The current state of Drum & Bass

So, tonight, I went to a drum and bass club night in Hollywood. I'd been wanting to check it out for a while now. I didn't think such things still existed.

After living in NYC for so long, my impression was that it had faded and died out or that it had just morphed into dubstep, entirely.

I was relieved to find there was a strictly dnb night. The turnout was huge, too.

Sad thing is, it was boring.

I'm such a huge dnb/jungle fan, but after around 98 or 99, I stopped buying new 12"s because it seemed to be taboo for producers to use the amen break. Everything was 2-step or watered-down Tech-step.

Apparently, it's still the same shit.

Every dj tonight spun tracks that had good bass, but boring/repetitive drum lines. Gone are the days (indeed) of flary, complex drum patterns.

I'm sure there are still people making good jungle (like Current Value), but what the fuck is up with the lack of creativity on production and the abstinence of using the Amen?

I swear, it's been the same for 13 years now.

Why do producers/djs insist on playing repetitive tracks and building up to an inevitable moment where there is no real payoff in the break?

I'm sorry. The shit is sad. I miss good jungle. What the fuck is wrong with people?

I'm disappointed. Help me understand, watmm.

Good thing we still have Pendulum.

dgoHn

  On 8/10/2012 at 11:35 AM, psn said:

dgoHn

Some of us still write it, man, and a few old school guys are still at, i.e Paradox. Check out Equinox, Dub One, Ricky Force, Tim Reaper, Vocoda, Dwarde. I'm sure there are plenty more to check out that I can't think of or don't know. I'm sure you can find plenty of stuff in their soundcloud links.

There still being released some good DnB every once in a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WulyiPlsPyQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjX2lt74ANA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYWMeS6LMzo

No word about the new generation

http://youtu.be/C_MUO6XNhdE

http://youtu.be/UNeMGqOZtUA

  On 8/10/2012 at 11:25 AM, jefferoo said:

Gone are the days (indeed) of flary, complex drum patterns.

I'm sure there are still people making good jungle (like Current Value), but what the fuck is up with the lack of creativity on production and the abstinence of using the Amen?

I've been getting into more complex drum programming myself lately, and I've been using drum & bass as a practice ground. I'm very fortunate to have a friend who is a demon with programming patterns, and he's a big fan of old skool jungle/dnb. We've been sending some samples and MIDI tracks back and forth. He tinkers around in Reason, me on an MPC. It's very much student and the master, with me most definitely the student. He has so much knowledge, I get annoyed that he's never released anything! He's just not that interested in doing it, and I guess with the current commercial viability of dnb (or any music for that matter) it's not something he's hugely bothered about pursuing.

Back in the 90s/early 00s, you couldn't move for dnb/jungle nights round here (Bristol, UK), it was a breeding ground for producers. Things have moved on here, obviously dubstep was doing it's thing years ago, but that has moved on too. Even years ago, most producers round these parts didn't want to be pigeon-holed as doing dubstep and would rather remain uncategorised, even before the likes of Skrillex became the posterboy for dubstep. Is original-style dubstep classed as 'bass music' now? I see that term come up and shudder... but then, I do that with most genre labels!

tl;dr - most folks just don't care for dnb anymore *sadface*

You can't really blame artists for not wanting to work within the framework of old school styles. Any creative person wants to find their own style, and mostly that involves moving away from established norms, even if the result may sometimes be inferior. I think there's enough old school jungle/dnb around that one couldn't even listen to it all in a lifetime, you just need to find a DJ that likes to mix that sort of material.

Disclaimer: I'm personally very sympathetic to what little I've heard of the new sound of DnB, although without mentioning any names it's hard to say if we're thinking about the same sound.

REMARC

BIZZY B

SOUNDMURDERER

still play that real schitt LIVE

Mark killed it in nyc in the spring

but you gotta go to the UK to ear it all the time

jeff you need to start your own night

I was going to recommend anything off of the Subtle Audio label.... like dgohn/macc etc... the two compilations they have out are pretty good too.

amen-y goodness. They seem to be keeping it real

  On 8/10/2012 at 1:07 PM, yikes said:

REMARC

BIZZY B

SOUNDMURDERER

still play that real schitt LIVE

Mark killed it in nyc in the spring

but you gotta go to the UK to ear it all the time

jeff you need to start your own night

Are there any new releases from Remarc or Bizzy B since their Planet Mu releases?! Or just live shows?

They've got some nice breaks, heavy shit... No pink butterfly two step diva dnb....

Pendulum (--> Reese Bass, not a specific technic with bass but rather the degree of treatment of distortion & filtering used on a sample of bass, interesting...)

dgoHn

A Guy Called Gerald

Shy FX

RENE LA VICE

Spectrasoul

Noisia

Netsky

Loadstar

&... forgot...

  On 8/10/2012 at 12:24 PM, Amen Lare said:

 

 

http://youtu.be/UNeMGqOZtUA

D Bridge was actually headlining at the DNB night I was at last night.

The main thing I like about new drum and bass is the snares. And I'm not gonna lie, I fucking love super-melodic dnb:

That's like god damn supercharged demoscene music or something!

Also, these sentences puzzled me:

  On 8/10/2012 at 11:25 AM, jefferoo said:

I'm sure there are still people making good jungle (like Current Value), but what the fuck is up with the lack of creativity on production and the abstinence of using the Amen?

 

I swear, it's been the same for 13 years now.

Seriously, fuck the amen break. It's been done to absolute fucking death. Move on, people!

  On 8/11/2012 at 10:15 AM, modey said:

The main thing I like about new drum and bass is the snares. And I'm not gonna lie, I fucking love super-melodic dnb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lErGorDe9rE

That's like god damn supercharged demoscene music or something!

Nah, dnb is supposed to be SUPER SERIOUS!!!! You can't have silly melodies or cheesy samples! No way, man!

Shy FX, T-Power, Aphrodite and the lot all went 2-step garbage, shame.

  On 8/11/2012 at 10:35 AM, modey said:

Also, these sentences puzzled me:

  On 8/10/2012 at 11:25 AM, jefferoo said:

I'm sure there are still people making good jungle (like Current Value), but what the fuck is up with the lack of creativity on production and the abstinence of using the Amen?

 

I swear, it's been the same for 13 years now.

Seriously, fuck the amen break. It's been done to absolute fucking death. Move on, people!

You are entitled to you own opinion, even if it is dead wrong.

  On 8/10/2012 at 12:24 PM, Amen Lare said:

No word about the new generation

 

http://youtu.be/C_MUO6XNhdE

 

http://youtu.be/UNeMGqOZtUA

Fucking lol

D-Brigde has made some decent tunes though.

The youtube channel, lololol:

http://www.youtube.com/user/designandbass

I`m not on the ball at all when it comes to Drum & Bass, but I`ve enjoyed these recently.

http://33recordings....et-middle-line/

http://deadcenter.ba...n-abstraction-2

http://www.ektoplazm.com/style/psydnb