“DJ Pipes and Ross Orton are two of my biggest musical inspirations/heroes. This is a secret dream come true" - Toddla T 

When Toddla T was asked if he fancied Ninja Tune commissioning producers for a remix album of Watch Me Dance he had a much better idea. He asked two legends of the Sheffield underground music scene – Ross Orton and DJ Pipes to agitate, smash and rebuild his album in the manner of the scene that shaped his sound. 

Toddla met Pipes when he was a wide eyed teenager working in a skate shop in Sheffield. Pipes a rough-handed bass hooligan was resident at Scuba and the infamous Kabal parties whilst masquerading as one third of the Desperate Soundsystem with Pulp’s – Cocker and Mackey. Orton and Pipes bonded with the young Master T over a shared love of Dancehall and subterranean bleeps. 

Together the pair have taken Toddla’s record and agitated it with the essence of Sheffield bass culture – running from a dub reggae take on “Fly” through a bleep-tastic version of “Take It Back” and taking in everything in between – a true Steel City re-work of the original album that goes much further and has way more coherence than a series of unrelated remixes.

The Toddla T Sound show will be on the road in the summer, as well as a new single with Shola Ama, "I'm Alive" – a very different version to the one on this album! He also now has a weekly Radio 1 show... 

Watch Me Dance: Agitated by Ross Orton & Pipes will be released 13 August on 2LP, CD and download. You can watch the video for "Body Dub" feat. Timberlee, premiered at Noisey, below.