Music technology AS | Club DanceORIGINS

With roots stemming back to the soul, funk and disco sounds of the 1960s and 1970s, electronic dance music developed through the evolution of MIDI, synthesizers and samplers during the 1980s. The availability of cheaper digital synthesizers, MIDI technology (notably sequencers and drum machines) and the cheaper, primitive samplers becoming available towards the end of the decade enabled producers to build complete tracks in small studios or even their homes, without the expenditure of large-scale recording facilities, session musicians, engineers and so on. This gave the creation of dance music a somewhat 'do-it-yourself' feel.

The main 'bridging' genres which lead to the artists mentioned on the recommended listening list issued by Edexcel are hip hop, techno and house. Each of these three main styles have many sub-genres. techno and house often have blurred boundaries, but the following descriptions demonstrate the origins and basic characteristics of each.

Hip Hop

During the 1970s block parties were becoming increasingly popular in some of the boroughs of New York City, especially among the African American and Latino communities such as those in the Bronx. DJs would play soul, funk and sometimes disco records, often focussing on short, rhythmic, instrumental breaks in the songs. They learned to extend these breaks by using two turntables with two copies of the same songs, playing alternate instances of the rhythmic section and using the cross-fader to maintain the groove to create a kind of backing track. At the same time, MCs (or rappers) were developing the art of speaking in rhythm and rhyme, based on the toasting technique used by reggae sound system DJs originating in Jamaica. At the turn of the 1980s, hip hop music began to spread to other parts of the world such as other areas of the USA, Europe and Japan. In early recordings session musicians were used to recreate the grooves of classic soul, funk or disco songs in an effort to bypass copyright laws. An excellent example of this is The Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight. Arguably the first hip hop record to be released, it was certainly the first to reach the mainstream and features the Sugarhill studio band playing a version of the main groove from Chic's disco hit, Good Times. This demonstrates and extremely primitive move towards to the concept of sampling, which later became a vital element of hip hop and indeed most forms of electronic dance music.

Listening: The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

[1979]

During the early 1980s electronic drum machines became more available and popular, notably the Roland TR-808 which was released in 1981. These instruments became a convenient and appealing way for hip hop producers to create regular rhythms for MCs to rap over. The TR-808 can be heard in landmark track Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. This track also represents a high energy, faster tempo branch of hip hop known as electro. electro had many shared elements with another early electronic dance genre, techno.

Listening: Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock[1982]

hip hop developed during the 1980s and 1990s, maintaining the principle of beats and rapping, gradually other incorporating additional elements. In 1987 Emu released their ground-breaking SP-1200 sampling drum machine. This device swiftly found its way to the heart of hip hop production, combining the repetitive groove elements and quantise functions of drum machine programming with the 'live' or vinyl-orientated sound of the breaks which were the origin of hip hop music. Other popular hip hop musical elements are scratching (a technique involving the forwards-backwards movement of a record under the stylus on a turntable), beatboxing (creation of percussive sounds and rhythms using the mouth and voice), and the increasingly popular Urban R&B element of soulful female vocals singing chorus hook between rapped verses. hip hop has become one of the true success stories of popular culture, starting as an underground movement in poor areas of New York and building over thirty years into a truly worldwide, economic success which has spread its influence into a vast range of other popular music genres.

Techno

The techno genre can be traced back to Detroit in the mid 1980s when Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May (often called 'The Belleville Three', named after the area of Detroit in which they lived) began developing a form of dance music which blended funk and electro. Derrick May himself described it as George Clinton and Kraftwerk are stuck in a lift with only a sequencer to keep them company. The music was created almost entirely with drum machines, sequencers and synthesizers creating a science fiction aesthetic. However, the best techno artists manage to somehow infuse a sense of human expression in the approach to the groove and through manipulation of the sounds and arrangement which often involved strong elements of musical performance.

Listening: Model 500 [Juan Atkins] - Night Drive

[1985]

Listening: Model 500 [Juan Atkins] - No UFO's

[1985]

House

Originating in Chicago, Illinois during the early 1980s, house music was typified by repetitive 'four to the floor' bass drum rhythms alternating with off-beat open hi-hats, a pattern derived from 1970s disco music. The drum patterns were programmed into drum machines, notably Roland's (mostly) analog drum machine, the TR-909. Also featured were synthesizer basslines, other synthesizer parts and often syncopated piano riffs. Many of the musical elements were in fact simply electronic reflections of the ingredients of disco, without the production expense! In house tracks after 1988, the characteristic piano riffs and organ bass lines were often created using the Korg M1 digital, sample-based synthesizer.

