Bassline (music genre)

Bassline(sometimes referred to asbassline houseor4x4orNiche) is a music genre closely related toUK garagethat originated inSouth Yorkshireand theWest Midlandsin the early 2000s.Stylistically it comprises afour-to-the-floorrhythm normally at around 135–142beats per minuteand a strong emphasis onbass,similar to that of its precursorspeed garage,with chopped up vocal samples and apop musicaesthetic.

Bassline
Stylistic origins	UK garage speed garage Italo house Contemporary R&B
Cultural origins	Early 2000's,SheffieldandBirmingham,UK
Typical instruments	Turntables drum machines sequencer synthesizer samplers personal computer
Other topics
Bouncy techno Bass music

Particularly in the scene's early days, the most prominent bassline club wasSheffield's Niche Nightclub, which became the centre of controversy due to apolice raidwhich resulted in the club's closure in 2005.

Characteristics

Early bassline house

Early bassline shares more similarities with its predecessorspeed garagethan the style that began to emerge in the latter half of the decade, with many people still referring to bassline house releases from the early 2000s as speed garage. This early style grew from the sound that was popular in nightclubs inYorkshireand theWest Midlandsduring the late 1990s, which played speed garage mixed with melodic vocal house. While the four-to-the-floor style ofspeed garageretained popularity in Yorkshire and the Midlands, inLondonit had declined due to the rise of2-step garageandgrime,which led to Northern and Midlands DJs needing to produce their own records.

A separation between "organ" and "bass" mixes of tracks appeared in the early bassline scene, with "bass" or "B-Line" tracks featuring a "warp" or "reese" synthesized bass line, influenced by speed garage, and "organ" tracks featuring sampledKorg M1-style organ leads, influenced by thehouse musicof the 1990s.

Like most electronic music, sampling played a large role. Many of the same sampled bass lines and drum loops can be heard in old speed garage and bassline house releases, and many popular early releases werebootlegremixes ofR&Btracks, or otherwise based on unlicensed vocal samples.

4x4

Towards the end of the 2000s, a new wave of younger Yorkshire-based producers such as TS7, Service Crew, Danny Bond and others, coupled with the rise ofdigital audio workstations,reduced the use of drum machine samples and old sampled bass lines, which took bassline along a different path. This style started to be called '4x4', moving further away from the originalspeed garagesound, but still retaining the core elements such as the warping bass and female vocals. In general, bassline as a whole remained fairly underground and was mostly only popular in the North and Midlands, and releases often never went beyond a 12 "vinyl EP, or obscure CD mixes or compilations.

Eventually, 4x4 gained popularity on the pop charts, allegedly because it appealed across genders, while grime and dubstep at the time gathered a predominantly male following.However, a more aggressive style of bassline also developed, which was absent of pitched-up female vocals and melodic leads, and was more reminiscent of grime. According to Steve Baxendale, owner of Niche nightclub, the Niche DJs began to take the vocals out of speed garage and house music, and pump up the bass. The changes in the style of the music at Niche led to a change from a predominantly white crowd to a predominantlyBlack Britishcrowd.While the "darker" style of bassline was popular in Sheffield, local scenes in cities such asBirminghamandLeedscontinued pursuing a more upbeat style. By 2007, it had become common for people toMCover bassline.

Likedubstepandgrime,bassline generally places a strong emphasis on bass,with intricate basslines (often multiple and interweaving) being characteristic of the genre.However, in contrast to these genres, bassline tracks use afour-to-the-floorbeat.The music is often purely instrumental, but vocal techniques common in other styles of garage can also be present, such as femaleR&Bvocals sped up to match the faster tempo, and also samples of vocals from grime tracks.Most songs are around 135 to 142bpm,faster than mostUK garageand around the same tempo as most grime and dubstep.

Together with its return to musical styles associated with femininity, bassline is said to embrace pop music aesthetics, and to have a euphoric, exuberant quality similar to that of earlier Britishrave music— both also in contrast to grime and dubstep.

ProducerT2maintains that bassline andUK garageshare a common origin inhouse musicbut are different sounds, while major bassline distributor and DJ Mystic Matt describes bassline as having a similar rhythm to UK garage, but that the strong emphasis on bass makes it a separate genre.

History

Niche Nightclub

Niche's closed Sidney Street building in 2008

Niche Nightclub was established in 1992 by Steve Baxendale out of an abandoned warehouse onSheffield's Sidney Street as a club forundergroundhouse musicand laterspeed garage.The club was subjected to frequent raids bySouth Yorkshire Policethroughout the 90s and early 2000s.As the bassline scene evolved, and Niche's popularity with it, the name of the club Niche became synonymous with the genre.

