Hello, time for some drum n bass today. First time i heard this music in the early nineties i was struck by the raw energy of it, this was not the DnB as we know it today but the ragga-jungle, mad beats that enabled one to dance like david byrne on speed, it certainly did away with the rhythmically limited dancers on the floor, personnally i found it all rather extatic. Unfortunately this hi-energy came quickly associated with an aggresive atmosphere. Add to that lot's of d.i.y and mutual ripping off and the scene quickly lost the limelight though it's still there, if anything it bore Drum n Bass.
The sounds of drum and bass are extremely varied - and to a person unfamiliar to them, there may seem to be little connection between the subgenres. DnB places great importance on the "bass line", a deep sub-bass musical pattern which is felt physically as much as it is heard. There has also been considerable exploration of different timbres in the bass line region. The complex syncopation of the drum tracks breakbeat, is another facet of DnB production. It's usually between 160-180 BPM, in contrast to other forms of breakbeat such as nu skool breaks which maintain a slower pace at around 130-140 BPM. The speed of drum and bass is not however only characterised by that of the broken beat. Drum and bass has a bassline, which will typically play at half the speed of the drums, bringing its speed down to that of, for instance, a laid back hip-hop track. A listener or dancer can concentrate on this element rather than the faster drums.
It should be noted that the speed of music is subjective. An aggressively produced track with a complicated beat and synthesizer sounds may 'sound faster' than one with a sampled double bass bassline, guitar riffs and simpler beat, however the second track may be in strict BPM terms faster. This is why when i listened to Goldie's Timeless it always amazed me how quickly those 21min passed, it felt like 10 at most. Meanwhile there are many derivative genres; Darkstep, Drumfunk , Electro/Trancestep , Futurestep , Hardstep, Jazzstep , Jump-Up, Liquid funk, Neurofunk , SamBass , Techstep and Atmospheric/Ambient to name some.
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LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression (95 * 122mb)
Born in London in 1967, Danny Williamson was adopted and raised by strict Baptist parents, earning his nickname from the TV series Hawaii Five-O ("book 'em, Danno"). He took trumpet lessons as a child, played piano and drums as well in various school bands and began listening to a wide range of music, including jazz, fusion and soul and fusion plus hip-hop and electro. After being expelled from school at the age of 16, Bukem made the natural move to DJ status later in the '80s; inspired by rare-groove DJs like Tim Westwood and Gilles Peterson, Bukem and several friends set up the Sunshine sound system and played out the latest hip-hop and electro tracks at DJ battles around his Luton base.
When the acid-house explosion hit Britain near the turn of the decade, Bukem gradually stopped going to sound-system battles and began attending the ever-growing raves dotting England's countryside. He began mixing at them as well, and produced his first track "Logical Progression" in 1990. Bukem soon grew frustrated with a lack of control for his own recordings, however, and in 1991 decided to form his own label, Good Looking Records. Bukem's production style was a continuing anachronism on the rave/breakbeat scene; early Good Looking tracks like "Demons Theme," "Atlantis" and "Music" provided a soulful, melodic alternative to the prevailing hardcore tracks then in vogue.
Arguably the prime innovator in the development of jungle from its early status as an offshoot of hardcore techno into the respected, stylistic genre it became by the end of the 1990s, L.T.J Bukem gained fame as an auteur in all fields of the DnB movement: as a top-flight breakbeat DJ, owner and label-head of the Good Looking/Looking Good stable of labels and, of course, for his recordings -- inspired by the lush strings and natural ambience of ' 70s jazz-fusion masters, Chicago house and moody Detroit techno. Allied with the early-'90s rave and hardcore scene, Bukem began working on production near the end of the 1980s; though his light, airy sound made little sense to his contemporaries, Bukem's style was emulated much more as the jungle scene gained momentum during the mid-'90s. While such producers as Roni Size and Goldie gained the limelight for their solo work, Bukem purposely downplayed his own artistic career in favor of mix albums and label-spanning retrospectives which highlighted dozens of artists from his labels.
By 1994, L.T.J Bukem had formed his second label (Looking Good Records) and begun the formation of an artist collective -- Peshay, Aquarius (aka Photek), PFM, ILS & Solo, Blame, Nookie, Seba & Lo-Tec, Tayla, Funky Technicians -- similarly inclined towards melodicism and epic expanses of sound. In October of that same year, he began the club-night Speed at the Mars Bar in order to spread the Good Looking/Looking Good approach to sound. With Bukem and jungle pioneer Fabio spinning breakbeat records while MC Conrad added verbal gymnastics over the top, it soon became one of the most popular clubs in London.
The jungle phenomenon had begun to bubble up as a commercial force in 1994, and the appearance of Goldie's Timeless one year later signaled the dawn of widespread critical respect for DnB. Bukem debuted in true label-head fashion, releasing the Good Looking/Looking Good compilation Logical Progression instead of a proper solo album. Bukem did contribute several productions (and mixed tracks for the second disc of the set), but the album definitely portrayed an artist committed to the jungle community more than his own career.
01 - LTJ Bukem - Demon's Theme (8:00)
02 - Chameleon - Links (9:37)
03 - LTJ Bukem - Music (8:40)
04 - PFM - One & Only (9:20)
05 - Aquarius & Tayla - Bringing Me Down (6:45)
06 - PFM - Danny's Song (8:00)
07 - Peshay - Vocal Tune (9:20)
08 - LTJ Bukem - Coolin' Out (6:54)
09 - PFM - Western (Conrad Remix) (6:06)
10 - LTJ Bukem - Horizons (6:56)
LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression mixed (95 * 108mb)
01 - Funky Technicians - Airtight (Remix) (8:13)
02 - Forme - New Element (4:35)
03 - Frank De Wulf - Drums In A Grip (Wax Doctor Remix) (4:46)
04 - Axis - Solution (4:58)
05 - JMJ & Flytronix - In Too Deep (6:07)
06 - Seba & Lotek - So Long (9:10)
07 - Photek - Rings Around Saturn (5:44)
08 - DJ Trace - Miles High (4:58)
09 - Universal - Groove Therapy (6:02)
10 - DJ Crystl - Mind Games (10:07)
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Various - Earth Volume 1 (96 * 11mb)
After a subsequent DJ tour of America (his first), Bukem showcased a new direction in late 1996 with Earth, Vol. 1. Another compilation (this time spanning his catch-all subsidiary Earth Records), it concentrated on midtempo tracks inspired by hip-hop, soul jazz and funk -- again featuring very few tracks actually by Bukem. The sequel to Logical Progression continued the same share-the-wealth strategy -- it was helmed and mixed by Good Looking right-hand man Blame. Besides inaugurating yet another mix-album series (Progression Sessions) in 1998, Bukem released several additional volumes in both the Logical Progression and Earth series. Journey Inwards, his first full-fledged solo album, followed in the spring of 2000. Producer 01 was issued a year later. Good Looking's release schedule didn't wane and Bukem remaines as active as ever.
01 - Poets Of Thought - The Rhyme Goes On (5:50)
02 - Appaloosa - Travelling (6:25)
03 - Subject 13 - Faith (6:59)
04 - Funky Technicians & PHD - Above & Beyond (8:16)
05 - Poets Of Thought - Samba With J.C (5:50)
06 - Blame - Revival (7:23)
07 - Pablo - Do What You Gotta Do (9:16)
08 - Poets Of Thought - Jamming The Session (4:05)
09 - LTJ Bukem - Moodswings (9:25)
10 - Doc Scott - Tokyo Dawn (7:39)
Bukem @ GoodLooking Base
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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
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