Listening: Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body

[1986]

Listening: Farley Jackmaster Funk - Love Can't Turn Around

[1986]

A combination of elements from each of these genres lead to an exciting and diverse approach to electronic dance music production which became increasingly popular in the UK during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

THE RISE OF SAMPLE-BASED, ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC

M|A|R|R|S

In 1987, members of UK alternative groups A. R. Kane and Colourbox (both signed to the eclectic independent label 4AD) combined their talents to produce a one-off 'novelty' hit, Pump Up the Volume.

Apart from the swing drum machine groove, and the simple, repetitive bassline, the track is most notable for being constructed entirely from samples of other work, layered to create catchy, funky and at times cinematic layers. A huge array of music was utilised to achieve this, including tracks by Eric B & Rakim, James Brown, Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Coldcut, Public Enemy and Kool & the Gang. Indeed there were legal issues with a few of the samples. An alternative mix with some samples replaced was created for the US release, and in the UK producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman took out an injunction against 4AD while the sample clearance legalities were completed.

The tempo of the track is much slower than that of the house music which was being produced in Chicago and other American cities at the time. Although clearly inspired by the various dance scenes originating in the US, M|A|R|R|S were also influenced by the downtempo soul sound popular in UK clubs during the 1980s.

The song was incredibly well-received, reaching number 1 in the UK and several other countries and being nominated for a grammy in 1989. It marked a turning point in UK popular music, bringing the sample-heavy, dance music sound to a mainstream audience, while also being one of the first house-influenced UK records.

Listening: M|A|R|R|S - Pump Up the Volume

[1987]

Bomb the Bass

Tim Simenon was a UK DJ and aspiring music producer, living and working in London in the mid-1980s. With the assistance of fellow producer Pascal Gabriel he used money made from stacking supermarket shelves and DJ-ing at London's Wag club to record a track called Beat Dis. Composing the drum parts and bass line himself, the rest of the track was compiled from layers of samples, similar in approach to M|A|R|R|S's Pump Up the Volume.

The record was released with a fake 'US Import' label creating the illusion that it was being released by an underground New York artist. This scam successfully brought it plenty of DJ attention, and Beat Dis eventually made it to Number 2 in the UK charts.

Listening: Bomb the Bass - Beat Dis

[1987]

With its combination of increasingly popular production methods utilising catchy samples over an electronic rhythm section (a style influenced heavily by the ever-growing US hip hop scene) and some iconic cover art featuring a comic book 'smiley' face which represented the burgeoning Acid house movement, Beat Dis and Bomb the Bass attracted a great deal of attention. This culminated with the appearance of Simenon on the cover of essential indie magazine the 'NME', tagged with the phrase 'The Rise of DJ Culture'. An explosion in the popularity of electronic dance music was building in the UK.

Simenon quickly produced a Bomb the Bass album, Into the Dragon (1988), which featured more sample mashing, house music influences, hip hop-infused beats, female singers and rap artists. Several underground DJs were featured introducing appropriate tracks, giving the album further credibility. Suddenly in demand as a cutting edge producer, Simenon worked on the Neneh Cherry hit Buffalo Stance which achieved great mainstream success.

Through the turn of the 1990s, Bomb the Bass suffered a publicity glitch as the project name was banned as a result of the first Gulf War. The release of Simenon's second album was further delayed due to problems clearing a Pink Floyd sample (which ultimately had to be removed from the track on which it was featured). At last though, in 1991, Unknown Territory was released on the increasingly influential dance indie label Rhythm King.

Simenon was indeed pioneering 'unknown territory', taking electronic music into a new decade and a new age. Blending some of the aesthetics of hip hop, namely downtempo grooves, extensive sample use from a wide variety of sources with intentional direct references to inspirational music of the past, soulful vocals and song form, Unknown Territory was one of the foundational releases of what was to be labelled trip hop. This can be clearly heard in the single Winter in July.

