Hardcore breakbeat dilettante
Toby Reynolds is the most successful of the several producers who've recorded EPs (and occasionally, CDs) for South London's Ambush Records. His version of impossibly dense, chaotic Amen madness is within sighting distance of DHR (Digital Hardcore), home of
Alec Empire and
Atari Teenage Riot.
Reynolds, a frequent hardcore clubgoer, had begun producing in the mid-'90s and hooked up with
DJ Aphasic (aka
Jason Skeet), and the two founded Ambush in 1997. The second Ambush release was
Aphasic and
DJ Scud's co-production EP Welcome to the Warren. By 1999, the single "Mash the Place Up" had earned reviews in NME and The Wire. In 2001, he remixed a track for
Asian Dub Foundation and released a split EP with
Panacea. The Rephlex label did vinyl-phobic listeners a favor in 2003, issuing the
Ambush! CD compilation.
–
John Bush, Rovi