It’s been a while since I’ve wrote another post for the D&B History Lesson, it’s been genuinely difficult to pull out the greats of the year (in my humble opinion). I could have put so much more in this but that’s for the book I’ve concentrated more on the big tunes of the year as these sum up the progression of the scene from being a very underground division of the music industry to being featured in the Top 40 and the Album Chart. Something never heard of in an electronic genre before.

Ok, let’s start with a classic tune that really made the scene and broke drum and bass into the mainstream. I’m not talking about Incredible by M-Beat (my Mum knew the words to this), I’m talking about the Timeless album by Goldie and the stand out track Inner City Life with vocals by Diane Charlemagne. Technically this track was released in 1994 but it was the album that changed the way drum and bass was seen by the music industry in the way that artists were producing wide and varied albums with glorious success. Pete Tong’s FFRR label picked up the album produced by Goldie and the legendary Rob Playford (Moving Shadow) and took it into the wider music market achieving number 7 in the UK album chart in August of 1995. A staggering triumph for a drum and bass album.

Staying the more mainstream tunes of the year, Circles from Adam F (Breakbeat Kaos head honcho) was a huge tune reaching number 20 in the charts. This roller of a tune features an amazing bass line and the “tick, tick, tick” line which was a favourite of the DJs to drop in the mix to tease the punters. Another significant note, is this track also has a music video wasn’t very common for DnB tunes of the time, in fact, not many electronic tracks had music videos full stop!

Heading back to the underground, there was an emergence of a more flowing, liquid sound that was echoing around club nights like Speed in London from most significantly LTJ Bukem. The liquid/intelligent sound was epitomised in the 1995 release of Horizons, almost euphoric at times and utterly beautiful throughout. I actually get goosebumps when I hear this tune. I first heard this along with other classics of the time from PFM on the Logical Progression album (1996) when I first got into DnB. PFM produced some of the best examples of the liquid sound with One & Only and The Western (Conrad mix feat. MC Conrad). Best listened to on the way back from a gig when the sun is just peeping over the horizon. Bukem went on to produce an Essential Mix for Radio 1 which is still talked about today. Could this be with first DnB Essential Mix, answers on a postcard?

And you can’t really mention Bukem without MC Conrad who features on most, if not all Bukem mixes. Flowing lyrics that are so smooth, they could hypnotise you, a style fitting of the liquid genre. Good Looking Records became synonymous with the Liquid/Intelligent sound and it featured in a full length documentary on Modern Times. This shows how mad (and unorganised) the scene was and it’s just so full of energy. The edge of what was possible was only just showing and people were loving it.

Sub-genres were popping up and V Recordings were reigning strong in the more ragga influenced lyrics and rolling sounds. DJ Krust produced Set Speed with a devistating bass line that is best listened to on a big sound system. Like Warhead in 1997, this tune was a huge, huge hit and so different from the liquid sound. It was based more around the bass than the atmospherics which were created more by the individuals in the clubs and not from the tune. This was a heads down, looking moody, head nodder of a tune which you will not be able to listen to on your tiny laptop speakers, trust me. I’ve got it on loud right now and my windows are rattling

Talking about loud sound systems… Dillinja (like what I did there?) was at full tilt in 1995 producing tracks such as The Angels Fell on Metalheadz. Probably the DnB artist who has more aliases and released tracks then anyone else in the game. One of the Godfathers of DnB who has pushed what is possible sonically with his and Lemonde/Lemon D’s Valve Sound System and also what’s possible in the business side of the industry with the opening of the very successful Ear2ground vinyl cutting business. Who ever said vinyl was dead hey? Respect is most definitely due.

Ok, we’ve had liquid atmospherics, heavy bass, now for the drums… Rings Around Saturn by Photek is a classy bit of drum programming and minimalistic, almost clinical sounding DnB. The complexity of the drums on this track make it hard to dance like Ni Ten Ichi Ryu to so it’s strength comes from being a down tempo-esque track which is almost difficult to listen to if you take it as just a regular DnB track. A world away from the emerging Jump-Up tunes. Magically, it still works and is featured on the 1996 Logical Progession album.

Overall, 1995 saw the scene splitting in more ways than one. We’ve see the sub-genres emerging with huge success in establishing DJs famous for a certain type of DnB and also the scene move towards being more serious and commercialised. Some may argue that the scene should run it’s self without the “help” and exposure from outside the industry however, it’s that outside influence that begun in 1995 that has made the scene stronger today. Crossovers will always come and go but as long as the scene remains self sufficient and not relying on the big boys, it will remain pure and constantly growing and I applaud that.

Right, I’m gonna have to stop writing as it’s taken me over 2 hours to put this together and I’m starving. I hope you like reading it as much as I’ve loved writing it and annoying the neighbours with the bass lines.

