Three reasons to keep an eye on drum and bass

[DJ PIMP]

The Liquid style turned out a lot of nice tunes and theres definately some development in the use of synths/samples/vibe there too... Calibre, Marcus Intalex, High Contrast et al. Noone made a track quite like "Return of Forever" in the 90s - wooo!

I do like the Deep Blue album that came out last year. Melding electro/detroit with dnb always seemed like a good idea to me. <3 Deep Blue.

Evergreen: that Sileni track is coool. Propa funky technical stuff ay?

 

[DJ PIMP]

Now playing: DJ Crystl "Warpdrive remix" - what a tune that is......

Still gives me screwface. Haha.

p.s. Digital isn't too minimal.

 

[bassnation]

p.s. Digital isn't too minimal.

it is, compared to what jungle used to sound like.

just giving natty dread a listen now. great production, but it gets dull after a few minutes.

what i mean by minimal is the track doesn't go anywhere - sure, theres lots of interesting noises, but theres no big changes or suprises. compare that to practically any old hardcore tune and there'd be five or more sections, several basslines and so forth. there was always something going on and people still managed to dj it.

having said all that, digitals stuff was head and shoulders above most of the dnb being released at that time, which is telling, imo.

i've gone on about this in other threads, but essentially i like my tracks to be able to stand by themselves instead of just being competently produced mixing tools.

 

[Logos]

I share the general kind of view that dnb has run out of ideas somewhat, even if there are interesting and nice examples out there.

I think there are a handful of producers pushing newer styles:

Sileni - reminds me of some of the noisy, funky stuff from the 97-99 period but with a avant-noise twist, and totally fresh sound sculpture thing going on, plus he has the best track names going.

Polska - for doing the blissed out techno thing in the dum and bass context, not really been touched on before in the way he does it (and don't quote reams of Shadow/Partisan/Reinforced stuff from 95-97, its not the same thing as what he's doing)

Fracture and Neptune - They have a much broader widescreen palate, its about breaks yes, but the attitude is grander and the space in their tunes is what makes them great

I like other producers a lot (Breakage, Equinox etc) but really like the above 3 for their ideas.

But I would say, I do have a lot of respect for people who stick with a musical format even when it seems the future for the format is totally bleak. If you only pick up on music when it becomes 'interesting' again (not having a dig, who can blame anyone for that!) - e.g. jungle in 95, 2-step in 98, grime in 03, dubstep in 04-05 then it tends to obscure the fact that there are die hards like (e.g.) Hatcha, who got into garage then stuck with it when it was unfashionable and totally underground, building new possibilities away from public gaze, then working hard to support the new sound and are now reaping the rewards. It don't happen by magic.

 

[captain easychord]

i would agree that a lot of the progressive producers mentioned in this thread are making spectacular music, but it's a drop in the bucket really. plus all that shit is so hard to dance to. the music is still way too fast to fuck with IMO.

 

[DJ PIMP]

what i mean by minimal is the track doesn't go anywhere - sure, theres lots of interesting noises, but theres no big changes or suprises. compare that to practically any old hardcore tune and there'd be five or more sections, several basslines and so forth.

Other day I went to the public library looking for strippers and pole-dancing. Needless to say I was dissapointed.

 

[subvert47]

i would agree that a lot of the progressive producers mentioned in this thread are making spectacular music, but it's a drop in the bucket really. plus all that shit is so hard to dance to. the music is still way too fast to fuck with IMO.

yeah, it's virtually a different music from the majority of (rubbish) dnb now

PS for dancing I recommend techno instead

 

[droid]

Yes.
As Logos says, I think it's disappointing that people are willing to abandon a once great genre that opened the doors for so much dance music, just because it went through a rough patch seven or eight years ago. I have so much respect for the people who stuck with it, and are trying to change things.

Shouldnt that read for seven or eight years?

 

[matt b]

Speaking of which, when was the taste of the majority ever an accurate reflection of good music?

the people saying d'n'b is dull on here are (it seems to me) ex-junglists/ravers/clubbers, rather than 'the majority' does that add weight?

 

[john eden]

As Logos says, I think it's disappointing that people are willing to abandon a once great genre that opened the doors for so much dance music, just because it went through a rough patch seven or eight years ago. I have so much respect for the people who stuck with it, and are trying to change things.

It's not a conscious decision to abandon it, I think people just move on when the style changes or whatever (or simply get too old!).

If people want to flag up good d 'n' b tunes then I'm all for that, I just can't be arsed wading through dozens of mediocre releases every week on the offchance that I will like one of them, esecially when other genres have a higher hit rate for my personal taste. Life is too short.

