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So, why the names Baobinga and ID?

Well, Baobinga spent a while teaching in China, and 'Baobinga' was apparently Shanghai slang for a type of pineapple drink. We went back out there last year though, and we couldn't find any... hmmm! 'ID' is both a, er, critique on the surveillance society wot Britain is sleepwalking into, and a product of having a bit of a mental block when you're suddenly given 24 hours to come up with a new DJ name!

Your debut album - Big Monsters - was released this week, how was the launch party?

Well the party was great, just the launch didn't quite happen... Amato, who distributed Fat! (along with loads of other BIG labels like CR2, Bpitch Control, Buzzing Fly etc.) went into liquidation about a week beforehand, which in turn liquidated our release plans. Which was a bit of a nightmare to be honest. However, the wheels are in motion and Fat! are working their magic to get it released in January... which gives a good excuse for another launch party - this time at Chew The Fat! at The End.

The single 'Jewelz' was given IDJ's 'Secret Weapon' of the month, as an artist how much value do you place on awards such as these?

Well it's always gratifying, especially when it's a big name DJ bigging up your tracks, although we do keep it in perspective - its hard to say how much impact these things have on cold hard sales figures, but the more your name gets out there and talked about, the better. With regard to 'Jewelz' in particular though, it's a pretty hard track with a real techno feel and we were worried that people wouldn't get it - so in this case the 'Secret Weaon' nomination was quite reassuring!

It's an album of many styles - Chicago-house (Recognise), Detroit vibes (South Manchester Weather), Baltimore (Jump Up) and Dutch techno (No Bright Lights), amongst others - what is the process behind distilling such an internationally mixed blend?

Internationally mixed blend? You make us sound like a fine coffee! Nice phrase though, you should send it to Kenco. Basically this album was all about us taking the sounds that have influenced us, sounds that we play in our sets and at home for our own listening pleasure, and combining that with sounds that we want to hear but which aren't really out there - like with No Bright Lights, we wanted to take something that had the feel of a loopy techno record, and the melancholy of stuff like Michel de Hey and 2000 And One, and mix it with some beats that the techno scene doesn't use. Its basically a process of trying things out; getting some of the essence of a sound without creating an utterly derivative pastiche or facsimile. 

This album was a couple of years in the making, but how has your sound changed since you began in the 90s?

When we started, we both were inspired a lot by jungle, and by the dark tech-step sound of the late 90s. So when we started writing breaks, we generally went for the 138bpm 'tearout' stuff, as it had that energy, and that heavy, rolling feel. Over the last few years though a few things have changed in dance music in general which have influenced us - for a start, drum and bass got so hard and so dark for a while, that it started to become aggression music for skinheads. Within breaks, the tearout scene that we had been into at first descended into an orgy of rinsed out samples and trance-like arpeggios and builds, turning us off somewhat - we had always tried to keep some links to the breakstep garage sound, you know, a bit more of those Zinc-esque subby vibes. So that kind of pushed us away from tearout. At the same time house music got really good again, the techno scene slowed down, and minimal brought an emphasis on interesting sounds and textures, rather than just nosebleed kickdrums. And then dubstep brought a real breath of fresh air into mid-tempo broken beat music - some of the early Slaughter Mob stuff in particular sounded like what we wished breaks had developed into, with mad chopped up rhythms, subby basslines and less obvious atmospheres. So all this stuff combined to make us stop trying to write stuff that just dropped really heavy, and go back to just making music that we enjoyed, whatever speed or style. Its not about fitting into a scene.

How much has the UK scene - including indie, of which you are fans - affected your output? 

Massively. You don't realise how lucky we are to have the music culture we do over here. Radio 1 is playing T2. Minimal techno is packing clubs out. Dubstep is the hottest thing around, and Dizzee is vocalling that Benga and Coki tune. Indie has been incredibly creative since way back when, from shoegazing onwards. You go to America and all you hear on the radio is Nickelback and old Pearl Jam, or nothing but hip-hop. People who go to clubs here are just regular people - in America you are a RAVER and that is how you define yourself. We've grown up with the progeny of Acid House all around us; its part of us. Then you consider the massive influence of Jamaican and Carribean music and culture and you realise how many good ingredients we have in our collective musical stew!

And Manchester specifically?

Hard to say, other than the rain keeps us in the studio! Nah, we're both very proud to be a (small) part of Manchester's music scene. Manchester was one of the first places to go mad for Chicago house, Factory records, the Hacienda, Oasis, Sankeys, 808 State, A Guy Called Gerald, Eastern Bloc Records, New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, The Smiths, The Fall, Stone Roses, Tony Wilson RIP... Fuse (at The Roadhouse) was the night that got us into breakbeat, Tribal Sessions put some great techno acts on, Decadance was a wicked jungle night, as was Viagrafools (for those who like it hard all night, apparently!)... Lots of good stuff in and because of Manchester

The packaging was a little bit special for this project, is that correct?

