Drum 'n' bass 101

* History of Our World Part 1: Breakbeat & Jungle Ultramix by DJ DB (Profile). A quick tutorial on how techno's funky cousin, happy hardcore, turned into jungle circa 1993. Key transitional elements of ragga and silly techno are in full effect.

* Jungle Fever: The Jungalistic Revolution, Vol. 1 (Zyx). Prototype hardstep and ragga jungle from 1994, with classic tracks like DJ Hype's "The Chopper," Omni Trio's "Renegade Snares," and Randall & Andy C's "Sound Control."

* History of Hardcore, Part 2 (Sub Base). This key missive from two prominent drum 'n' bass labels, Suburban Base and Moving Shadow, charts their output between 1993 and 1995. DJ Hype's "Roll the Beats" is one of the most potent old-school anthems. There's also notable work by Deep Blue, Johnny Jungle, and Renegade.

* Nu Skool Flava (Sour). This is 1995 jump-up and hardstep jungle at its best -- terrific rude-boy MCed stuff with prime hip-hop flavor. Don't miss the contributions from Elementz of Noize, Shy FX, and MC Det.

* Torque (No U Turn). Techstep messiahs Ed Rush, Trace, Nico, and Fierce get down and dirty with some of the scariest music ever pressed to CD. Don't listen unless you like having your ears hurt.

* Suspect Package (Hard Leaders). Techstep gets a boost of rolling, funky breaks here, with excellent tracks by Capone, Dillinja, Souljah, and others. Noisy, aggressive, militaristic, an urgent message.

* Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground (Quango). Talvin Singh's Bollywood breakbeat manifesto proves that dipping into traditional musical forms (in this case, classical Indian music) doesn't have to be a mere "gee-whiz" show.

-- CT

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