Mala is one half of Digital Mystikz, South London’s finest purveyors of meditational bass weight. Pioneers of the city’s dubstep scene as producers and DJs, as well as label owners and promoters, Digital Mystikz unleashed a concentration of dubwise vibrations and junglistic rawness beginning in the early ’00s that helped shape their scene into a worldwide phenomenon. Their label, DMZ, quickly became a flagship of the sound, attracting fans among London institution Soul Jazz and Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label. As for their self-titled label night at Third Base and then Mass in Brixton, it was where spiritual explorers from across the world came to experience a true London sound.

In his lecture at the 2008 Red Bull Music Academy, Mala retraced his steps across the city’s sonic landscape, joining dots from dub to jungle and humbly explaining his own place within it.