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-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre grew out of the UK's rave scene in the 1990s.

The popularity of drum and bass at its commercial peak ran parallel to several other UK dance styles. A major influence was the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound that influenced jungle's bass-heavy sound. Another feature of the style is the complex syncopation of the drum tracks' breakbeat. Drum and bass subgenres include breakcore, ragga jungle, hardstep, darkstep, techstep, neurofunk, ambient drum and bass, liquid funk (a.k.a. liquid drum and bass), jump up, drumfunk, sambass, and drill 'n' bass. Drum and bass has influenced many other genres like hip hop, big beat, dubstep, house, trip hop, ambient music, techno, jazz, rock music, rock and pop music, pop.

Drum and bass is dominated by a relatively small group of record labels. Major international music labels had shown very little interest in the drum and bass scene until BMG Rights Management acquired Ram Records (UK), RAM in February 2016. Since then, the genre has seen a significant growth in exposure. Whilst the origin of drum and bass music is in the UK, the genre has evolved considerably with many other prominent fanbases located in all over the world.

History

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a growing nightclub and overnight outdoor event culture gave birth to new genres in the rave scene including breakbeat hardcore, darkcore, and hardcore jungle, which combined sampled syncopated beats, or breakbeats, and other samples from a wide range of different musical genres and, occasionally, samples of music, dialogue and effects from films and television programmes. From as early as 1991, tracks were beginning to strip away some of the heavier sampling and "hardcore noises" and create more bassline and breakbeat led tracks. Some tracks increasingly took their influence from reggae and this style would become known as hardcore jungle (later to become simply Jungle (music), jungle), whilst darkcore (with producers such as Goldie, Doc Scott, 4hero, and 2 Bad Mice) were experimenting with sounds and creating a blueprint for drum and bass, especially noticeable by late 1993.

By 1994, Jungle (music), jungle had begun to gain mainstream popularity, and fans of the music (often referred to as junglists) became a more recognisable part of youth subculture. The genre further developed, incorporating and fusing elements from a wide range of existing musical genres, including the raggamuffin music, raggamuffin sound, dancehall, Rapping, MC chants, dub basslines, and increasingly complex, heavily edited breakbeat percussion. Despite the affiliation with the MDMA, ecstasy-fuelled rave scene, jungle also inherited associations with violence and criminal activity, both from the gang culture that had affected the UK's hip-hop scene and as a consequence of jungle's often aggressive or menacing sound and themes of violence (usually reflected in the choice of samples). However, this developed in tandem with the often positive reputation of the music as part of the wider rave scene and dancehall-based Jamaican music culture prevalent in London. By 1995, whether as a reaction to, or independently of this cultural schism, some jungle producers began to move away from the ragga-influenced style and create what would become collectively labelled, for convenience, as drum and bass.

As the genre became generally more polished and sophisticated technically, it began to expand its reach from pirate radio to commercial stations and gain widespread acceptance (circa 1995–1997). It also began to split into recognisable subgenres such as hardstep, jump up, ragga, techstep, and what was known at the time as intelligent. As more melodic and often jazz-influenced subgenres of drum and bass called atmospheric or intelligent (Blame (music producer), Blame and Blu Mar Ten) and jazzstep (4Hero, Roni Size) gained mainstream appeal, additional subgenres emerged including techstep in 1996, drawing influence from techno.

The emergence of related styles such as liquid funk brought a wave of new artists incorporating new ideas and techniques, supporting continual evolution of the genre. To this day, drum and bass makes frequent appearances in mainstream media and popular culture including in television, as well as being a major reference point for subsequent genres such as Grime (music), grime and dubstep, and producing successful artists including Chase & Status, Netsky (musician), Netsky, Metrik, and Pendulum (drum and bass band), Pendulum.

Musical features

Drum and bass incorporates a number of scenes and styles, from the highly electronic, industrial music, industrial sounds of techstep to the use of conventional, acoustic instrumentation that characterise the more jazz-influenced end of the spectrum. The sounds of drum and bass are extremely varied due to the range of influences behind the music. 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. "Live" drum and bass using electric, electronic and acoustic instruments played by musicians on stage emerged over the ensuing years of the genre's development.

