Classic Album: Noisia, Split The Atom

Vision/Division, 2010

After exploding onto the D&B scene with a string of devastating singles and a savage FabricLive mix, Noisia kept the shockwaves going with their debut album, Split The Atom. The trio of Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen, and Thijs de Vlieger effortlessly mixed skull-steppin’ jungle, fierce breakbeat science, and a new style called dubstep, into the perfect showcase for their super-clinical production values, and marked themselves out as a distinctive new force in electronic music.

“We wanted to show what we could do,” says Roos. “And we wanted to prove that artistically, we were more than the tunes we were known for at the time. Between the three of us, we wanted to mix up all the things we liked and, as a whole, for it to be a good representation of what we were about and what set us apart from the rest. There are nods to the drum & bass scene of that time in there – specifically the 2000-era neurofunk sound. As well as touches of people like Justice, Amon Tobin, Tipper, The Prodigy, Opgezwolle, some ’90s hip-hop, video game soundtracks and movie scores.”

The result was a pure blast of sonic warfare and over the course of its 19 tracks the album cemented ‘That Noisia Sound’. Like their heroes, The Prodigy, the resulting fusion was a genre unto itself. Tracks like the frenzied Alpha Centauri quickened the pulse with its punishing breaks, while the titular Split The Atom shocked and amazed as it thundered along like a mutant house record hopped up on beefcake pills.

Noisia weren’t here to fit in. They lived in their own little world, isolated in the studio, tucked away in their native Boterdiep in Groningen. They were their own law, and who cared if they broke all the rules along the way? “There are always purists, and that’s fine,” adds de Vlieger. “We expected a little ‘haterade’. But we wanted to try to reach a broader audience, and we wanted to show some diversity to the D&B scene.”

Noisia continue to tour. Their latest album, Outer Edges, is also getting the remix treatment, featuring takes by Bassnectar, Ivy Lab, Machinedrum, Amon Tobin, Camo & Krooked, Mat Zo, and more.