Three reasons to keep an eye on drum and bass

U

UFO over easy

online mahjong
Macc and Fracture - Murphy

http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/sm?C=13MUSIC002&S=A

Senses - Babylon

http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/sm?C=BB1218&S=A

Breakage - Comatose

http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/sm?C=INP012&S=B

All those links are 3 minute mp3 clips.

Each of these tracks epitomises why I still believe in drum and bass. They have depth, enough variety to keep your interest over seven minutes, and I can see myself listening to them in 10 years time. Like early jungle, the focus is on the drums and the bass... something which seems to be lacking most of the time these days.
 
J

jay-s

Active member
tracks like this never really went away. the problem is, they are fairly marginal in the contemporary drum'n'bass scene. in fact, there were greater chances of hearing tracks of this kind in a dj set 3-4 years ago than now.
 
D

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
Was an old Paradox tune where I first heard (noticed?) anyone do a fake drop.

'Nostalgia' I think...
 
L

Logos

Ghosts of my life
I'm fairly ambivalent about dnb at the moment after having been deep into it for the last three years following Breakage, Equiniox, Paradox etc. But there are some incredible releases coming this year, especially on Mu - Breakage's 9th Hand/Drowning is a piece of music anyone interested in techno, electronic music generaly and just sound should purchase, its incredible.

Anyway we're trying to do something about pushing newer forms in London so if anyone isn't doing anything tonight and are in the Liverpool st area check this:


A MADE UP SOUND: Sunday 22 Jan 7pm-12 midnight £2 all night

Public Life
82a Commercial St
London E1 6LV

ANDY SKOPES (Inperspective, Jerona Fruits, Wax City)

DJ ML
Sir Loris
dee bee one b2b Logos (early set)
 
?

?OmEnS!

Member
Sorta reminds me of old LTJ Bukem stuff or some of the Good Looking Records compilations alot... not that that's a bad thing mind but it doesn't really sound all that fresh or unique to me. It is certainly well produced and listenable though. Drum'n'bass seems to have completely run out of ideas to me and I used to be really into it a few years back - gimmee the dubstep any day of the week now.
 
B

big satan

HA-DO-KEN!
hail

i'm not taking the piss but has anything happened in drum and bass in the last five years that people weren't already doing in the 90s?
 
?

?OmEnS!

Member
Well "techstep" stuff like Ed Rush and Optical used to play/ produce, stuff on Virus and early Prototype was pretty unique sounding to the 1990s jungle stuff. That was all around 2000/ 2002 and was alot more industrial and dark than the jungle sound that came before it... it all sort of descended into everyone trying to outdo each other on the darkness vibe and it turned into a bit of a cheesefest to be honest. Dead babies with wires sticking out of them or some hentai porn on the cover does not an evil record make.
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
big satan said:
i'm not taking the piss but has anything happened in drum and bass in the last five years that people weren't already doing in the 90s?
Click to expand...

There's very little real experimentation any more. Quite a number of producers have gone back to cutting up breaks, which has led to more rhythmic variety and interest. But actually breaking new ground rhythmically... not really, no.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
?OmEnS! said:
Well "techstep" stuff like Ed Rush and Optical used to play/ produce, stuff on Virus and early Prototype was pretty unique sounding to the 1990s jungle stuff. That was all around 2000/ 2002
Click to expand...

or do you mean 1997-1999 (at the latest?)- funktion came out in 1998 after being hammeered on dub plate for about 12 months. so nothing since then?
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
matt b said:
or do you mean 1997-1999 (at the latest?)- funktion came out in 1998 after being hammeered on dub plate for about 12 months. so nothing since then?
Click to expand...

That timeframe coincides with Optical's huge rise to power and the setting up of Virus recs etc.

After being out of the country for 3 months I picked up the latest Virus double pack (with an MC on it) in April 2000 only to find that it was utterly generic shite.

