A HISTORY OF…
As music technology has evolved, boundary pushing musicians have explored ever-lower frequencies, broadening the scope of what can be achieved with a powerful ‘sub’. Let’s take a musical trip through top-class low-end tracks
Lee Scratch Perry & The Upsetters – Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973)
1 When it comes to bass, all roads lead to dub music. This landmark recording is from the 1973 album
Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle, one of the first dub records ever to be released. Though the bass in dub music was produced by a bass guitar – and thus may not have edged into the most subterranean reaches of the frequency spectrum – it’s the genre’s sonic emphasis on low frequencies, foregrounded in the mix and anchoring the groove, that makes it an essential inclusion on this list.
A Tribe Called Quest – Butter (1991)
2 After dub music, hip-hop was the next genre to break new ground in embracing a bass-heavy sound and production style. While many tracks from Tribe’s classic (and fittingly titled) sophomore record The Low End Theory were noted for their use of live double bass, Butter bumps along on a seriously weighty descending sub bassline produced by a synth, foreshadowing the hefty 808 bass sound that would later come to be characteristic of trap music.
Dillinja – Deadly Deep Subs (1994)
3 OG jungle producer Dillinja wasn’t lying when he titled this track. Possessed of some truly deep and deadly sub bass parts and a rumbling kick that’s sure to wake up the neighbours, Deadly Deep Subs is a fine example of the kind of fearsome bass pressure that’s so characteristic of genres like jungle and drum & bass.
Squarepusher – Tundra (1996)
4 This IDM classic from Squarepusher’s debut album Feed Me Weird Things sees the mastermind underscoring existential angst and frenetic drill & bass breaks with a rolling sub bass groove. Though he’s perhaps better known for using live fretless bass guitar and squelchy TB-303, Tom Jenkinson’s also partial to a sub bass part – see the 1996 Port Rhombus EP for further confirmation.
Massive Attack – Angel (1998)
5 Bristolian trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack are masters of creating haunting atmospheres, knife-edge tension and sonic intrigue through the use of just a handful of musical elements. Angel features one of the most immersive sub basslines we’ve ever encountered, a throbbing low-frequency supernova around which the remainder of the track revolves.
