Darkcore


Darkcore is a music subgenre of breakbeat hardcore in the UK rave scene, that emerged from late 1992. It is recognized as being one of the direct precursors of the genre now known as drum and bass.

Origins

By late 1992, breakbeat hardcore was beginning to fragment, and darkcore was one of those subgenres to emerge, and counter to 4-beat. Darkcore is often characterised by dark-themed samples such as horror movies elements, cries for help, sinister sounding stabs and synthesizer notes, along with syncopated breakbeats in addition to 4-to-the-floor beats and low frequency basslines. It also saw the introduction of effects such as pitch shifting and time stretching to create mood.

Notable releases

Notable releases include DJ Hype's "Shot in the Dark", Origin Unknown's "Valley of the Shadows", Ed Rush's "Bloodclot Artattack", Rufige Cru's "Terminator", Doc Scott's "Here Comes the Drumz", and 4hero "Journey from the Light". Other labels releasing "darkside" tracks in 1993 included Moving Shadow and Basement Records. Basement's producer/engineer Jack Smooth said that Basement's slightly different style of darkcore featured "4×4 kick, techno sounds, lush pads over heavily cut layered breaks."