The History of UK Bass

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sadmanbarty

Well-known member
1988- Moody Boyz- Acid Rappin' (Coky's Mix)

The birth of the hardcore continuum as acid house meets dub-inspired sub bass.



1990- NRG Posse- Themes

Proto-dread bass at 0.15 in a track that's otherwise just a (not so) Unique 3 rip off:



1990- Jupiter 6- Tracking System

Proto-wobble bass at 1.21:



1994- Dead Dred- Dred Bass

Presumably the track that pioneered dread bass and definitely the one to popularise (and name) it:



1996- KMA Productions- Cape Fear

Heralded as the pioneering speed garage track, this track's lurching bass burps paved the way for speed garage's warp bass:



2002- Wiley- Eskimo

In a strangely 21st century phenomenon, the hallmark sound of single producer would go on to spawn a whole genre of belated copy cats 15 years later. Though Wiley's later tracks properly crystallised the 'eski bass' sound by adding reverb, this is nonetheless the first track to feature the distinctive timbre.



2005- Dexplicit- Might Be

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment bassline was born as it seems to have emerged gradually out of 4x4 grime and Northern speed garage revivalism. This track however does seem to be one of the earliest examples of the genre and it's ribbon dance bass gymnastic:



2016- Ratz- War

UK drill is hardcore continuum music disguised as trap and that's displayed not only in the drums, but in the bass also. Though on the surface it borrows from US trap's growling 808 bass, it- to coin a phrase- 'warps' them into something distinctly British.

 
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sadmanbarty

Well-known member
This is a couple of months earlier that the Ratz track, and is a more timid example of that leapfrog bass:



It was used in this:

 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
This is a strange post for you barty, like the embroyo of a pitch to a magazine.

Is this an embroyo of a pitch to a magazine?
 
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Trillhouse

Well-known member
I still struggle to hear much uniquely UK about most drill production. It has its own flavour but there's not enough variance from the original American artform for me to readily accept it into a nuum conversation.

I mean, Roots Manuva - Witness could imho fit better on this list than most drill, to my ears at least. But it was kinda a one off & i don't know about UK Hip Hop's place on such timelines either.
 
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sadmanbarty

Well-known member
I hear that a lot about drill, I don’t know where it comes from.

Part of it might be the name, people hear “drill” and tell themselves it’s derivative even though UK drill sounds nothing like Chicago drill.

It might be the 808-esque drum sounds; maybe to some that immediately screams trap.

UK drill drums are very British; they sound similar to jungle. If you play drill tracks at 0.75 x the speed (on YouTube settings) you can hear how much they sound like UK funky/dancehall/aftobeats.

The bass obviously owes greatly to the bass lineage this thread is about.

The mccing is rhythmically very British too.
 
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Trillhouse

Well-known member
sadmanbarty said:
It might be the 808-esque drum sounds; maybe to some that immediately screams trap.

UK drill drums are very British; they sound similar to jungle. If you play drill tracks at 0.75 x the speed (on YouTube settings) you can hear how much they sound like UK funky/dancehall/aftobeats.

The bass obviously owes greatly to the bass lineage this thread is about.
Click to expand...

When I think of 808 drum sounds at a slower tempo I think of Electro, Miami Bass and that lineage.

I guess you mean the rhythms / drum patterns, cause in 99% of tracks the drum sounds are lifted straight from Trap sample packs. All the rapid fire hats and triplets are taken directly from Trap.

Yes the UK producers switch it up to create something unique, but to me it seems clear that their influences lay in making Trap or Drill beats with a UK flavour that results in those nuum influences seeping in. Same for the MCs, they come from a UK continuum but they're start point is doing their version of a US thing, even the gang violence is lifted from America and transposed to UK. The sheer amount of US influence is what makes it hard for me to argue that their lineage is UK derived enough to sit alongside previous generations of the nuum, for me it sits somewhere between.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
There's this Freudian relationship between London/the UK and the US music - a total infatuation for the glamour of the US but also utter disdain for it.

In fact that's the relationship between the UK and US "PERIOD".

Maybe there's a touch of that going the other way? Although I'd imagine in musical terms there's a lot more disdain than infatuation.
 
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