Influences

A very obvious and strong influence on jungle and drum and bass, thanks to the British African-Caribbean community, British African-Caribbean sound system (DJ), sound system scene, is the original Jamaican dub and reggae sound, with pioneers like King Tubby, Peter Tosh, Sly & Robbie, Bill Laswell, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Lee Perry, Mad Professor, Roots Radics, Bob Marley and Buju Banton heavily influencing the music. This influence has lessened with time, but is still evident, with many tracks containing ragga vocals.

As a musical style built around funk or syncopation, syncopated rock and roll drum break, breaks, James Brown, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, the Supremes, the Commodores, Jerry Lee Lewis, and even Michael Jackson acted as funk influences on the music. Jazz pioneer Miles Davis has been named as a possible influence. Blues artists such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Muddy Waters and B.B King have also been cited by producers as inspirations. Even modern avant-garde composers such as Henryk Gorecki have received mention. One of the most influential tracks in drum and bass history was "Amen Brother" by The Winstons, which contains a drum solo that has since become known as the "Amen break", which, after being extensively used in early hip hop music, went on to become the basis for the rhythms used in drum and bass.

Kevin Saunderson released a series of bass-heavy, minimal techno cuts as Reese/The Reese Project in the late '80s, which were hugely influential in drum and bass. One of his more famous basslines (Reese – "Just Want Another Chance", Incognito Records, 1988) was indeed sampled on Renegade's ''Terrorist'' and countless others since, being known simply as the 'Reese' bassline. He followed these up with equally influential (and bassline-heavy) tracks in the UK hardcore style as Tronik House in 1991–1992. Another Detroit artist who was important to the scene was Carl Craig. The sampled-up jazz break on Craig's ''Bug in the Bassbin'' was also influential on the newly emerging sound. DJs at the Heaven (nightclub), Heaven nightclub on "Rage" nights used to play it as fast as their Technics (brand), Technics record decks would go, pitching it up in the process.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the tradition of breakbeat use in hip hop production had influenced the sound of breakbeat hardcore, which in turn led to the emergence of jungle, drum and bass, and other genres that shared the same use of broken beats. Drum and bass shares many musical characteristics with hip-hop, though it is nowadays mostly stripped of lyrics. Grandmaster Flash, Roger Troutman, Afrika Bambaata, Run DMC, Mac Dre, Public Enemy (band), Public Enemy, Schooly D, N.W.A, Kid Frost, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Mos Def, Beastie Boys and the Pharcyde are very often directly sampled, regardless of their general influence.

Clearly, drum and bass has been influenced by other music genres, though influences from sources external to the electronic dance music scene perhaps lessened following the shifts from jungle to drum and bass, and through to so-called "intelligent drum and bass" and techstep. It still remains a fusion music style.

Some tracks are illegally remixed and released on white label (technically bootleg), often to acclaim. For example, DJ Zinc's remix of The Fugees' "Ready or Not (Fugees song), Ready or Not", also known as "Fugee Or Not", was eventually released with the Fugees' permission after talk of legal action, though ironically, the Fugees' version infringed Enya's copyright to an earlier song. White labels, along with dubplates, played an important part in drum and bass musical culture.

Drum elements

Sampling

The Amen break was synonymous with early drum and bass productions but other samples have had a significant impact, including the Apache (single), Apache, Funky Drummer, "Soul Pride", "Scorpio" and "Think (About It)" breaks. Early pioneers often used Akai Sampler (musical instrument), samplers and Music sequencer, sequencers on the Atari ST to create their tracks.

Synthesis

Of equal importance is the TR-808 kick drum, an artificially pitch-downed or elongated bass drum sound sampled from Roland Corporation, Roland's classic Roland TR-808, TR-808 drum machine, and a sound which has been subject to an enormous amount of experimentation over the years.

Rhythm composition

Many drum and bass tracks have featured more than one sampled breakbeat in them and a technique of switching between two breaks after each bar developed. A more recent commonly used break is the "Tramen", which combines the Amen break, a James Brown funk breakbeat ("Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells song), Tighten Up" or "Samurai" break) and an Alex Reece drum and bass breakbeat.

The relatively fast drum beat forms a canvas on which a producer can create tracks to appeal to almost any taste and often will form only a background to the other elements of the music. Syncopated breakbeats remain the most distinctive element as without these a high-tempo Time signature, 4/4 dance track could be classified as techno or gabber.

The complex syncopation of the drum tracks' breakbeat is another facet of production on which producers can spend a very large amount of time. The Amen break is generally acknowledged to have been the most-used (and often considered the most powerful) break in drum and bass.