Listening: Bomb the Bass - Winter in July

[1991]

The third album, Clear, came in 1995 and demonstrated further development in Simenon's production style. Probably attributable to the increasingly legislative structure relating to sampling, the production on Clear leaned more towards live performance, and featured session musicians such as Doug Wimbish and Keith LeBlanc from the Sugarhill backing band. Many of the instrumental parts were heavily processed, edited or both, in keeping with the combination of hip hop, dub and psychedelic production appropriate to the style. The album featured several notable vocalists, including Sinad O'Connor, Benjamin Zephaniah and actress Minnie Driver. Clear also included a strong element of Simenon's interest in literature, as can be heard on lead track Bug Powder Dust which was inspired by the work of William Burroughs. This track demonstrates the heavier side of Bomb the Bass, namely a more uptempo, breakbeat-heavy and distinctly punky feel, forging the way for the 1990s 'Big Beat' movement with fellow artists such as the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

Listening: Bomb the Bass - Bug Powder Dust

[1994]

During the mid-90s, Simenon found himself increasingly in demand as a producer, working with prolific artists such as Depeche Mode and David Bowie. After producing the Depeche Mode album Ultra, exhaustion lead to a gap in output, with many speculating that Simenon had retired from music altogether. However, in the early 21st Century Bomb the Bass reappeared, albeit with somewhat less attention. Since then, Simenon's music has been more experimental and less hip hop or pop-orientated. Bomb the Bass is now signed to German dance label !K7 who continue to release his distinctive brand of electronica.

BREAKBEATS AND ATTITUDE

The Prodigy

Back in 1990, a young, aspiring DJ/breakdancer/pianist with a love of hip hop music and a passion for the fast-growing, UK hardcore rave scene started producing music using his limited equipment. Liam Howlett was 19 at the time, and he took up the moniker The Prodigy, naming his project after the Moog analog synthesizer of the same name. Before long he'd enlisted two dancers and an MC, creating an exciting live show something unusual for a new electronica artist. The group were signed to indie label XL Recordings.

Early breakthrough track Charly quickly brought The Prodigy to the public's attention, riding the galloping success of the hardcore rave scene, and representing the popular sound at the time of sampling iconic children's television characters, in this instance the boy from the 1970s Charley Says road-safety public information films.

After the runaway success of Charly as a single (it reached number 3 in the UK charts), XL Recordings released The Prodigy's debut album, Experience which enjoyed critical acclaim and sales success. Musically, much of The Prodigy's early output was typical of the rave genre: High tempo breakbeat music with dynamic, psychedelic synthesizer riffs and characteristic, exciting samples from a variety of stylistic sources. The remixed version of Charly featured on the album is constructed using all of these key elements. The rhythm section is particular demonstrative of the rave sound, with drum loops significantly pitched up to reach the frantic tempo, contrasting dramatically with the sub bass lines which were designed to heave out of the enormous sound systems utilised at raves or in nightclubs at the time.

Listening: The Prodigy - Charly [Trip into Drum and Bass Version][1992]

Syncopation and simple polyrhythmic devices were another important element in hardcore rave, borrowed from house music, but here sounding much more frenetic due to the higher tempo. Also affected by the high speed nature of rave were the vocal samples, which often taken from hip hop tracks or soul acapellas, had to be pitched up to fit the tempo. All of these elements can be heard in Jericho, the opening track from Experience.

Listening: The Prodigy - Jericho

[1992]

In 1994 the British Government passed a Bill called the Criminal Justice Act. This controversial legislation was concerned with various public order offences, but contained specific items directed at the large-scale raves which were happening in the countryside and disused warehouses, mainly in the Greater London area. In response to this potential persecution of a vast popular culture, The Prodigy released their second album, Music for the Jilted Generation. Most of the tracks demonstrated harder-edged production, with a punk feel that reinforced the album's political subtext. Opening track Break & Enter features overdriven breakbeats, samples of glass breaking and a sinister, tri-tone chord progression lead by a dense synth bass sound.

Listening: The Prodigy - Break & Enter

[1994]

Their Law, another track on the album, featured industrial rock artists Pop Will Eat Itself, in the form of heavily distorted guitar loops. Voodoo People was built on a sample of a Nirvana distorted guitar riff. Many tracks demonstrated a further increase in tempo with more frenzied beats, synths and samples.

Three years later, the band released Fat of the Land, their third studio album The material continued in the punky, hard-edged style, with stripped down music and more aggressive content. Sonically the album was incredibly exciting, with superbly controlled frequencies capturing the intensity of their live show. The band faced controversy with the lyrical content and music video of the opening track Smack My Bitch Up, further enhancing the increasingly punk ethos of the band. Lead single Firestarter proved successful in raising the band's US profile, featuring a strikingly punkified Keith Flint on vocals, no longer 'just one of the Prodigy dancers'.

