quoted 10 lines i might have to agree with mr. bowie here. there are certain elements
>> i might have to agree with mr. bowie here. there are certain elements
>> that make a dnb song a dnb song. since every song has to contain these
>> elements in varying degrees there is a limit as to how far it can go and
>> still be dnb. (this applies to all styles of music, it just seems the
>> dnb elements are more narrow) obviously there are extremely talented
>> artists who cam innovate (pusher,afx,dot), but i would be hard pressed
>> to believe that most people could tell the difference between 75% of the
>> dnb being produced right now. for example ltj bukem's mixmag sounds
>> like one song. that doesnt mean i dont like it, it just doesnt cover
>> alot of ground.
The element that seems to define drum & bass are the drums - busy breakbeats
- and, to a lesser degree, the basslines. In order to for the statement
above to be correct, you'd have to disregard whatever is on top of those
drums - be it reggae, dark soundscape stuff, blissed out ambient, soul,
weirdness, verse-chorus-verse vocals, jazz or more or less nothing. That
would mean lumping Tribe Of Ischar, Dom & Roland, Bukem, Goldie, Aphex Twin,
Alex Reece, Amon Tobin and Photek all in one category. Which is fine by me,
but doesn't really do justice to the various styles that exist within d'n'b.
To me, it is similar to saying that Armand van Helden and The Spice Girls'
"Say you'll be there" belong to one and the same category because they both
use a house rhythm track. If you focus on the beat, it might be true, but if
you listen to the entire thing, it's obvious it's not. The fact that 75% of
the people might not be able to distinguish between various d'n'b styles is
most likely caused by the fact that they haven't heard much d'n'b or because
they're not really interested. My mom was never able to distinguish between
Foetus and Iron Maiden - to her it was all a bunch of a-tonal noise.
Maarten
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