Eli Brown‘s debut album Panic Attack is out now via Insomniac Records. It’s the Bristol D&B roots meeting the darker, more driving techno that he makes these days.
Brown was Xample and half of Loadstar before launching his techno project in 2016. On Badman Riddim IRAH’s vocal takes him right back to the MC led warehouse raves of his teenage years. On Damaged he allows himself a track in the catalogue that’s a little more different; a piano led piece with a more introspective feel.
In the FM PRO 10Q, Brown explains how he and Dimension managed to get the rolling breakbeats above the kick and bass on Frequency, and why he wanted Surround Me to feel like the final moments of a rave you didn’t want to leave.
Right ahead of his biggest headline show to date at LA’s City Market on 14th November he also talks about why the timing of a drop is far more important to him than actually making a special edit for the room.
I’ve tried merging it loads of times over the years with techno, and it never quite landed, but on this record, I cracked it.
— Eli Brown, on bringing drum & bass into Panic Attack
Q1. You’d been thinking about making an album for some time. What ultimately made you decide to make Panic Attack the record you wanted to make?
Honestly, it just felt like the right time. Sounds simple, I know, but that’s how I approach everything I make—I go with what feels right, and this just did.
Thing is, I’ve released loads over the years, mostly singles, and eventually I reached a point where one tune at a time wasn’t quite cutting it. Truthfully, there’s more to me as an artist than club bangers. I’ve got so much in the locker to share, and felt like it would be a disservice to not let my fans in on all of it. An album really gave me the opportunity to do that, my way.
Panic Attack is basically the full picture of who I am and where I come from: my sound, my influences, and the reasons I keep coming back to the dancefloor after all this time. In doing that, it’s also about putting a bit more of myself out there and letting people get to know me beyond just the music, which is something I’ve not done much of before. For a long time, I’ve kept my past and my present pretty separate, but this felt like the moment to finally bring them together. It all just made sense, really. That’s how I knew I was ready, and this was exactly how I wanted to do it.
Q2. What do you remember about losing yourself at that Bristol warehouse rave that you wanted to document on this album?
It’s less about one specific night, and more about the feeling those experiences gave me. You’d walk in and it was like the rest of the world just switched off. Nobody was thinking about anything except the music and whoever was around them. I was usually right at the back of the warehouse, totally lost in it. You’d be dripping with sweat and couldn’t care less, dancing from start to finish. Those are the nights you remember years on, the ones you never wanted to end…and the best of them always had this moment that I reckon really sums up the whole feeling.
The energy’s climbing, everything’s really intense, almost overwhelming for a second. But then it breaks, and it’s just nothing but total euphoria. All you want to do is hug your mates. Everyone’s in this massive moment together, and whatever you walked in with just melts away completely. It’s probably the freest I’ve ever felt, and that’s what I wanted to capture with Panic Attack—that sense of escapism you just don’t get anywhere else but the dancefloor. If the album gives even one person a bit of what those nights gave me, I’ll be happy. Job done, really.
Q3. When did Panic Attack actually click for you during the making of the record?
If I had to put a date on it, I’d say sometime in the fall of last year—but with the way I write music, it had technically started way before that. I always get my samples together before I make a single tune, so I typically end up with a massive stash to dig through. It’s a great way to pass time on a flight, but that also means some of them sit there for ages, just waiting for that right moment. So when I first embarked on this album, there were already a few bits knocking around that I knew I wanted to end up on the record.
It started to come together after a studio session with IRAH. Badman Riddim and Damaged were written around the same time and they sounded quite different from my singles. That’s when I started thinking there might be something here. Maybe an EP, maybe something bigger….but from there, everything else just sort of started falling into place. Once I got going and knew where I wanted to take the record, it naturally got really personal, which meant digging into those sounds and ideas I’d been holding onto for years. Stay Right Here is a good example. It was a rough sketch I’d never quite got right, so I’d left it for a while, but I just loved the trancey melody too much to let it go. The album was the perfect reason to pull it back out. Looking back, a lot of it had been there for a while, whether it was sat in my folders or part of my own history.
Q4. What impact did hearing the IRAH vocal on Badman Riddim have on the end product?
Oh, massive. As soon as IRAH’s vocals drop in, the whole thing just comes alive. It took me straight back to raving in Bristol as a teen, with the MC going off and the whole room going mad with him. That energy is such a big part of where I come from, so having it over what I’m making now felt like my past and present properly meeting. It gave the track its attitude, and it’s ended up being one of the most played tunes in my sets. A real full circle moment for me.
Q5. Which track gave you the most opportunity to explore the more reflective side of your sound?
Apart from going back to my roots more than I ever have before, it’s got to be Damaged. It’s built around a piano, and to me a piano’s always meant happier music. I’ve always gravitated towards darker music, so it’s not something I’d ever really gone for. Never been my thing, ha. That was a bit nerve-wracking, if I’m being totally honest. When you put out something that different, you can’t help but wonder if it’s a step too far from what people expect from you. But that’s sort of the beauty of an album. You’ve got room to show another side—in my case, one that’s a bit more introspective—and do it justice.
