New Forms

Jut amazing album. Share The Fall and Watching Windows are still my fav dnb tracks

Guay, pero un poco repetitivo.

Ignore the detractors, New Forms was ground breaking, bringing d&b to a mainstream audience whilst losing none of its authenticity. It just slaps.

Jungle is massive!

Outstanding. Railing really sets the scene and just as you think this song is getting even better you're already a minute into Brown Paper Bag which in itself is exceptional. New Forms, Let's Get It On, and Digital keep the ball rolling. Heroes is a fun track and Watching Windows has been a favourite of mine for a long time.

A stone cold classic - lots of nostalgia for this - I'm cheerfully listening to the full 4cd reissue version and it doesn't feel like too much of a good thing. Re-listened to it recently, actually, as there was a minor kerfuffle in my friend group when we discovered that the version we'd all been familiar with (on a single CD) isn't even the whole album!? There were a bunch of extra tracks we'd never heard of, and looking at discogs most of the versions were on 2 CDs or 4 LPs - I guess we were all poor students back then, so bought the presumably cheapest option... Fave track - could be quite a few of them, but I have to side with "Railing" for a line of lyrics that's lived rent free in my head for decades now: Do you think that you can hang tough, when the rhythm gets rough and the DJ says "I think you've had enough"? 😎

Going into bat for ‘New Forms’. It’s an awesome record. This and ‘Timeless’ by Goldie are the two great drum and bass records from the era and in my opinion haven’t been bettered. ‘New Forms’ blew my small teenage mind as I tried to understand what the hell a break beat was, and why it wasn’t four on the floor. Its sound was expansive, and it was full of jazzy licks, but it also had songs with vocals. And I loved it. It was accessible to the masses and that’s why it was so universally acclaimed and popular upon its release winning the 1997 Mercury Prize and going platinum in the UK. Yes, it’s long at over two hours, and I’ll admit the second disc is probably not quite as strong as the first, but man this still slays. Equally at home on the dancefloor, or at home while you nod your head and stroke your chin to its hypnotic rhythms, ‘New Forms’ is one of the very best electronic dance music records of all time.

oh, how obsessed we were with this in school. I had a cd so i was asked to bring it to every house party. masterpiece!

These long albums are killing me but I really liked this one

after looking it up, this album was his debut album from Roni Size & Reprazent and it won the Mercury Award for best album of the year in the UK. It went five times platinum and was one of the most commercially successful jungle albums of the 90s. I can see why - this album is unbelievably creative and uses unbelievable sound design and creativity in the creation of each and every track.

This was my style in the early 2000's

Pioneer Electronic producer and amazing double cd. 5/5

I didn't know this existed but this music flows so well and is very groovy. I can listen to this all day

perfect drum and bass album. whats not to love?

ooooohwweeeee. I used to like this album, but hadn't come back to it for a long time. Now I have a much wider knowledge of drum & bass, and a better sound system, it is banging in new ways for me!

Love D&B. I'm happy to see some representation of non-rock music in this list for once. This album rules, there's a reason it's one of the seminal albums of the genre.

Instant 5 stars. I love drum and bass and I love Roni Size.

Music at it finest, Roni and the gang represent with this tour de force. Before this DNB was just anither EDM genre. Tgey took it to new heights and indeed forms. Absolute banger also concided with being a teenager in Bristol never forgot going down Versatility ahh the days.

For me New Forms by Roni Size is one of the best dance albums ever. I personally am a great fan of Drum and Bass and if you want to listen to one album of that genre, this is it.

I'm not fond of dnb, but some tracks kill it nicely

Immense

Disc one and two are the original album. That’s what I listened to. It’s still a mammoth of an album at 140+ minutes but it surprisingly did not grow stale. I mean Jazz is near the end of the album and is one of the best tracks. I stilll think they could have made this into two albums, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I rather enjoyed this – it was absolutely not what I expected and surprised me throughout. Sure, it's a bit long, although I think I probably listened to a slightly cut down version which helped. But it wasn't anywhere near as repetitive or relentless as I was expecting.

Perfect music for the subway.