In November 2005, the club was stormed by 300 officers in a raid named "Operation Repatriation", and closed, despite a lack of charges against the club's owners. According to Steve Baxendale, Sheffield's police force argued that the club attracted an undesirable clientele and gangs due to heavy drug use inside the club, although it was also argued that the raid was the result of discrimination due to the club's increasing popularity with the Black British community in 2005.Sheffield's police force have stated "the only gun crime related to nightlife in Sheffield has been with bassline". However, according to Steve Baxendale, the controversy resulting from Operation Repatriation increased the popularity of the genre.

After Niche's closure, Club Vibe was opened by Steve Baxendale on Sheffield's Charter Row, with an agreement with South Yorkshire Police not to use the name Niche,and DJs restricted to playing classic bassline house and vocal tracks, with a ban on "4x4" productions. High levels of security were eventually relaxed in 2009, and the Vibe premises were expanded and renamed to Niche.After a stabbing occurred outside the club in 2010,a local court forced the club to require membership cards, and the excessive restrictions governing bassline events eventually caused the club's permanent closure.

After repeated attempts by Niche's DJs to re-open the club at its original location on Sidney Street failed due to obstruction bySheffield City CouncilandSouth Yorkshire Police,the original Niche building was scheduled for demolition in 2016.

Emergence into the mainstream

Bassline was an underground scene in theWest Midlandsand the north of England until the release ofT2's single "Heartbroken"onAll Around the World,which attracted international attention, entering the music charts in several countries, including theUK Singles Chartwhere it reached #2.Grime MCSkeptareported from a tour of several resorts inGreeceandCyprusin summer 2007 that the track was requested in clubs there.Additionally, the track received significant airplay on UK radio stations. Some music critics have said Bassline is more mainstream-friendly thangrime,since it appeals more equally to both sexes, whereas grime gathered a predominantly male following.

In December 2007, a reworked version of "Heartbroken", renamed "Jawbroken", created in aid ofRicky Hatton's world title fight againstFloyd Mayweather,was selected as warm-up music for the fight.

After T2's success,H "Two" Oreleased their single featuring vocal groupPlatnum,"What's It Gonna Be"which reached number 7 in the national charts on downloads alone, rising to number 2the following week, where it remained for the next 3 weeks. Later in the year, one of London's leading bassline producers, Delinquent, signed a deal withAll Around The Worldfor another national release, "My Destiny".

Tony Portelli signed the M.I.RAW Recordings singleDJ Q(BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ) & MC Bonez toMinistry of Soundto release the single "You Wot!" nationwide for download and sale on 14 July 2008 & 21 July 2008 respectively. The video for the single has received airplay on notable TV music stations such asMTV Base.23 Deluxe also released their single "Show Me Happiness" which reached number 2 in the BBC Radio 1 Dance Singles Chart. "Daddy O" – a song byWideboysreached number 32 on the 2008 UK singles chart.

The increased appeal of bassline may be in part due to the vocal contributions of female artists such asJodie Aysha.The lyrics of bassline are often focused on love and other issues that may be considered more feminine.In a blog posting,Simon Reynoldsdescribed the bassline genre as "the drastic pendulum swing fromyang to yin,testosteronetooestrogen,that I had always imagined would happen in reaction to grime, except it took so long to happen I gave up on it and just forgot. "It has been argued that grime and dubstep originated in turn from "an over-reaction - to the 'feminine pressure' of late-'90s 2-step."

Post mainstream era

After its success through the mid to late 2000s, bassline began to enter a stage of commercial decline. This was mainly driven by the genre not having a presence in nightclubs as it did previously.At this point the genre started to combine elements from older 2-step and UK garage tracks. Artists like 1st Born, Mr Virgo, J69, Freddo, TRC andDJ Qpioneered the new sound which called upon more highly swung beats instead of the classic 4x4 drums that were used in old school bassline tracks. The music at this time was mainly championed by DJ Q via his weekly spot onBBC Radio 1Xtra.

In July 2012,The Independentfeatured an article about the progress of bassline and the new sound.

With bassline as a scene in decline and nightclub owners still unwilling to carry out events, there was a resurgence in the music as a sound and party culture mainly due to the warehouse and rave culture in the North of England.

Musical commentators observed something of a revival of the genre in 2017, with the increasing popularity of the 'Bassfest' festival and the emergence of new producers pursuing a sub-bass driven style.

See also

• List of electronic music genres