Visual Clues: Drum & Bass

Visual Clues: Jungle

I didn't mention in the previous hardcore rave post about the relevance of beats-per-minute to the development of the sound. While the house and techno that had previously been soundtracking the early raves was generally at speeds between 120 and 130 bpm, hardcore's emergence was in tandem with an acceleration of tempos across dance-floors. Initially the big anthems from labels like Moving Shadow, Reinforced and Production House were established at around 135 bpm but these eventually crept up further. Those accelated tracks (and the preference to spin other records faster through the use of a turntable's pitch control) will be linked by some critics to the changing nature of drugs on the scene. Specifically the increase of amphetamines. However there are other key influences that spawned an eventual jungle mutation.

The influence of hip hop breaks and the appropriation of the attitude then more closely associated with US rap had drew further attention to rave music as a part of the black diaspora. The discussion of the development of dance music is largely punctuated by a trans-Atlantic exchange between "black" American and "white" European sounds, yet this indigenous British development instead prompted many to look towards those other UK-adopted styles that would - as Cynthia Rose notes in Design After Dark - have also been popular across pirate radio. In the case of reggae, this would have also have reflected the West Indian heritage of some of the scene's DJs and producers [many had previous associations with sound systems]. While this citing of formative influences may have been possible even earlier, the rise in bpms had ensured that hardcore tracks were now twice the speed of reggae records - allowing for the easy use of samples from the culture while avoiding the "chipmunk" effect. So while a track's frenetic rhythm might run at 144bpm, a reggae sample would fit despite only being recorded at half that speed. Additionally the use of heavy sub-bass in hardcore was already hinting at what Steve Goodman discusses in Sonic Warfare as 'dub virology': a low-end and very physical form of aural communication that had its roots in reggae.

Reggae - alongside its dancehall, ragga and dub offspring - is then observed as the key ingredient in the sound defined as 'jungle'. A 'rudeboy' interpretation of the hardcore sound, it not only came to borrow elements from Jamaican records, it prompted collaborations with and remixes of some of its key artists. Initially the term was rejected in some quarters - because of perceived racist connotations - yet, after attempts to establish the alternative 'ragga techno' as the genre of choice, the name stuck.

The use of design was unsubtle in jungle's alligning with its key influence. The names of many of the artists and tracks were already following a tradition of Jamaican music and this appears to inform their visual depictions. The more lo-fi qualities of the work is then more than just about a shared graphic technology (or lack of) but actually appear intent on using this to carry some message of "authenticity".

From the DJ and MC through to the sound system, pirate radio and specialist vendor, jungle used many of the elements associated with reggae. The use of "versions" - where a track would find itself reinterpreted by a number of producers or artists - also appears to have crept into jungle [and we can see this concept manifest later in drum & bass with the repeated rearrangement of archetypal drum breaks such as the 'Amen'].

Visual Clues: Hardcore Rave

In an attempt to try and define the aesthetic styles that dominated particular stages in Reynolds' Continuum, I'll be posting (and discussing) a series of sleeves and other ephemera.

With hardcore rave we see the popularity of hand-drawn artwork. Particulary there is a reference to graffiti. Yet we may view this as a visual representation of the alligning of music styles. Hardcore rave's difference to other forms that emerged after the acid house explosion in the UK is through its move away from the rigid 4/4 beats associated with much of the the house and techno music of the late 1980's. In place, we have the use of breakbeats - sampled and sped-up drum loops largely lifted from hip hop records [or at least taken from the records that were similarly being used as the basis of hip hop records]. The use of graffiti on the packaging similarly borrows and subverts motifs that would communicate the relevance of hip hop to the sound. Yet it is also a cultural signifier that appears to trade on the attitude of hip hop and graffiti: replacing some of the psychedelic hippy-ish imagery that was previously adopted by the rave scene with something tougher and ultimately more urban.

Dave Nodz (born Dave Noddings) recorded as Noize of Art for Romford's Suburban Base label. Elsewhere he had an even more prolific role as the label's sleeve artist/designer. The two above sleeves are examples of his work with the first created during hardcore rave's heyday and the latter after a transitional period where the sound had mutated into what was defined as jungle. More examples of his work can be found at Woebot's site here.

In a later interview with Woebot (here), it is interesting that Nodz explains how much of his style was linked to his avoidance of technology. He discusses the lo-fi methods involved in its creation and we can see that the approach was down to personal preference. Yet this is the early 1990's and the Apple Mac was available. However a previous interview that I conducted with Trevor Jackson about his early work for labels like Gee St, Cooltempo, Network and Champion confirmed that the price of such machinery at this time meant that it was still out of reach to many young sleeve artists (and many of the independent labels from the sector would not have been using the larger agencies for what were 'underground' products). In the Woebot interview Nodz recounts an argument with his employer that marked the end of his work for Suburban Base. He states how his request for royalties (due to significant income being generated by the merchandise he designed) was met with a comment that they would instead "get a computer". This indicates DTP technology's eventual availability to the more successful independent labels. We later see the use of computer technology as providing very machine-like, cyber imagery that is more in tune with the mechanical, sci-fi influenced music that subsequently emerged.