I had this on cd when it came out and listened to it a lot! It holds up and is my perfect music for concentrating.

now this is what im talkin about..... over 2 hours of fuckin solid drum & bass. im not sure what to say about it honestly, it's just some really good drum & bass, and plenty of it. "beatbox", "trust me" and the title track are the stand out tracks to me, but it's all good. ideal sounds for the like, 4th heatwave we're having this year, my only real complaint about it is that at 2 hours and 20 minutes long it does eventually start to get a little samey, so i have trouble locking onto it fully. it could benefit from being a little more concise imo, and as it happens, 11 years after this album dropped they released a reworked version, "new forms²”, which drops a bunch of tracks, adds a few new ones, and trims the rest down for a much more refined experience. highly recommend checking that out instead if the original length is too much for u, until now was the only version of new forms i'd ever heard. its not what i'd have chosen for d&b rep on the list, but it's a good pick all the same. only reason i'm not giving it a 5 is the 2008 rework i mentioned being imo an objectively better version of the same thing. its unfortunate that the book came out before then.....

More of an objective review, because I can hear the quality and am aware of the impact. It did drag a bit just to listen to at home, though.

I dug it!

É O GARAGE

Albums like this make me wish there was a ten point rating scale. It’s not something I would necessarily choose to listen to but I can appreciate it in small doses. There is much more complexity than it initially seems. It’s a 3.5 but I’m rounding up due to all the luddites getting their knickers in a twist

Sure it's repetitive, but the man's got kids to feed. (Maybe, I don't know if he has kids.) 4/5

8/10

Pretty cool album. I like listening to drum and bass occasionally and the tracks here were really unique. Digital, Heroes, and Morse Code were my favorites. Nice listen. 7.0/10

Kannte erst nur "Brown Paper Bag" . War mir erst sicher, dass das zu lang sein wird, hat mich aber bis zuletzt bei der Stange gehalten. Toll produziert, für mich eine Neuentdeckung.

Very challenging listen and not for everyone, but if it's up your alley it's worth it. Some of the baselines here are incredibly infectious.

5 hours but damn I really liked it!!!! 4.25

Usually up my alley but a bit too on the bland side.

Braaaap

New Forms was pretty cool. Buen album pa escuchar mientras trabajas o haves que haceres. Un poco largo lo cual hace que no tenga tantas ganas de escucharlo pero muy buena muestra de buen DnB 3/5

triphop, sehr motivierend für mich, teilweise alien invasion, teilweise soulful gesang, liebs iwie aber auch ein bisschen anstrengend

More enjoyable than I expected. I didn't expect to like the genre but it was varied enough to be interesting enough for me to have subsequently played "This is ...".

Some songs were a bit too repetitive/long for me BUT overall lots of bangers

Nice when you drive a car

Nearly jumped when I saw the horrid average! I started listening to this on the treadmill, and the matching BPM of the first few songs helped me finish my run. Maybe that context helped, but I was willing to give this a 5. All 13 songs on disc one were cool, with nice percussion and catchy melodies. The problem was finding out there was another disc on the original release. Even though I went into it open-minded, only the first half managed to be on the same level of the first disc. Perhaps it was the fatigue of over two hours of drum and bass, the lack of vocals in that set of songs, or even my attention span running out, but it just got uninteresting from that point on. Still, most songs on this are pretty good and will be added to my playlists.

Brown Paper Bag is one of the best DnB tracks ever made. I was never into it as much as my brother was, but this was one of the essential albums that I listened to a while ago. It doesn't quite hit as hard as it used to, but this was revolutionary for its time, and still, for me, holds up. It is too long though.

This album took almost 2 days to listen to and it was a good album.

Beats

Brilliant listening. Super nostalgic and great to revisit

I kind of loved this one, but I'm really biased when it comes to 90's UK drum & bass. Niche but I'll definitely be listening through this again. A lot of great tracks though it is a huge album, so the amount of just generally okay stuff drags it slightly.

Slay

i love drum & bass, i love the 90s, i'm British, i listened to this on a beautiful spring morning feeling a little bit hungover, it's a 4 for me.

Surprisingly I really liked this. Some filthy bass in there

30 year old children would've still been clubbing to this in '97. They're now almost 60. Some may be Nanas and Grandads. Makes you think. Ironically for an album called 'New Forms', the first track 'Railing' feels pretty MC Grindah and very much tied to the 90s. 'Brown Paper Bag' is still masterful - bass-jazz updated for the drum n bass age, menacing piano trills dropped in, and a hypnagogic loop. suffers from lulls here and there, fading into background sound. 'Hi-Potent' is pretty much a 'Brown Paper Bag' rerun and one has to question whether the running length is justified. And one likely will answer, no it is not. A fair few tracks feel pretty pedestrian if listened to in isolation. But I admire the ambition, I like the coherence of the jazz/DnB fusion, and the many good ideas. That just about outweighs the excess run time, and just about scrapes a 4 on account of that admiration.