Listening: The Prodigy - Firestarter

[1996]

Having reached their commercial peak, The Prodigy took a break of sorts (except for the release of a mixtape-style album by Liam), to return with a slightly modified line-up in 2004 releasing another studio album continuing in the punk-electronica theme. Notable track Memphis Bells represents an early form of dubstep, with a half-time tempo and heavy distorted synth bass. A greatest hits album followed, then a fifth studio album, again continuing in the same theme and maintaining The Prodigy's profile by debuting at number 1 in the UK album charts.

The Chemical Brothers

Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons were a DJ team based in Manchester during the early 90s, playing hip hop, techno and house. In 1992 they named themselves The Dust Brothers (after an American production team who worked with hip hop group, The Beastie Boys) and recorded a track called Song to the Siren with a computer, a sampler and a keyboard. The track was too downtempo for most dance DJs at the time, but London club DJ Andy Weatherall loved the track and signed Rowlands and Simons to his indie dance label Junior Boy's Own.

Listening: The Chemical Brothers - Song to the Siren

[1992]

Song to the Siren features most of the typical early Chemical Brothers elements, characterful samples treated with a psychedelic, hypnotic approach, heavy breakbeat samples, and hip hop elements such as scratching. The music is very loop-orientated with different layers creating textural variety, and section changes marked with alternative breakbeats.

The pair spent the next few years doing increasingly high profile remixes (including tracks for Leftfield, Manic Street Preachers and The Prodigy), building on the reputations as cutting edge, in-demand DJs in London and in early 1994 releasing their seminal Fourteenth Century Sky EP. The EP contained the track Chemical Beats, noteworthy as it defined the blue-print for the Big Beat sound, an important UK dance music genre during the mid 1990s, and explored by other big names such as Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy. Chemical Beats was featured on the Playstation Game Wipeout - the link between computer games and cutting edge music becoming increasingly important as games consoles developed during the decade. The track features another heavy-sounding, funk-fuelled breakbeat, and a hypnotic distorted Roland TB303 riff inspired by the late 80s Acid house movement. Percussive vocal samples and TR909 snare drum fills punctuate the groove.

Listening: The Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats

[1994]

In 1995 their debut album was released on Junior Boy's Own, aptly titled Exit Planet Dust after the duo were forced to rename themselves The Chemical Brothers when the original Dust Brothers threatened legal action! The album was a success, both in terms of sales and furthering the groups credibility, with Rowlands and Simons gaining respect from a wide range of artists including Noel Gallagher of Oasis.

The Chemical Brothers DJ'ed and performed live at increasingly large venues, building on their reputation that would result in them becoming one of the few 'arena' electronic dance acts.

Second album Dig Your Own Hole developed on the ideas of Exit Planet Dust, and was featured two UK number ones, Setting Sun which featured Noel Gallagher and opening track Block Rockin' Beats. The former demonstrates their increasing interest in featured vocalists and quasi song form, the latter being more immediately recognisable as The Chemical Brothers with heavy breakbeats, sampled instruments and vocals, and over-powering, psychedelic synths.

Listening: The Chemical Brothers ft. Noel Gallagher - Setting Sun[1996]

Listening: The Chemical Borthers - Block Rockin' Beats

[1997]

The group have maintained their distinctive hip hop-inspired big beat sound to the present day, while developing in various other directions for certain tracks. Some of their lesser known album tracks are decidedly slower, exploring psychedelic downtempo, bordering on trip hop. Successful single Hey Boy, Hey Girl from their third album demonstrates their occasional leaning towards a more house-influenced sound as the mainstream dance scene in Ibiza dramatically rose in popularity in the 1990s. Four to the floor bass drum and off-beat high hats underpin a screaming TB-303 riff, while the hook 'superstar DJs' sample from an old skool hip hop track represents the more familiar Chemical Brothers sound while lyrically suggesting what the duo had become by this stage of their career. Indeed The Chemical Brothers have sustained a high profile career ever since, collaborating regularly with vocalists from many musical styles and remixing a wide range of extremely well known artists. They have maintained their credibility and still create exciting dance music with attitude.

