Forms: 19- drum and bass, drum’n’bass, drum n’ bass. [< drum n.1 + and conj.1 + bass n.5]
1. attrib. = dub n.7 1. rare.
1990 Face Nov. 53/2 ‘Dub Be Good To Me ... is Beats International’s most characteristic creation. It’s drum and bass culture, the sound of downtempo Britain after midnight. 1997 S. Barrow & P. Dalton Reggae v. 204/1 But the first vocal record with a full dub version on its flip ... is usually recognised as Little Roy’s ‘Hard Fighter’ on Lloyd ‘Matador’ Daley’s Syndicate label, recorded in March 1971, with the splendid ‘Voo-doo’ as its strictly drum and bass counterpart from the Hippy Boys.
2. A style of popular dance music originating in Britain in the early 1990s, variously thought of as derived from or identical to jungle, and characterized primarily by a fast drum track and a heavy, usually slower, bass track, but often also featuring synthesized or sampled strings, piano, or other instrumentation. Freq. attrib. Cf. *jungle n.
1992 DJ 26 Nov. 41/1 Setting elements from a slowed down modern remake of Starvue’s 1980 rare groove to surging double tempo fluttery frantic hardcore beats, this has Lisa Fabian squeaked 71.9-143.9bpm vocal and 144.7bpm drum and bass mixes. 1993 Echoes Dec. 24/5 Three floors of festive funkin’ frenzy with Chris Checkley, Dodge and Dessie D spinning the drum and bass. 1996 ikon Jan.-Feb. 117/1 Drum’n’bass is an embryonic and fledgling scene peopled by artists who are devoted to music and creativity and relatively free of the ego-wank vibe which cripples rock. 2000 N.Y. Mag. 1 May 124/1 Drum ’n’ bass was reviled as bastardized hip-hop until D.J. and producer LTJ Bukem ... came on the scene in the mid-nineties and brought soothing ambient sounds and live instrumentation to a genre known for gunshot effects and rough beats.
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1 comment:
There was a time when every DJ in LA was playing drum n' bass every night. Then it was pretty much obliterated by big beat and trance in late '97 and hasn't been heard from since. That's a shame, because you could really break the tired anthemic paradigm with this style and get as dark or as joyous as you wanted. It was very broad and flexible. Its adaptability to jazz and ambient also made it a favorite of IDM enthusiasts and other bedroom eccentrics (like myself).
Somebody needs to bring this back.
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