Search - DJ Dara :: Renegade Continuum

The Birth of A New Generation of Drum N Bass

Alex Prefect | Washington, DC | 09/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off, I'd like to say the reviews that I read for this album are absolutely rediculous. Obviously, none of these people have a clue about DNB (or at least didn't have a clue at the time they were writing about this cd). Shame on them for writing about things they have no clue about. Things being said like "Dara's use of deep bass and subsonicsounds" are absolutely preposterous.



First off, this is a mix cd. Dara is not a producer. He did not write any of this music. Dara is a DJ who takes vinyl records of other people's music, beatmatches the music over a pair of headphones and then blends one record over to the next record thus creating what sounds to be one long continuous song (and in a relatively seamless manner on this mix, might I add).



This mix CD is absolutely essential for anyone interested in any sort of electronic music. These tracks, mostly produced between 1996 and 1998 (don't quote me on that, just estimating based on the sound heard on this mix) completely and totally define the next generation of things to come as far as drum n bass is concerned.



The producers featured on this mix were discovering new studio techniques in synthesis and mixdowns that were previously untapped in the recent years of jungle. When I first heard this CD back in 1999, I honestly thought that the future of music was finally here. The most amazing synths and different experiments with distortion on anything and everything including drums can be heard.



Granted, this sound certainly at the time was not the most popular sound (dominated mostly by jungle music featuring too many amen edits and too much going on at once), but labels such as Renegade Hardware and No U-Turn were certainly pushing this sound.



This CD for the most part features the dark, minimal spatial elements of dnb. The beats, which can be classified as a number of different names such as "tech step" or "two step" are just that. 4/4 beats which consist of 2 kicks and 2 snares in each measure, with the exception of small variations. The music is quite repetitive and dark and features, for the most part, not one happy melody.



It was tunes like this that set a standard for things to come in the future. These tunes were part of the building block that killed the old ways of jungle forever. There is lots of music on here featured from future members of the super-titan DNB group "Bad Company" under the monikers "Future Forces" (D-Bridge and Maldini), "Monochrome and Subphonic" (D-Bridge again), "Absolute Zero" (Fresh) and "Genoforce" (Genotype and Future Forces).



It also features a remix of "Extraterrestrial" by Dom & Roland (who is only one person, mind you) which is exceptionally killer. Dillinja, who is the king of all things subbass, does a remix of Future Force's "Stronium Jazz". Members Fierce and Opitcal of the infamous "Virus Recordings" crew are also present.



All in all, I guess you could pretty much say that this album contains music by artists in thier infancy who would later dominate and change the entire genre of what we now call "drum n bass".



I highly recommend this CD over any mix ever released EVER. Though it is now outdated compared with recordings of now within the genre, it is without question still prevalent to this day as far as many modern studio techniques are concerned. If you are into the sounds of jazz music or are an avant-gardist who likes to hear future shock sounds, then check this out. This mix CD is my generation's "Bitches Brew".



Though I'm terrible at writing any sort of reviews, I hope you found this a bit more logical or at least understandable as far as the sound of the CD is concerned."

One of Dara's best yet

GeminiGirl | SanFrancisco,Bay Area | 02/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This albulm just shows you what the meaning of drum&bass is. Dara's use of deep bass and subsonicsounds will get you feel'n the vibes that he shows through.I call it liquid poetry.I absorb his written text."