Music to my gears: Glasgow musicians sample BMX rider Kriss Kyle

Music to my gears: Glasgow musicians sample BMX rider Kriss Kyle for futuristic tracks

You may have heard of BMI music, but what about BMX music? Unit 23, a skate and bike park in Dumbarton, Scotland, played home to an unusual artistic collaboration that gave rise to the latter. Local electronic producers Big Miz and Bessa used audio samples of BMX rider Kriss Kyle to serve as the percussive foundation for two new compositions.

“It was a lot of fun, and I never thought that the sounds of the skatepark could be turned into something quite so different.”

— Kriss Kyle, on working with Big Miz and Bessa

BMX TRACKS

The two finished tracks born from the Unit 23 project — Bessa’s “Luc-E” and Big Miz’s “Sprockets” — are presented above. Note how the thuds of the bike landing on the wood ramps provides a kick-drum like sound, while wheel spins and rail grinds add additional rhythmic elements.

KRISS KYLE: BMX ARTIST

Kyle isn’t new to creating art in concert with his bike. In 2015, he rode a ever-changing studio environment that provided the surreal backdrop to the ground-breaking BMX film, Kaleidoscope: See Things Differently.