Q6. What did you want people to feel as Surround Me’brought the album to a close?
I wanted it to feel like the very end of one of those really good nights out I was just talking about. You’ve done the whole lot by then—the build, the chaos, the moments where it all gets intense. Then the energy shifts, everything softens a bit, and you just look around at everyone you’ve been through it with. That’s always been one of my favorite parts of a night, there’s nothing like it. You’re knackered but buzzing, and nobody wants it to end. I wanted to leave people right there in that moment, that feeling. I mean, that’s what keeps us all going back to the dancefloor, isn’t it? The music gets you there, but it’s the people and the experience you have together that make it.
Q7. When you moved from drum & bass into techno, what did you have to learn about reading a new crowd?
I suppose it was a bit of a learning curve at first, but what I figured out pretty quickly is that a crowd is a crowd. People respond to the feeling before anything else. Yes, everyone has their personal preferences, but if the energy’s right and the moment lands, they’re in it, whatever the genre might be. So for me, it’s mostly about being able to read the tension in the room and how people are reacting, keeping the flow going from one track to the next. It’s storytelling through sound.
What I’ve carried with me from drum & bass years, and all the jungle I grew up on, is that darker edge, and knowing how much those big, memorable moments matter. You know, that vocal hook or the synth line that’s stuck in your head long after the night’s over. When I’m making music, I still picture myself as that 16 year-old raver, chatting with my mates on the way home about the tunes that blew our heads off. Even now, that’s a test every track has to pass for me…and it’s not failed me yet!
Q8. FM PRO TECH On Frequency, how did you and Dimension get the kick, bass, and breakbeats to sit together in the mix?
That was a fun challenge with that one. Here’s the thing, drum & bass and techno are two totally different, very distinct beasts—from the tempo to the drums, to how the bass sits. The key to making them work is finding the right sound palette, and as someone who is rarely satisfied, that can take a while to really nail down. The kick had to own the low end, so we made sure the bass worked with it instead of against it, then carved out the beats so they sat on top and gave it that movement without swallowing everything underneath.
It also helped that Rob (Dimension) and I have been mates for over ten years now. I was, what I like to consider, one of his earlier supporters back when I was in the drum & bass scene, I played his tunes all the time in my sets, and vice versa. He’s a legend. Ultimately, we were both bringing our own perspective and sound to this track, and I reckon that’s a massive reason why it works so well. Funnily enough, we’ve never actually been in the studio together before this, so to have him be a part of my debut album meant a lot. Truth is, it’s exactly what Panic Attack’s about: mates connected by the dancefloor, and the music that brings it all together.
Q9. FM PRO TECH For the City Market show in LA, which album track would you rework for the room and what would you change in the edit?
I don’t really rework my tunes for a specific room, truth be told. I make everything with the dancefloor in mind, so the tracks themselves don’t really need to change. That said, what I never do is play the same set twice. The venue, the production, the time I’m on, and who I’m playing with all come into it. But that’s just part of being a DJ. City Market is going to be a huge, warehouse-style space for a massive crowd, so it’s calling for the bigger, heavier stuff. Now, if I had to pick a track that’s going to rile up the room, it’s got to be Badman Riddim. Absolute weapon on the dancefloor. But again, I wouldn’t really touch it. It’s more about when I drop it. I’ll take everyone on a bit of a journey first, get the room nice and locked in, and then let it erupt. Earning the moment, as I like to call it.
Q10. Which of the ideas from Panic Attack are you most keen to take forward into your next productions.
I mean, my sound’s always evolving anyway, I’d get bored otherwise, so I don’t reckon the album’s massively changed how I produce. I’m always going to make the music I want to make and, like I said at the start, it’s about what feels right to me in that moment. If anything, the big thing is I’ve finally gotten drum & bass into my tracks in a way that actually works. I’ve tried merging it loads of times over the years with techno, and it never quite landed, but on this record, I cracked it.
What it’s really taught me isn’t so much about the production, it’s about the people. Getting more personal and sharing the story behind the music has completely changed how I connect with my fans. People really want that connection with the person making the music, and it makes the music mean more to them too. It’s something that really stands out to me about this whole experience. Whenever I share a bit from my own story, like a memory from an old night out in Bristol, my inbox suddenly fills up with people doing the same. They tell me about their own experiences, their first raves, or what one of my tunes meant to them at a certain point in their life. It’s really special.
So that’s what I want to carry into whatever’s next: growing the fanbase and really connecting with them beyond just a banger drop. I’m already itching to get back in the studio, so there’s going to be lots more on the way soon, and I can’t wait to share that with everyone coming along for the ride.
©FM
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