of all time. I’ve looked up to Doctor P since I started producing but this is one of those tunes that genuinely pisses me off because I’m jealous I didn’t write it myself. It’s the perfect balance between heavy and melodic, and that ‘happy hardcore’ like build-up is pure genius.”

 

Gentlemens Club

Favourite upload: 16Bit – Dinosaurs

“16Bit were always our favourite producers, so when the video for Dinosaurs came out on UKF we were hyped! The song itself is perfect and the video just adds to it. Probably some of the best visuals we’ve ever seen and undoubtedly the best dubstep music video we’ve ever seen. R.I.P 16Bit!”

 

Hybrid Minds

Favourite upload: S.P.Y – By Your Side

“This is such an amazing track that has stood the test of time. Pure emotion on an epic scale. This song has been a massive influence to us and the kind of feelings we try to achieve with our own music. There is absolutely no doubt that this is going down as a classic. UKF has put so many artists music in-front of thousands of new listeners and we are so happy that we have been one of them. Happy Birthday UKF!”

 

Mefjus

Favourite upload: Mefjus & InsideInfo – Repentance

“One of my favourite uploads on UKF is the track Repentance I did with Paul Insideinfo. To this day I love that track and I’m super happy that UKF supported it even though it’s not a big club banger, but a deep subtle roller. I want to thank UKF for their continuous support and wish them a happy anniversary.”

 

Noisia

Favourite upload: Noisia (feat Foreign Beggars) – Shellshock

“We got an email from Pavan (Foreign Beggars), out of the blue, saying that Tony Truand (who had made the video for Contact before) had built some credits with a big French video production company and that they would let him do a music video of his choice whilst giving him all the gear and staff he needed. When he let us know he wanted to do Shellshock and showed us the initial idea we were already sold. We had an amazing time shooting this video in Paris – we got to pretend we were SWAT officers for a day, and they ended with setting the whole set on fire. Then UKF offered us their platform to show it to the world, which was awesome.”

 

SKisM

Favourite upload: Example – Kickstarts (Bar9 Remix)

“For better or worse there were A LOT of dubstep remixes of pop songs around at this time. But this one takes the cake for me. Bar9 were the kings of flipping ethereal intros into simple but devastatingly effective dancefloor drops and everything about this remix is perfect. The fact that Ministry of Sound made a (very good) standalone music video for the remix is a testament to how good this tune was and still is!”

Virtual Riot

Favourite upload: UKF Dubstep August Mix 2009

“I feel like this is the obvious one but for me my favourite UKF upload is still the Dubstep August mix from back in 2009 just because of the sheer impact this video has had on me. I used to listen to this mix countless times with my friends back in Germany while doing stupid stuff in Garrys Mod, oh the memories.”

Massive shouts and thanks and love to every artist and label we’ve worked with and every single person who’s watched our videos, shared our music, bought our albums, read our interviews and partied with us over the last nine years. UKF would be nothing without you.

Watch out for our 10th anniversary celebrations… We have big plans!