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Music

Steel Banglez is One of the Best Producers in the UK Right Now

"Your Lovin'" is the latest in a series of heaters that prove his ability to set alight the charts and the streets.
Ryan Bassil
London, GB

Pay close attention and you'll clock that the logo of British producer Steel Banglez is The Flower of Life. Though you might recognise the symbol from the sweat-ridden neck of a mate who went to Thailand on a Gap Yah, The Flower of Life is infamous in sacred geometry and is understood to depict the creation of all of existence. If you like, you can smoke a truck-load of weed and fall into a Wikipedia wormhole about it here, learning how the geometric symbol has appeared time and time again through history. For now though, know this: it is Steel Banglez' logo, and when him and I met a year or so ago, he said that since changing his logo to the Flower of Life – which is known, at least spiritually, for emitting positive energy – his career changed and shifted up a gear like magic.

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Whether or not you believe in spirituality, the rise of Steel Banglez over the past year is impossible to deny. Since emerging a decade or so ago and working with some of grime's original heads, Banglez has been through his fair share of emotional turmoil – he's spent time jail, looked on as one of his friends and creative partners, Cashtastic, was deported from the United Kingdom, and gained a smattering of grey hairs on his forehead. But in 2015, things changed: he started to work with MoStack, then Birmingham rapper Mist (who we recently profiled in our Noisey: Birmingham documentary) and later, J Hus (he co-produced "Fisherman", with one of the UK's other greats, Jae5). More recently he produced the stone-cold "I See You Shining" by Nines. Essentially: if there's a banger going around the United Kingdom, there's a good chance Steel Banglez has had his hand in it, having worked with other acts like Dave, Not3s and Yungen.

All of which brings us up to today, and the release of Banglez' latest track "Your Lovin'" (watch above), which features MØ and Yxng Bane. By now, Banglez' tone is highly distinguishable – heavy bass and a joyous merging of the various genres popping off around London right now. Sure, there are a bunch of other producers doing it right across the country, but as Nines put it on "I See You Shining"… "in ten years time, Steel Banglez will still be on top." On the basis of this new single, he can easily catapult between the more radio-friendly tracks and street-heaters like "Fisherman" with ease.

You can find Ryan on Twitter.