Drum 'n' bass is enjoying a resurgence - and the old names from the Nineties are back

By Rupert Howe

Wednesday, 31 January 2007

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In dance music, old genres never die. They just slink back underground. Or, in the case of drum'n'bass, withdraw to the hinterlands of Bristol - and, more curiously, Brazil, where it's colloquially known as "sambass". Now undergoing a mild resurgence here in the UK, many of the biggest names remain those who formed the vanguard back in the Nineties when DJs such as Grooverider played to thousands each weekend and Roni Size's New Forms album won the 1997 Mercury Music Prize.

The other big name from that era is Goldie (pictured), the peroxide livewire who, before he diversified into Bond cameos and EastEnders, was the public face of UK drum'n'bass. Like most of those involved, he'd actually been around a lot longer, recording for early-Nineties breakbeat hardcore label Reinforced under name Rufige Kru.

Perhaps in an effort to sidestep his somewhat dubious TV and film appearances, it's this name he's returned to for his most recent drum'n'bass experiments, last year's engagingly titled "Monkey Boy" and the new Malice In Wonderland (Metalheadz), an expansive rush of ambient textures, febrile percussion and piercing synth slashes which echo his 1992 classic "Terminator".

A solid return, but unsurpisingly it doesn't sound quite as radical as it might have a decade ago. Unlike another new drum'n'bass 12-inch, "Special Place" (Ram Records), from young producer Neil Douwma under the alias Subfocus. Totally of-the-moment in its precision-tooled speed and nagging synth riff, it also slyly references a number of "old school" techno/rave production tics - the ambient spoken intro, for one, might have been lifted wholesale from the early-Nineties. Bizarre, and all the better for it.

The same might be said of Chelmsford prankster Andy Jenkinson, aka Ceephax Acid Crew, whose new Ceephax Volume One (Rephlex) collection revisits the squiggly loops of the fabled Roland 303 bass synthesiser. Not quite as retro cool as label boss Aphex Twin's recent Analord project, but with an uncomplicated appeal just made to be heard at volume in a crowded sweatbox at three in the morning.

Nothing remotely old-fashioned, of course, about the remixes which accompany "This Mess" (4AD), the new single from roughcut Australian rock quartet Wolf & Cub. The pick of the reworkings is a thumping house dub from Serge Santiágo, the product of the Brighton club scene who worked similar magic on Goldfrapp's "Ride A White Horse" early last year. Another name under the remixer's knife is Mika, whose Number One glam pop hit "Grace Kelly" has been reconfigured as a club anthem by Linus Loves - aka Duncan Reid, who co-founded Glasgow independent Breastfed with Mylo.

Lo-Fi-Fnk are from Malmo in southern Sweden, but new single "Change Channel" (Moshi Moshi) is three minutes of stop-start automaton fun gilded with a dreamy pop vocal. Good things, too, from mysterious Detroit outfit Plus Device on their seamy electro-funk opus "Puncture" (Hefty) and one-man electro-techno party Outputmessage, whose "Sommeil" (Melodic) features a remix from sometime Scissors Sisters support act My Robot Friend.

There's more Motor City magic from inscrutable duo Detroit Grand Pubahs, whose "Skydive From Venus" (Det.Ele.Funk) maps space-age jazz onto sonar blips and ambient textures. It's the polar opposite of the low-end rumpus kicked up by !!! - aka Chk-Chk-Chk. State of the art punk-disco, "Heart Of Hearts" (Warp) is one of those rare dance records that works better in a radio edit. A raucous, sub-four minute excuse for losing it on the dancefloor. Which is surely what it's all about.