V’08 gets off with a booming, high-profile start at the Viennale Zentrale, the festival’s party central.

Regardless of what you may or may not have heard about the infamous “Bristol Sound” over the years, either in the press, from friends or on vinyl, one thing is certain: the sound did not originate from the likes of Massive Attack or Portishead. In fact, it is tonight’s DJ Rob Smith with his partner Ray Mighty who can rightly pronounce the Bristol throne as their own.

Unfortunately, they were a bit too laid back for their own good to have gained any real commercial success while their descendants charted worldwide. So after playing Drum’n Bass for some time with the More Rockers Crew, Rob Smith did what everyone with profound love for echoes and delays should be doing nowadays: he started producing dubstep, with the emphasis on dub. So don’t wear your turtleneck tonight: it could get a bit sweaty.