'I think I've done quite a good job with it, it flows well...' Allow Planet Notion to elaborate: Tayo's Fabric Live album flows with the rich, inexorable progress of molten lava; the sub bass bubbles under just as stray beats splutter and bleed into new territories. Tayo's quietness about his skills might partly explain why, as one of the recognised Godfathers of the UK breaks scene and with over a decade of spinning and producing under his belt, those Fabric folk have only just asked him to step up to the Live series. Tayo's mix ransacks countless musical styles - 'It does move around a lot,' - but is also an expression of his love for another relatively new and burgeoning British genre: dubstep.

Tayo's penchant for dubwise creations informs his Live album on every track of this bass-heavy, unpredictable journey. Last year he honed his production skills, pressing up original releases and remixes on vinyl for desirable labels like Functional, Bassrock and Apple Jaxx. The man himself is a determined multi-musicalist, defending himself against some sinister tribe he calls 'The Genre Police,' and urging his listeners: 'Don't worry about the small print!' How to uncover such an insistently open DJ's current fixation? Get him to isolate just one track, the tune that really floated his boat in 2006. 'Anti War Dub', featuring Spen G, by Digital Mystikz on DMZ records,' arrives his quickfire response. Gotcha! Tayo even gives this track the pivotal role of concluding his Fabric mix; Spen G has the last word, instructing everyone 'We don’t want no fuss and no fight,' over a mellow two-step beat and ratcheting reggae effects. Could dubstep spread further to take the lion's share of the UK’s underground dance scene that breaks never quite fully snatched from drum n bass?

Hooking up with Rennie Pilgrem and Adam Freeland back in 1997 to unite around a passion for leftfield beats, Tayo and these fellow fresh producers/DJs brought breaks to Britain with their new weekly mash-up, Friction. Breakbeat became a veritable scene and Tayo found himself at the forefront of it. Next came Mob Records - the vehicle by which he would fulfil his need 'to leave a footprint somewhere' - and productions from Pilgrem, Stanton Warriors and Krafty Kuts spread globally. Breaks is one of those scenes that, as Tayo agrees, has an aura of 'cool' about it right now, but why hasn't it carved out a bigger space for itself on our native beat map? Breakbeat's players were woefully less prominent on the 2006 dance festival bills and the likelihood of a breaks tune leaping onto mainstream radio like Pendulum's evidently digestible variety of drum n bass is slim.

Tayo's theory on the perplexing 'State Of Breaks' debate is well considered. He certainly doesn't belong to the hardcore who want to keep breaks deep underground: 'Good luck to them!' First, we discuss the freewheeling, derivative nature of breaks itself, which is both its blessing and its curse in terms of the genre's crossover potential. Like a luxurious reservoir breaks imbibes eclectic genres, rolls with them, changes tack, snaps up another style and warps it. 'Yeah, it absorbs stuff. People will often hear me play a tune and ask, 'What's breaks? Is this it?' That's its strength and its weakness. But we should worry less about getting technical. The other thing is that there aren't enough fantastic tunes; breaks stays in a permanent state, while drum n bass has stone cold classics... 'Shadow Boxing,' Bad Company, LTJ Bukem, Pendulum... The Plumps have done a few but there haven't been that many.' And Tayo's beat goes on: ‘Dubstep is easier to identify than breaks, it’s at the other end of the scale where tunes are defined by their tempo - that half time thing is distinctive.' True to traditional Tayo styles, the tempo of his Fabric Live album shifts according to the influences he drops, but pure beatdriven energy is the constant.

