The official history of the musical genre named “drum ‘n’ bass” can be summarized as in the following phrases. It is typical of the UK, and born in the 90’s on the fundaments of jungle music. The initial purpose of jungle music was blending the various styles of reggae music with intricate drum patterns, and heavy bass lines, in order to valorize the effects of fast rhythms, and of complex compositions. Jungle music has always belonged to rave culture, and the places of maximum popularity were, and still are, London and Bristol. Thanks to some British DJs, who became the earliest producers of jungle music, such as Goldie, Roni Size, and Adam F, the jungle genre has evolved towards a major variety of sounds, taken from jazz fusion, except for the constant presence of fast, syncopated beats, and powerful, deep, and rolling bass notes. The described evolution of jungle music is named “drum ‘n’ bass”. They say that the rhythms of drum ‘n’ bass vary from 160 to 185 BPM, and that the most appreciated rhythm is at 174 BPM. The things above summarized have become a sort of religion, especially in the native UK, so that some aficionados have distinguished 5-6 sub-genres of drum ‘n’ bass, depending on the range of rhythms, and on the source of the samples utilized by the DJ/producer. Coming to the musical influences, many authors underline the large utilization of the so-called “amen break”, which is a rhythmic sample extracted from a song of the year 1969, titled the Winstons – amen, brothers (US).
Well, I’m not British, and the cited religion doesn’t touch me. For that, although I’m a lover of two British musical genres, northern soul and drum ‘n’ bass, I’m not keeping the same two faiths of the fans from Britain. More precisely, I have personal ideas in the matter of drum ‘n’ bass, especially regarding musical influences, and the perimeter of the genre, that I consider much larger. First, I’m sure that the popularity of fast rhythms is a legacy of the northern soul movement. Second, similarly to what has happened with northern soul, I’ve known drum ‘n’ bass tracks going approximately from 110 to 240 BPM, like for the American twist dance of the 50’s, and the 60’s. If I don’t go wrong, what is the essence of drum ‘n’ bass? Not the rhythm at 174 BPM, but fast, syncopated beats, and powerful, deep, and rolling bass notes, applied to a large variety of samples, for the purpose of valorizing complex compositions. Third, the important aspect of musical influences. About that, instead of reggae variations, I prefer to cite acid jazz, jazz fusion, and experimental electronic pop, from late 70’s and early 80’s. For instance, I invite my readers to deepen their knowledge about the music of two musicians, honestly not very popular, whose compositions have an evident resemblance to drum ‘n’ bass, Martin Rev, and David McCallum. Moreover, I would like to remember that, during the early 90’s, it has been often hard to distinguish the earliest jungle music from other genres such as trip-hop, and trance fusion.
In conclusion, I’m a lover of drum ‘n’ bass, but I can’t be a master of ceremony of classic, mainstream drum ‘n’ bass. The mix of the page is a demonstration of my wider mentality in the matter of drum ‘n’ bass. A half of the mix is far from the “mandatory” rhythm at 174 BPM, and the second half is a blending of tunes at 174 BPM, taken from jungle music and all the sub-genres of drum ‘n’ bass. My style has been rather different from what I heard of the work of British drum ‘n’ bass DJs. For example, some mixes are long, and can fit to the definition of “variation in production”. The unifying factor of the mix is being highly suitable to the blog, as for topics and dark atmospheres.
File name is “cultural relativism applied to drum ‘n’ bass, by Max Look DJ (Oct 2025)”, 1 hour 20’ and 50” of practical application of my wider concept of drum ‘n’ bass, at the same rhythms of the twist.
Drum ‘n’ bass from the dark side, the playlist:
Junglist Vampire – Satanic black magic
4 Hero – Mr. Kirk’s nightmare
Nightmares on Wax – aftermath
Rebel MC feat. Tenor Fly – wickedest sound (Don Gorgon mix)
Pessimist – Peter Hitchens
Genaside II – sirens of Acre Lane
Azzido Da Bass – dooms night (Timo Maas remix)
Burial – archangel
DJ Eruption – in jeopardy
Goldie – inner city life
Axel Thesleff – bad karma
DJ Dextrous & H-Pee – hot flames
Asha Senator – one bible (Dance Hall Jungle mix)
Darkgray Heart – witch doctor (Akinsa remix)
Gunz n’ Brozes – infernal pleasure
Loop Stepwalker & DJ Assassin – Quetzalcoatl
Roominsky – abyss
