There’s definitely something in the air in drum & bass right now.
(Un)fortunatley, I’ve been around long enough that I can sense when change is afoot, and I can sense it now.
For the last few months my conversations with other producers keep coming back to similar themes. What I’m hearing from people is they’re tired of the current sound and what they’ve been doing for the last few years. There’s a real hunger for something new, or at least if not completely new, then different to what has been the recent status quo.
People keep saying they want to ‘go deeper’, a phrase that normally makes my teeth grind with hi-octane cringe. But these days I think I know what they mean.
i’ve heard the same things being said by producers from right across the whole spectrum of styles – people who are known for jump-up, people who are known for atmospheric & drumfunk, people who have been churning out Pendulum-style dancefloor bangers, people who have been writing very polite generic liquid – everyone seems to have had enough of just going through the motions. They want something more musical, more complex, more subtle, more *involved*. Producers are wanting to reintroduce light and shade into their music, both in terms of the dynamics of the tracks and also the content. Many of us are tired of that wall of sound, of that relentless 2-step snare. Sometimes it’s just what you need, but often it just crucifies any music that you try and work around it.
Finally producers are saying ‘enough is enough’ and one by one they’re stopping taking part in the volume war, not being afraid to make their music that little bit more delicate.
What’s interesting to me is the tipping-point effect of all this. It’s all happened at more or less the same time, and people have clearly come to these conclusions on their own. Now that people have started talking openly about it to each other, momentum is starting to build and confidence in our collective ability to force the music into much more interesting areas is growing.
Why has it happened now? I would hazard a guess at the rise and rise of Pendulum having something to do with it. The Pendulums have taken that stadium-d&b sound to it’s logical conclusion – the stadium (more or less), and while many of us wish them good luck with it, seeing it finally happen has, I think, made many people suddenly take stock of their own output. I suspect many people have suddenly realised that’s not a race they particularly want to be running in.
As you may or may not know, we’re working on a drum & bass album right now. Around 6 weeks ago we got frustrated at how pedestrian it was sounding and tore lots of it up, vowing to take a swerve into the left-field and leave behind us all our concerns about whether the tunes fit in to what else is happening in the scene, or whether DJ [x] or DJ [y[] is likely to play it. Once we did that the music blossomed like crazy, giving us probably the best results we have seen for years.
Will it get played by all the dancefloor merchants? Not a chance.
Is it evocative, emotional, romantic music that I will want to listen to myself and be proud to stand by in years to come? Absolutely.
vive la revolution imo
the world wasn’t ready for the musicality of the mid 90’s-it is now.
take some SERIOUS chances with reintroducing some meat to the skeleton that is post-platinum breaks dnb, and i guarantee you’ll be rewarded.
we feel it on this side of the atlantic, too..
looking forward, as always.
swings and roundabouts, great when it swings back to your side…
i’ve been preaching for a long time how the loudness thing has pretty much made d&b unlistenable to me anywhere outside of a club or dj environment, i either listen to different other music altogether or d&b from yesteryear. it’s not comfortable sitting at your computer chilling out or working to music that sounds like it’s trying to jump out of the speakers and knock you out…
maybe alot of people forgot how super sharp shooter used to ’smash up the dance’ regardless of the piss weak completely un-punchy skittering little breakbeat…
dynamics = good
music that breaths = good
wall of sound = teh suck
What did you think about Utah Jazz’s new album, “It’s a Jazz Thing?”
We just had him out in Hong Kong for a gig and I talked to him in great detail about the direction of Drum N Bass and how sales are working.
I totally understand this school of thought. I for one feel exactly the same way.
I’m fed up of the music actually sounding the same. Too much “crash, bang” harshness, soul-less compositions, stupid melodies, no harmonies, what is going on?? Hasn’t anyone heard of “chords” and “structure”?!
I remember a quote by Martsman “”… Drum & Bass music; a framework in which I consider anything goes”
Tracks like Commix “Underwater Scene”, Breakage “Clarendon” anything by Instra:Mental, D-Bridge, and still many other musicians show the versatility that D & B can present.
and i’m feeling inspired by photek’s simple genius
Sounds good BMT. Too much noise, not enough music. Time for change.
