Drum'n'bass 98-99

[thirdform]

And then, like a breath of fresh air, Source Direct arrive in the playlist - and suddenly it's like Jack DeJohnette has taken over the kit, shoving Les Binks off the drum stool

did you put all the 2step tunes at the beginning. appreciate the masochism.

 

[gremino]

Then there were the jazzy and funky drum'n'bass. I always liked these when they were the right ones. Because I think sometimes the jazzy stuff could be too much "let's make real music"-type, without the club-feel and dnb swagger. Always liked funky tunes, so when liquid funk emerged in early 00s, it was obvious I would like it.


Good example of nifty club track which is jazzy/funky, without going into "let's make real music"-territory. The bassline is well catchy.




Groove to the max.




Love those strings.




This slightly off-tuned bassline brings kinda exotic vibe.

 

[blissblogger]

What were Warp and the "IDM" lot doing in '98? Autechre had LP5 and EP7 around that time.

It was peak drill-and-bass, wasn't it?

Squarepusher and that.

I think RDJ did "Windowlicker" that year also. That really impressed me at the time but it's not something that I ever go back to.

(Also revolted by the video. I actually have a Warp calendar from back then that is all images of Richard James digimorphed into a woman for 'Windowlicker'. Probably worth something - it's mint condition, unused obviously).

It was the beginning of that hyper-edited, DSP-addled thing in IDM.

I think the next year was when the glitch thing really took off. Clicks + Cuts. Or maybe that was 2000.

Anyway IDM was heading into its itchy, small-sounds, fiddly-diddly period. Not so much of the lovely melodies and the poignant moods anymore.

 

[gremino]

For me this tune is epitome of drum'n'bass. At least when you think it in terms of original rudeboy dnb where mcs have importance. Should I call this 'pirate radio drum'n'bass'?

 

[blissblogger]

did you put all the 2step tunes at the beginning. appreciate the masochism.

No they are more or less in order of recommendation. But with the Matrix things at the front. (Matrix and Optical were the among the ones that at time seemed the most interesting and accomplished to me)

It is a 2-step beat - that's what people talked about on the D&B scene in '97, 98

But it's quite different in feel than the 2step thing in UKG.

Perhaps a musician - a drummer or producer can explain?

To my ears, the 2step beat in neurofunk just goes on and on, has this sort of jacknifing feel, and a linearity.

Whereas the 2step in UKG has this push-me, pull-you feel, and all the other elements in the music are in exquisite tension with the pulse (which seems to be much more complexly syncopated anyway than neuro-2step)

2step in UKG is much, much slower - that seems to open up the rhythmscape.... huge spaces between the drum hits, at the time it seemed unbelievable, in the way that the peak Timbaland productions were astonishing, like how can you get away with this in pop music?

2step UKG versus 2step d&B
=
groove versus grid.

 

[version]

techno - from the lush detroit/idmy stuff to the brain frying hard acid and brutalisms, proto-gabber, Jay Denham, Neil Landstrumm, to the weird insectoid funk of Cristian Vogel, to the kitchen sink chaos of Subhead.

Basic Channel, Maurizio, etc.

 

[gremino]

This is from 1997. Timeless sound and the production quality stands to this day.

 

[thirdform]

No they are more or less in order of recommendation. But with the Matrix things at the front. (Matrix and Optical were the among the ones that at time seemed the most interesting and accomplished to me)

It is a 2-step beat - that's what people talked about on the D&B scene in '97, 98

But it's quite different in feel than the 2step thing in UKG.

Perhaps a musician - a drummer or producer can explain?

To my ears, the 2step beat in neurofunk just goes on and on, has this sort of jacknifing feel, and a linearity.

Whereas the 2step in UKG has this push-me, pull-you feel, and all the other elements in the music are in exquisite tension with the pulse (which seems to be much more complexly syncopated anyway than neuro-2step)

2step in UKG is much, much slower - that seems to open up the rhythmscape.... huge spaces between the drum hits, at the time it seemed unbelievable, in the way that the peak Timbaland productions were astonishing, like how can you get away with this in pop music?