Feedback, as always… is welcome. Cheers.

I thought I’d step back in time and produce a history lesson series for my blog. It’s going to be a 15 week delve into the depths of the scene, Youtube and my old flyer box to bring you;

• The Top Tunes of the Year
• The breakthroughs in the scene
• And other general nonsence that made that year so great… All with a bit of the SubVee magic sauce

Unlike normal history lessons, I encourage talking at the back of the class but be aware, I’ll be wanting comments and discussion on here. Extra marks will be given out for random (relevant) facts! Are you sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin…

Let’s start with 1994 and the early years.

One of the comments on the D&B scene is that it didn’t have a start… it evolved. It evolved from breakbeat rhythms, hip-hop grooves, reggae and pure hardcore energy. One of the first tunes that stood out from the cheesy sampled, sped up tunes of the time was LTJ Bukem’s third offering, Demon’s Theme on Good Looking (released 1991). It drew a line in history as being the standard and the mark that was to be a statement of intent for the transforming scene, a benchmark of what was possible with a breakbeat. It still sounds fresh today.

Once the bar was set, the scene was ready to progress into something more solid with Moving Shadow, formed in 1990 by Rob Playford, moving toward releasing more tunes recognisable as D&B with breakbeats than Playford’s early tunes with 2 Bad Mice which were edging toward being more rave-esque. Take a listen to Bombscare for some real raving memories! I think this was about the time I heard about raves and I remember asking my Mum if I could go to one, aged 13. I think you know the answer to that one.
Moving Shadow, along side Goldie, Kemistry and Storm’s Metalheadz, Formation Records created by DJ SS and Reinforced Records began releasing tunes more recognisable as D&B or Jungle as it was known back then. Again, another argument could be sparked by the D&B vs Jungle label of the scene and who coined the name but that’s for another time. Another standoiut track from 1992 was Terminator by Goldie, released under the Metalheadz moniker. Still sounding very hardcore + breakbeat, it’s a integral part of the musical transformation from hardcore to D&B. More importantly, Goldie pioneered the timestretching process which opened the flow gates for a new way of producing.

Between 1992 and 1994, the scene was dark, moody and dangerous with the press butting in causing the scene to be blacklisted as being linked to violence and crack cocaine and also being linked to racial issues. The final act in the Hardcore to Jungle story was the scene being subjected to the move towards using more bass and drums in the tracks being produced around that time. The production accelerated during this time and Jungle, Drum and Bass or what ever you want to call it became a part of British History as being recognised as the first truly British black music genre or to be more correct the first multi-cultural musical genre to evolve in Britain. Drum and Bass has some heritage hey?!

Ok, back to the music… 1993 saw Bukem form Good Looking Records and release ‘Music’ which was seen to be a more structured track using atmospheric sounds and techniques to give a more ambient feel. Later, the style and feel become known as Intelligent or Liquid D&B. You can’t begin the history of D&B without mentioning another side of the genre that was to mature into the jazzy sound of Bristol which was started partly by the formation of Full Cycle Recordings in 1993 (Co-owned by Suv, Krust, Die and Roni Size). Their first release was The Resister – DJ Krust / Music Box – Roni Size & DJ Die.

You can’t mention Full Cycle without V Recordings (Brian Gee and Jumping Jack Frost) who also released possibly the most wide ranging back catalogue from the jazzy sounds of Jazz note by DJ Krust (cool animation on this) and in the future, the harder sounds of Dillinja.

You can’t really mention the beginning of D&B without mentioning UK Apachi and Shy FX and their 1994 hit Original Nuttah that reached number 39 in the charts in October that year signalling the mainstream break through of D&B.

Finally, a mention to 4 Hero who where the chaps who bring us back to the Hardcore roots of the scene with Mr Kirk’s Nightmare (1990). Not strictly D&B or Jungle but a tune which is mentioned time and time again as being a standout track as a sign of the times with the opening “Mr Kirk? Your son is dead. He died of an overdose.” They infused jazz synths, random samples and beautiful vocals into the epic Parallel Universe (title track) album which was ahead of it’s time in 1994 bringing their remarkable engineering talent to the masses. It was indeed 4 Hero who turned Goldie’s musical vision in his head into the Terminator track mentioned earlier.

I could go on further into pre-1994 D&B, the influential Artists, the Labels and the club nights but I’m gonna leave you here with some good tunes and some albums to go and explore. Remember, it’s a History Lesson *with* talking at the back.

Do you have any memories, favorite tunes or albums that should have been mentioned, random facts about the pre-1994 years, wanna set the record straight? Bang ‘em in the comments and feel free to link back to this post.