Drum and Bass can take on a lot of different feelings; it can range from chill to being rage worthy. The Upbeats and Noisia have collaborated to make a track that is clearly in the latter category. “Loudmouth” is drum and bass at its most aggressive. The drum line drives the song along and sets a vibe that could start a riot on the dance floor. It’s a great song if you’re in the mood to raise hell and is definitely worth a listen and download below.

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys a good drum and bass remix every once in a while, check out the Fred V & Graphix remix of Sub Focus‘ track, “Endorphins” featuring vocals by Alex Clare. Everything from the drums to the vocals to the melodic synths all work perfectly together, making it an extremely catchy tune. The official release date of the remix is May 15.

Jakwob recently found himself on the receiving end of Calvin Harris’ wrath because of his song “Fade.” The chord progression in the original mix of “Fade” is similar to the progression of “I’m Not Alone” but Etherwood’s remix is here to chill everyone out. The drum and bass producer shows the calm that can be communicated through a song at 160 bpm. The echoing lyrics are joined by a lonely flute, and a speeding drum line to create a track that proves an uptempo beat and deep bassline do not necessarily make a song “turnt up.” The song is being given away as part of Annie Mac’s Free Music Mondays, and if you are looking for something to bring on a sense of calm, it is definitely worth a listen.

It’s not every day you hear drum and bass coming from Madeon. But his new track with Ellie Goulding proves otherwise. Telling fans that he “wanted to play around with a different tempo,” the young DJ from France, while still sticking to his house roots, added in the typical fast-paced drum and bass beat to accompany Ellie Goulding’s dreamy vocals. This track is just one of many examples of Madeon’s versatility in producing music. It’s a masterful array of his characteristic sounds combined with new, experimental sounds. Definitely worth a listen.

Madeon will be in Las Vegas on April 13! It’s never too early to buy tickets—grab them here!

Is progressive drum and bass a thing? Sub Focus is pushing the genre in a direction that some Soundcloud commenters don’t appreciate, but not everyone is going to be a fan of change. The biggest change to the genre’s norm is how the song drops. Euphoric synths replace the hard bass, and are featured more prominently than the snare drums. Because of these changes the drop creates a feeling closer to what fans of Alesso are used to experiencing rather than fans of Sub Focus. The drop fits in well with the rest of the song as the vocals and synths meld into a dreamy build. If people listen with an open mind for change, this song will live up to its name, as it’s impossible to feel anything but good while this song is playing. Hear for yourself below.

THEN:

The term “dub” has been floating around in the ether for half a century now and on occasion, has fixated itself onto arbitrary musical vocabulary/categories it has come in encounter with. Looking back, we can trace its origins back to the 60s during the era of Reggae in Jamaica. During this time, musicians sought for a new outlet of aural expression and began by taking your typical reggae track, removing the overlaying vocals and flowery harmonies, and subsequently leaving the listener with the bare bone basics — a simple lilting yet bumping drum and bass line. This “dub” stood as the epitome of the track’s essence: the rhythm. Dub in and of itself is the production style of removing vocals, however a dub can refer to the vocal-less track made.

With this minimalist musical blueprint, artists could then manipulate, distort, and change the dub by adding in extensive echoing, reverb, delay or even bits and pieces of the original vocals, thus creating a completely new and original music piece. OG dub artists like Osbourn “King Tubby” Ruddock and Lee Perry pioneered this technique by zeroing in on the power of the turntable to mix different tracks together thus fashioning new unique rhythmic amalgamations. In Ruddock’s (re-)mix of “Fugitive Dub” by The Skatalites, he uses electronic mixing technology to add rhythmic elements such as reverb and echo that compliment and transform the original track.

Fast forward to the present and we can see that dub serves as the basis for all of EDM. By honing in on the infectious bass and drum line, dub provided music producers everywhere the creative power to REMIX. The remix begins as an inspired reaction while simultaneously having the capability to stand alone as a new work.

We can see dub’s influence most clearly in present-day DnB. By completely stripping a track of its vocals, Drum and Bass zeros in on creating characteristic and infectious heavy bass lines coupled with at times, schizophrenic drum patterns. Through this, producers, like Pendulum, remove and rearrange sound and rhythm thereby shifting the listener’s attention from a conscious awareness of tonal melodies to a viscerally stimulated experience.

Another genre of EDM that owes a figurative arm and a leg to dub is dubstep. Incorporating dubbed tracks with the catchy rhythms of 2-step, dubstep found its own way of paying homage to the funky beats of dub reggae while taking on the futuristic darker sounds of garage. While similar to DnB, dubstep’s bpm is slower, ranging from 138-142. Furthermore, its defining spin sets off instinctual bells and whistles – the wobbly bass so characteristic of dubstep forerunners like Plastician, Skream and Benga.

Dub is about more than just a track devoid of vocals. Dub is about the ability to isolate, mix, manipulate, and morph rhythms – to “make beats”. Scratch artists like A-trak manipulate rhythm in methods that owe much inspiration from dub production.

In the end, dub shaped the structure of EDM by transforming the regular musical engineer into a mixing artist.