Disclaimer: Please prepare headphones with good bass or a subwoofer (or both). You’ll miss something important if you don’t, rest assured. Also, if you use Spotify, look up those songs there because I couldn’t find high quality videos on Youtube for most music examples. Now that you’ve read this, be my guest.

This is the second post in a presumably long thread of music-centric posts. Fairly Sound Self-Medication is meant to be the introduction, you should have read it at least once. The estimated reading/listening time for this post strongly depends on your personal pace when discovering new music. Listening to all songs takes about two hours in total. If you don’t have that much time at your disposal right now, go for the first or second song in each group only and return at a later time.

For starting the day, you might want to listen to this: Disaszt – Together. If you’re not fully awake yet, try Rollz – Plugged In. In case you’re more into Dubstep and need to get used to Drum’n’Bass first, listen to Rollz – Plugged In (Bassnectar Remix).
Time to relax a bit:

• Blame – Skyline
• Blame – Avalon
• Blame – The Search
• Blame – Whispers Into Screams

Blame features a very interesting electronic flute in a lot of songs. The first song I heard was Skyline and I immediately wanted more of that. I think that’s when my general preference for Drum and Bass specialized a bit, eventually leading to the notion of Colorful Drum And Bass ten years later, funneling a lot more songs into my head along the way.
A definition for Colorful Drum And Bass? I think it’s this:

• Strong uplifting irregular bass base beat (that’s very common to all D’n’B songs) which features melody itself
• Very obvious high-pitched or medium-pitched melody, contemplating the bass, merging with and drifting away from that once in a while
• Strongly present atmosphere of departure, no let-downs, constant pushing, a fleeting crush on life
• Not caring for any rules regarding style or musical taboos that might dampen the enjoyment, being simple by design
• Not necessarily my favorites, yet hitting the bullseye with ease:
  • J Majik & Wickaman – Flatline
  • Submatik – Oxygen
  • Unicorn Kid – Feel So Real (Insideinfo Remix)

Another two artists who caught my attention about one year ago are Feint and Traktion. I’ve been dancing to that in the subway quite often, particularly enjoying the uplifting element of their music.

• Feint – Vision Driver
• Feint – One Last Time
• Feint – For The Fire
• Traktion – Metropolis
• Traktion – Mission ASCII
• Traktion – Circle Land

Next, a few random songs which fit the category:

• Metrik – Freefall
• Xilent – Animation
• Calyx & TeeBee – Long Gone
• Blame – Set Me Free
• MaxNRG – Prometheus
• Metrik – Out Of The Fire

There’s a D’n’B sub-genre called Liquid Drum And Bass. It usually features a very smooth bassline and a soothing melody, residing on the calm side of D’n’B. A few of those songs fit that description, others are just melodic enough and slightly more aggressive, moving into Colorful territory:

• Livewire – Acclimatize
• Livewire – Fading Light
• Mattix & Futile – Rising Up
• Magnifikate – Generate
• Sub Focus – Follow The Light
• Smooth – Everyday
• M.I.S.T. – Outerspace
• Rollz – Addict
• Rollz – The Projects
• Terravita – Subliminal Square Dance
• Metrik – Slipstream
• Aphrodite – Put A Cut On It
• Terravita – I Want To Rock
• Asian Dub Foundation – Fortress Europe

Speaking of aggression: If you are probably going to miss a deadline and like to turn close calls into hectic battles, listen to that (also, if you want to eat as quickly as possible for no apparent reason):

• High Maintenance – Freedom
• Prodigy – World’s On Fire
• Blue Stahli – Shotgun Senorita (and its Zardonic Remix)
• Mind Vortex – Arc (the Youtube version only, any other music provider offers a less energetic and slightly boring version)

Next, a few songs which got a strong overlap with two other categories/moods: Love and Lovesickness. Since I tend to enjoy those moments as well, I sometimes top up with some drum and bass to either lift myself above Cloud 9 or bury my head in a sandy cave. Guess at which song the mood changes:

• Drumsound – Atmosphere
• Blame – Because Of You
• Genetic Bros – Build
• J Majik – Feel About You
• BT – She Can Do That
• Nero – Me And You (Dirtyphonics Remix)
• BT – Never Gonna Come Back Down
• Aphrodite – Karma Sutra
• Major Look – Too Late
• Feint – Shatter
• Camo And Crooked – Watch It Burn

It’s a happy ending after all! The next group of songs helped me hillclimbing Italian mountains in a car. They are slightly less melodic and a bit noisy, packing a literal punch:

• The Qemists – Stompbox
• The Qemists – No More
• The Qemists – Tomcat
• The Qemists – Dem Na Like Me (VIP Remix)
• The Qemists – When Ur Lonely

My appetite for Drum and Bass got ignited long ago. Growing up with a lot of video games meant being exposed to electronic instruments all over the place. I don’t like minimalist electronic music that much, but as soon as some melody, drama or guitar joins, striking the balance between industrial metal and club dancing music, I’m firing up instantaneously. Pendulum are the first who I resonated with almost completely on the spot:

• Pendulum – Slam
• Pendulum – Girl In The Fire
• Pendulum – Watercolor
• Pendulum – Witchcraft
• Pendulum – Blood Sugar (really good when almost starving and having an emergency Kebap)
• Pendulum – Master Of Puppets (Remix of a well-known Metallica song)

Even being slightly off topic, give their albums In Silico, Immersion and Hold Your Color a try!
For finishing this blog post, I’m listening to Pendulum – Showdown, sitting on a beach in Costa Adeje, Tenerife. After listening to lazy beach music for five days, I had a slight headache and featured a very sunny gaze. Now everything’s back to normal. Rock on and don’t forget your headphones!

PS: If you haven’t got enough yet, try a mix of some related music: ThaLineBass DNB#1

PS2: If you have, cool down with Blame – Enduro