''New Forms'' is the debut studio album by British drum and bass group Roni Size & Reprazent. It was originally released on 23 June 1997 through Talkin' Loud, and later re-released by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

and

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. The album was released to critical and commercial success, winning the 1997

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

, certifying platinum in the UK, and often being cited as their

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

. ''New Forms'' was promoted by the release of its four singles, "Share the Fall", "Heroes", "Brown Paper Bag" and "Watching Windows", all landing on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and featuring vocals from Onallee. The album features production credits from

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

Krust Kirk Thompson (born 26 July 1968), better known by his stage name Krust, is an English drum and bass producer, DJ and co-owner of the Full Cycle record label. Beyond his roles in the music industry, Thompson is also responsible for two business ...

DJ Die Daniel Robert Kausman, (born 13 October 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Die, is an English DJ and music producer. He was a founder of drum and bass label Full Cycle Recordings and a member of Roni Size & Reprazent (1997 Mercury Prize ...

and Suv.

Release

''New Forms'' was preceded by a 1996 EP named ''Reasons for Sharing'' containing "Share the Fall", "Down", "Trust Me", and "Sounds Fresh", the former three of which were featured on the album. On 19 May 1997, the album's lead single was released, "Share the Fall", which reached number 37 in the

in June that year. The album was released on 23 June 1997 and charted on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

for 46 weeks, peaking at number 8. Following the album, three singles were released "Heroes", "Brown Paper Bag" and "Watching Windows", all charting at positions 31, 20 and 28 respectively, with "Brown Paper Bag" remaining the group's highest charting single. The album was released in various formats, all with differing track lists. The original album release was a two disc CD, though single disc editions only containing disc one were later released. The cassette version comprised the first disc of the CD. Two vinyl versions were released, a 5x and 4x LP. Of the two vinyl versions, the most common pressing is the 4LP version comprising most of the first CD; the 5x LP set includes tracks from the second CD, replacing "Intro" with "Heroes" and "Digital", which are appended to the end. In the US, only the 2CD version was released, which contained the bonus track "Electricks". A remake of the original album, ''New Forms²'', was released in April 2008. Roni Size has described it as having a "new coat of armour added to the original tracks". The album contains four new songs: "Heart to Heart", "Less is More", "Don't Hold Back" and "Encore", while omitting several of the songs from the original album.

Critical reception

''New Forms'' was released to favourable reviews.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described the album as "the major statement on drum'n'bass", rating it five stars out of five, while in 2010

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio ...

noted that it "carved a mainstream niche for drum and bass like no album before it". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' noted the album's "caffeinated drum beat and blissful bass reverb". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

''s Ryan Schreiber was less generous, commenting that the album "doesn't really get decent until the second half of disc one".

Track listing

The original CD release contains both discs, though a single disc version containing only disc 1 was additionally released in the UK.

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes. *

(Ryan Williams) – writing, production, keyboards * Onallee (Tracey Bowen) – vocals, writing *

Dynamite MC Dynamite MC (born Dominic Smith, 7 October 1973) is an English rapper and MC. He originally gained prominence in jungle/drum and bass, working with Roni Size & Reprazent, but has also released hip hop material. Career He started his MCing ...

(Dominic Smith) – vocals, writing *

(Daniel Kausman) – writing, production *DJ Suv (Paul Southey) – writing, production *

(Kirk Thompson) – writing, production *Clive Deamer – drums *Si John – bass *

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American hip-hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, '' Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released EP ''BB Queen'' in 2000. She ...

(Antonia Reed) – vocals *Tyrrell – guitar *Adrian Place – saxophone * Róisín Murphy - vocals (sampled) *Gilles Peterson – A&R *Paul Martin – A&R *Intro. London – design *Vikki Jackman – photography *Simon Goffe – management

Accolades

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1997 debut albums Roni Size albums Mercury Prize-winning albums Talkin' Loud albums