Listening: The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl

[1999]

MIXING THE STYLES

Leftfield

Another group who pioneered electronic dance music in the 1990s was Leftfield. Started by Wag club DJ Neil Barnes in 1989, the production outfit quickly became a duo when Barnes was joined by hairdresser/session musician Paul Daley after he remixed an early track produced by Barnes. The pair had previously worked together as live percussionists, and shared a common interest in electronic dance music.

After remixing several well known artists as they waited to escape from a troublesome deal with an indie dance label, the pair started their own label Hard Hands and promptly released their first single as a duo Release the Pressure in 1992. This track became the opening track of their debut album in 1995, and demonstrates their pioneering approach to progressive house music, fusing the typical four-to-the-floor rhythms with reggae and dub. Reggae singer Earl Sixteen is the featured vocalist.

Listening: Leftfield - Release the Pressure

[1992]

The Leftism album was hugely successful and popular with critics. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1995. Another stand-out track and lead single was Open Up, again featuring a guest vocalist, this time 1970s punk pioneer John Lydon of The Sex Pistols. Apart from bringing his unique and intense delivery to the high energy house track, Lydon also brought his high-profile persona which somewhat lifted Leftfield's own status, steering them further into the public awareness.

Listening: Leftfield - Open Up

[1995]

The track contains the ever-popular four-to-the-floor house groove, taken to a more tribal level with various percussion sample loops, some sampled distorted guitar stabs and an insistent distorted 303 loop. An atmospheric and harmonically dark string pad builds tension which is added to with some characterful ethnic vocal samples.

The rest of the album features more progressive house, along with some downtempo, breakbeat tracks exploring the realms of trip hop with a nod to the burgeoning drum and bass scene. About half the songs feature guest vocalists, and the reggae influence runs throughout.

In 1999 Leftfield released their second and last album, Rhythm and Stealth which maintained a similar direction to Leftism, with perhaps a darker edge. One of the tracks representative of this harder sound was Phat Planet which brought Leftfield even further into the public eye when Guiness featured it in a TV advertisement.

Listening: Leftfield - Phat Planet

[1999]

The track features a sinister, distorted bassline and several other distorted elements demonstrating the popularity of the often 'lo-fi' approach to big beat production. A strong techno/electro feel can be heard both in the drum programming and some of the atmospheric sounds.

The group fused many and varied electronic dance music forms throughout the album, including techno, house, hip hop, big beat, electro and dub reggae. More featured vocalists appeared, including British rapper Roots Manuva and US hip hop originator Afrika Bambaataa.

Leftfield's live shows were notoriously loud, to the point of venues receiving complaints and plaster falling from the walls.

Neil Barnes and Paul Daley went their separate ways in 2002 to pursue solo careers, although Barnes has re-established the Leftfield live show during the last couple of years.

DRUM & BASS

In the midst of the frantic world of early 90s hardcore rave in London, it became fashionable for producers to incorporate samples from reggae and ragga tracks. As the tempo increased and the popularity of the breakbeat sound widened, a new sub-genre evolved, initially called 'jungle techno', soon abbreviated to 'jungle'. Heavy sub basslines and increasingly edited sampled drum breaks dominated the sound, and jungle began to pervade as the rave sound decreased in popularity.

By the mid 90s producers were beginning to fine-tune the approach to jungle, with the average tempo settling to somewhere between 160 and 170 bpm and the sound of the production ever increasing in quality. The term 'drum and bass' became widely used as the use of reggae and ragga samples became less prevalent, and the sound began to spread from the underground world of pirate radio to bigger audiences via commercial stations and popular nightclubs. Although the original jungle sound continued as a minor sub-genre, drum and bass dominated. Atmospheric and effected samples, often sci-fi in character, jazz elements, abstract synth pads and snatches of vocal acapella samples created moody textures riding above simple, heavy bass lines and increasingly complex rhythms created by the splicing and rearranging of what were swiftly becoming familiar sampled breakbeats.

Some of the most recognisable drum loop samples to be found in the heyday of drum and bass had their origins in early hip hop production, such as the Incredible Bongo Band version of Apache, Lyn Collins Think (About It) and James Brown's Funky Drummer. However, one breakbeat, despite having been featured in other electronic dance genres previously, became particularly synonymous with drum and bass production. The Amen sample is a 5.2 second drum break from a fairly obscure 1969 soul B-Side called Amen Brother by Washington group The Winstons. The Amen break featured at the heart of countless jungle and drum and bass tracks during the 1990s and is still popular with producers today due to its sonic excitement and versatile syncopated possibilities.

