Drill 'n' bass is a subgenre of

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

which developed in the mid-1990s as IDM artists began experimenting with elements of

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

, jungle, and

music. Artists utilized powerful audio software programs and deployed frenzied, irregular beats that often discouraged dancing. The style was often interpreted as having a lightly parodic relationship with the

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

styles that inspired it.

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

. ''Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture''. Soft Skull Press, 2012. p. 382-383

Characteristics

'' AllMusic'' referred to the genre as "a spastic form of breakbeat jungle that relied on powerful audio software and patient programming to warp old midtempo beats and breaks into a frenzied, experimental potpourri of low-attention-span electronic music." Critic Simon Reynolds described it as "jungle by non-junglists for non-junglists," stating that producers are "free to take the idiomatic features of jungle — fucked-up breakbeats, mutant bass, sampladelic collage —and exacerbate them away beyond any conceivable use-value to DJ or dancer." Author Peter Shapiro called it "double-time

drum 'n' bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

with impossible-to-dance-to rhythms and toilet humor."

History

Early exponents of drill 'n' bass included Luke Vibert,

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...

, and Squarepusher. The style was pioneered by Vibert on his 1995 EPs under the name Plug. Other pioneering releases included Aphex Twin's '' Hangable Auto Bulb'' EP (1995) (under his AFX moniker) and Squarepusher's '' Conumber E:P'' EP (1995). In 1996, the style appeared on long-form LPs such as Plug's '' Drum 'n' Bass for Papa'' and Squarepusher's ''

Feed Me Weird Things ''Feed Me Weird Things'' is the debut studio album by English electronic musician Tom Jenkinson under the alias Squarepusher. It was released on 3 June 1996 through Rephlex Records. It entered the dance albums chart at No. 10 on 15 June. The al ...

''. Subsequent artists like Witchman,

Animals on Wheels Animals on Wheels is the stage name of Andrew Coleman, an electronic musician based in Cambridge. Coleman collaborated with Adam Butler (a.k.a. Vert) to form Bovinyl, an independent record label, and released his first EP, ''Baits Bite'', in ...

, Amon Tobin, Mung, and Plasmalamp also explored the style. By the end of the 1990s, it had largely dissipated. Subsequent artists such as Kid606 drew on the style. It would help produce the IDM spin-off genre breakcore, which took a more earnest and frenetic approach to the jungle sound.

References

{{Electronica Drum and bass subgenres English styles of music

Characteristics

History

See also

References