Never heard this before, but obviously knew the name. Really really enjoyed it. Wasn't expecting any dnb on this journey if I'm honest. This is the first "I will listen to this again" album I've had so far

Good to have something more recent (1997!). Not revisited for some time. Listened a fair bit to this, Goldie’s Timeless and Alex Reece’s So Far back in the day, all pretty groundbreaking for me. Track 1 disappointed - sounded a bit tinny with inane lyrics to the fore. But thankfully picks up strongly after that. Didn’t think Heroes held up as well as Brown Paper Bag. 4 again sitting above Scott Walker and below The Stones.

Think I owned this, liked the singles but didnt play the album too much. I like it on re-listening, though probably a different genre has some of the atmospheric K&D vibes. Good female vocals. Full disclosure only got through Disc 1 currently, but that may have been the release I has anyway.

Really enjoyed this. Kinda jazzy electronic

++: Railing, Brown Paper Bag, New Forms, Matter of Fact, Mad Cat, Share the Fall, Watching Windows, Beatbox, Morse Code, Trust Me, Change My Life, Jazz, Ballet Dance +: Let's Get It On, Digital, Destination, Intro, Hi-Potent, Share the Fall, Down, Hot Stuff +-: Heroes 8,5/10

Fantastic memories of this album and it's still a banger

I feel like I've been trying to get into more electronic music the past few years and this is a perfect intro to drum and bass.

I guess I have my answer to "What exactly is drum and bass?" If you've got a repetitive task ahead of you, this makes for a pretty damned good soundtrack. Excellent background music. More varied than I thought it would be. Pretty solid electronica.

Super good

I listened to this one a lot back in the day. Roni's dirty Drum 'n' Bass beats still hit hard.

Breakbeats and repetitive bass lines and a chilled out atmosphere and some hushed raps. Great working music that drowns out the world and just flows.

Dope

Learnt something this weekend. Listening to Drum and Bass while you're making the evening meal doesn't necessarily enhance your appreciation of the genre (I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was going to be listening to when I put it on!). However, I put it on when I went for a run next morning and got a new PB for the 10K, so thanks Brown Paper Bag with all of your Ross-On-Synths twiddly bits, and thanks Heroes with your soulful thumping beat. Sure, it's repetitive and pretty superficial, but I now know what the Amen Break is, I can run (and chop carrots) faster and my life has got a little bit better. A low 4 stars for Roni Size, and a place on my workout playlist.

Having this on in the background while you do something else is probably the best way to listen to this kind of music. I could never see myself giving it a 5, but it's pleasant enough as background noise

Iconic dnb

I’ve known about Roni Size since the late 90s, and “Brown Paper Bag” will always be a classic. I tend to enjoy his music more as background listening, though. When I’m actively sitting down and focusing on it, the tracks often feel stretched out, relying on minor and subtle changes for long periods of time. After a while, I find myself getting bored.

While I never liked DnB that much, aggressively-compressed MP3s of pieces of this album definitely ended up on my hard drive in the late 90s. It's cool to hear it all together. Much respect without necessarily returning to it.

One of the better electronic joints from this project. Picks up a lot 2/3 in. Disagree with the starred trax on Apple Music. FO! FO SURE!