Listening: The Winstons - Amen Brother

[1969]

As drum and bass developed, so did sampler technology. Notable was Akai's 'S' range of samplers (starting with the S900 in the late 80s). Models being released during the peak period of drum and bass, such as the S3000, boasted increasingly sophisticated manipulation features, such as resonant filters, envelopes, LFOs, sample looping and time-stretch. These tools were adopted by drum and bass producers with ever more inventive techniques as the sound developed. More experimental drum and bass artists such as Squarepusher and T Power took methods of sample processing and manipulation to new limits.

Listening: T Power - Silver

[1995]

Many subgenres developed within the drum and bass genre, mainly shaped by particular approaches to drum programming or the kinds of samples and sounds overlaid. Since the rise of drum and bass several quite different genres such as speed garage and dubstep have been directly influenced by its distinctive production approaches, making it one of the most important British music genres for many years. During the 1990s, several key artists brought the genre into the limelight as it became popular throughout the British popular music scene, to the point where several albums were featured in the prestigious Mercury Music Awards. Perhaps the most well known drum and bass artist of all is Goldie.

Goldie

Of Jamaican/Scottish descent, Clifford Joseph Price became known as Goldie during his 80s breakdancing days. He found some repute as a graffiti artist, based initially in Wolverhampton, then spending some time in the US before ending up back in the UK where he was introduced to owners of the pioneer drum and bass label Reinforced Records. Working with 4hero who were producers at the label, he masterminded several Reinforced releases under the alias Rufige Cru which were typical of the transition era between hardcore rave and drum and bass. During the same period he produced a track called Terminator under the name Metalheadz which was released on the Synthetic label.

Listening: Metalheadz - Terminator

[1992]

The track was pioneering for its time, featuring futuristic breakbeat chopping and manipulation (using a pitch-shifter effect which inspired the advanced use of time-stretching functionality of later Akai samplers), techno influenced synths and appropriate samples from the Terminator films including the line You're talking about things I haven't done yet. Terminator opens with a classic hardcore technique: Sampling a single chord from a record or synthesizer, spanning the chord sample across a key range and playing a new riff with it. Thus, the chord leaps from note to note creating an unusual harmonic feel.

Goldie established his own label Metalheadz in 1994 along with two female DJs Kemistry and Storm. The label went from strength to strength and has been hugely influential in the development of drum and bass ever since. However, his debut album Timeless was released on Pete Tong's label FFRR in 1995. By signing the album to a bigger label, Goldie ensured much broader coverage, and the album was a huge success both critically and commercially. The album consisted of a combination of productions he'd been working on with 4hero from Reinforced and tracks produced in collaboration with Rob Playford from another drum and bass label Moving Shadow. Goldie very much relied on collaborating with experienced producers and engineers to enable him to realise his fantastical sonic ideas despite his lack of technical knowledge. The opening track on Timeless is a a 21 minute odyssey featuring the vocals of Diane Charlemagne. The track is a combination of several tracks including the single Inner City Life. It sums up the sound of what was becoming known as 'intelligent' drum and bass during the mid 90s, with atmospheric synth pads, processed breakbeats (centred around the Apache break) and heavy, dub-inspired bass. The soulful vocal gave the track crossover potential, with the edited Inner City Life reaching a much wider audience via mainstream media than had been achieved by previous drum and bass artists. The album entered the UK charts at number 7.

Listening: Goldie - Timeless

[1995]

In 1998 Goldie's second album Saturnz Return was released, again on FFRR. By way of out-doing himself, the opening track was an hour-long orchestral drum and bass piece called Mother. The album featured many well-known artists such as David Bowie, Noel Gallagher and US rapper KRS-One.

Not long after Saturnz Return Goldie appeared in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough and has since developed an acting career including a period in Eastenders! He has also become a familiar face in celebrity reality TV. However, Goldie has continued the Metalheadz label which is still releasing quality drum and bass in the 21st Century.

Roni Size

Roni Size grew up in Bristol surrounded by musical influences of reggae, house and hip hop. He learned production techniques at his local youth club where he had experiences working with turntables, samplers and drum machines. He gradually established a home studio and in 1993 launched his own jungle label Full Cycle Records along with friends DJ Die, DJ Suv and DJ Krust.