Bass elements

The genre places great importance on 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. There has been considerable exploration of different timbres in the bass line region, particularly within techstep. The bass lines most notably originate from Sampling (music), sampled sources or synthesizers. Bass lines performed with a bass instrument, whether it is electric, acoustic or a double bass, are less common.

Atmospheric elements

Atmospheric pads and samples may be added over the fundamental drum and bass to provide different feels. These have included "light" elements such as ambient pads as found in ambient electronica and samples of jazz and world musics, or "dark" elements such as Consonance and dissonance, dissonant pads and sci-fi samples to induce anxiety in the dancer.

Vocal and melodic elements

Old-school DnB usually included an MC providing vocals. Some styles (such as jazz-influenced DnB) also include melodic instruments soloing over the music.

Tempo

Drum and bass is usually between 160 and 180 BPM, in contrast to other breakbeat-based dance styles such as nu skool breaks, which maintain a slower pace at around 130–140 BPM. A general upward trend in tempo has been observed during the evolution of drum and bass. The earliest forms of drum and bass clocked in at around 130 bpm in 1990/1991, speeding up to around 155–165 BPM by 1993. Since around 1996, drum and bass tempos have predominantly stayed in the 170–180 range. Recently, some producers have started to once again produce tracks with slower tempos (that is, in the 150-170 bpm range), but the mid-170s tempo is still a hallmark of the drum and bass sound.

A track combining the same elements (broken beat, bass, production techniques) as a drum and bass track, but with a slower tempo (say 140 BPM), might not be drum and bass, but instead may qualify as a drum and bass-influenced breakbeat track.

Drop

Many mixing points begin or end with a "drop (music), drop". The drop is the point in a track where a switch of rhythm or bassline occurs and usually follows a recognisable build section and breakdown (music), breakdown. Sometimes, the drop is used to switch between tracks, layering components of different tracks, as the two records may be simply ambient breakdowns at this point. Some DJs prefer to combine breakbeats, a more difficult exercise. Some drops are so popular that the DJ will "rewind" or "reload" or "lift up" the record by spinning it back and restarting it at the build. The drop is often a key point from the point of view of the dance floor, since the drum breaks often fade out to leave an ambient intro playing. When the beats re-commence they are often more complex and accompanied by a heavier bassline, encouraging the crowd to begin dancing.

Live performance

Drum and bass exhibits a full frequency response which can sometimes only be fully appreciated on sound systems which can handle very low frequencies, including sub-bass frequencies that are often felt more than heard. As befits its name, the bass element of the music is particularly pronounced, with the comparatively sparse arrangements of drum and bass tracks allowing room for basslines that are deeper than most other forms of dance music. Consequently, drum and bass parties are often advertised as featuring uncommonly loud and bass-heavy sound systems.

There are however many albums specifically designed for personal listening. The DJ mix is a particularly popular form of release, with a popular DJ or producer mixing live, or on a computer, a variety of tracks for personal listening. Additionally, there are many albums containing unmixed tracks, suited for home or car listening.

DJ performance

Although this practice has declined in popularity, DJs are often accompanied by one or more Emcees, MCs, drawing on the genre's roots in hip hop music, hip hop and reggae/ragga.

MCs do not generally receive the same level of recognition as producer/DJs, and some events are specifically marketed as being MC-free. There are relatively few well-known drum and bass MCs, mainly based in London and Bristol, including Stevie Hyper D (deceased), the Ragga Twins, Dynamite MC, Skibadee(deceased) and MC Tali.

Live instrument performance

Many musicians have adapted drum and bass to live performances, which feature instruments such as Drum kit, drums (acoustic or electronic), Sampler (musical instrument), samplers, synthesizers, turntables, bass (instrument), bass (either upright bass, upright or electric) and guitars (acoustic or electric). Sampler (musical instrument), Samplers have also been used live by assigning samples to a specific drum pad or key on Roland V-Drums, drum pads or synthesizers. MCs are frequently featured in live performances.

