Darkcore

For the hardcore genre, see Hardcore (electronic dance music genre).

Darkcore or darkside[2][3] is a music subgenre of jungle[4] (not be confused with the more recent developments of hardcore) that became popular in the United Kingdom. It is recognized as being one of the direct precursors of the genre now known as drum and bass. Popular from late 1992 and through 1993, Darkcore was a counter movement to happy hardcore, which also evolved from breakbeat hardcore.

Characteristics

Darkcore is characterized by aggressive, often syncopated breakbeats;[5] low frequency bass lines; and a strong 4-to-the-floor beat, owing to the subgenre's hardcore origins. Tracks are generally between 150 and 167 BPM, with 160 BPM being especially common. Many tracks feature dark-themed samples such as choirs, synthesizer notes, horror movie theme music,[6] or cries for help.

As the style evolved, the use of horror elements was dropped as producers relied more on simple effects such as reverb, delay, pitch shifting and time stretching to create a chaotic and sinister mood. The use of time-stretching features on many tracks and gives a scratchy, metallic quality to some samples, particularly breakbeats.[7]

Notable artists

Many of the British hardcore and jungle DJs of the day dabbled in darkcore for a time, mostly around its heyday in 1993, but some of the more notable DJ/producers of darkcore include:

Significant releases

The 1993 CD release Hard Leaders III - Enter The Darkside contains many popular darkcore tunes of the era.

Today

Today, darkcore is used to describe the entire array of breakbeat producers and DJs who work within the 160-190+ BPM tempo range. Its current configuration, darkstep, is notably different in quality and process availability as the modern drum and bass elements are included.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. Just as the commercial success of hardcore in 1992 had prompted the first wave of 'darkside' tunes, so the hipster vogue for 'intelligent' inspired a defensive, back-to-the-underground initiative on the part of the original junglists.
  2. 1 2 3 Ishkur (2005). "Ishkur's guide to Electronic Music". Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. By late 1992, the happy rave tunes of 1990—1 were being eclipsed by a style called 'darkside' or dark-core;
  4. ↑ Chris Christodoulou (2002). "Rumble in the Jungle: The Invisible History of Drum and Bass by Steven Quinn, in: Transformations, No 3 (2002)". Retrieved May 18, 2014. During the early development of this burgeoning genre of up-tempo break-beat EDM (between 1992 and 1994), “jungle” and “drum 'n' bass” were being used synonymously with “darkcore” and “dark”.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. Dark-core is composed entirely on continuously on looped breakbeats;
  6. ↑ Gilman, Ben. "A short history of Drum and Bass". Retrieved May 18, 2014..
  7. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. Using effects like time-stretching, pitch-shifting and reversing, the darkside producers gave their breakbeats a brittle, metallic sound, like scuttling claws; they layered beats to form a dense mesh of convoluted, convulsive poly rhythm, inducing a febrile feel of in-the-pocket funk and out-of-body.
  8. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. The other important source for techstep was the first era of 'darkside', as pioneered by Reinforced artists like Doc Scott and 4 Hero.

Sources

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