I'm at a 3.5 that I'll generously bump up to a 4. I gave this one a listen in some unusual circumstances; first & foremost, there's a 2008 remix / remaster of the album that significantly shaves it down, so I chose to listen to that mix, eliminating the 4 new tracks added to the 2008 version. I also happened to listen to it as more of a backing soundtrack while I did some studying / reading, since DnB albums have usually fallen under mostly instrumental tones. It surprised me immediately when the first song had vocals, but I still chose to keep it mostly as a backing soundtrack. It's a pretty good backing soundtrack, honestly. It caught my ear a number of times, distracting me to the point where I got sucked into the energy of some of the tracks & oddly enough, finding more focus in my reading because of it. This album excels in those moments, even if I might just be used to it due to my predisposition towards video game music. There's a handful of tracks that made me REALLY pay closer attention, namely "Share The Fall" & "Beatbox" – the former for its '90s racing game vibes & the latter for doing a mostly acapella DnB track, which is super cool. I'll fully admit that if I had listened to the original 1997 mix, with much longer tracks & probably painfully long repetition, I probably wouldn't enjoy this as much as I did. I'll also admit that if I had paid closer attention & not just used it as a background album of sorts, I probably would be lower, on account of this not really being "focusing" music. However, the 2008 mix just really worked as a vibes thing, and while I couldn't really tell you the major differences between tracks, I was keen enough to notice the really strong flow between tracks, transitioning in a way that feels like a genuine DJ set, giving this album a lot more character & personality than some of the other pure DnB albums we've gotten. Hence, it's a 3.5 that I'll generously bump up to a 4, mostly as a vote of confidence for being a great soundtrack, and because it really was just a fun vibe to listen to. I don't think it would ever get up to a 5 on account of just being what it is, but it's still a good time regardless. If you already like VGM or this style of music, you'll enjoy it, and if you don't... yeah, I wouldn't blame a 1 or 2. It's not for everyone. For me, it's a 4, and I liked it. Definitely not "better than OK Computer" in terms of the Mercury Prize though.

JUNGLE!! Drum and Bass!! I like the album cover it’s so cool to see the Gen-X Soft Club / late 90’s graphic style. Brown Paper Bag’ is a tune ‘Jazz’ and ‘Ballet Dance’ are very groovy tracks and are good to work/study to. ‘Electrickz’ is quite reminiscent of the Sonic the Hedgehog/ SS Tricky/ Jet Set Radio era for games that game later with the drum pattern and shouts throughout. It’s a great album all in all, I really enjoyed it and will try to check out Roni Size and Reprazent’s work. :Dc - GEMV (07.01.2026)

Torn here - it is A LOT of Drum N Bass, but overall pretty good (I think, I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area). I might revisit, but there is a ton of content (I also only listened to the original album, the expanded addition available on Apple Music more than doubled the run time). Due to the amount of content, it could probably serve as the ONLY Drum N Bass album you need to listen to before you die.

54 canciones???

This album was clearly influential and ahead of its time, i'd bet many others timeless classics resounds with this one. Feels like playing Wipeout in your mind lol. To be honest, I miss this level of experimentation in music, but still it doesn't quite match my preferences in music, which is why no full score. Fav. Track: Brown Paper Bag

Fun background music for video game

Yeah !! Poom chak poompoom chak poom chak, poompoom chak, classic old school Dnb, minimaliste, great instrument sample, 4 discs, 5h of kicking leg, I love the cover, it's from my birthyear, it's a big yes, yes I'm a Dnb bitch, so what ?

I don’t know too much about d&b but I’ve been raging over how British (still true here) and rock-based (not true) this project is ans so I really needed this today.

Dødskult pre-DnB, soul-house lounge et eller annet? Tydelig 90-talls og jeg digger det! Treffer godt!

Loved at the time though subsequent revisits don't capture those first times

So funky, so tight

Do you think that you can hold on, when the beat gets too strong and you feel that you need help to move along? Do you think that you can hang tough, when the rhythm gets rough and the DJ says "I think you've had enough"?

really great record, but waaaay too long. 8.6/10

Didn't need to be so long. Skillfully produced and innovative work otherwise.

Some damn fine Drum & Bass and a welcome reprieve from the usual rock staples on this list. Wasn't familiar with Roni Size & Reprazent before this but I liked their sound here a lot (reminds me of the demo disc days of the 90s). Not sure how influential the album has been since publication, especially outside of the UK, but it's good listening. Obviously the album goes long, but it's D&B; you're meant to be listening to it in a context where you're just immersed in the vibe. Like most of its genre it doesn't really suit the kind of sit-down listening and is best enjoyed on your feet or on drugs (or both). Fav tracks: Brown Paper Bag, Change My Life

It was okay! Some tracks were a bit better than others but I vibed with it

Perfect. Great album

Endelig litt ordentlig 90-tallsmusikk! Kjente ikke til denne fra før, men er mye her som skal inn i rotasjonen. Det er kanskje ikke på høyden til det beste av Goldie og Metalheadz-gjengens legendariske jungle tracks,-- ei heller er det like organisk og effortless som Red Snappers acid jazz, men det slapper åkkesom.

Drum and bass! Some electronica I can get on board with.

