UK dance genres shared a viscous bass element that footwork lacks

Evidence

It’s here that the contrast with footwork can most be heard — and felt. To those whose ears and nervous systems were mutated by jungle in the Nineties, footwork can initially sound strangely desiccated — like the dry bones left after jungle’s digital ocean has receded. “UK bass music” is an almost wilfully bland term, but it does point to the element which gave every genre from jungle to UK garage and dubstep their consistency: a viscous, glistening bass sound. This is conspicuously absent from Rashad’s sound. Instead of functioning as a dark liquid element on (or in) which other sounds could be suspended, Rashad’s bass is a surging and reclining series of stabs and jabs that heightens and lowers tension without ever releasing it. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1331

Categorization

• SEED: The claim that what unifies ‘UK bass music’ is a liquid, enveloping bass element rather than tempo or rhythm could anchor an essay on how genre taxonomies mis-describe the physical-material core of music.