Kemal and Rob Data

Kemal and Rob Data are a Scottish musical duo, producers and DJ who specialized in drum and bass music. Between 1999 and 2002 they released a great volume of techno drum and bass material. They recorded together as Konflict from 1999 to 2000.

Kemal had started his career DJ'ing in the underground techno scene of Glasgow in 1994, moving into drum and bass and studio production in 1997.

Hailing from Glasgow, the two producers have a strong Techno influence in their music. With releases on labels such as Renegade Hardware (where they were signed under the name Konflict), Outbreak, Moving Shadow, Underfire Recordings, Audio Blueprint and their own short-lived Negative Recordings, their reputation as producers has preceded them far and wide. Their tracks are considered by to be among the greatest examples of the drum and bass sub-genres known as Techstep and Neurofunk.

In the wake of (and perhaps precipitated by) the huge success and rumours of financial displeasure surrounding their 2000 release "Messiah" (Renegade Hardware), Kemal and Rob Data left the label and the Konflict name behind, opting to go under their existing identities as Kemal & Rob Data. It is worth noting that though Kemal amassed a great deal of solo work as well as producing with Rob Data, he also has production credits alongside such artists as Dom & Roland, Technical Itch, Paul Reset, Black Sun Empire and Dresden Codex. Rob Data, for reasons unknown, has only ever produced with Kemal. In 2002 Rob quit DJing and production.

After the 2001 closing of Negative Recordings, Kemal launched Cryptic Audio; a label which has seen four releases in the space of three years, as well as spawning a short-lived live stage show.

In 2004, Kemal returned to his studies, only emerging for the occasional DJ set and to collaborate with Black Sun Empire on "Stranded" v1.0 & v2.0 (oBSEssions Recordings).

Progressively, Kemal moved away from the mainstream electronic scene and began to find inspiration in the diversity of the World music genre. He joined Nomad'iqa in June 2004.

In 2005, Dutch trio Noisia and UK producer Spor remixed Konflict's biggest hit, "Messiah," for Renegade Hardware.

In 2006, Rob Data briefly returned to the Glasgow DJ circuit as an occasional guest at the now defunct Scottish Drum & Bass Sessions, an event loosely affiliated with ScottishDrumandBass.com -- though it is rumoured his style now encompasses a far broader spectrum than Drum & Bass.

Kemal has been indirectly (and possibly mis-) quoted as refusing to return to drum & bass while the scene remains in its current state, which may or may not be tied to an incident involving Clayton (founder and CEO of the Renegade Hardware label) over control of their hit tune "Messiah," during which Clayton, of his own admission in an interview on the Dogs On Acid forum, purportedly forced compliance to his ownership of the song by way of "street methods".

Examples of music[edit]

References[edit]

Kemal and Rob Data, profile at Industry Recordings

External links[edit]