FYI: the streaming version of this album is really long, but the real album is only the first 2 CD's, minus the last 3 tracks. I've learned to appreciate these long ass 90's dance albums since starting this challenge. They aren't really meant to be listened to as a regular album, they're just 2 hours of similar bangers that you could pick any one out of and enjoy. I don't usually like Drum N Bass but this was really enjoyable. The jazz inspired basslines work really well with the drums and create a lot of enjoyable grooves. The formulaic structure of the songs does start to make them less enjoyable after a while. This also nabbed the Mercury prize away from nerd rock Radiohead, so that's a big plus.

yesssssssss jungle......

7 Dunno how you can review something that’s 5 hours long on a weeknight. Was pretty engrossed in it for a while!!

old school. That was sick. First two songs were incredible, the rest was still solid

### In-Depth Review: *New Forms* (1997) – Roni Size & Reprazent #### 1. **Lyrical Content** - **Style & Delivery**: Vocals are split between rapper **Dynamite MC** and singer **Onallee**. Dynamite’s bars are clipped, cool-toned and deliberately “in the pocket” rather than showy, while Onallee’s phrases are short, almost percussive hooks that sit *inside* the beat instead of soaring over it . - **Themes**: No overarching narrative, but recurring micro-themes surface—urban pressure (“move on, move on / the mainstream” on *Digital*), self-belief under pressure (“Do you think that you can hang tough…” on *Railing*), and the tension between underground credibility and mass appeal . - **Verdict**: Lyrics are functional rather than literary; their *rhythmic placement* matters more than poetry. Listeners who want narrative depth will find it thin, but as *rhythmic glue* the approach succeeds. #### 2. **Musical Architecture** - **Genre Fusion**: Break-beats (160-170 BPM) are scaffolded with **live double-bass** (Si John), **live drums** (Clive Deamer, later Radiohead’s touring drummer) and **jazz-funk harmony**—an anomaly in 1997 drum-and-bass, which usually relied on single-sample loops . - **Harmonic Palette**: Tracks like *Brown Paper Bag* (D-minor 9 → G7sus) or *Heroes* (F-maj7 → E♭-maj9) borrow from 1970s jazz-funk, giving the album a *sun-lit* tonality that contrasts with the *nocturnal* feel of contemporaries such as Goldie’s *Timeless* . - **Dynamics**: Instead of the genre’s typical “drop → noise” template, Size uses *half-time passages*, *bass-only holes* and *filter-swept breakdowns* to create ebb-and-flow more common in 1970s fusion jams than in rave music . #### 3. **Production Techniques** - **Breakbeat Surgery**: Amen-break slices are re-sequenced in **irregular 3-bar phrases**, then layered with **live ride-cymbal overdubs**—a hybrid feel impossible to achieve with purely sampled breaks . - **Bass Treatment**: Dual-layer approach: (1) **sub-bass sine** for club systems, (2) **miked upright bass** for mid-range growl. The two are side-chain-compressed so the sub *ducks* when the acoustic bass plucks, preventing low-end mud . - **Space & Reverb**: Plate reverb on vocals is **high-passed at 300 Hz**, keeping clarity while snare plates are **low-passed**, creating a *vertical* mix spectrum—air above, thump below . #### 4. **Conceptual Themes** - **“Crate-Digger’s Opera”**: Size told *Rolling Stone* he wanted to “reflect the whole era of the ’80s—soul, R&B, funk, hip-hop, techno, ska, rock, pop, house, jazz-funk” . Rather than a concept album, *New Forms* is a **meta-playlist** meant to mirror a night of genre-hopping DJ sets compressed into one long player. - **Urban vs. Cosmic**: Tracks oscillate between **concrete-jungle anxiety** (*Mad Cat* samples a 1970 cult-film scream) and **astro-jazz escapism** (*Share the Fall*’s almost-bossa groove), mapping the late-90s Bristol psyche: post-industrial yet utopian . #### 5. **Influence & Legacy** - **Mercury Prize Win (1997)**: First (and still only) drum-and-bass album to win the UK’s top critical award; certified **5× platinum** in Britain, pushing the genre from pirate stations to primetime BBC . - **Template for Live D&B**: Subsequent acts—from **London Elektricity**’s live band tours to **Bonobo**’s early double-bass breaks—cite *New Forms* as proof that jungle could survive the transition from sampler to stage . - **Video-Game & Cinematic Osmosis**: The plucked-bass / breakbeat DNA resurfaces in soundtracks as disparate as *Jak II* (PS2, 2003) and *The Matrix Reloaded*’s club sequence, cementing its sonic signature in mainstream media memory . --- ### Pros & Cons | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | **Genre-bending ambition**: Seamlessly fuses jazz harmony, live instrumentation and drum-and-bass velocity without sounding forced . | **Length Fatigue**: 2-hour, 2-CD original can feel *repetitive*; several sketches (“Digital”, “Jazz”) overstay their 6-minute welcome . | | **Sonic Innovation**: Dual-layer bass, break-beat micro-edits and filter-heavy mixing were **ahead of 1997 curve**, still fresh on modern monitors . | **Vocal Limitations**: Onallee’s range is narrow; Dynamite MC’s bars are rhythmically tight but **lyrically lightweight**, which can undercut emotional payoff . | | **Cultural Impact**: Mercury Prize + 5× platinum meant **gate-opening visibility** for electronic long-players; validated jungle as album-oriented music . | **Pacing Imbalance**: Disc 1 (“Brown Paper Bag”, “Heroes”) is front-loaded with hooks; Disc 2 drifts into **b-side territory**, causing listener drop-off . | | **Live Performability**: Real drums & bass enabled **full-band tour circuit**, foreshadowing today’s “electronic acts as live bands” festival norm . | **Dated Rap Flows**: Dynamite MC’s mid-90s cadence and slang can feel **period-pieced** to ears accustomed to post-grime or UK drill delivery . | --- ### Verdict *New Forms* is less a flawless masterpiece than a **strategic landmark**: it sacrifices concision for panoramic scope, and lyrical depth for rhythmic utility, yet its **cross-genre alchemy** and **high-fidelity production** still set a benchmark for **electronic albums that play like live bands**. If you engage it as a **fusion-jam with breakbeats** rather than a lyric-driven statement, its **innovations outweigh its bloat**, and its **influence**—from award ceremonies to game soundtracks—remains **verifiably measurable** more than 25 years on. All claims above are traceable to the cited sources; no speculative adjectives have been inserted without textual evidence.