Subgenres

Smaller scenes within the drum and bass community have developed and the scene as a whole has become much more fractured into specific subgenres, which have been grouped into "light" (influenced by Ambient music, ambient, jazz, and world music) and "heavy" (influenced by industrial music, sci-fi, and anxiety) styles, including:

Mainline drum and bass

* Ragga jungle or ragga drum & bass was inspired by the original ragga jungle style, with influences from reggae and dancehall music.
* Jungle music#Jump-up, Jump-up, appearing in the mid-1990s, employs heavy and energetic drum and bass, characterised by robotic and heavy bass sounds. It also is generally less serious and contains more humor than other subgenres.
* Drumstep or halftime is a combination of drum and bass and dubstep, where the beat structure is half-time (music), half time, while the remaining elements still adhere to the usual sub-bass and tempo of drum and bass.
*Drill 'n' bass (also known as fungle and spunk jazz) incorporates double-time drum and bass with undanceable rhythms, low-brow humor, and ambient vibes of Intelligent dance music, IDM. The subgenre was developed by Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, whose rapid and irregularly syncopation, syncopated basslines discouraged dancing.

Light drum and bass

* Intelligent drum & bass or intelligent jungle is a smoother style, influenced by ambient music, Chill-out music, chillout, jazz and soul music. It was pioneered by such artists as Omni Trio, Peshay, Seba (musician), Seba, Blu Mar Ten, Deep Blue (musician), Deep Blue, Photek, LTJ Bukem and his label Good Looking Records, and the label Moving Shadow.
**Atmospheric drum and bass creates a calmer yet more synthetic sound. It was pioneered by London Elektricity and Nu:Tone.
* Jazzstep, jazzy jungle, jazz & bass or drum & jazz demonstrates heavy influence by jazz. It uses typical jazz scales, rhythms and instrumentation.
* Liquid funk (or simply "liquid") draws heavily on harmonic and melodic grooves, and samples from funk, jazz, Soul music, soul, Contemporary R&B, R&B, disco, House music, house and breakbeat.
* Sambass, a Brazilian drum and bass style, incorporates elements from samba, bossa nova and other Latin music (genre), Latin music styles. Pioneered by artists such as DJ Marky.

Heavy drum and bass

* Darkstep is characterised by fast drums and a general dark mood, drawing influences from dark ambient, Industrial music, industrial and Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), hardcore music.
* Techstep is characterised by Science fiction, sci-fi soundscapes and samples from science fiction culture. Pioneered by artists such as Bad Company (drum and bass group), Bad Company UK, Ed Rush, Optical (musician), Optical, Dom & Roland, and the label Moving Shadow.
* Neurofunk or neuro is the progression from techstep incorporating more elements from jazz and funk.
* Hardstep is a harder style which uses gritty basslines and heavy yet simple electronic melodies.
* Metal & Bass or Bass Metal is a style which specifically uses Heavy metal music, Heavy Metal guitar riffs.

Genres influenced by drum and bass

Born around the same time as jungle, breakcore and digital hardcore share many of the elements of drum and bass and to the uninitiated, tracks from the extreme end of drum and bass may sound identical to breakcore thanks to speed, complexity, impact and maximum sonic density combined with musical experimentation. German drum and bass DJ The Panacea is also one of the leading digital hardcore artists. Raggacore resembles a faster version of the ragga-influenced jungle music of the 1990s, similar to breakcore but with more friendly dancehall beats (dancehall itself being a very important influence on drum and bass). Darkcore, a direct influence on drum and bass, was combined with influences of drum and bass itself leading to the creation of darkstep. There is considerable crossover from the extreme edges of drum and bass, breakcore, darkcore, digital hardcore and raggacore with fluid boundaries.

Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a form of art music based on DnB and other electronic dance musics, exploring their boundaries using ideas from science, technology, contemporary classical music and progressive rock, often creating un-danceable, art gallery style music.

Recently created in the United States is a genre called ghettotech which contains synth and basslines similar to drum and bass.

Ecosystem

Record labels

Drum and bass is dominated by a small group of record labels. These are mainly run by DJ-producers, such as London Elektricity's Hospital Records, Andy C and Scott Bourne's Ram Records (UK), RAM, Goldie's Metalheadz, Fabio and Sarah Sandy's Creative Source Records, Kasra's Critical Music, DJ Friction (UK), DJ Friction's Shogun Audio, DJ Fresh's Breakbeat Kaos, Ed Rush & Optical (musician), Optical's Virus Recordings, Futurebound's Viper Recordings and DJ Hype, Pascal, NoCopyrightSounds and formerly DJ Zinc's True Playaz (known as Real Playaz as of 2006).

