Where is Drum and Bass heading...?

S

StonedFish

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Location
Brighton
I know its my first post, and I dont want to start a flame war but dont you all think that drum and bass was better a few years ago...

I've noticed that tunes seems to sound the same nowadays, they tend to stick to the same formula and we're getting less and less tunes to actually *dance* to and more tunes that all you can do is just get mashed up and intensly stare at the floor... (of course, there are exceptions to this...)

I prefer to go to clubs straight and enjoy the music, but I'm finding this more difficult recently...

Your views would be interesting!
 
i can definitly appeciate what your saying. a lot of tunes nowdays seem to either be taking the pendulm, clownstep or jump up route. sometimes very formulaeic. but as you say there are a lot of exceptions. i suppose its also down to a taste thing. if these kind of tunes are what your into youre gonna be thinking drum n bass is better than it ever has been. personally im fairly happy with the scene right now, but lik u say, there was some TUNES gettin churned out a couple of years ago. i liked 2002 personally. come payday i find myself searchin for tunes iv missed and forkin out for them just as much if not more than for new tunes.

one thing which is getting worse about the scene is the popularity of MC's. i wil admit that for me if every event i went to was all DJ's and no MC's it would definitly be missing something. but nowdays you can find flyers where the MC's names are ABOVE and BIGGER than the DJ's. thats just disgusting. if MC's are so great, lets stick skibadee and shabba on stage with no DJ's and see how impressive they are. sadly this mainly down to :scally:. but if were being honest, if the mass pikey market wernt there the scene wouldnt have becom as huge as it is now cos theres just so many of them! i could go on forever but at the end of the day the scene isnt perfect and it probably never will be. but il still wax my wages on new tunes every week and and even if there arnt so many amazing tunes coming out like there was a few years ago, those older ones are still theyre for the spinnin :) will be interestin to see where the scene is in another 2 years time
 
StonedFish said:
I know its my first post, and I dont want to start a flame war but dont you all think that drum and bass was better a few years ago...

I've noticed that tunes seems to sound the same nowadays, they tend to stick to the same formula and we're getting less and less tunes to actually *dance* to and more tunes that all you can do is just get mashed up and intensly stare at the floor... (of course, there are exceptions to this...)

I prefer to go to clubs straight and enjoy the music, but I'm finding this more difficult recently...

Your views would be interesting!
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I used to feel like that, I also began to feel that I was getting too old for the music (i'm 27 been listening to breakbeats since I was 12) but then I started to realise that DnB isn't just about amen/tramen/firefight beats and a harsh analog bassline, I listen to a lot of mellower stuff now and I've found that if you look for it then there is something in the full spectrum of DnB to suit your taste.
 
DJ Kaotic said:
I used to feel like that, I also began to feel that I was getting too old for the music (i'm 27 been listening to breakbeats since I was 12) but then I started to realise that DnB isn't just about amen/tramen/firefight beats and a harsh analog bassline, I listen to a lot of mellower stuff now and I've found that if you look for it then there is something in the full spectrum of DnB to suit your taste.
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theres a lot of truth in that. cant beat a bit of ltj bukem for them smokin sessions :spliff:
 
sparkyc10 said:
theres a lot of truth in that. cant beat a bit of ltj bukem for them smokin sessions :spliff:
Click to expand...

:2thumbs:

Its not just stuff that mellow, DnB has spread around the world and there are so many people putting their own influences into the music. I used to love hard and Dark stuff back in 95/96 now I'd rather listen to Fabio or Greg Packer and stuff on Hospital and Soul:R.
 
I quite like the whole jazzy and Brazilian influence... I also was into more harder D'n'B but then started getting into melodical stuff...

As you say, the more people who get into it from around the world, the more different styles we will be hearing!

Bring it on!
 
It all depends on what you want out of it. If u want a rinse out ona friday night, then stick on some distorted minds etc if u r at home chillin then stick on a bit of LTJ. The scene is so diver4se at the moment.

What i would say is that there is a lot of shite coming through which does not really cut it at all.


at the moment im feelin all the darker trancey stuff, but last week i was into my bouncy stuff, next week ill be into the mellower stuff.....thats why i like dnb...i see it as a format of music , not a style in itself. its a format that other styles of music come into. eg. hip hop, trance, dub etc.

dnb is so diuverse it almost has lost its identity. thast a good thing tho, cos that means it can be limitless in its creativity, there are no boundaries in whihc to conform...(woah... deep!)

What i think is that dnb has lots a lot of its rood bwoyness, which is good in a way. any music has to eveolve to survive and if it doesn't then it will die. dnb has its good and bad years. this year has been ok....although im getting sick of those pendulum beats appearing everywhere!!!


as for MC's the less the better, it is definately a case of quality not quanitity. I would like to see more MC's working closer with DJs like Conrad, and SP etc. I wish that MC's would realise theyre real place in the scene. WE AINT GARAGE!
 
lokki said:
i see it as a format of music , not a style in itself. its a format that other styles of music come into. eg. hip hop, trance, dub etc.

dnb is so diuverse it almost has lost its identity. thast a good thing tho, cos that means it can be limitless in its creativity, there are no boundaries in whihc to conform...(woah... deep!)