2step UKG versus 2step d&B
=
groove versus grid.

a lot of those syncopations come from the shuffled high hats in garage house. Through the producers playing with quantising. 2step garage is basically subtracting the 1-3 from the 4-4 house beat. there's actually a US garage production from way back which has a 2step breakdown. Can't remember the name now.

Actually this becomes apparent with Oxide and Neutrino - bound 4 da reload, which has nothing to do with house at all, and the beat is not at all like a dem 2 or m dubs, much stiffer, electro-like. but it is still the same 2step.

 

[thirdform]

No they are more or less in order of recommendation. But with the Matrix things at the front. (Matrix and Optical were the among the ones that at time seemed the most interesting and accomplished to me)

It is a 2-step beat - that's what people talked about on the D&B scene in '97, 98

But it's quite different in feel than the 2step thing in UKG.

Perhaps a musician - a drummer or producer can explain?

To my ears, the 2step beat in neurofunk just goes on and on, has this sort of jacknifing feel, and a linearity.

Whereas the 2step in UKG has this push-me, pull-you feel, and all the other elements in the music are in exquisite tension with the pulse (which seems to be much more complexly syncopated anyway than neuro-2step)

2step in UKG is much, much slower - that seems to open up the rhythmscape.... huge spaces between the drum hits, at the time it seemed unbelievable, in the way that the peak Timbaland productions were astonishing, like how can you get away with this in pop music?

2step UKG versus 2step d&B
=
groove versus grid.

ironically, the quantise function used by garage producers which i mentioned upthread, where you have the groove swing like mad but still remain precisely timed to the other elements was exploited in this tune (the inauguration of clownstep!)

 

[gremino]

I also think a lot of these tracks (like all the ed rush/nico/torque ones) sounds a lot better in the mix. they work best when overlayed with another track because of their minimalism, bringing out all their potential, which isn't so much the case with jungle because the music is too busy for that. but it means that it can be misleading to judge them just based on playing the records alone or youtube.

It's starting to be more traditional dance music where tunes are also meant to be tools. Also mcs are important in that sound.

 

[gremino]

You're bang on the money here, in fact if you listen to terra d instrumentals from 2002 they sound like slowed down dnb, not el-b or whoever.

It reminds me of barty bemoaning that hardcore continuum musics are fads for their target constituencies today. Except this was always the case. The archivist and the obsessive always removes herself from the nuum, to an extent. Including ourselves!

Talking about grime, some of the grime orginators were also doing 98-99 dnb:

 

[gremino]

So there's also now dislike for this dnb era in this thread - I was afraid that I was the only cunt thinking these were the bad years.

 

[blissblogger]

It's starting to be more traditional dance music where tunes are also meant to be tools. Also mcs are important in that sound.

I interviewed Rob Haigh a few years ago, he talked about this end of the 90s phase, as a producer he was getting disenchanted but as record shop owner, he loved the fact that this sort of tune would fly out of the store. He did very brisk business. Supporting your dj tools idea, he pointed out that it was very easy to mix with these 2-steppin rollers.

Re MCs being important in this sound - I wonder if this sound supports great MC-ing, though? Vocal agility, as opposed to hollering along like a sergeant major barking orders.

 

[blissblogger]

This topic is like a bone thrown to an old dog - can't resist gnawing away at it.

I find it endlessly fascinating how my favorite music became my not-favorite music.

It's a bit like doing an autopsy on a love affair gone sour, or the disintegration of a friend group.

Were did it go wrong? Could it somehow have hovered forever in the golden zone? Why can't we just freeze time at the peaks?

 

[dilbert1]

 

[thirdform]

Were did it go wrong? Could it somehow have hovered forever in the golden zone? Why can't we just freeze time at the peaks?

But the thing with a love affair gone sour is you have to convince yourself that there was always something wrong with it, only that you were too besotted to see it. So that is the question you should ask yourself.

@luka 's view seems more interesting to me in this regard, 'well, it was all dead by 95, even ragga jungle was the beginning of the end!' I don't agree with it, but its interesting.

 

[thirdform]

This is great but it's also the beginning of the end.