> Will it get played by all the dancefloor merchants? Not a chance.
That almost certainly means I’ll like all of it, and play half of it.
I hope this time it actually happens, I mean, the “re/evolution”. Do you remember when Dillinja said he was going to slow his tunes like in the old days? I’m still waiting for the next Angels Fell…
Anyway, I believe what really pushed the scene is not the Pendulum stadium-rock, but quite the contrary, the smaller producers. When the “magic formula” of loudness and reese or wobble established, most “famous” producers got scared to lose the money for their bread & butter, and the “amateur” guys had the opportunity to experiment with new sounds and styles. They founded small labels, that have back catalogues to put bigger labels to shame in the recent years, and became bastions of creativity and innovation. Just a handful of well established producers (like D-Bridge) had the guts to keep making interesting music rather than silly dancefloor shit for the kids.
But I have faith in these “brand new days” that are coming. The scene is more diverse now, and finally we can see a better penetration of smaller and leftfield labels in people’s minds. From deeper and lush atmospheric sounds coming from ASC to techno-driven tunes from the techno-dnb.com guys, I believe we never had such a diverse ground to choose and pick goodm original tunes inside this crazy small world of drum’n'bass.
Good luck – these things don’t really happen from the top down though do they? The kids will get what they want, and what they want right now is HARDCORE NOISE.
I think Seba has achieved this “deeper” sound with his new track Blaze and Fade Out. That track is so lush, so musical, genius! I am excited for this new movement to take hold….
I’m hoping you are right Chris but I can’t help but think of all the elitist steaming turds that get put out under the guise of “forward thinking” and “cutting edge experimental”. That’s the reason I stopped visiting Subvert Central. But it’s ultimately going to depend on what producers you are talking about. It sounds like certain folks want to move towards a more involved song concept as opposed to a track directed solely at a dancefloor. I would welcome that with open arms as my favorite tracks usually serviced both. There was a great dichotomy of the rough versus the smooth and the intricate versus the functional. Tracks like this still exist today so thankfully I’m not going to be left short if this grand shift you are talking about never occurs. They’re just hard to track down surrounded by tons of weekly skullstep and noodly jump up releases every week.
But I would love to hear some fresh “songs” from Dilly, Photek, Adam F, Gay Majik and even crazy nosebleed aggro skullfuckers like Dylan and clowns like Clipz. The problem with some of these guys is the work they’ve put in “branding” themselves. They may not want to deviate from the formula to evolve. But if My Little Pony could turn his back on his trademark sound and die hard fanbase and still remain lucrative then maybe there is hope. I’d like to see more producers emerge with a wide range of output, like Quiff, A Sides, Klute, Break, D Bridge, etc. I’d also like to see more drum and bass that is derivative of outside influences as opposed to cannibalizing d&b internally to the point where it’s become a parody of itself (Pendu clones, Clipz clones, Future Engineers clones, Blame clones, Calibre clones). But obviously those are some of the core concerns which we’ve discussed at some point over the years that won’t ever change.
bear in mind the point i’m making is that this change is organic and occurring naturally – it’s not some big forced movement like it has been in the past. I was simply relating what different, unrelated producers from all parts of the world are all saying at the same time, with no apparent coordination.
There’s no ‘big thing’, there’s no ‘committee’, there no ‘huge change’.
I’m simply saying people are enjoying working in a slightly less restrained way, and are expressing a desire to do more and more of that.
this is a great thing
Spot on, Chris. Not much more to add really!
Yeah,
as Tim said. I think the change will come, but for now the Kids want to go crazy at a dnb party! And who cares about that overcompressed sound with a cheap mp3 player and cheaper headphones that will mostly sound shit! And that is a big market right now! So i think it will be something for people that “hear” music. But there are so many people that need to feel music! Whatever! I cant wait to hear some the stuff you’re working on! As it will be quality…
Well put, Chris.
I’ve been in the same boat with you for a long time.
teh sick innit!
Totally feeling what you’re saying.