QUOTE]

Thats it mate, the music is so diverse there will always be something there for you. I get times when It feels like I've heard it all before then something will come out to excite me again. What you say about losing its identity is almost true, the music no longer belongs to the UK and the UK underground, people from around the world will take it and put their own spin on it, and that can only be a good thing. There may be tunes and trends that may take it away from its original form but there will always be someone somewhere else in the world laying down stuff that you like. I think the scene is as healthy as its ever been.
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t the moment im bored with some of the sounds in dnb, nut i know that by tomoro i would have discovered a new tune that will reignite my love for it!

thats why its so good!

you can take what u need from it u know! like if u need to get some agression out u mix up some harsh hardware sounds, or when ur just chillin at home its like u can listen to some liquid sounds...its just whatever u need at the time!

people who get bored of it get too obsessed with one sound and when that dies they think the whole scene is dead..u hev to be flexible and eveolve with it! i love it! its the only music that suits my ever changing tastes
 
StonedFish said:
I know its my first post, and I dont want to start a flame war but dont you all think that drum and bass was better a few years ago...

I've noticed that tunes seems to sound the same nowadays, they tend to stick to the same formula and we're getting less and less tunes to actually *dance* to and more tunes that all you can do is just get mashed up and intensly stare at the floor... (of course, there are exceptions to this...)

I prefer to go to clubs straight and enjoy the music, but I'm finding this more difficult recently...

Your views would be interesting!
Click to expand...

What sorts of nights do you go to out of interest???

There is a lot of shit around but also a lot of quality music, it just seems to be a bit harder to find and you're not going to hear it at many of the bigger nights IMO.
 
u wanna get ur ass down bar rumba mate...u wont be lookin g the floor there mate!!!trust!

(or go to brighton where u will not be looking at the floor but insteadt will be looking at all the lovely ladies!)

bo
 
I generally try to go to smaller nights (Mini Melt - Ocean Rooms,Lunarcy - Volks) as whenever I've seen the big names (Fabio, BC etc...) they have not really impressed me... usually poor tune selection - but that seems to be the problem here in Brighton, all you need is a big name on the flyer and people will come running! Meaning that the DJ doesnt really have to make an effort, and everyones so twisted, no-one cares what the music is like anyway!!

Smaller clubs tend to have a better jungalistic vibe as only the dedicated ravers go!

Plus in the bigger nights, too many Kevs turn up and turn the mood sour...

Is this what its like elsewhere in England...?
 
Basically all you have to do is just dig deeper, turn over some stones and you'll find something that'll spark your interest again. Just don't let all the trash that you find on your "quest" disgust you and turn you off from it. And give a lot of the lesser known guys a chance, theres some really fresh and innovative stuff coming out nowadays that also keeps the vibes of a lot of the older sounding stuff. Haha but still there are some new producers that i just can't understand and get pretty disgusted by myself.
 
well I haven't been into this genre for that long, which I am ashamed to say, so I didn't have a chance to witness the so-called 2002-dnb firsthand. I mean, I listen to tunes from then, but yea, haven't really gotten into things until last year. But as I see things so far by both seeing and researching from older tunes, I feel that DnB is going at a nice pace for it's underground view. Some may say (as said earlier here in this thread) that people aren't as impressed with the newer tunes apposed to those from past years, but I, on the otherhand, love hearing new tunes along with the older classics. Many might not like the new styles that may be arising (hence Clownstep for an example) but it's all really opinionated, as I'm sure a lot of you all realize. I personally don't find these tunes repetitious and sounding like others at all, that is, if the right people are found for personal preference. The originality is what keeps me into this genre, and even the big-time people who just tend to use their own style over and over again, whether being sounds or types or whatever, even can bring out the big hitters that put a smile om my face. Others might hate this aspect of the genre, but hey, if you look in others, you can see almost the same trends going on, not even electronically. But the fact that there are endless possibilities and inspirations throughout that are being used these days in Drum n Bass is why I feel that this will continue to grow, and even if not to a pop-style crowd either, which I think would even be a bad thing in itself. Just a nice reasonable size, like it is now :) hehe.. nice ramble there, huh?
 
StonedFish said:
I generally try to go to smaller nights (Mini Melt - Ocean Rooms,Lunarcy - Volks) as whenever I've seen the big names (Fabio, BC etc...) they have not really impressed me... usually poor tune selection - but that seems to be the problem here in Brighton, all you need is a big name on the flyer and people will come running! Meaning that the DJ doesnt really have to make an effort, and everyones so twisted, no-one cares what the music is like anyway!!

Smaller clubs tend to have a better jungalistic vibe as only the dedicated ravers go!

Plus in the bigger nights, too many Kevs turn up and turn the mood sour...

Is this what its like elsewhere in England...?
Click to expand...


brighton has the most chilled atmosphere ever! its a good scene compared to some other places!
 
get down to any Progression Sessions night! thatll change ur opinion!

we went to one where Norman Jay played a funk set! it was excellent, really different!

depends how open ur mind is tho!
 
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