Have to skip it on most '95 tape packs cos whilst I don't hate it, and whilst I can enjoy it in the right environment, it gets so corny through overexposure.

this is from '96 and its absolute shit.
also from '96

I recon it was tunes like this which pushed the gal dem into the garage rooms more than the dystopian techstep, which was always a fairly specialist sound. And who can blame em? It's so corny!
I mean its very easy to blame techstep but this tune on joker, lol. it's worse than Bad Company even.


The otherside is just as bad.


ironically jump up is probably one of those genres which got better in '98. more full blooded production, better mixdowns, better placement of sounds. Not that is saying much, but you know.

 

[thirdform]

important point from 'cogs

There were a lot of reasons for the simplification of beats that started with hard/tech step in mid 95. The most important being the evolution of the bassline and the new synth and sampler technology that came in the later 90's. You have to remember that initially almost all Jungle was made on the Akai S950 sampler, which was the basis of almost everyones studios from 1991-199X. Producers who had the money would have one or two other synths, but they usually just sampled the sounds in to the Akai. The Akai had almost no synthesis structure, just basic non-resonant lp filter, and simple envelopes, but it had a test tone feature that generated a pure sine wave, which was the most common bass sound used on all the jungle tracks before the detuned saw waves, (reese bass) took over. Anyway, as more and more affordable analog modeling synths came out in the later 90's and the E-MU samplers with their extra morphing filters became used more and more, the complexity of the bass sounds and morphing, moving basslines became possible, it was necessary to make room in the mix for the more complex sounds. Crushing Amens sound best when they are the focal point of the mix, they are best complimented sonically with a simple bass tone under them. When you try to mix complex drum patterns and complex moving basslines with mid range sounds as well as low end, the music turns to mush really quickly. The style evolved to a simpler drum pattern so the bass and melody could become more complex and prominent in the tracks. Hence the 2 step beat's popularity

You can notice this in Ron Wells productions from 93, they are mostly synthesised as opposed to being sampled. The breaks are rarely if ever shredded like you would on an akai or an atari. a much more e-z flow under the 4-4.

it's also why traditional arabic turkish and indian music rarely has anything analogous to the rock bass. It's just too cluttered when you have the darbukas or tablas doing that rhythmic work. Jazz changed this relationship in the freer varieties by changing the style of bass playing to that of a gallop or what you would call the walkin' bass. Where the aim is to use the bass percussively, as staccato.

 

[thirdform]

this sort of thing probably did contribute to the death of jungle though if we're taking a long durational view. Not directly, but we went from awol, roast, telepathy, thunder and joy to Elevation, Desire, Dreamscape, Hysteria etc.

I mean its not very earthy or sexual. Whereas the best rnb and soul is earthy, gruff, and flirtatious. adults music.

Happy Hardcore is very soulful, but in a naive, innocent sense. which is why it appealed to an audience who could milk out everything from their childhood and teenage years. actually prime bartycore.

What went into garage from jungle was the adult hardcore. and by 2000 you were just left with the speed and nothing but the speed.

This is the contradiction, the nihilism of rave culture as a whole. Because as much as it had a lot of positives, it also had this kind of negative. The 'IDM' boys understood this very early on. 2000s dnb is analogous to '92 prog house. just references to otherwise good music, significations to move butts in clubs.

BREAKING: SIMON REYNOLDS ENDORSES AUTECHRE!

Rob Brown (Autechre): The progressive house scene at the time was depressingly boring. Just loads of lame references to otherwise good work. Just stick on a four-four and get some cheesy organ on it because that'll move bums in clubs – it wasn't really our take on the scene at all. When people just defaulted to that it was rotting the entire scene as far as I was concerned. We were exploring all kinds of bands, like Eno, Can and Coil, that were totally off the radar of the general club scene. They weren't anything to do with club music. It just seemed that club music was getting a bit burned out and at a bit of a dead end. Our style seemed to have infinite possibilities.