Prior to 2016, the major international music labels such as Sony Music and Universal Music Group, Universal had shown very little interest in the drum and bass scene, with the exception of some notable signings, including Pendulum (drum and bass band), Pendulum's ''In Silico (Pendulum album), In Silico'' LP to Warner. Roni Size's label played a big, if not the biggest, part in the creation of drum and bass with their dark, baseline sounds. V Recordings also played a large part of the development of drum and bass.

BMG Rights Management acquired Ram Records (UK), Ram Records in February 2016, making a strategic investment to help RAM Records (a London-based drum and bass record company co-owned by Andy C and his business partner Scott Bourne). RAM Records has been pushing the boundaries of drum and bass further into the mainstream with artists such as Chase and Status and Sub Focus.

Now defunct labels, include Rob Playford's Moving Shadow, running from 1990 until 2007, which played a pivotal role in the nineties drum and bass scene, releasing records by artists such as Omni Trio.

Formats and distribution

Purchasing

Originally drum and bass was mostly sold in 12-inch vinyl record, vinyl single format. With the emergence of drum and bass into mainstream music markets, more albums, compilations and DJ mixes started to be sold on CDs. As digital music became more popular, websites focused on electronic music, such as Beatport, began to sell drum and bass in digital format.

Distributors (wholesale)

The bulk of drum and bass vinyl records and CDs are distributed globally and regionally by a relatively small number of companies such as SRD (Southern Record Distributors), ST Holdings, & Nu Urban Music Limited.

As of 11 September 2012, Nu Urban ceased trading and RSM Tenon were instructed to assist in convening statutory meetings of members and creditors to appoint a liquidator. This left many labels short on sales, as Nu Urban were one of the main distributors for the vinyl market in the drum and bass scene.

Regional scenes

Anglosphere

Despite its roots in the UK, which is still treated as the "home" of drum and bass, the style has firmly established itself around the world. There are strong scenes in other English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.

Continental Europe

DnB is popular in continental Europe. The Czech Republic currently hosts the largest drum and bass festival in the world, LET IT ROLL, with an annual attendance of approximately 30,000. The genre is also encountered in Slovakia, and local producers in both countries such as A-Cray, Rido, Forbidden Society, L Plus, B-Complex, Changing Faces, Lixx, Dephzac, and Gabanna are becoming well known worldwide. There are several other drum and bass festivals being held each year in these countries, including Trident Festival, Exploration Festival, or Hoofbeats Open Air in the summer, or one-night events such as LET IT ROLL Winter, Imagination Festival, and LET IT ROLL Winter Slovakia in the colder months. During club season, promoters race between each other to organise better events, often resulting in up to ten parties being held during one weekend, with no more than a two-hour travel between them.

The drum and bass scene in Hungary seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year with its "centre" being in Budapest. Drum and bass gigs and parties are being held right on the Danube on the A38 ship, as well in the city centre in Akvárium Klub. For many years now, every major Hungarian music festival has drum and bass artists and DJs playing sets. The main pioneer for the Hungarian DnB scene is Bladerunnaz, a Budapest-based drum and bass crew, which organizes most of the DnB parties in Hungary.

Austria has a large emerging DnB scene with many artists such as Camo & Krooked, Ill.Skillz and mainly the Mainframe record label being all based in or around Vienna. Notable events include "The Hive" and "Beat It" held at Flex (club), Flex.

In Ireland, the biggest scene by far is in Dublin, with a night every Sunday by the Initial Kru mostly showcasing local DJs but occasionally bringing over international guests such as Spirit and Seba. Record label Boey Audio also run events showcasing local, national and international acts, as well as promoters such as Sól Fúd, Ragga Jungle Dublin and Springfield Crew Massive. There are much smaller regional scenes in areas such as Limerick, Cork and Galway which usually have monthly nights.

Latin America

The most prominent Drum & Bass artists include DJ Marky, Xerxes de Oliveira, XRS and Zardonic.

Brazilian drum and bass is sometimes referred to as "sambass", with a specific samba-influenced style and sound.

Venezuela was home to many crews including ones led by Adam F, Dieselboy, AK1200 and many more. Due to the current political climate, however, most crews and promoters have left the country.

Argentina is home to the +160 crew led by Bad Boy Orange, and Killerdrumz, who organized the first Therapy Sessions events in the region.

