What is atmospheric drum & bass?

Atmospheric drum & bass is the lush, jazz-leaning side of the music. Think string arrangements, warm keys, live vocals, and slow-motion breaks with room to breathe. When it first arrived it got tagged “intelligent drum & bass”.

It traces back to LTJ Bukem in the early 1990s and the label he founded in 1991, Good Looking Records. Bukem and Fabio ran the Speed night in London with MC Conrad, and the 1996 compilation Logical Progression mapped the sound out. Artists like Blame, Seba, Peshay, and Photek built it up from there.

Atmospheric is where liquid came from, the melodic thread Proper has always followed.