At this point in the early 1990's, we do find the kind of work referencing graphic artists like Vaughn Bodé [see the Lucky Spin logo pictured below] to reflect the Subway Art and Spraycan Art of Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant's seminal graffiti books. Also it is worth noting that the designs for hardcore label Reinforced were produced by 'b-boy' and graffiti artist Goldie: an individual whose own chance encounter with rave prompted a subsequent evolution where he would become a figurehead for jungle and drum & bass.






















In terms of my own distillation of a visual style, I'm less interested in the use of graffiti. Although it does play a part thoughout the continuum and, especially within grime, it becomes a consistent signifier of the alligning of a sound with hip hop, the style has also become a shorthand for representing general 'youth culture'. And its now cliched use is perhaps typified by the ease in which is can be adopted through ready made fonts (above). There were other styles that also emerged during this era such as the airbrushed flyer art by the likes of Steven Perry a.k.a. 'Pez'. Advertising raves with names like Telepathy and Dreamscape while pushing some new age-y transcendental aesthetic, this also appears to be very much 'of its time'. Reynolds also references additional childlike imagery associated with hardcore rave:

It’s emotionally regressive too (as all the musically progressive genres of the last decade – rap, oceanic rock, Noise – have been): hence the infantilism of ravers sucking on dummies, or bubblegum chart hits like 'A Trip To Trumpton', 'Sesame’s Treet', The Prodigy’s 'Charly'. But then Virilio reminds us that “child-society frequently utilises turnings, spinning around, disequilibrium. It looks for sensations of vertigo and disorder as sources of pleasure”. He cites Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s childhood game of spinning round and round, in order to create “a dizziness that reduced [the] environment to a sort of luminous chaos”.

The distorted cartoon-like qualities of this sample culture (often resulting in sped up voices that were referred to as "chipmunk vocals") typifies both the irreverence and the enthusiasm of the scene at the time. This was derided within more elite clubbing environments and we might view harcore rave [like other forms with Reynolds' Continuum] as being in opposition to the parts of the scene that would have been championed by the style press. It is then worth bearing in mind that the artwork associated with hardcore rave was then never supposed to be overtly stylish or particularly fashionable within a general context and is, instead, very much tied to a subculture.

In addition to its energy, what I feel is worth taking from the featured work is the use of the naive and hand made plus the limited use of colour. The bold lettering that has been drawn for the reverse of the 2 Bad Mice sleeve and for the Genaside II covers (below) may emulate the comic book style of 2000 AD, but it helps to illustrate that aforementioned irreverence plus the rough and ready quality of the music itself.

Trevor Johnson

Now leading the design team at Creative Lynx, Trevor Johnson [who shouldn't be confused with Trevor Jackson] gained attention for his Hacienda flyers. The work was stylish and successfully communicated with the target audience yet, sadly, it really doesn't overlap with the specific music forms I'm dealing with. However, I am taking some inspiration from his approach. And the following quote from him has resonance:

“Fashion and music and graphics all interrelate…graphics are about the styling of information, so you learn your trade by putting information out to other people and interpretating that to other places. Clubs are important in graphics and cultural history”

Artwork by Alex Jenkins

Alex Jenkins is predominently known for his work as inhouse designer at XL Recordings. His most recognised sleeve is The Prodigy's Fat of the Land but he has also created work for one-off singles plus the previously referenced designs for UK garage-oriented material for sub-label Locked On and, artist, The Streets. Fitting nicely with Reynolds' 'Continuum', he also devised the look of the records for the drum & bass-propelled Jonny L and Breakbeat Era plus a featured release by The Freestylers [an act that, despite being aligned with the subgenres of big beat and breaks, actually feature a Kenny Ken jungle sample].

What I like about this work is the idea of a colour-coded, perhaps collectible set (as with the Locked On releases) and the feeling of a 'used' product (again, with Locked On and also evident in the Breakbeat Era series). There's a utilitarian aesthetic from both the stencil text and the bold sans serif fonts that I think is also important in terms of continuing a lineage of underground club records as functional items. However, they are - as with some of the other images that I'll be referencing - of a particular age while in tune with the scenes that they represented. Although I do want to create something that refences an aesthetic that belongs to a particular time and place, I would also like to ensure that it wasn't a simple pastiche and, in fact, want it to feel as much about now. That's important: the coverage and explanation of Reynolds' 'Hardcore Continuum' is, of course, about its continued relevance and influence.