What Are All The Different Types Of Drum And Bass Music?

The sounds of drum bass music are located in several different sub-genres of subwoofer-destroying club songs, from autonomic to techstep. Here’s a useful A-Z glossary to help steer you through all of them.

Since it emerged in the British rave scene from the early 1990s, drum’n’ bass has broken into numerous distinct sub-genres and offshoot sounds. To the untrained ear, it may be difficult to distinguish techstep out of halftime or file jump-up out from liquid but fear not. This useful guide can allow you to unravel the gaps and provide you with the skills you require to understand each sub-genre and know it when you hear it.

A short-lived chapter in drum bass, the Autonomic Sound was the product of longstanding scene manufacturers dBridge and Instra:mental’s short-lived podcasts, which also spawned the FABRICLIVE50 mix. Mixing lush synths, electro effects and minimalist beats, it moved Drum and Bass music into fresh territories.

Listen to: Øska – Winning Hand

When Drum and Bass music was stuck in a darkened vacuum at the onset of the 2000s, the Brazilian mob reintroduced sunlight and funk into the genre. DJ Marky, Patife, Bungle, L-Side, S.P.Y and XRS laced their variant of DnB music with Brazilian samba and soul affects without sacrificing the vital beats and basslines, leading to an addictive crossover. Believe it or not, but in the early 2000’s it even made its way into the chart scene.

Listen to: DJ Marky & XRS – Soul Samba

On the fringes lurks breakcore, a stranger’s take on Drum and Bass music that is typified by its over-the-top drum edits and abstract electronic equipment. Originally created by the likes of Aphex Twin, Jega and Squarepusher, other artists, such as Shitmat, Venetian Snares, DJ Scotch Egg and Kid606 pushed breakcore to its weird and wonderful ending.

Listen to: Venetian Snares – Hajnal

Chronologically, hardcore appears between the euphoric rush of hardcore rave along with the heavy sound system rumble of jungle. Darkcore was an early blueprint of Drum and Bass music, using a moodier, more complex edge than anything else that had come before. Goldie, 4Hero and DJ Crystl assisted present the beat-chopping and brooding textures connected with drum bass proper.

Listen to: Nosferatu – Human Experiments

Also called drumstep, halftime literally halves the pace to something such as a hip-hop canter but retains the bass and electronics rolling at full rate for club-breaking impact. Deployed by artists like Om Unit, Dub Philip, Fracture, Moresounds, Kromestar and Ivy Lab, halftime owes a debt to dubstep and trap but using all the breakbeats and timeless Drum and Bass signifiers together.

Listen to: John B – Light Speed (Terravita Mix)

A dreamy, ambient alternate to the more challenging forms of Drum and Bass music, the intelligent style originally sprang from the mind of LTJ Bukem and like-minded musicians from his Good Looking Records label. Influenced from the draft components of Detroit techno and UK home, the smart audio — also christened hardcore — combined splintered breakbeats with bass and celestial atmospheres. Derided by some to be too lightweight, its availability and awareness of melody attracted many new moves to the drum bass scene.

Listen to: DJ Crystl – Meditation / Warp Drive

Jump-up is uncooked, stripped-to-the-bone and only for the dancefloor. It unites a stepping beat with ferocious splurges of hooky digital bass riffs and can be spring-loaded, plus its loads of fun, and very much looked down upon by drum bass purists. However, its pioneers, for example DJ Hype and Twisted Individual, have been contributing to the spectacle from the earliest days.

Listen to: TC feat Jakes – Next Hype

Jungle is the instant forefather of drum bass and also among the most uniquely British digital music noises of time. It unites both the earth-shattering bass and dub FX of reggae sound systems, rapid-fire breakbeats from old-school samples and hardcore of gruff dancehall MCs, also occasional nearby pads and sweet vocals. Artists like Special Request are harnessing jungle’s effectiveness around again.

Listen to: Goldie – Inner City Life

There’s nothing smoother than liquid Drum and Bass music. Liquid is characterised with its own crisp beats, amazing riffs, home impacts, Rhodes keyboards and jazz samples. First made by artists Alex Reece and Wax Doctor, it found a house on Fabio’s Creative Source label and made it big thanks to High Contrast’s True Colors record on Hospital Records, Manchester’s very own Marcus Intalex along with the growth of prolific Irish beat smith, Caliber. Hospital has become synonymous with liquid also has helped to crystallise a shiny (but exceptionally credible) type of this genre.

Listen to: Alix Perez – Crooklyn

Neurofunk is impeccably produced cyborg rave with a distinctive mechanical characteristic. Frequently populated by experimental rhythms and having an oppressive dystopian vibe, labels such as Vital and Eatbrain, and musicians like Noisia, Phace and Current Value have pushed the new type of Drum and Bass music.

Listen to: Mejus – Suicide Bassline

At the latter half of the ’90s, Drum and Bass became commercially viable. Techstep was a staunchly underground response that eschewed melody and attracted in nightmarish cyborg seems and techno influences. Using its regimented style and moody template, it moved Drum and Bass music in a new direction highlighted by the paths made by Ed Rush And Optical, Bad Company and Doc Scott. Techstep has just found a revival of a brand new micro-genre of tougher, thicker beats known as skullstep.

Listen to: Dom & Roland – Thunder

There are probably plenty more sub divisions between even these genres and you could even argue that the ones that are in this list aren’t really part of it, of by another name. One thing’s for sure, and that’s Drum and Bass music will be evolving even further as the scene progresses.

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