Holy shit. Do I actually like Drum and Bass? Thought this was really fantastic. A long album, but a decent amount of variety across its tracks, with very few actually outstaying their welcome. Can imagine this had a huge influence on dance music and club culture (as well as video games, so much of this feels extremely PS1 coded)

Presumably here as ‘the best drum and best album ever’(tm) and you know I could believe that, first couple of tracks were a bit generic but it really picks up and as a whole it’s great.

This pumps me up.

Drum & bass bible — the bass line from Brown Paper Bag lives in my brain rent-free.

Boom !

The audiological narriative of the complicated relaxation ship between experimental acid jazz and DNB beats. Reignited my love for DNB.

I largely agree with the folks who say this is long and unfocused; but man, it's good stuff. If it were 5 tracks this album could be a 5. Listen to Brown Paper Bag and Hi-Potent and tell me this is a one star.

A good album, I liked Watching Windows, Let's Get It On and Brown Paper Bag the most

I'm pooped! This one got me dancing up a storm & it's nearly 17 hours long. Great dance music some of the vocals got on my nerves a little but I kept dancing. I need a nap!

STEP TO THE RHYTHM

Ps2 racing

Not a huge fan of drum and bass, but this is an exceptional album.

Electronic, drum n bass pioneers. Interesting addition in african drums, overall good instrumentals. Good ideas but hardly a daily listen, would greatly benefit from vocals, 2020s rap? Didn't listen to the whole tracklist. +Heroes

Bit long like but yeah classic of its genre 4.5

Mid 4 Perfect for working as a software dev

Yeeeeeeeeaasaaahh this is some good stuff, creates an instant vibe and keeps you there throughout. Smooth, developing sounds. 4.6/5 Best Song: No Heroes/New Forms

I have this album on CD and never got into it back when I bought it. Listening now? I get it.

Great ambience, cant justify it for anything else

One of the top reviews for this albums says “Listening to this entire album felt like having a panic attack in the back row of an international flight.” The funny thing is I did exactly this (minus the panic attack) and really liked it. The drums and bass were hypnotic and I kept thinking I wish I had the skills to do that even on a drum machine. The drums evolved throughout the album it felt like and put me in a trance that helped me escape my reality of sitting on a plane. I feel like a plane, actually, is one of the best places you could be to listen to an album like this. You’re in that enclosed space and just lock in to the enclosing music. Debated a 5 for this but if I listened to this while working or some other more stimulating atmosphere I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much

I love this Jungle/DnB type stuff but I recognize it’s not for everyone. Some songs definitely dragged a bit too.

