Rehab – 100% Pure Drum & Bass

Event Details

This event took place at MÁY CÀY in Bến Thành, Ho Chi Minh City, with the original location retained for archive accuracy even though the venue has since closed. Rehab returned to the intimate central venue for another edition of its monthly Drum and Bass residency, continuing a series dedicated to underground bass music in the city.

The night concentrated entirely on Drum and Bass rather than combining the style with unrelated electronic genres. Across the session, the residents moved between Liquid Drum and Bass, Neurofunk, Breaks and harder underground material sourced from the international bass music scene.

The residency brought together Skitty, Being and DJ Psycho-UK, with GRZ handling hosting duties on the night. Each performer approached Drum and Bass from a different direction, allowing the programme to move between rolling rhythms, deeper basslines, darker selections and more forceful club material.

MÁY CÀY provided a compact setting for a residency built around music rather than large-scale production. Its position in Bến Thành also placed a dedicated Drum and Bass event in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, making the night part of the wider network of underground events taking place around the city at the time.

Skitty represented Foundation X and brought extensive experience from the UK Jungle and Drum and Bass scene. The British producer and DJ later became based in Ho Chi Minh City, where he also became involved in developing Rehab alongside Scientific Sound Asia.

His recorded catalogue includes releases on Metalheadz, Renegade Hardware, Bassbin, Subtitles, Osiris, Dutty Audio and other respected Drum and Bass labels. Skitty also founded Foundation X in 2009 as an outlet for harder and darker material connected with what he describes as raw ruffneck junglism.

That background gave the residency a direct connection with the British Jungle and Drum and Bass traditions that influenced much of the music played at Rehab. His selections could move from deeper rolling tracks into more technical and aggressive material while remaining rooted in the underground side of the genre.

Being represented Scientific Sound and added another perspective to the evening’s Drum and Bass programme. His involvement as a Rehab resident helped establish continuity between editions and provided the series with a regular group of selectors rather than rebuilding the line-up completely for every event.

Regular residents were important to a monthly event because they allowed the night to develop its own musical identity over time. Being’s presence alongside Skitty and DJ Psycho-UK helped give Rehab a recognisable core while still leaving room for different musical directions within Drum and Bass.

DJ Psycho-UK represented Scientific Sound Asia and brought a background shaped by East London club and sound-system culture. His wider musical history includes Hip Hop, Jungle, Drum and Bass, House and underground rave music, with those influences later feeding into his work as a DJ and promoter in Vietnam.

DJ Psycho-UK founded Scientific Sound Asia in Ho Chi Minh City as a DJ agency, promotions and event-management project before its development into the wider platform operating today. His work with the organisation connected live events with artist representation and an underground electronic music radio station serving listeners in Asia and internationally.

Within Rehab, his role was centred firmly on the bass-music side of that background. The combination of Jungle and Drum and Bass influences from the United Kingdom with his experience of events in Ho Chi Minh City helped connect the residency with both its musical roots and its local audience.

GRZ hosted the night, bringing an MC presence to a format closely associated with Drum and Bass culture. Rather than functioning simply as another DJ set, the hosting element added live vocal interaction to the music and supported the residents throughout the session.

A thirty-minute promotional mix was also shared on Mixcloud ahead of the event as a preview of the residency’s musical direction. The recording gave listeners an opportunity to hear the type of Drum and Bass being represented before attending the event itself.

Rehab’s monthly format helped provide consistency for listeners looking for dedicated bass music nights in Ho Chi Minh City. Instead of Drum and Bass appearing only occasionally within mixed electronic line-ups, the residency gave the genre its own regular platform and allowed different branches of the music to be presented within the same event.

The inclusion of Liquid Drum and Bass, Neurofunk and Breaks alongside more straightforward underground selections also demonstrated the breadth available within bass music. Softer rolling material could sit alongside darker and more technical tracks without moving away from the core identity of the night.

Scientific Sound Asia’s involvement extended beyond this individual residency through its events programme, radio station, DJ agency and music news coverage. The current agency roster includes both Skitty and DJ Psycho-UK, preserving a direct connection between the artists involved in these historical events and the organisation’s present-day activities.

Although MÁY CÀY has since closed, retaining these event details provides a record of one of the spaces that supported underground electronic music in central Ho Chi Minh City. Rehab’s residency there documents a period when Skitty, Being, DJ Psycho-UK and GRZ were working together to provide the city with a regular night dedicated specifically to Drum and Bass and its associated underground styles.