Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Drum 'n' Bass

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I think this book is good, since there are few other books about the subject of drum and bass, there are some glaring mistakes. For some reason they put Air (the French duo) in the drum and bass section and not the Trip-hop, Lounge, Big Beat area. Air clearly falls into the downtempo catagory. Second, in one review they noted that the Exploited wrote the song "City Baby Attacked by Rats" (it's an old hardcore punk rock tune) but it was GBH who did that tune. Bad mistake for a music historian. It also mimics Simon Reynolds book "Ecstasy Generation" too much. The opinions seem to be the same and the way Rough Guide is written also shadows Reynold's book. In addition, there aren't any keys to the symbols for CD or vinyl. I had to figure it out myself. And...some of the recommendations aren't the best samples of the artists' work. Kinda poor way to guide someone through a genre many find confusing. But, like I said, there aren't many more books about D&B out there.

The Rough Guide to Drum and Bass is a fairly decent book. Flipping through the pages you see a lot of leading names in the scene. In it, you can find some of the people who started the genere. The only thing I was disappointed about in this book was the fact that it's so new and it left out major names like Bad Company, Calyx, Dieselboy, and more. Hopefully there will be another book covering these names and more. Overall, this book was quite informative.

Good reading, especially if you're a junglist, and got some spare time on your hands. Contains good info on the biggest names in the scene (the british ones). Does include downtempo and trip hop etc. however, so dont be surprised to run into names such as Dj Shadow and Thievery Corporation, towards the end. Also the book names almost each artists' biggest anthems, so why not use these highlighted tracks for your next burned compilation?

It was 1999 and I was a freshman in high school. "Endtroducing" opened up my ears three years prior, the debut UNKLE record was what I was hype about at that time, and the first DJ Krush album mellowed me out. An appreciation and admiration for electronic and sample based music ensued. The only problem was that I was completely unaware of what else to listen to or what to look for next besides the offerings of the Mo' Wax label.

On a random trip to Atlantic City with a relative, I browsed through a book store at the Pier Mall and found this book for sale on clearance as the store was going out of business. I was drawn to the title and size. Upon opening, I found pages upon pages of electronic artists, their discography information, and other notes of interest. This thing was like a dossier. In these pages I learned about DJ Vadim, DJ Cam, Double Dee & Steinski, Coldcut, LTJ Bukem, Tricky, Roni Size..pretty much the whole electronic scene at that time. You can imagine how my head was spinning. So many artists to investigate and so many albums to explore!!

Although it does have a small share of wrong information (titling Dog Sled Camel Race for DJ Q-Bert's Camel Bobsled Race, haha!), it proved to be a worthwhile investment for me. It was like a textbook and it went everywhere I did. I consider this book as one of my building blocks as it ignited quite a passion for electronic music and its production. It also improved my DJ sets!!

I can't find my copy these days but would purchase it again for nostalgic value. It's quite interesting to see how the landscape of electronic music has evolved since I first purchased it.

Despite the not always perfect genre listings for the artists in this book, it still porvides most all the biographical info that any normal person would want for Drum N Bass and Breakbeat artists and groups, worth the small price.