Baobinga has a passionate hatred for jewel cases, as he breaks them all. And because digital formats are so prevalent, you need to give people a reason to buy the physical product - nice packaging can be a part of that. The album does look wicked, especially when you open it up - something the MP3 customers won't get to experience!

Your `Knuckle Sandwich` remix (Rico Tubbs) was chosen as `Tune Of The Month` in iDJ Magazine, are you looking to explore the remix avenue further?

We're really happy with the way that remix turned out - its pretty different to most breakbeat, yet it seems to be becoming a bit of an anthem. Some of our best work has been remixes, and most of them sound nothing like the original tune - I think the fact that we have something to react against inspires us try some mad stuff out, and because we know the record had already been 50% signed, the pressure is off in a way - which always helps creativity. Some of the remixes we've done over the last 18 months - for Ben & Lex, Simpleton and now Rico Tubbs, almost seem to be more popular than our singles, so there's got to be something going on there.

How are you on the technical side of producing and DJing?

We've both studied music and production at University, and we have got a reasonable amount of experience behind us so on the technical side of things we know how to achieve what we want. The most important thing though is to know what that is, and that's something that the album project has helped refine. With our DJing, as there's two of us, it enables us to get a bit more technical; we get into three or even four deck mixes, layering up the tunes a lot, and we can get through tunes more quickly than if there was only one of us. We feel that if there's going to be two of us on stage, we should be doing stuff that we wouldn't be able to do if the promoter had only booked one of us, and this is something we are aiming to develop more with things like drum machines, FX units etc.

Are you at all daunted by how quick technology develops?

What do you mean? We're vinyl DJs, we still play off an 80 year old medium! It's funny though, when you're just getting into production you read all the magazines like Future Music, with their reviews of the latest three grand synths, (thinking 'damn, if only I had that synth, I'd be an amazing producer') and you tend to keep up on all the latest developments. As soon as you start doing it seriously though, you realise that firstly, it's not the technology that's holding you back it's actually your own skills and ideas, and secondly, if you're relying on dance music for your income you almost certainly aren't going to be buying any three grand synths any time soon!

Dj wise, obviously the big thing is MP3 downloads and the like, which is a massive issue, too big to go into here. Its great that with the internet music can be spread more quickly and physical location isn't an issue - but on the flip side, its much harder to make your style stand out, as the 'hype machine' has high speed tentacles everywhere and a hot tune one day is played out the next. Crate digging has definitely changed, and not necessarily for the better.

DJing and producing - do you think one always followers the other, like footballers and managing?

Nowadays you aren't going to get DJ work if you don't produce tunes as well, and in a way, Djing as a producer is like doing gigs as a band - its how you present your music to a live audience. So you either have to be a producer, or know a sucker who will write tunes for you to put your name on, to get gigs.

What is bad breakbeat and what is good breakbeat?

Bad breakbeat is tunes with tired, derivative, generic sounds, tunes that fail to move with the times, tunes that always go for the most obvious root to crowd reaction. And bootlegs. The reason breaks was good in the first place was because it took in influences from all genres and didn't stick to one sound, but it feels like some people forget to do that these days, and write tracks that are only influenced by other breaks tracks. Or that have only Pendulum or D Ramirez as outside reference points -which is not to diss either of those artists, they are fresh and quality - but imitating them with a breakbeat bunged in doesn't make YOU fresh! So good breaks now would be people that are offering something new, like Bassbin Twins, Madox, Dubchild, 30Hz, Santos and so on.

Are you both religious collectors of vinyl?

'Religious' is probably a strong word but we definitely both still buy and play vinyl. On a pretty much weekly basis in fact, so maybe it is religious... It's just better!

If so, what are the most prized possessions in your collection?

See what I mean? You wouldn't ask someone what their most prized mp3 was. Anyway, for ID it would probably have to be his original, limited edition of Plastikman's 'Muzik' album with the extra disc. As for Baobinga - maybe the Francois Kevorkian mix of The Smiths 'This Charming Man'? Not massively rare, but I love it.

If, and when, you go out what do you usually do/go to see?

Either our mates from different cities who are playing in Manchester, or someone who looks VERY interesting - when you make the majority of your money in nightclubs, going to them for fun all the time can be a bit much.

What's your relationship with Paul Arnold like?

Paul is like the uncle who showers you with presents, but also touches you in places you don't want to be touched. Nah, Paul has been instrumental in getting the album together, and more importantly, in helping us move away from people's conceptions of what we are about. And Chew The Fat's not too shabby either!

What would be the ideal conditions and situation to play Big Monsters?

I used to listen to the Tuesday night techno show on Galaxy Leeds lying on my floor with the lights out, getting lost in the loops... So that might work