Guides

Explainers on drum & bass and the Chicago scene.

• What is darkstep?

  Darkstep is the fast, dark, menacing edge of drum & bass. Darkcore and Goldie, hardstep, and the late-90s turn toward dread and bass.

• What is ragga jungle?

  Ragga jungle is jungle fused with Jamaican ragga and dancehall vocals. Rebel MC, General Levy’s ‘Incredible’, Shy FX’s ‘Original Nuttah’, 1994.

• What are rollers?

  A roller is a drum & bass track built to roll: hypnotic basslines, steady groove, few switch-ups. V Recordings, DJ Marky, and the DJ’s favourite style.

• What is drumfunk?

  Drumfunk is drum & bass built on intricate breakbeat editing. Paradox, chopped Amen breaks, and drums programmed to sound almost live.

• What is UK garage?

  UK garage is the swung, soulful London dance sound. Speed garage, 2-step, the Sheffield bassline offshoot, and T2’s ‘Heartbroken’.

• What is grime?

  Grime is the 140 BPM, MC-led UK sound out of East London. Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, and the roots it shares with UK garage and jungle.

• What is dubstep?

  Dubstep is the 140 BPM, sub-bass-heavy UK sound born in South London. Big Apple Records, FWD, Skream, Benga, and Digital Mystikz.

• What is techstep?

  Techstep is the cold, industrial strain of drum & bass. No U-Turn, Ed Rush and Trace, and the mid-90s sound that led to neurofunk.

• What is neurofunk?

  Neurofunk is the dark, technical, sci-fi side of drum & bass. Ed Rush & Optical, Virus Recordings, and a sound built on precision and bass.

• What is deep drum & bass?

  Deep drum & bass strips the sound back to space and sub-bass. The Autonomic movement, dBridge and Instra:mental, and how the style took shape.

• What is jump-up drum & bass?

  Jump-up is the bouncy, bass-driven, dancefloor side of drum & bass. Where it started, the labels that carried it, and why it divides the scene.

• What is atmospheric drum & bass?

  Atmospheric, or intelligent, drum & bass is the genre’s jazz-leaning side. LTJ Bukem, Good Looking Records, and the sound that led to liquid.

• What is halftime drum & bass?

  Halftime plays the drums at half speed over a full-tempo drum & bass track. Where it came from, who built it, and how it sounds.

• What is trip-hop?

  Trip-hop is the slow, atmospheric end of the drum & bass family. Its Bristol roots and its place in what Proper plays.

• What is breakbeat?

  Breakbeat is the wider family drum & bass grew out of. What breaks are, where they came from, and how Proper plays them.

• What is jungle?

  Jungle is where drum & bass comes from. The breakbeats, the dub basslines, and the room Proper has always given it in Chicago.

• What is liquid drum & bass?

  Liquid is the melodic, soulful side of drum & bass. Where the name came from, how it grew, and why it’s core to what Proper plays.

• What is Chicago drum & bass?

  What drum & bass is, where it came from, and how Proper has anchored Chicago’s underground DnB scene since 1999.