Rob Brown: My take was that intelligence meant just being free thinking and open minded, and artificial was, yeah, it's techno music. It's electronic sounds. And I'd go with that. I think the idea of intelligence was maybe just unfortunate. They just thought it'd be a catchy buzzword that wouldn't get misunderstood culturally – like oh, it's not dance music and stupid people dance, so this is for clever people. A lot of flag waving could come out from that but dance music has always been like that. Is it fluffy bra piano house or is it New York garage? People always have these quantifiable critiques where you have to look at what the latest thing not to be into at the time is. I think that was going on all over the place and this was just another example of that. But in America, a lot of people became really tribal about it.

Rob Brown: We toured America shortly after the release of Artificial Intelligence and you'd have dudes coming up going, ‘oh shit, you're white! This is techno, why are you all white?’ We're like, well, in England, lots of people like techno. We were also freaked out because the audience wasn't as mixed as we thought it would have been. I think the majority were more mature listeners that were checking it out because it was slightly different and it was this unique opportunity to check out this weird stuff from the UK. It was a bit of a downer that it wasn't as multicultural. We wanted the audiences to reflect the influences that we'd had from all over the world and suddenly we seemed to be, as far as the Americans were concerned, the influence.
So it kind of seeped into a mentality that this was special or for more interesting types. I agree with that to an extent in terms of the sound, but I didn't agree with it in terms of it becoming a culture that was isolating its past a little bit or denying what its influences were. So it was good that we got that out there on the sleeve [via the questionnaire]. We've got a lot of influences and references and we thought we need to represent the strata that has brought us into being. I think we could already tell straight away it was being misunderstood, or at least it was bifurcated in ways that we couldn't predict.

The Quietus | Features | Are You Sitting Comfortably? An Oral History Of Warp's Artificial Intelligence

As Warp reissues its foundational Artificial Intelligence compilation, Daniel Dylan Wray explores the record's making, impact and legacy, plus the complicated legacy of IDM via interviews with artists featured on the album, other key players, journalists and more

thequietus.com

 

[subvert47]

It's a very well recorded track, I'll give it that. Every element of the drums is beautifully clear.

Unfortunately the beat itself I find deadening - the drums are not talking to the other elements of the music in the way that the drums in D'Cruze or Dillinja or even much more run of the mill '93 / '94 tunes routinely did.

And then in "Convoy" and so many of the neurofunk era tunes, there's these sort of abstracty gaseous sounds wafting about and not really adding much to the push 'n 'pull of the music, while gesturing at unease or malaise in a rather hokey way

Funny thing about neurofunk - when I coined it I should have spelled it neuro"funk", because while the intent is there, the actual funk rarely is

It's akin to Electronic Body Music or industrial dance stuff of the '80s. Clumpy. Clobbers your body but doesn't really lift or let loose.

Hmmmm.

Say rather that the drums are not talking to the other elements in the same way as D'Cruze or Dillinja. In Convoy they're mostly laying down a beat. But the abstracty gaseous sounds are not gesture, they're central to the music. No one did this back then like Matrix. (Which was why his LP was so disappointing. He stripped them all out and just left sub-Virus-copy banging.)

Was neuro-funk funky? Not really, not unless you find a repeated twostep onbeat/offbeat particularly funky. I don't; I find it boring unless there's a lot more to the tune. The three or four twosteppy tracks I posted all have more going on.

Here's an example, perhaps, of funky neurofunk:



Obviously, it's a completely different sort of music to D'Cruze and early Dillinja. If you don't like it, fair enough.

This topic is like a bone thrown to an old dog - can't resist gnawing away at it.

I find it endlessly fascinating how my favorite music became my not-favorite music.

It's a bit like doing an autopsy on a love affair gone sour, or the disintegration of a friend group.

Were did it go wrong? Could it somehow have hovered forever in the golden zone? Why can't we just freeze time at the peaks?

I think we all go through that. From "this is the best fucking music ever" to "sigh, it isn't really so very good anymore". For me that was a year or two later, when I began to ignore the mainstream en masse - labels I'd previously bought on sight - and just concentrated on the leftfield.

Whereas in 1999 I was still excited by plenty of dnb across the board. Not least the four LPs that came out on Reinforced. But of course you didn't like those either, did you 😉