Early Full Cycle releases attracted the attention of fast-growing London drum and bass label V Recordings. V were soon releasing records by Roni and his collaborators, and they jointly contributed to the consolidation and refinement of drum and bass in the mid 90s with tracks like All the Crew Big Up and Step Up. Classic sampled breakbeats tuned up to a high tempo countered with distinctive sub bass lines and reggae and soul vocal samples set the template for what were to become known as 'rollers' drum and bass tracks with a constant, danceable groove. All the Crew Big Up featured the famous Amen drum break intercut with chopped versions of itself and another break underpinned with a simple sub bass. Reminders of the rave scene can be heard in the uplifting piano and synth chords, but the beats are the focus as was the case with much of mid 90s drum and bass.

Listening: Roni Size & DJ Die - All the Crew Big Up

[1995]

Listening: Roni Size - Step Up

[1995]

However, it was in 1997 when Roni Size was really pushed into the limelight. With his Full Cycle collaborators and several MCs he formed the Reprazent collective and released the album New Forms on Gilles Peterson's experimental jazz label Talkin' Loud. The album was incredibly well received and went on to win the Mercury Music Prize in that year. Stand-out track Brown Paper Bag features a long, gradual build-up, typical of the drum and bass structure, which leads to a characterful sampled double bass riff. The sample retriggering technique is not disguised in the recording, in fact it's an essential part of the process of drum and bass production, but when Roni Size and Reprazent started performing tracks from the album in a live setting, featuring a live double bass player and drummer attitudes towards the genre changed and critics began to take the genre more seriously still.

Listening: Roni Size & Reprazent - Brown Paper Bag

[1997]

Dissonant jazz elements over the rolling beats and double bass samples characterise the sound of Reprazent with MCs and singers featured on other tracks from the album. Occasional slower tempo tracks (like Watching Windows) demonstrate a fusion of drum and bass with hip hop.

While still producing one-off tracks and remixes either individually or as a group (including the late-90s side-project Breakbeat Era), the Reprazent collective returned in 2000 with a second album, In the Mode. A harder, darker edge is evident, with more aggressive sampling and production techniques, and vocalists such as Method Man and Rage Against the Machine's Zack de la Rocha. Dirty Beats featuring Reprazent regular Dynamite MC demonstrates the development in sound. The drums production has moved a long way from the early approach of retriggered classic breaks, and musically there is more in the way of composing and programming than simply sample layering. However, Roni Size and his collective never surpassed the critical acclaim and commercial success of New Forms.

Listening: Roni Size & Reprazent - Dirty Beats

[2000]

Roni Size has continued to be active, maintaining his old relationship with V Recordings and remaking the New Forms album for a 2008 re-release on Universal (as New Forms2). More recently he has performed successfully with many of the original Reprazent collective at live events including some of the biggest European music festivals and even a concert at Bristol's Colston Hall with an orchestra and choir.

THE LEGACY OF HOUSE MUSIC

Daft Punk

After some dabbling in guitar-based rock 'n' roll during the late 1980s, French musicians Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk and started experimenting with drum machines and synthesizers. An early demo tape secured them a single release on Scottish house and techno label Soma Records. The track was initially called The New Wave but eventually was renamed Alive. It features a combination of house and techno influences and is very minimalist and repetitive, an approach popular in techno, house and trance genres. The harmony, consisting of a simple minor chord and bass line, remains constant throughout the track, textural interest arising from filter manipulation on the main riff and occasional variations to the drum pattern. Despite this simplicity, the hypnotic nature of the track is a result of a kind of live performance commonly practised by techno and trance producers where a sequenced loop is set in motion, then filters are adjusted gradually and mutes switched on and off to create an arrangement.

Listening: Daft Punk - Alive

[1994]

The following year the pair recorded another single, Da Funk. It was initially released on Soma Records although was re-released by Richard Branson's major label Virgin in 1996. It was a hugely successful track for Daft Punk, and established them as pioneers of a new direction for house music. The track was accompanied by a striking music video, a medium which would become increasingly important to the group and their regular incorporation of visual aspects, both on the screen and as part of their live performances.