 

[bassnation]

As Logos says, I think it's disappointing that people are willing to abandon a once great genre that opened the doors for so much dance music, just because it went through a rough patch seven or eight years ago. I have so much respect for the people who stuck with it, and are trying to change things.

yeah, but a lot of the old jungle crowd have moved off into garage. its a direct descendent and maybe people are getting what they want from that. the jungle producers and djs have only themselves to blame really.

when jungle was underground prior to 1995, granted, it was unfashionable but there was lots of great music getting released. i don't think the same is true for this period so you can't draw a parallel between now and then.

 

[DigitalDjigit]

We don't owe any allegiance to any genre. If the producers want to produce toss then we are not obliged to stand there and listen to it, and we'll move somewhere else. I don't owe these producers any gratitude. They are either making the music because that's what they want to hear or because they want validation from us.

 

[subvert47]

If people want to flag up good d 'n' b tunes then I'm all for that, I just can't be arsed wading through dozens of mediocre releases every week on the offchance that I will like one of them, esecially when other genres have a higher hit rate for my personal taste. Life is too short.

Quite right, but there's no need to wade through endless crap if you know already know where to go — and "where to go" means virtually none of the producers we (probably) were listening to 8-10 years ago.

If you check in to hear what anyone from back then is doing now dnb-wise, it's almost certain to be functional, market-serving, uninspired dross.

 

[subvert47]

We don't owe any allegiance to any genre. If the producers want to produce toss then we are not obliged to stand there and listen to it, and we'll move somewhere else. I don't owe these producers any gratitude. They are either making the music because that's what they want to hear or because they want validation from us.

Absolutely right.

But see the reply I gave some moments ago.

 

[jay-s]

Quite right, but there's no need to wade through endless crap if you know already know where to go — and "where to go" means virtually none of the producers we (probably) were listening to 8-10 years ago.

If you check in to hear what anyone from back then is doing now dnb-wise, it's almost certain to be functional, market-serving, uninspired dross.

what about people like me who still regularly consume dnb in its club environment? if you think 90% of dnb releases are crap then you can say the same about 99% of the tracks played in clubs. the only way to hear some of the more interesting stuff is dj mixes on the internet and when i listen to the music at home good dnb has to compete with other genres and it loses against them anytime. there is enough good music outside of dnb that i prefer listening to at home. you really need to invest time and energy to get to hear good dnb.

 

[UFO over easy]

you really need to invest time and energy to get to hear good dnb.

All it takes is to check soundclips at any online record shop for twenty minutes.

 

[DigitalDjigit]

ufo...you forgot the "every week" part. That's too much effort for so little return. I don't even do that with music I know I like.

 

[jay-s]

That's sort of the point though. For the most part, the producers that used to be great have moved on, or started to make crap - but new producers who weren't big in the mid-90s are putting out records more and more regularly, and getting passed over by the new breed of ravers who aren't interested in anything that isn't an anthem, and by ex-junglists who otherwise might've been interested but have stopped checking the sound.

perhaps the scenes should split then? or at least perhaps there should be more events that specialise in this sound. i don't think music fans should be checking soundclips at online shops, promoting music is the job of djs and promoters.

 

[DJ PIMP]

Speaking of producers from days of yore... what about some of Photeks tunes from the past few years?

Baltimore, Babylon, Sidewinder, Tubby T rmx, Jem rmx etc.

Those tracks are so *rude* sounding.

 

[tate]

the new school of interesting drum and bass producers - Sileni, Polska, Jason oS for example - are doing things with the sound that wouldn't have been dreamed of pre-1999.

You could add Martsman and Pieter K here, though Pieter isn't making much drum and bass anymore (his recently released track with Klute on Offshore/Commercial Suicide was very nice, however, all lush sweeping synth melancholia drenched in cymbal splash).

There are others, plenty actually, who deserve more mention than I can do justice to in this piddling post. In addition to those mentioned in the thread already, Graphic, ASC, Mav, and Fanu come to mind. Klute still makes quality tunes with harmonic subtlety and complexity (not all, but some show a particularly gorgeous melodic approach, both restrained and simultaneously emotive, like: 'crosby', 'silently', 'acid rain')

But UFO is right, people like Jason oS and Sileni are important new voices, not only in terms of 'innovation' but in terms of musicality, thoughtfulness, compositional complexity, and sound design. What is exciting is that they are only at the beginning of their careers as producers (in terms of releases that are available, anyway), and neither seem particularly concerned about how they are situated vis-a-vis the history of jungle or whatever. They are simply forging ahead with total irreverence for the conventions of modern dnb, and doing so not in the service of 'innovation' but in pursuit of deeper music.

I know that Jason, for one, who is a close friend of mine, is concerned above all with writing the best possible music that he can. 'Drum and bass/jungle' just happens to be the template that he chose, because of the compositional freedom that the genre offers him. (He's played the cello for 20 years and is now studying digital sound design at NYU.)