Pioneers of Norwegian drum & bass
» Published by trym on May 24, 2006
Back in 1998, the international drum & bass scene was still in its infancy, despite the British jungle & rave scene having enjoyed quite a successful foothold dating all the way back to 1992-93. Norway's contributions to the health of this subculture of electronic music was as good as non-existent, but in the shadows two, young producers from Bergen were releasing one acclaimed single after another on influential imprints the likes of Rob Playford's Moving Shadow and the now, regrettedly, defunct Certificate 18. These two guys were Torgeir Byrknes, aka Teebee, and Kjetil Dale Sagstad, aka K and later Polar. Several labels were about putting out consistenly good jungle and drum & bass releases, but to have two Norwegians signed to two of the most prolific labels and have no one, or at best only a few, in Norway know of them was unheard of and still remains a mystery. (ed. However, it's happened all over again if you look at Deaf Center's success on Type Recordings, stay tuned for that feature/interview). Enter then Beatservice Records and forward-thinking Tromsø-based label head honcho, Vidar Hanssen. He recalls the situation at that time as follows.
"One of the intentions of Beatservice were to release electronic quality music from Norwegian producers, irrelevant of genre. Thus, it was not primarily a bet on drum & bass, but rather that I had paid attention to the stuff they had released on their (ed. Teebee & K) own on 12", and I suggested to them that they put out an album. The result was Black Science!!! Being very "narrow" in Norwegian terms and size, the release has sold decently."
With Teebee & K on the Beatservice roster, 1999 thus saw the release of Norway's first full-length drum & bass album, namely Black Science, named thus after their recording studio. On this album, you can in retrospect see how the duo would evolve over the years. Teebee, with his love for kung fu and martial arts and the more outspoken personality of the two, would take to the stage as an internationally acclaimed DJ bringing his fascination with martial arts into his mixing technique of skillful scratching fused with mathematically precise beats and heavily dancefloor-oriented productions. Clearly evident was also the fascination with science fiction. K on the other hand, only a few years later adopting his new moniker Polar as well, remained out of the spotlight and continued to hone his productions skills to perfection and always reach out of drum & bass turf to create music that crossed genres. His skills as a producer, better than Teebee's in both diversity and cleanliness and humbly admitted so even by Teebee himself and praised by other legends such as Laurent Garnier and Andrew Weatherall, gained K his international fame as Polar based largely on his two album releases for Certificate 18, 37' Degrees And Falling and the impressive follow-up Still Moving. However, drabbed by tinnitus some years ago, Polar has now dropped out of the spotlight although his legacy still creates room for gossip about his return with new release sometime in the new future. We for one would welcome his return immensely. Shifting back to Teebee, his importance in drum & bass as an international artist is uncontested and his legacy includes an impressive discography spanning most of the big labels. Today he also runs one of the scenes most active and celebrated labels, Subtitles Music. The importance of the duo's work surely also has paved the way to open up for other Norwegian drum & bass artists being discovered and signed to labels these days.
So, backgrounds and present aside, we dive into the record crate to dig out the excellent Black Science album and take a look at the beginning of Norway's finest adventure in drum & bass. Most evident, and even credited in the album's sleeve notes, is the fascination with science fiction and in particular J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 universe. Track titles are taken from episode titles from the popular show from the late 90s, and even further the music bears a significant signature of futuristic synth sweeps and sci-fi samples. The atmosphere is dark and scientific and the album title seems very aptly chosen. Clearly evident is also the duo's appreciation for the oriental theme with various samples of martial arts fight sequences spicing up things between heavy beats and stabs. Also, the more oriental or ethnic rhythms are here, particularly on what we deem the album highlight, the enigmatic Cherokee which perfectly melds mesmerizing flute tones into a rolling bassline and a gives a spacious, meditational feel to the tune. The duo's also having fun on the album, a very obvious homage paid to Nick Park's popular stop-motion animation characters with the tune called Wallace & Grommit. Despite the tune's drum and bass tip, knowing the series you can associated it to a make-believe theme for the haphazardous radar pair. Starting off with an air of expectation, then the introduction of police sirens off in the distance before a fast-paced bassline with swiveling, quick stabs, fun popping sounds and a ratchety sound loops throughout the animated madness. The album is both danceable and perfect for home-listening, some tracks are chilled and atmospheric, others get your feet tapping and you get both the electro, trip hop and funky, boogie stuff with "spiderman"-guitar in those 70-something minutes the album clocks in at.