Listening: Daft Punk - Da Funk

[1995]

The track broke many house stereotypes of the time, featuring some live drum samples and a somewhat slower tempo hinting at hip hop influences and a catchy, distorted synthesizer melody reminiscent of 70s funk. Halfway through the track a techno-style, distorted TB303 riff enters which builds through the manipulation of its filter, dominating the rest of the track. Similar to Alive in its simplicity, the track focusses on groove and hypnotic repetition.

In 1997 the release of their debut album Homework really put Daft Punk on the musical map. It is considered as one of the most important albums in the 1990s house music scene, and although features many familiar house elements it blends them with many other influences such as techno, electro and funk with great attitude and crowd-pleasing hooks. Several more videos accompanied the project, with respected directors involved in the visual manifestation of Daft Punk's music.

2001 saw the release of the duo's follow-up album, Discovery. Largely more refined and showing a strong influence of synth pop, Discovery featured samples and aesthetics from the late 70s and early 80s. This often gives the music a nostalgic, retrospective feel, something which surprised many fans of the first album. The album was still hugely successful from critical and commercial points of view.

Singles from the album One More Time and Digital Love feature distinctive vocal hooks treated with the autotune effect on an extreme setting, a sound which at the time was becoming increasingly popular in pop and dance music production and is still widely used today. The tracks both feature production elements which were the foundation of an evolving genre French house or Filter house, namely uplifting samples from the late 70s/early 80s treated with filters and phasers to create textural builds, and the typical four-to-the-floor bass drum being exaggerated the use of a side-chain compression setting. The side-chain bass drum sound is created where most of the musical elements of a track (with the exception of the bass drum) are routed to a group, the group then being treated by a compression which is triggered by the bass drum as an external, side-chain input. The effect of this is a 'breathing' sound where the sustained musical elements drop momentarily in volume on every beat when the bass drum plays.

Listening: Daft Punk - One More Time

[2001]

Listening: Daft Punk - Digital Love

[2001]

Other French house artists such as Cassius and Stardust contributed to the rise in popularity of this sound throughout Europe.

A manga-influenced animated film, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, was released two years later, being a visual representation of the Discovery album and demonstrating Daft Punk's enthusiasm for combing visual media with their music, mainly in a science-fiction or fantasy style. The pair rarely show their faces in press or publicity situations, often wearing specially built robot masks which they also feature in their live performances. Characters and story-telling have been a constant feature of their musical projects.

Since Discovery, Daft Punk have released several more albums, including a soundtrack for the recent Disney sci-fi film, Tron: Legacy. They continue to make a strong impact in the electronic dance scene.

Eric Prydz

Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz is based in London. He has been a steadily influential force in the house genre over the last decade, initially rising to fame with Call on Me, a French-house inspired anthem sampling Steve Winwood's 1982 pop hit Valerie. He initially created the track for his friends, but the nostalgia of the sample coupled with his excellent filter house production skills fuelled the track to become a number 1 hit selling over 4 million copies. The single is constructed using the typical French house elements, an uplifting sample manipulated using sweeping filters and a heavy, side-chained, four-to-the-floor bass drum. The track was also influential in the development of progressive house, with an atmospheric interlude, use of long-feedback delay effects, and dynamic white noise sweeps.

Listening: Eric Prydz - Call on Me

[2004]

Prydz has developed several production aliases since the breakthrough of Call on Me, and has started his own labels on which to release his varied material. One example is the alias Pryda which he releases on a label of the same name. Pryda track Muranyi contains trademark progressive house features such as a long duration, hypnotic musical elements, sweeping synthesizer atmospheres and rich, developing textures.

Listening: Pryda - Muranyi

[2007]

Prydz uses another label imprint, Mouseville, to release a darker brand of techno under the alias Cirez D. On Off is a perfect example of this, with a more mechanical, synthesizer-orientated feel demonstrating a euro-techno sound. This track has a hypnotic, minimalist arrangement, with more subtle changes in texture.

Listening: Cirez D - On Off

[2009]

Due to a fear of flying, Prydz is selective about DJ or live performances. However his various aliases, copious releases and remix work, the expert way he balances mainstream tracks with uncompromising underground music, and the respect he has earned from key DJs such as Pete Tong and Zane Lowe have all ensured his influential position in the contemporary club dance scene. The skill he demonstrates at producing widely appealing anthems can best be heard in his 2008 track Pjanoo, with its atmospheric progressive house textures mixing cinematically with classic house piano rhythms over the ever-popular four-to-the-floor.

Listening: Eric Prydz - Pjanoo

[2008]