After countless compilation appearances and remixes, after numerous DJ mix CDs, it's startling to consider that DJ /rupture has arrived at his debut album only now. To many he is the new face of urban music - the potent sound of genre bending and overcrowded city life, a post-cultural broken mirror that mashes hiphop, techno, reggae, afro-cuban, spoken word, bohemian rhapsodies, folk music, the chanteuse, breakbeats, avant-garde noise, and jazz through the strainer of a DJ's mentality, and emerges with one of the most concentrated and exhilarating debuts this year.

Special Gunpowder refuses to be anything less than a declaration of musical independence, an intimate and complex work where pop sensibility leaves the comfort zone to explore new directions. In short, rupture has traveled a world of sound to create one of the most soulful albums by an electronic producer in years. Mature yet energetic and full of surprises, Special Gunpowder proves that rupture is as confident with studio gear as he is behind the turntables. Not one to shy away from multi-culturalism, the album contains lyrics in three languages (English, Spanish, and French) and numerous forms of delivery.

rupture sessioned with western and Arabic musicians in his Barcelona studio, augmenting his production with the warm dynamism of live players. There isn't a turntable in sight. With guest appearances by Ghislain Poirier and Kit Clayton, vocals by reggae legend Sister Nancy, Max Turner (Puppetmastaz), Arnaud Michniak (of French cult experimental rock band Programme), ragga heavyweights Junior Cat, Wayne Lonesome and Wicked Act, Eugene Robinson (of bay area's Oxbow), and poet Elizabeth Alexander, Rupture has brought together the connections only he could have foreseen and woven them onto an aural tapestry that can be listened to over and over again, ad infinitum. Special Gunpowder is major statement from one of the most forward-looking producers and DJs around.

Minesweeper Suite, rupture's previous Tigerbeat6 release, was a smash hit, named among the 10 best albums of 2002 by The Wire, a hot pick in Rolling Stone.

rupture has performed in over 20 countries, sharing bills with El-p, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Roni Size, Kid606, The Bug...