b. Jace Clayton, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. DJ/rupture claims to spend 98 percent of his time producing his own tracks and working on original compositions but is predominantly known for his mix releases, Gold Teeth Thief and Minesweeper Suite. On the latter 2002 release, the Madrid, Spain-based DJ utilised around 60 records, three turntables and the opportunities of post-production tweaking to juxtapose music by Jamaican MCs and provocative female rap stars, post-rockers and iconic jazz singers, MOR balladeers and violent breakbeat artists, anti-music laptop provocateurs and recently deceased R&B superstars. Although these albums mix and match other people’s seemingly disparate a cappella vocals and instrumentals, DJ/rupture distances himself from the bootleg or ‘bastard pop’ culture which looks to nostalgia and novelty value for its kicks. Unusually, DJ/rupture’s mix collections thrill for their interference and noise as much as their perfect beat matching, giving equal footing to music from African, European, American and Arabic culture. Having relocated to Madrid in 1999, Clayton formed Soot Records, because no one else would release his music. Clayton says the label is ‘a strike against geography’, and is excited by artists who explicitly work with more than one musical tradition, especially those fluent in digital audio and indigenous traditional music. Among Soot’s discography are releases by DJ/rupture himself, Nettle, and Mutamassik. The latter is an Egyptian woman living in Brooklyn, exploring the shared resonances between Egyptian classical and street music and American hip-hop.