Show Me the World of Drum and Bass

June 18, 2007 5:21 PM

I can't get enough of Pendulum's release Hold Your Colour. What else might I like?

Specifically, I keep playing the tracks Slam, Fasten Your Seatbelt, and Another Planet (as well as Blood Sugar, released seperately) over and over, though honestly there's not a single track on the release that I don't like. I like it so much, in fact, that Hold Your Colour was my first music purchase in over 3 years.

But I know my tendency to over-play newly found music, and I don't want to find myself getting sick of Pendulum 3-4 weeks from now. The other problem is that "drum and bass" is almost as vague as "jazz", in that it defines a style, but not a particular sound, so I'm having trouble finding similar artists.

What other artists, releases, and tracks should I look at if I want some of the same intense, high-energy drum and bass tracks?

posted by CrayDrygu to media & arts (10 comments total)

If you want something similar to Pendulum you might want to check out things by DJ Fresh and the label Breakbeat Kaos. You might also want to check out more recent stuff by J Majik, DJ Clipz, or anything on Full Cycle.

Now...if you want to listen to good drum and bass ;) I would recommend listening to mid 90s tracks on Metalheadz, Good Looking, No U-turn, Creative Source, Moving Shadow and others. More modern labels worth checking out are Offshore, Commercial Suicide, Bassbin, Breakin, Paradox Music, and Violence.

People who are really doing it for me right now are Seba, Paradox, Martyn and Amit. They are WAY different than Pendulum. The focus is less on the big dancefloor smasher and more on the esoteric vibe.

Anyways, welcome to drum and bass! You may want to check out a few sites to get more info:

Dogs On Acid (Messageboard run by DJ Fresh)
Roll Da Beats (search for music by artist, title and label)
Drum and Bass Arena (one of the original dnb sites)
Breakbeat Science (New York based record store. You can listen to tunes online)
posted by Sandor Clegane at 6:38 PM on June 18, 2007

"The focus is less on the big dancefloor smasher..."

Yeah, but I like that ;) I'll definitely check out those other artists, though. Thanks!
posted by CrayDrygu at 7:37 PM on June 18, 2007

FabricLive has some good drum & bass DJ mixes - I especially recommend the ones by Grooverider, High Contrast and DJ Hype.

And talking of Pendulum, their remix of The Prodigy's Voodoo People is outstanding.
posted by jontyjago at 12:44 AM on June 19, 2007

What about The Freestylers? But you are probably aware of them, as they collaborated with Pendulum, e.g. on Faster your Seatbelt.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 12:54 AM on June 19, 2007

I have no specific recs for you, sorry, but have you tried Pandora yet? If you haven't, i'm sure there's some good to be had by typing in the song names you mentioned (It does a lot better with song names than with artists).
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:26 AM on June 19, 2007

Pendulum are one of a kind, but in the vein of 'pop' drum n bass, you may like Kosheen.

Also, the amazon page for Hold Your Colour lists some good recommendations: Andy C, Dieselboy, Black Sun Empire, etc.
posted by infinityjinx at 7:32 AM on June 19, 2007

Check out Weapons of Mass Creation - a great mix!
posted by TheNewWazoo at 8:18 AM on June 19, 2007

All of what was recommended. Plus, if you're into Pendulum, I'd say check out High Contrast and John B as well.

For example:

High Contrast - Racing Green
posted by atomly at 10:05 AM on June 19, 2007

You might like The Qemists.
posted by hilker at 1:17 PM on June 19, 2007

Wow, I've got a lot of music to look through, now...

The answers I marked as "best" are the ones that led me to tracks and artists closest to the sound I'm looking for, but all the artists mentioned sound pretty good.

Thanks!
posted by CrayDrygu at 7:28 PM on June 20, 2007