I’ve got to the point where I’m fed up of trying to tailor my sound in a certain direction just to guarantee DJ support / label signing tune for vinyl release……..it becomes tedious, repetitive and creatively frustrating.
From now on I’m going back to making whatever idea is in my head and finishing it the way I initially planned to (rather than watering it down / simplifying the beats & vibes to appeal to a wider dancefloor audience etc)
Don’t get me wrong though, I still enjoy the of the dancefloor stuff (when it’s not TOO noisy) and will continue to make it (you can’t beat a good roller!)…but it won’t be the sole focus anymore (artistically I need to start making music of all flavours with different musical influences brought into it again)
The whole J-Tek style thing is inspiring as well. Producing at that tempo again in that style is fun and knowing DJs are spinning this style in clubs (and fusing with other genres like Dubstep, Breaks and Techno) opens so many creative possibilities (which is enough to make me want to be part of it)
Ah, the joys of music production (I dunno how I’d cope without it!)
People outside of the dnb industry have been saying this for years.
i think its about time the whole of the computerised electronic industry woke up and realised just how vunrable it is. most people dont realise that what they are using to create is easily surveillanced by not only the proper authorites but even criminals can muscle there way in on the market. Most people give alot more away than they realise just buy downloading software ( including freeware ) and also just sitting talking about things on the internet and its lead to a trend of everyone putting complete crap up on places like myspace etc. IMO this solves nothing because someone who has half a brain would be inquisitive, its not music these days thats the main drive behind things, unfortunately its money and the way of thinking that ” i can get away with anything ” on the internet has lead to other revinues being explored.
Audio cloning has become a huge problem and of course the problem is olny growin with people connecting through various places around the world. Clones turn up in exactly the places you wouldnt look for them, this is a worrying trend. People think i,m paranoid but it happens on a daily basis and has been going largely un-noticed for far too long. Its got to the point imo where even things like freeware isnt safe because its of course traceable back to the downloader….you have to ask yourself…who would write something like that and give it away for free and whats the motive behind it ? I have programmed before and i will say its no easy task. Programers are becoming more widespread and so is the advance in security breaches because those people have learned pretty fast that there is money to be made from people with less knoledgable computer skills, just by me writting this reply i,m giving away my online identity..its as simple as that..someone mallitious sitting with that information can basically take control of that “pc you believe secure” in seconds…of course if u dont live in the big cities you have to shop for things like that on the internet, just buy doing that u give away more than u bargained for…
i dont know whats happened to the music scene recently but imho its become world war 3 with everyone fighting for every last scrap of paper they can find…when that lust for greed settles in there is no limit to what people will do to sustain it….
one thing i would like to add to that though….
who gains from that?
the people who already have a foot hold in the door…..thats not dissin them in anyway but if you want to dissassemble a scene then u goto war by creating dought within the people in that scene especially @ the learning stage of those people coming up through.
music is war…doesnt matter how peacefull or good natured u r
imo its a disgrace
Daniel and I have been on this tip recently as well. Depth is something this genre has been noticeably lacking.
What the hell, here’s some of my ideas on making music my art:
1) Approach music as if it is going to played as a stand alone piece and ignore the context of the dj mix.
2) Ignore all the people telling you to copy someone else’s sound, or you should never do x and y in a track. (This does not pertain to objective matters of eq; use your head.)
3) You will hear a lot of opinions on music that might make you feel discouraged, and there are plenty of people who harbor a resentment for experimental music; ignore them too.
4) I’ve tried that harmony/melody bullsh*t people go on about.
It’s not necessary to build a specific image. Timbre and timing are just as important.
And number 5 I really struggle with: Do not worry about what friends expect from your next piece if it goes a different direction from your past pieces.
Hope that was relevant and not too obvious.
live p.a. …pendulum, london electricity, evol intent, dead p.a., kj sawka
that’ll change the game a bit!
here here … couldn’t agree more.
thanks for the support and chat last night chris … keeps us goin in all those late night studio sessions that at least someone is listening
[...] in September last year I wrote a post on our old blog about a new atmosphere in Drum & Bass and the changing attitudes of other producers I speak to, an article which generated a lot of [...]
it’s all a matter of … logical progression (please!)
Amen!