From the early days of UK hardcore to the present era, these are the tracks that made drum & bass. But there is another source that speaks for itself - the music. Like any form of folk art, the story of drum & bass is often hazy and fragmented, accessible only through the underground publications that attempted to document it, and the occasionally contradictory memories of those who were there. Roughly three decades after it began to take shape, drum & bass is fully established as a cornerstone of electronic music, with its own ecosystem of artists, labels and clubs along with a community of diehard fans. So essential that it’s almost impossible to conceive of jungle or drum & bass without it, the Amen Break is the percussive backbone of countless tracks and the source of many of the genre’s idiosyncrasies. While the practice of sampling snippets of isolated percussion from soul, jazz and rock records was pioneered in the early days of New York hip hop, British jungle producers brought new levels of complexity, resulting in what theorist Kodwo Eshun, called “hyperrhythm, posthuman rhythm that’s impossible to play.” In particular, these artists gravitated toward the short drum solo on “ Amen, Brother,” a 1969 B-side by a Washington D.C. In addition to bringing ultra-fast tempos into electronic dance music, drum & bass is responsible for advancing the manipulation of breakbeats. However, drum & bass also bears a deep connection to the past, with roots in the early rave scene, Jamaican sound system culture, and other communities and histories specific to its birthplace and spiritual home in London, England. Forging its own unique aesthetic by pushing music production technology to its absolute limits, for many, the genre’s futuristic sound would symbolized the digital frontier on the other side of the year 2000. When the genre began to take shape in the early ’90s, it was called jungle, and even in its infancy, it marked a radical departure from the four-to-the-floor beats of house and techno. Characterized by its speed, intensity and unmistakable rhythms, drum & bass stands out from other forms of dance music.
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