Cloud 9

Chopping breakbeats like some fierce demon swordsman Gavin Cheung drops tunes as Cloud 9, Nookie an on his own Daddy Armshouse label. It's different names for different styles. Where Armshouse focused on the jungle, Cheung leads the field in generating grins, happiness and full-on dancefloor mania as Nookie. Check one of his Nookie tracks and you'll just get blasted with the manic twist as happy hardcore takes on the lost sound of stupid fresh. You kind of know the score as rushing pianos and vocals screech over breaks, but he slices like a serial killer and backs the beast with a sly kickdrum. "Music is a state of mind the way I see it," argues Cheung, "and whatever you're feeling you reflect into music." Translating his vibes into digital mesh he saves the uplifting stuff for Nookie and sends the melancholic, maniacal and mad into his Cloud 9 persona. It's here he plays with subtle chord progressions, layers strings and gives the raging sound a hypnotic taste of technofied breaks. He's been making music for five years, and started out cutting hip hop remixes for the likes of Cutty Ranks and Ninjaman with production outfit Main Attraction. Running solo he dived into hardcore and has stuck fast to a groove of fierce rhythm and wildass bass. "I like the energy of it," he says, "the pace of it, and I can't see it dying out." Sending percussion rattling down your spine into infinity and rolling chopdrums into the abyss Nookie strives for a sonic immortality that few believe his music can achieve. But then no one expected hardcore in the first place, did they ? Watch this dude 'cos you never know.