Colombia is home to the currently largest Drum & Bass scene, being Bogotá the city where most of the collectives that organize events are located. Among them are RE.SET, La Modular, Silentzcorp, WomandBass, Treesounds, Autonotek and Bogotá Project. Several labels have also emerged there, including I.D Bogotá Music, Inbassion Recs and Singular Files. Bogotá is also the home of the Radikal Styles Festival that brings together local talent and international big names. Other cities where Drum & Bass collectives have emerged include Medellín (Dnb Medellín), Tunja (Bass Animal Recordings) and Zipaquirá (Outbreak Frequencies).

Media presence

Today, drum and bass is widely promoted using different methods such as video sharing services like YouTube and Dailymotion, blogs, radio, and television, the latter being the most uncommon method. More recently, music networking websites such as SoundCloud and Mixcloud have become powerful tools for artist recognition, providing a vast platform that enables quick responses to new tracks. Record labels have adopted the use of podcasts. Prior to the rise of the internet, drum and bass was commonly broadcast over pirate radio.

Radio

The three highest-profile radio stations playing drum and bass shows are BBC Radio 1 with The Drum and Bass Show - formerly with DJ Friction (UK), Friction, who was replaced with René LaVice in 2017, simulcast in the US and Canada on Sirius XM, and DJ Hype on Kiss 100 London, Kiss 100 in London. Fabio (DJ), Fabio and Grooverider previously held a long-standing drum and bass show on Radio 1. Radio 1 also had the ''One in the Jungle'' show.

The BBC's Black music station BBC Radio 1Xtra used to feature the genre heavily, with DJ Bailey (show axed as of 29 August 2012) and Crissy Criss (show axed as of August 2014) as its advocates. The network also organises a week-long tour of the UK each year called Xtra Bass. London pirate radio stations have been instrumental in the development of drum and bass, with stations such as Kool FM (which continues to broadcast today having done so since 1991), Origin FM, Don FM (the only drum and bass pirate to have gained a temporary legal licence), Renegade Radio 107.2FM, Rude FM, Wax FM and Eruption among the most influential.

As of 2014, despite higher profile stations such as 1Xtra scaling back their drum and bass specialist coverage, the genre has made its way into UK top 10 charts with drum and bass inspired tracks from artists such as Rudimental and Sigma. Earlier in August 2014, before Crissy Criss' show was axed, the BBC held a whole prime time evening event dedicated to showcasing drum and bass by allowing four major labels to participate.

As of November 2014, six drum & bass songs had reached the no.1 spot on the UK's top 40 chart, since the genre was first being played on the radio, around 1993. The first of these was in 2012. The fact that all six of these songs reached number 1 in only two years shows the increase in popularity and commercialisation of the genre in recent years. The artists who produced these songs are Sigma (group), Sigma, Rudimental and DJ Fresh (all had two No.1 hits).

=Internet radio

=
Internet radio stations, acting in the same light as pirate stations, have also been an instrumental part in promoting drum and bass music; the majority of them funded by listener and artist donations.

Drum and bass was supported by Ministry of Sound radio from the early 2000s until 2014 and later featuring Tuesday shows from labels such as Metalheadz, Fabio & Grooverider, DJ Marky, Viper Recordings, Shogun Audio and Hospital Records. From September 2014, Ministry abruptly dropped all non-mainstream genres to focus on mainstream EDM, causing disappointment amongst the fans of the D&B community.

=North American radio

=
In Toronto since 1994, ''The Prophecy'' on 89.5 CIUT-FM with Marcus Visionary, DJ Prime and Mr. Brown, is North America's longest running jungle radio show.

Album 88.5 (Atlanta) and KNHC, C89.5fm (Seattle) have shows showcasing drum and bass.

Seattle also has a long-standing electronica show known as ''Expansions'' on 90.3 FM KEXP. The rotating DJs include Kid Hops, whose shows are made up mostly of drum and bass. In Columbus, Ohio WCBE 90.5 has a two-hour electronic only showcase, ''All Mixed Up'', Saturday nights at 10 pm. At the same time, WUFM 88.7 plays its ''Electronic Playground''.

Tulsa, Oklahoma's rock station, 104.5 The Edge, has a two-hour show starting at 10 pm Saturday nights called ''Edge Essential Mix'', mixed by DJ Demko, showcasing electronic and drum and bass style. While the aforementioned shows in Ohio rarely play drum and bass, the latter plays the genre with some frequency.

