Some say Fabio and Grooverider are the story of drum n' bass yet current darkstar Ed Rush was turned onto the scene after checking Spiral Tribe play hardcore while the derided ragga-units worked inside a loop of producers cutting tunes for the pirates where new sound spread across the airwaves. At the moment ideas move simultaneously underground and overground, fresh sonics coming off leading DJs' dubplates, baby label headz signing to majors, new crews appearing all over Europe and US or the efforts of Bowie and Everything But The Girl to communicate/emasculate drum n' bass for the global mainstream.

Drum n' bass is control versus chaos: hi-fi-sci-fi beat programmes that expand and contract, roll and squeeze, rinse out and explode to generate physical abandon on the floors. Some people reckon Fabio, Groove, Doc Scott and Goldie (Cleveland Watkiss introduced him with "the Goldicus has landed" on the mic at a recent Metalheadz) control drum n' bass but no one posse can hold onto the sound for long. Teddy Riley's started cutting breaks, James Lavelle and Coldcut's Ninja Tune reintegrate the sound into old skool/nu skool breakz culture while everyone from the acid jazz, ambient and gabber crews is claiming and making a version of drum n' bass for themselves. Is drum n' bass the music of the aftermath or just the music of now? Years after rave's chemical countdown pushed new sounds into being drum n' bass functions both in the comedown for older soldiers while all over the planet fresh kids take it as their sound of choice. Drum n' bass is old and new, drugged and clean, veteran and fresh, black and white, pop and underground, ambient and hardcore, ever-expanding, changing, mutating, rolling and moving. Destination unknown.