Digital and his dubby take stuff (Natty Dread on reinforced etc) was the only thing I got excited about after that. Oh and Congo Natty, Rude Bwoy Plastic etc but that's not cutting edge...
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
john eden said:
Digital and his dubby take stuff (Natty Dread on reinforced etc) was the only thing I got excited about after that.
Click to expand...

yeah, but he soon flogged that to death
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
subvert47 said:
yeah, but he soon flogged that to death
Click to expand...

i like a fair bit of the digital stuff - sound witch and natty dread especially.

the only thing i'd say is he captured the feel of early jungle / darkcore but the tunes didn't have enough going on. i've always got time for dread samples if they are used well but it was just a bit too minimal. that was pretty much the last dnb i bought.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
bassnation said:
the only thing i'd say is he captured the feel of early jungle / darkcore but the tunes didn't have enough going on. i've always got time for dread samples if they are used well but it was just a bit too minimal. that was pretty much the last dnb i bought.
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yeah - I completely agree with all of that. Minimal is OK but a lot of it for mixing and not for hearing if that makes sense. That's the impression I got.

Record shop banter: "sounds great in the mix" = "if you play a really good record over the top of it, it sounds quite good".
 
?

?OmEnS!

Member
matt b said:
or do you mean 1997-1999 (at the latest?)- funktion came out in 1998 after being hammeered on dub plate for about 12 months. so nothing since then?
Click to expand...

Well I was thinking of Bacteria, Gas Mask and stuff like that - also Optical's solo stuff around that time. Im sure those were released in 99 sometime but were still getting played out into 2000/ 2001. Dunno - maybe I got me dates wrong.
 
matt b

matt b

Indexing all opinion
?OmEnS! said:
Well I was thinking of Bacteria, Gas Mask and stuff like that - also Optical's solo stuff around that time. Im sure those were released in 99 sometime but were still getting played out into 2000/ 2001. Dunno - maybe I got me dates wrong.
Click to expand...

the heyday of techstep was well over by 1999- bits'n bobs were ok after that, but that was about it. i remember record shop types by this point were obsessed by 'rolling mixes' (as john mentions, to make 1 alright tune) and being impressed with (and i quote) 'the wicked cowbell after the second drop'.

its all been raking over the bones ever since.
 
B

bassnation

the abyss
john eden said:
yeah - I completely agree with all of that. Minimal is OK but a lot of it for mixing and not for hearing if that makes sense. That's the impression I got.

Record shop banter: "sounds great in the mix" = "if you play a really good record over the top of it, it sounds quite good".
Click to expand...

come to think of it, i did a mashup of digital "sound witch" with a breakcore track (think the artist was steel). its not as noisy as you might think - definitely works better than the tracks individually. i'll see if i can dig it out if your interested.
 
D

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
Is this going to become a tradition? Every few months someone will pop-up and beseech us not to give up on drum and bass (something most abandoned by 1999). Thou doth protest too much. Ain't gonna happen.

Saying that, I enjoyed the latter two tracks. It's not the drum and bass (least of all the bass) that need to be concetrated on, it's everything else. Nice little melodies and atmospheres going off in that Breakage track, not like those annoying one fingered going up and down the keyboard melodies/basslines. The Babylon track has a refreshing minimal rolling groove like a good trance track or something.
 
M

mms

sometimes
i really liked the early andy c stuff around 99-00 those lush angular technoey tracks were fantastic, it looked like if it didn't tunr to plastic d and b would have life, but thenm things got crushingly hard, stiffer and aggressive.
the breakage and paradox tracks on planet mu this year are very fine
tracks like 0equals0 the soul hunter testifies are really very exciting, almost breakcore production wise but coming from a totally different angle and the dubby meme of stuff like the bassbin label have been interesting but i lost interest in d and b alot last year , it's fast and more like some kinda trance rock thing nowdays, the worst is plastic plastic nastieness like concorde dawn, ugh..
 
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