Here is a list of drum & bass albums that I consider the best in the genre. There are many other excellent releases, but these are the ones that affected me the most. Check the albums out, especially the linked “star tracks”!
Artist: Album Title - Comment
Artist: Album Title - Comment
- Pendulum: Hold Your Colour - This is the first drum & bass album I ever heard, and it’s tough to have a better entry to the genre than this. Every single song on the album is great. Lively stuff, but not too far out there. If I had to select a couple star tracks, I’d say Tarantula and Hold Your Colour, and reader, you should definitely look them up.
- Danny Byrd: Supersized - This album is immense. It’s sub-genre is called “liquid drum & bass”, characterized by less electronic drum sounds and a generally more organic feel. Like the previous album, this one has not a single mediocre track. In fact, it’s so good and diverse in sound that I’ll give it three star tracks. Those are Shock Out, Gold Rush ft. Brookes Brothers, and Joy and Pain.
- Shapeshifter: System Is A Vampire - This album is absolutely carried by the band’s vocalist, but this is not a drawback. I’ve only heard a couple vocalists in electronic music that bring as much power as this guy. This band plays with mostly real instruments and keyboards, and is apparently phenomenal live, if they’d ever come out of New Zealand and that part of the world. Star tracks are Twin Galaxies and Dutchies.
- Matrix & Futurebound: Universal Truth - This drum & bass has a metallic city, sort of feel, like the city of Blade Runner or something. Either way, it’s excellent music, and just about as intense as Hold Your Colour. The star tracks on this album are Coast to Coast ft. Louis Smith and Knite Riderz ft. MC Spyda, the latter featuring a ragga vocalist, which is always a plus!
- DJ Fresh: Escape From Planet Monday - I’m still not sure whether his second album, Kryptonite, is better than this, but this one has definitely been more influential to me. From a smooth jazzy version of the Pink Panther to the intense drum machines of Closer vs DJ Shadow, this album really has a lot going for it. I’d say that those two tracks are the star tracks on this one, but really all the songs are great.
- Danny Byrd: Supersized - This album is immense. It’s sub-genre is called “liquid drum & bass”, characterized by less electronic drum sounds and a generally more organic feel. Like the previous album, this one has not a single mediocre track. In fact, it’s so good and diverse in sound that I’ll give it three star tracks. Those are Shock Out, Gold Rush ft. Brookes Brothers, and Joy and Pain.