DnB What happened to the Autonomic dnb sound?

PRTCL

Active Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
Hi all,

Last year I started flicking through some incredible autonomic drum and bass on YouTube from the likes of D Bridge and Instra:Mental, and last year in Berlin, even went to a night where the two artists played that sound.So it got me thinking and creating, and I came up with this little homage to the Autonomic sound:


But what happened to it and do you think it should make a comeback? Who is still making it, and does it have a place in 20's drum and bass?

Let me know your thoughts.

Joe PRTCL
 
What happened is that they stopped making that sound?

Should it come back. Sure. Why not?

EDIT: The pioneers of that sound haven't stopped making it completely. dBridge released an album that has that autonomic sound. What I was trying to convey is that they have primarily moved on from that sound. Now if it's evolved or not, that's up to the listener and their perspective on the situation.

But said sound isn't dead. It's like what happens to all new sounds, they evolve and/or is produced in massed that it's hard to find what's so "unique" about it.


Who knows.
 
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It seems like a lot of people involved in making it started going deeper and more towards techno sound-wise. dBridge for example. I just can’t get into a lot of his newer output but most of it still has some autonomic influence in it. Also the positive reception of some of those older tunes finally getting released in the past year shows that there’s still a place for it in 2020
 
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I think it was one of those 'candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long' kinda styles.
When the autonomic podcasts first came out, it was a bit of a game changer. I couldn't get enough and it was almost refreshing rather than frustrating to hear stuff I couldn't get my hands on.

I think it was good the movement kind of ceased to exist early on rather than getting stale, all the tunes and albums came out and i was able to play them and mix them (still do) but, the excitement kind of disappeared for me. It was a great few years, and something really exciting for the 170 scene, but i'm happy it ended how it did.
 
I think it was one of those 'candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long' kinda styles.
When the autonomic podcasts first came out, it was a bit of a game changer. I couldn't get enough and it was almost refreshing rather than frustrating to hear stuff I couldn't get my hands on.

I think it was good the movement kind of ceased to exist early on rather than getting stale, all the tunes and albums came out and i was able to play them and mix them (still do) but, the excitement kind of disappeared for me. It was a great few years, and something really exciting for the 170 scene, but i'm happy it ended how it did.

It did blow up for some time and I guess it's just dropped back a bit. I think a re-emergence of this sound would be welcomed in these very strange times.
 
It kinda fizzled out or evolved (as mentioned), but there are still some artists carrying the flag.

dBridge's sound evolved into something too leftfield for me around the Too Late EP, but his latest remix of Shaun Soomro's tune has some throwback vibes to the Autonomic era and to me has similar notes of Japanese Electronics (Instramental rmx).

Instramental stopped making 170 stuff while the 2 of them did their own thing, before Damon dipped his toe back in. Instramental are however making music together again, which is promising!!

Joe Seven and Consequence had a good run, the latter's initial album was great. Wasn't fond of the second, the They Live album or Joe's solo long player. Then some new Consequence shows up last year with a word of some forthcoming Exit release, but it's not 170, so that disappoints me :-/

Fracture (who wasn't really releasing this stuff bar that Pleasure District release) quickly evolved through that juke / fast slow movement that Om Unit jumped on, to something more techno related.

Some of Bop's stuff, along with the Microfunk crew, could be considered incredibly Autonomic. A couple of teasers for Photek's new stuff has that vibe. Ecou #10 by DYL & DB1 has some epic Instrumental / Darkestral flavours. Some of the other stuff on Re:st, Alphacut, None 60 and Cosmic Bridge has some things akin to this movement, artists like Dissident, Owl, Ill K, Margari's Kid and Oliver Yorke. Synkro is still flying the flag, and I think Synth Sense disbanded

And echoing the other sentiment that people still go crazy for those unreleased gems from yester-year that never saw the light of day at the time
 
We did have the Heart Drive/Pleasure District stuff a few years ago, but that seems to be over as Exit seems to be starting to go away from dnb in general, while Kid Drama is going more towards a retro style
 
Personally I just had enough of it & got over the sound. I brought all the NonPlus+, Darkestral & Exit 12"s back then, & played it maybe too much.

I ended up just wanting some decent drums back in my life again. I've never really looked back at basically any of the minimal stuff since tbh. I've still got all the records at home, but haven't listened to them in almost 10 years now...
 
Maybe not Autonomic, but I think Sunchase is the king of the minimal futuristic sound.

So many great releases at the time that this sound was prevailent.

Ah yeah, Sunchase....really good, underrated producer.
Also someone who made a 180° turn musical-wise. Remember his first "hit"?
😬
 
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