When they write the history of dubstep, it'll be hard not to mention Rob Ellis, AKA Pinch, in the first few lines. As the label boss behind Tectonic, he's signed some of the genre's biggest tunes, and nurtured some of the genre's biggest talents. As the founder of the Subloaded party, he was among the first to push 100% dubstep-oriented events in his homebase of Bristol.

But it's as a DJ and producer that Ellis has truly made his mark. Hugely versatile, yet consistent enough to have an identifiable sound, Ellis has spent the past decade honing his craft and pushing the genre forward in equal measure. That careful balance looks set to continue: In the past year, he's jettisoned Fruity Loops for Logic, and will release the first non-dubstep release on Tectonic, Pursuit Grooves' Foxtrot Mannerisms. Inspiration, it seems, is coming from all sides. And most of it, as you might expect, is on dubplate.

We caught up with Ellis earlier this week to chat about the white labels that he's been playing in advance of his upcoming back-to-back set with Distance at Bloc Weekend.

Joker - Tron [forthcoming on Kapsize]

Obviously there is a lot of press attention on Joker, but I really think this is his biggest tune to date. It's an absolute monster of an anthem. Ever since I cut it, I've been playing it. I think it's perhaps a little more complex than some of the things that he's put out, but that's not what gives it the magic. It's just one of those tunes. The range of people playing it is an indication of how good it is: Kode 9, Caspa, Mala, Shy FX, Zinc, Diplo. There's not many tunes that get that many people on side of it. I'm all for things that break out of dubstep a little bit, and this does it with style and class.

Jack Sparrow - Terminal [Tectonic]

Much in the way that "Tron" is Joker's biggest tune, this one is easily Jack Sparrow's biggest tune at the moment. I love the way it combines a Shackleton-esque depth and an uplifting driving momentum. I don't think that's very easy to achieve. It lights up the dance floor, but also maintains the more tribal and deeper end of things. Obviously it reminds me of Shackleton a bit, but it also has a bit of Mala's deeper conga workouts in it as well. And even a bit of house and the Metalheadz jungle vibe. We're hoping that he'll end up doing an album for us later this year.

Mala - Education [Dubplate]

I don't think I've ever done a top 10 list without a Mala tune. Frankly, he's the king of the congas as far as I'm concerned. An absolutely astounding producer. It seems like half of the amazing tunes he produces never come out, but I'm sure that this one will see the light of day. It's a relatively new one, and it's got this haunting synth sound that isn't typical Mala, but once you hear the drums and the bass, you know who it is. Even now, with so many new producers, you can always tell when Mala has put his hand to something. He has a very individualistic sound.

Guido - Korg Back [forthcoming on Tectonic]

There's been a lot of reference to there being this overlap in sound between the Purple Trinity of Joker, Gemmy and Guido, but I think you can hear massive differences in how they each build their beats. Just like Mala, I can hear a Guido beat a mile off. "Korg Back" harks to a computer game-influenced sound palette more than usual for him. Guido's often more into real instrumentation like saxophones and the like. I believe he's just in the process of completing an album project for Punch Drunk. I think you're going to be hearing a lot more about him this year.

Jakes - Time Ends [Dubplate]

Jakes does a lot of big-room style tunes with huge bass drops and energetic midrange, but this is more of a subbed-out tune for him. It starts with absolute chaos, and I'm quite fond of playing it early on in a set when you get a little bit of a vibe rolling. You throw this down, and everyone just looks at you wondering what the hell is going on. [laughs] And out of the confusion comes this tough, rolling beat. If you can disrupt people's flow, you can build a flow with them from the ground up. You can use it almost like a tool in that sense. Too much confusion, though, I think is called breakcore. And I'm not really mad into it. [laughs]

Deleted Scenes - Hysteria [Dubplate]

This is a collaboration between myself and Distance. It's got a very Metalheadz-y style intro that turns into a tough roller. I think you can learn a lot working with other people. Everyone has a different approach, and I think it's very positive to be influenced by other perspectives. If you respect the other person's position, and you put the hours in to get something you both like, it often ends up being a more powerful thing. One side is always done at his house, one side at my house. We haven't made a big deal about it: No press, no promotion. We like that every once in a while, a Deleted Scenes might pop up.

Pinch - The Boxer [forthcoming on Tectonic]

Until very recently I was using Fruity Loops, but this is the first original production that I will probably release where I've used Logic. I didn't release much last year, because I spent most of it learning the new program. It's a bit more dance floor-friendly than most of my recent stuff. To put it bluntly, it's probably the first rewind tune that I've made since [2006's] "Punisher." As for the name, when I played it to Mala a couple months back, he said, "This sounds like the boxer warming up for the big fight."

Pinch - Elements [Dubplate]

I put off moving to Logic for quite a long time. I had a comfort zone with Fruity Loops. Multiverse, the company that I work with, has a studio here that is all powered by Macs, though, and I wanted to be making sure that I was getting full use out of it. [laughs] "Elements" was also on Logic, and it's a more percussive and deeper tune that also has a bit of sub in there too. One of the vibes I've been looking to experiment with is the Metalheadz sound palette of the mid-'90s. I really like the futurism that is embedded in the sounds, and I'm trying to update it. That's very much where my head's at at the moment.

Pursuit Grooves - Whisper [forthcoming on Tectonic]

This will be the first non-dubstep release on Tectonic. "Whisper" is probably the closest to that sound, though. It's 136 BPM and has some Burial-esque type sounds. She's an amazing producer, she raps and sings on her upcoming release. This is one of the rare exceptions where I didn't get crap on MySpace. She sent me a link to some tracks, and was quite relaxed—rather than a ten page essay on why I should listen to it. I told her that it might not be right musically for the label, but that I really liked it. I really believe in the music, which is why I'm putting this out even though it may not fit with what people think Tectonic does.

Redlight - MDMA [Dubplate]

I've not always been a huge fan of his drum & bass stuff as Clipz, but this new project is something I've been enjoying. This track in particular is awesome. It's got a very uplifting little pad sequence, which is hard to do without sounding cheesy. But he stays on the right side of it, and it drops into a thundering halfstep rhythm. He did an interesting thing where he used sidechain compression so that the first kick has all the bass in it, and then the entire track is sidechained off this. It makes the bass as loud as it can possibly be, and rhythmically the rest of the track sucks back out after it. I'm quite jealous I didn't think to do it! [laughs]