Heya. I´m Manitu. :)

Music has accompanied me all my life in various forms, whether singing, dancing or in recent years Djing, which has proven to be the most effective way I can share it with the world. 

But when I recently came across a post from Drumanbasswear that they were looking for editors, I thought I might have written something, too, since I live abroad and I have rarely gotten to play lately. 

I have also grasped this possibility because, since I listen to and play drum and bass, I have been meeting with misunderstanding and frequent condemnation of drum and bass here and there. 

At first I was angry, but I did not try to defend my opinion or impose anything on someone, because there were always enough people in my hood who had similar musical tastes. But in recent years, I travel a lot and meet new people, and my boyfriend is also from a completely different keg. 

But my soul grows more and more with this genre and drum and bass is my daily bread. And that is why it is important for me that people in my neighborhood understand it and thus are able to understand me.

In this blog, I would like to share with you and tell you a little bit more about this genre, the songs and artists that I think most influenced and whose work has made me smile or help in different life situations and at the same time bring you, in my view, interesting news from the world of D'n'B.

01/ THE BEGINNINGS...

„There are some similarities between classical music and drum and bass, if you don’t know it, you don’t get it.“ Goldie

Goldie

Often associated with the drug scene and from my point of view a music style, which is to these days majorly undermined und misunderstood – DRUM AND BASS. This is why in this article I want to bring you a little closer to the roots and defining characteristics of this amazing genre.

Born in the mid 90’s, d’n’b began as a musical paradigm shift of the UK’s brakbeat hardcore and rave scene. Throughout the years there have been many permutations in its style. It incorporates elements of different music styles such as hiphop, funk, jazz house, electro and dancehall. A major influence was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound.

It focuses on fast syncopated breakbeat drum patterns and heavy basslines from which it derives its name. Characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, sampled sources, and synthesizers, with the tempo settling between 160-180 beats per minute (bpm) the first jungle was born. 

Jungle was not very popular 

Jungle at its beginnings was not very popular and inherited some associations with violence and criminal activity, coming from its often aggressive sound and themes of violence reflected in the choice of samples.

By 1995, whether as a reaction to, or independently of this cultural schism, some producers began to move away from the ragga-influenced style and moved to more polished and technically sophisticated sounds. This is probably the point where we can mark the start of differentiation of jungle and drum and bass, jungle being today considered as a separate form.

When looking into the structure of drum and bass, we can see different elements from which each track consists.

Roni Size

The bassline, in this case a deep sub-bass musical pattern which can be felt physically through powerful sound systems due to the low-range frequencies favoured, is of great importance in this genre. 

The basslines most notably originate from sampled sources or synthesizers. Less common are basslines performed with a bass instrument, whether it is electric, acoustic or a double bass. Examples can be found in the work of artists such as Roni Size, Pendulum, London Electricity and many more. 

Tony Colman - London Elektricity

One of the ways of creating a drum element is sampling. One of the, without a doubt, most sampled breaks, to which we can mark the born of drum and bass is the Amen break. It is a six-seconds-long drum solo from the 80’s soul record by The Winston Brothers.

Equally important is the TR-808 kick drum, an artificially pitch-downed or elongated bass drum sound sampled from Roland's classic TR-808 drum machine, and a sound which went through an enormous amount of experimentation over the years.

Many drum and bass tracks feature more than one sampled breakbeat in them and a include a technique of switching between two breaks. Anyhow, the syncopated breakbeats remain the most distinctive element of d’n’b, as without these a high-tempo 4/4 dance track could be classified as gabber or techno.

To provide different feels atmospheric pads and samples may be added over the fundamental drum and bass. One of the most recognized artists in this style is LTJ Bukem, Makoto, Blu Mar Ten and Seba. 

Pendulum

Drum and bass could at one time be defined as a strictly electronic musical genre, with the only "live" element being the DJ's selection and mixing of records during a set. 

This is not true anymore and blessed as we are we can today enjoy more and more "Live" drum and bass using electric, electronic and acoustic instruments played by musicians on stage. 

Among many live acts let me just mention few, that are stuck in my mind till today: London Electricity Big Band, Netsky Live and from slovak scene it is for sure the mesmerizing sound of the sax performed by Grňa. 

In addition to this, we can now often see a DJ on stage accompanied by an MC or a vocalist.

I won’t go into much detail, but there are few personalities that I need to mention: MC Fava, vocalist Charli Brix and from the Slovak scene - although an english man - MC Jimmy Danger and our pride miss Mila 207. 

Liked what you’ve read so far and would like to go on such a party? You are lucky, because in Slovakia we have several very talented crews that will for sure entertain you. 

If you are a fan of softer melodies don’t miss out on those from Drummatique or Basshaze crew and if you wanna test your limits and eardrums I suggest Trident or Bassizm parties. 

TRIDENT.sk merch - BUY and SUPPORT NOW - by CLICKING HERE

And if you are not much of a party person but wold like to give drum and bass a hear and maybe get to know something about it, tune to Radio FM (Slovak national radio - RTVS) on Sunday at 22.00 and let DJ Lixx massage your soul in the comfort of your home.

Drum and bass embodies a number of scenes and styles, from the highly electronic, industrial sounds of techstep to the use of conventional, acoustic instrumentation that characterize the more jazz-influenced melodies of liquid funk aka liquid drum and bass. 

The sounds of drum and bass vary extremely due to the range of influences behind the music and in following articles we will let you dive deep into different sounds of the many amazning subgenres of drum and bass.

• Author: Manitu
• Sources: Wikipedia, BBC, dnbradio.com
• ¹ -engl. syncopate - to place (the accents) on beats that are normally unaccented
• ² - engl. sampling - the reuse of a sound recording in another recording