Drum and Bass [Part II] - Subgenres

  Recently, smaller scenes within the drum and bass community have developed and the scene as a whole has become much more fractured into specific sub-genres. The generally accepted and most popular forms of drum and bass / jungle are:

• Darkstep (or "Darkside" or "Dark", the return of the old school sound of Drum and bass made with new technology – Current Value, Lucio de Rimanez, Limewax and many more)
• Drumfunk (or "Choppage", "Edits" – atmospheric drum and bass with heavy emphasis on break-styled drum loops, occasionally broken up by drumless atmospheric passages)
• Hardstep (A harder style of d&b which uses hard basslines and heavy yet simple electronic melodies for example,: The Panacea)
• Intelligent (or "Atmospheric" or "Ambient")
• Jazzstep (or "Jazz and Bass")
• Jump-Up
• Liquid funk (or simply "Liquid")
• Sambass (or "Brazilian Drum and Bass")
• Techstep (or "Tech")
• Techno-DNB (or "Techno Drum and Bass")
• Neurofunk (or "Neuro" is the progression from Techstep)

The following would generally be described as separate genres by their proponents:

• Breakcore
• Darkcore (both a precursor and a descendant of drum and bass since modern darkcore productions share much with darkstep)
• Raggacore
• Ragga jungle (a modern sound which shares most if not all characteristics with early jungle music – difficult to differentiate – perhaps through frequent mention of H.I.M. Haile Selassie and other Rastafarian themes)

As with all attempts to classify and categorize music, the above should not be treated as definitive. Many producers release albums and tracks which touch into many of the above styles and there are significant arguments as to the classification of tracks as well as the basic defining characteristics of subgenres. The list of arguable subgenres in particular should not be treated as definitive.


  The modern distinctive ragga jungle style (arguably subgenre or even separate genre) is a direct throwback to the 1994–1995 style of drum and bass production. However, many modern drum and bass mainstream productions contain ragga, dancehall and reggae elements, they are just not as dominant as previously.

Clownstep is not as it commonly misconceived to be, a derogatory term for "playful" Drum and Bass. "Clownstep" is a term which was popularised by Dylan, to jokingly describe how "Swing-beat" tunes like Bodyrock by Andy C made him think of clowns. DJ Clipz often produces songs adhering to the clownstep sound.


  Drumstep is also a commonly misused term for a style of drum loops used in Drum and Bass tracks. Rather than placing a kick drum on the 1st and 3½ bar, and a snare on the 2nd and 4th bars, the drum break has a kick placed on the 1st bar, and a snare on the 3rd bar, thus making the break sound half-timed. The term is now being used to refer to a mix of Drum and Bass and Dubstep, because of the drum loops slower BPM. This genre also tends to feature Dubstep elements known as the 'wobble bass' effect.