History Sessions: 80’s Electro (1980 – 1985)

Back in the late 1970’s, New York DJ’s such as Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa had developed a novel way of extending the percussive breaks of popular songs by using two copies of the same record and two turntables to create a continuous loop of the beats.

History Sessions: Keeping Bad Company (1999 – 2000)

Writing about the years 1999-2000 was always going to be a difficult one for me. Not because there wasn’t great Drum & Bass being produced (there was), but because when I write these articles I try to fit the narrative around defining moments that shaped the history of Drum & Bass… and I couldn’t actually think of any!

History Sessions: Rise Of The Machines (1997 – 1998)

Whilst Jump-Up heralded a return to the boisterous abandon of early 90’s rave, there was another burgeoning sub-genre of D&B that painted a much bleaker picture of British life in the late 90’s. Spearheaded by Nico’s No U Turn label, ‘Techstep’ was a sharp, angular, and gloomy foreboding sound far removed from any kind of ‘jazzy’ laid back coffee-table sophistication.