For over seventy blistering minutes, the LP undulates about dubstep, baile funk, breakbeat and electro. Tayo's sequencing surprises all the while but some quality mixing melds this colourful selection of tunes into a coherent whole. 'Dread Cowboy' serves as the dubbed-up opener, a joint effort between Tayo and close collaborator Acid Rockers. These first three minutes almost invite you to relax; 'It's a bit slower and has different rhythms - it's my favourite in the mix.' 'Choppa Riddim' is another tune he's keen to talk about, his 'dancehally, ragga influenced' production with the illustrious Baobinga - is there one Fabric compilation where this guy hasn't made his influence felt?! 'It's still breaks and beats,' the DJ assures, 'just new rhythms.' Deekline's remix of 'Step Back' by Ursula 1000 is the second track on the list, with Sista Widey's ballsy rap upping the ante and signposting Tayo's enduring attachment to strong vocal performances. Do vocals ever get in the way of a decent track? 'No way! I love them, you can define a tune by its vocal, like when you go into a record shop, it's a lot easier to track something down when you don't have to just stand there going, 'Well, it's kind of like... da-dub dup dadub!' A vocal also brings in that human element, it stops you from getting lost in sound, all of the darkness and abstraction that some beats have.' Another stand-out track for the vocal part is the Radio Slave remix of 'Blaze N Cook' by Stereotyp and Al' Haca, with its growling dictate to turn on, tune in and get high bringing in a bassline all of its own. Still, as Tayo points out, 'It all depends on the state of the listener, of course!' The almighty Warrior Queen also lends her vocal might to Sarantis' grime stomper 'More Than Money.' Her booming, heartfelt 'Serious!' holds up well against all of the beat breaking madness, with Tayo stretching it across the next record, Skream's dub anthem, 'Lightning.' Further we are encouraged to join in with the Ragga Twins’ primal chanting as Aquasky loans them a section or two of his 'Ready For This' anthem - here it's Baobinga's mix, naturally!

Just as Tayo doesn't shy away from bold vocals, nor is he one of those breaks DJs who refuses to touch house music or gets vexed by people's confusion of the genres, owing to their similar tempos - 'Absolutely not! I play house sets on the terrace at Space every year. I just like making different records in a set make sense for those on the dancefloor. The purists can split hairs, and I'll leave the technical stuff to the genre police!' But there must be something that turns this cosmopolitan DJ off? 'Alright, I don't like trance!' he exclaims, but is eager to follow the statement up with a list of bands he is currently feeling: 'New Young Pony Club, The Rapture, Klaxons, Killers, The View, Pixies, The Cure, Bloc Party, their new stuff is excellent.' So does he believe that music is the most powerful form of expression we Earthlings have? 'Music is the most upfront, the most instant. It appeals to the senses immediately and you make up your mind about the fastest. Basslines hit you in the chest, and a melody takes instantly.' Tayo's Fabric Live 32 serves up an unwavering assault of that kind of 'chest bass' dubstep is revered for, and the second Digital Mystikz track on there, 'Neverland,' is hauntingly melodic, leading the listener into strange new territory, only for Tayo to wrench you right back with the more upbeat 'Loveage' by 'hero' Rob Smith. A ferocious bass-led melody stamps the Bassbin Twins' signature all over 'Woppa' as it shudders along. Others are hyper-percussive: baile funker Buraka Som Sistema brings varied instruments into 'Com Reispeito,' while one of the four of Tayo's own productions (this time with Undersound), 'Putaria Toda Hora,' uses syncopated keyboard horn. Exotica!

When he's playing out - London's The End and Fabric are his regular haunts - Tayo likes 'to let the records speak for themselves. You're entrusted with two hours of the crowd's time, you have to keep them! DJs like myself and DJ Hell focus on making everything sound right in the mix; he'll skip between techno and Miami bass and it works.' Is showmanship important to his live show? 'Well, let's just say I won't be standing on a speaker near you anytime soon!' What's more, unlike 'The Freestylers' one, which is mental, just the same as their DJing,' Tayo calls this a 'listening' album, one for driving, chilling - 'It's not too ravey or twisted!' Without a concept in mind, he says how 'I looked at my records and plotted a vague route with set peaks. It starts at a certain tempo, then gets deeper and darker.' And the result is thrilling. Tayo himself recognises its seminal quality: 'It's a record of where you are, my calling card. Everyone knows I love reggae, basslines... I like to link a lot of styles. It's a celebration of bass culture.' Cheers Tayo, we'll drink to that!

'FABRIC LIVE 32: TAYO' IS OUT NOW (FABRIC)

TAYO AND HIS TRACKSUIT PARTY ARE PITCHING UP AT NEWQUAY'S BEACHMBOMBING FESTIVAL ON 7 - 10 JUNE. FOR DETAILS, VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

Words: Lucy Wilson