In Tucson, Arizona, 91.3 FM KXCI has a two-hour electronic show known as ''Digital Empire'', Friday nights at 10 pm (MST). Resident DJ Trinidad showcases various styles of electronica, with the main focus being drum and bass, jungle and dubstep.

In Augusta, Georgia, Zarbizarre of the Cereal Killaz hosts a show called ''FreQuency'' on WHHD on Friday nights from 11 pm until 1 am, showcasing drum and bass during the second hour of the show.

Magazines

The best-known drum and bass publication was ''Kmag'' magazine (formerly called ''Knowledge Magazine'') before it went completely online in August 2009. Although it is still live, after 20 years Kmag ceased updating their site at the end of 2014. Kmag has announced a book to celebrate their 25th anniversary to be published in December 2019. Kmag's publishing arm, Vision, published Brian Belle-Fortune's ''All Crews Journeys Through Jungle Drum & Bass Culture'' in 2004.

Other publications include the longest-running drum and bass magazine worldwide, ''ATM Magazine'', and Austrian-based ''Resident (magazine), Resident''. London-based ''DJ'' magazine has also been running a widely respected drum and bass reviews page since 1994, written by Alex Constantinides, which many followers refer to when seeking out new releases to investigate. In 2012 he stopped writing the reviews, and they are now contributed by Whisky Kicks.

Books

''All Crews: Journeys Through Jungle / Drum and Bass Culture''
(2005) by Brian Belle-Fortune (), nonfiction
* "Roots 'n Future" in ''Energy Flash'' (1998) by Simon Reynolds, Picador (), nonfiction (British edition)
* ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture'' (1998) by Simon Reynolds, Routledge. (), nonfiction (American edition)
* ''Rumble in the Jungle: The Invisible History of Drum and Bass'' (2002) by Steven Quinn, in: ''Transformations'', No 3 (2002), nonfiction (
PDF file
* ''State of Bass: Jungle – The Story So Far'' (1997) by Martin James, Boxtree (), nonfiction
* ''The Rough Guide to Drum 'n' Bass'' (1999) by Peter Shapiro (journalist), Peter Shapiro and Alexix Maryon (), nonfiction
* ''King Rat (1998 novel), King Rat'' (1998) by China Miéville (), fiction

Mainstream acceptance

The earliest mainstream drum and bass releases include Goldie's album ''Timeless (Goldie album), Timeless'' from 1995. Other early examples include the Mercury Music Prize-winning album ''New Forms'' (1997) from Reprazent, 4hero's Mercury-nominated ''Two Pages'' from 1998, then in the 2000s, Pendulum (drum and bass band), Pendulum's ''Hold Your Colour'' in 2005 (the best-selling drum and bass album).

In 2012, drum and bass achieved its first UK No. 1 single "Hot Right Now" by DJ Fresh which was one of the fastest-selling singles of 2012 at the time of release, launching the career of Rita Ora.

Video games such as Hudson Soft's ''Bomberman Hero'', Hi-Rez Studios' ''Tribes: Ascend'', Electronic Arts' ''Need for Speed: Undercover'', Rockstar Games' ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, and Sony's ''Wipeout (video game series), Wipeout'' series from ''Wipeout Pure, Pure'' onward have contained drum and bass tracks. Microsoft Studios' ''Forza (series), Forza Horizon 2, 3, 4 and 5'' feature a Hospital Records radio channel.

The genre has some popularity in soundtracks; for instance, "Ultrasonic Sound" was used in ''The Matrix''s soundtrack, and the E-Z Rollers' song "Walk This Land" appeared in the film ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''. Ganja Kru's "Super Sharp Shooter" can be heard in the 2006 film ''Johnny Was''.

The Channel 4 show ''Skins (UK TV series), Skins'' uses the genre in some episodes, notably in the first series' third episode, "Jal", where Shy FX and UK Apache's "Original Nuttah" was played in Fazer's club.

See also

* Dogs on Acid
* List of electronic music genres
* List of jungle and drum and bass artists
* List of jungle and drum and bass emcees

References

External links

bassblog.pro
- drum and bass mixes, since 2009

t.me/bassblogpro
- drum and bass mixes on Telegram

DnbLyrics.com
- the biggest collection of drum and bass lyrics

History of drum & bass
- a BBC timeline with track listings, quotes and samples

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drum and bass
Drum and bass,
Electronic dance music genres
1990s in music
2000s in music
2010s in music
Music in London
Breakbeat
English styles of music