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Renegade Snares: The Resistance And Resilience Of Drum & Bass: The Resistance And Resilience Of Drum & Bass
£11.30£14.20 (-20%)
Renegade Snares is the definitive book on drum x26 bass music. Pieced together using original interviews conducted with all the scene s main players, it traces the history of jungle/drum x26 bass from its early roots in soundsystem culture and rave music right through to the present day. With its hyper-speed breakbeats, warping bass pressure, and vast spectrum of sounds, drum x26 bass quick spawned a whole new movement in youth culture. What began as an outlaw street reverberation from the inner cities of Britain developed into a Mercury-winning, chart-topping, world-conquering genre in just a few short years. The frontier-breaking sorcery that emanated from its foundational producers and DJs pushed new levels of sonic science into the music world, and it has influenced all other electronic music genres in assorted ways. From the shock of the new to a global phenomenon, drum x26 bass has morphed from frowned-upon marginalisation to establishment approval — and back again. A multicultural triumph, it is a story of resistance and resilience that takes in pioneers such as Goldie, Roni Size, Kemistry x26 Storm, Photek, Fabio x26 Grooverider, and many more renegade mavericks — even, at one point, David Bowie. With vivid descriptions of key tracks and a detailed lineage of the scene s development, Renegade Snares traces the genre s gestation while also examining its musical twists and turns, worldwide spread, and enduring popularity. And, ultimately, it asks: surely a genre of music with such a significant grounding in black music culture, developed by so many black pioneers in its formative years, could never be whitewashed . . . could it?
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by ikaruga_moo
Really good book that wouldn’t just appeal to d&b fans. It might be a stretch to say a prog rock fan would like it but anyone into electronic music owes it to themselves to read this.
Covers so much ground, and written by 2 long time music journalists means it’s – as far as I can tell – factually as close as possible to nailed on.
Getting a name check on page 201 absolutely blew me away too. Thanks Ben & Carl!!
by MD
Must have for any Drum & Bass fanatic
by Goran
I got this book as a long time jungle fan direct from the publisher as soon as I heard about it and it is by far the best book on this subject out there. Not just in terms of information it delivers but, just as importantly, the wonderful way in which it is written. The passion and love for this world-changing genre radiates from every page (written by two veterans of UK electronic music journalism!) and I devoured the book in record time and still dipp in and out of it months later. For junglists old and new and all the dance floor arsonists to come, Renegade Snares is the pinnacle of music writing on one of the greatest British cultural contributions to date.
by Xen
From the headline above you might be thinking why I have not given 5 stars. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good book, the best yet. It is really comprehensive and spans the whole history of D&B. My main grumble is that like most books on this subject, it is London centric. London has a special place, no doubt, but the Midlands where I am from, played a really important role in the early days from 1990 – 1993. The authors do touch on this a little bit, but not enough in my opinion. Probably they were not there so they don’t know, and/or the information on this period, especially from the Midlands, is very rare. This is why I want those DJs and MCs from the Midlands to write their story and put the Midlands back on the map. We had such groundbreaking promotions, great DJs & MCs and venues, as important as Rage at Heaven in London in my opinion.
Also, books tend to skip over the Acid House/Hardcore/Jungle Techno period with a few pages, but there is so much history there. The big rave promoters and their back story, the raves, the ravers, the DJs, MCs and producers that are not around any more. These unsung heroes deserve to be included in this history.
So in summary I would say it is worth buying and reading, maybe in a future 2nd edition, the authors could fill this gap.
by Leo Clarke
Spanning the earliest origins of D&B, a brilliantly written review of a unique and diverse music that forever impacted the dance music scene in a way that still echoes through to the present.
by DJ Enforcer
If your an old junglist you will enjoy reading this. A trip down memory lane “JUNGLISTS ARE YOU READY BO O LORD HAVE MERCY” Stevie Hyper D R.I.P.