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Somehow I feel is important to note that the Amen Break, being super-influential to the whole genre of jungle/jungle-tek is not so important for drum and bass,
by larodi 3y ago
Somehow I feel is important to note that the Amen Break, being super-influential to the whole genre of jungle/jungle-tek is not so important for drum and bass, contrary to some statements here. I also doubt how important it was to hiphop in general.
The so called 'jungle music' is defined by the amen - it is not jungle unless it has it. Period. This Shy FX track cited in the article is "Original" because of the frantic MCing of UK Apache (what did this guy take in the studio!!). There's a whole lot of much more intense and better tracks. Try any Krinjah track like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssPd9j6VaRw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssPd9j6VaRw.
In fact, the label Metalheadz introduced the notion of dnb as a marketing move to distance its industrial-influenced sound from what was initially called jungle-tek, and was really techno with the amen break increasingly getting 'seasoned' on top of it. So dnb is not defined by the amen break, but rather by what is called the 'reese' sound and very specific arrangement and syncopation of layers of similar samples, which is nowhere to be found in jungle.
I presume there must be other reasons that mad amen got big - not only his sonic characteristics. In fact many funk records expose such loops, and lots of these had been used in pop music, not only underground. The sample itself, I presume should've been largely available during tracker times during 90s - I guess on BBSs or in sample packs.
We are also very familiar, thanks to Prodigy, with the breaks of Bernard Purdie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Purdie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Purdie) sampled at least twice (to my knowledge) by Liam Howlett for his biggest hist (I write his here because he is indeed the main producer of most if not all Prodigy bangers). But you see it was only Liam who sampled it, because he had the records. And I doubt hundreds of teen producers had the original Amen record. And I presume this has to do with the modtracker and trackers, because it was so easy to take s.o. else's samples and do stuff with it. It is not trivial to take samples from someone's MPC, though, so my guess is that Amen must be also regarded as an internet-age phenomenon, not purely musical.
- avyeed_desa 3y ago> The so called 'jungle music' is defined by the amen - it is not jungle unless it has it. Period. This is definitely NOT TRUE! Plenty of jungle has no amens in it: DJ Hype - Roll Da Beats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNo9NR3F7KA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNo9NR3F7KA) DJ Dextrous (Da Kings Of The Jungle) - Time To Move (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXUEetPY6E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXUEetPY6E) Tom & Jerry - Maximum Style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVukhJ1acSc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVukhJ1acSc) Dillinja - Tear Down Da Whole Place (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVGJGR5maI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVGJGR5maI) THE MOST WELL KNOWN JUNGLE TUNE OF ALL TIME HAS Z E R O AMENS IN IT: M-Beat - Incredible (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2Bgj-za5k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2Bgj-za5k) It's the Blowfly - Sesame's Treat break.
- gilmore606 3y agowait, that break is from Blowfly?! I was a DJ for years and I love Blowfly and never knew that, how embarassing, TIL.
- avyeed_desa 3y agoYeah, it's one of the Classic DnB/Jungle breaks. Like on this one: Deep Blue - The Helicopter Tune (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vbnxrccBQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vbnxrccBQQ) classic Jungle and Drum & Bass Breaks are Lyn Collins - Think Bobby Byrd - Hot Pants (I'm Coming) Incredible Bongo Band - Apache Blowfly - Sesame Street James Brown - Soul Pride James Brown - Funky Drummer I recommend Tim Cant's "A Beginner's Guide To Jungle Breakbeats" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuaKtIjSY_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuaKtIjSY_A]
- larodi 3y agoI stand corrected. The Jungle is not only about amen, but then it is the only genre so much infused with the amen. You are right that people back in the day sampled various afro/funk stuff to get nice loops. But from what I've heard (I can name man y more than these here in your post), the most extreme jungle examples actually have some amen in it. So my point is - the musical genre most defined by amen is jungle music, and how an amen can be used/abused was shown through jungle. hope this works for u.
- specialist 3y agoGratitude. Distinguishing jungle vs dnb is fascinating. I would love an encyclopedia of musical genres. With examples. Just to feed my curiosity. Doo-Wop vs Be-Bop, Rock & Roll vs Rock, Swing vs Jazz, Hornpipe vs reel.
- morbicer 3y agoFor electronic music, Ishkur's guide is exactly what you're looking for http://music.ishkur.com/?query=RaggaJungle http://music.ishkur.com/?query=RaggaJungle Not so cool but with more genres than electronic https://everynoise.com/ https://everynoise.com/