Rob Ellis, better known as Pinch, is a British

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

artist from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

, England, noted for his fusion of styles such as

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

, World music, and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Ro ...

with dubstep. He released his first album, ''Underwater Dancehall'' in 2007, on Tectonic, which he founded. One of Pinch's most well-known tracks is "Qawwali", released on

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an eclectic English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance ...

records, which references the devotional singing of the same name, and featured samples of

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

and singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His songs appear on compilations such as ''Box of Dub: Dubstep and Future Dub 2'' ( Soul Jazz Records), ''Science Faction: Dubstep'' ( Breakbeat Science Recordings), ''10 Tons Heavy'' (

) and ''200'' (Planet Mu). More recently, he has moved away from dubstep towards the UK bass scene, working with producers such as Mumdance and Adrian Sherwood.

Early life

Ellis was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

but moved to

Newport, Wales Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest ...

at age 6 where he grew up until settling at nearby Bristol as an adult. As a child his interest in music was influenced by his older brother who made him tapes of

Dub music Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican r ...

Discography

Studio albums

*''Underwater Dancehall''

2CD The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

: Tectonic TECCD003, 2007 *''

Pinch & Shackleton ''Pinch & Shackleton'' is a 2011 album by Pinch and Shackleton. Critical reception At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Pinch & Shackleton'' received an average score of 84, base ...

'' LP: Honest Jon's Records – with Shackleton, 2011 *''Late Night Endless (with Sherwood)'': Tectonic, 2015 *''Man Vs Sofa (with Sherwood)'': On-U Sound/Tectonics 2017 *''Reality Tunnels:'' Tectonic, 2020

EPs and singles

*''War Dub/Alien Tongue'' 12": Tectonic TEC001, 2005 *''Punisher'' 12"/Digital:

ZIQ163, 2006 *''Punisher (remixes)'' 12"/Digital: Planet Mu ZIQ163R, 2006 *''Qawwali'' 12"/Digital: Planet Mu ZIQ133, 2006 *''One Blood, One Source/Trauma'' 12"/Digital: ''(limited edition album

sampler Sampler may refer to: * Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal * Sampler (needlework), a handstitched piece of embroidery used to demonstrate skill in needlework * Sampler (surna ...

)'' - Tectonic TEC017, 2007 *''Pepper Spray/Cave Dream'' 12"/Digital: Planet Mu ZIQ196, 2007 *''Chamber Dub'' 12"/Digital: Soul Jazz Records SJR 187–12, 2008 *''Dr Carlson/136 Trek'' 12"/Digital: Punch Drunk DRUNK 007, 2008 *''Croydon House/Elements'' 12":

Swamp 81 A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

SWAMP 007, 2011 *''Swish/Tunnel Home'' 12"/Digital: Deep Medi, 2011 *''Retribution/Get Out Of Here'' 12"/Digital: Swamp 81, 2011 *''Acid Reign/M25FM (with Photek)'' 12"/Digital: Photek Productions, 2012 *''Shoulda Rolla'' (with Roska) Tectonic : 12"/Digital, 2013 *'' Bring Me Weed'' (with Sherwood) On-U Sound: 12"/CD/Digital, 2013 *'' Music Killer'' (with Sherwood) On-U Sound : 12"/CD/Digital, 2013 *'' Turbo Mitzi/Whiplash (with Mumdance)'' Tectonic : 12"/Digital, 2914 *'' Obsession (The Possession)'' Tectonic : 12"/Digital, 2014 *'' Down'' Cold Recordings : 12", 2014 *'' Big Slug/Lucid Dreaming (with Mumdance) '' Tectonic: 12"/Digital, 2015 *'' Stand Strong (with Sherwood) '' Tectonic : CD, 2015 *'' Screamer/ No Justice'' Tectonic : 12"/Digital, 2016

Compilation albums

*''

FabricLive.61 ''FabricLive.61'' is a 2012 DJ mix album by Pinch. The album was released as part of the FabricLive Mix Series. The mix signalled a shift away from Pinch's earlier dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in S ...

'': Fabric, 2012

References

External links

Underwater Dancehall Review at Dusted MagazinePinch at DiscogsPromo Video for FABRICLIVE 61: Pinch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinch British electronic musicians Dubstep musicians 1980 births Living people Musicians from Bristol Planet Mu artists Scottish electronic musicians DJs from Bristol