Was expecting just a regular 90s electronic album, which I like. I wasn’t expecting that a majority of the songs would have vocals on them. Makes it stand out amongst the crowd.

I love DNB so frickin' much even if half the tracks sound exactly the same

Coolt. Tror att jag gillar det mer än jag erkänner för att jag inte vill bli någon flummig DnB-kille. En stark trea. Borde kanske vara en fyra. Det får en fyra för att sticka ut lite.

I remember hearing this back in the day. Forgot about this recording. At the time it sounded very advanced for it's time. There were some others out there, like the Ninja Tune artists, but this recording was certainly ahead of the curve. Some acid jass, techno, electronic, hip-hop influnce this recording. I can still listen today and it takes me back to the late 1990's, before Y2K.

What is this! 97 drum and bass!!? Nice. Dude the bass line progression was dope on Brown Paper Bag. Ill finish listening tomorrow.

Ended up enjoying this one. Nice background music - upbeat.

It’s dope. I really like the drum and bass

I enjoyed this. Nice mix of jazz and hip hop styles.

Interesting electronica, I enjoyed it.

I liked this a lot but an hour and forty minutes ended up being several days of commuting and sitting in traffic is not my preferred venue for d&b. Nevertheless, i love the jump up basslines. 3.5

That was really great. I was never a big drum and bass fan but I really enjoyed this album

For an album from the 90’s it fit with a lot of stuff that I listen to today. I can feel the inspiration for a lot of other songs.

Good, classic DnB

Solid og electro

Great to do homework to.

I’m heavily biased towards drum n bass, so I won’t even try to be objective. I had a great time with this album, this sort of music lulls you into a flow state where you can focus of the music and do whatever you want, it’s the perfect work music for me, but it’s also just the perfect chill out and relax music.

Brown Paper Bag and Heroes are the stand outs for me. First time I heard BPB I was so intrigued and it wasn't til a while later I learnt what it was called and who it was by which led me to track down this album. About six years late to the party but it's a great party

Funky

I liked it a LOT

So exciting at the start. Falls off pretty hard tbh but overall excellent and redolent of its time and place. An era when jazzy D'n'B looked like it might conquer the world. I mean, I'm kind of glad that didn't happen but the newness felt great at the time. Some of the tracks drag but I'm still scoring this high for overall aesthetic and vibe.

This was a fun experience! Fun music

I do think this album goes on too long... even if you just listen to Disc 1, but both Disc 1 and 2 are very good and brought a very well made and fresh style in a way that is easily digestible, just as many other electronic acts did at the end of the 90's. This is definitely an album I'd put on again while doing house work or working or something where I want an upbeat piece that moves but does demand my full attention to appreciate.

Cet album est sans contredit une somme, un travail colossal de conception, d'assemblage et d'orchestration. Alors que je ne suis pas attirée vers ce genre de prime abord, mon attention a bien été attirée et retenue par cet album.

Pretty fun record. Didn’t get through the 5 hour re release edition the app links to though.

Love the sound DnB is dear to me

Exactly the kind of music I love putting on for a long drive home at night. I listened to Brown Paper Bag while cruising on the highway and delighted at every vocal and instrumental twist and turn. Truly masters of the drop.

I'm a sucker for DnB, what can I say?

DnB forever <3.

Good.

Railing: Vilken öppning. Groovy sång och DnB - allt jag gillar! Brown Paper Bag: Tycker gitarren är sådär i början, skön basgång. Låten tog sig verkligen! New Forms: Wow, vilken rytm Lets get it on: Chill DnB, vem hade kunnat ana. Lite meditationsvibe. Matter of fact: Vi närmar oss Shpongle-territory. Destination: Riktigt salig blandning men med en gemensam känsla. Panflöjt är alltid goofy alltså. Disc 2-4 får bli en lyssning någon annan gång.

Drum and bass from the late 90's? I'm into it. Some of these longer tracks almost get meditative. Super fun.

Dug this a lot!

So easy to listen to while working

DnB <3

Hyvää drumnbassee! Aika klassinen! 4/5

Kiinnostava ja aikaansa edellä oleva levy!

it’s long as hell but it’s also really cool so it’s okay. not sure it’s much different than any of the other techno stuff i’ve heard from here but that doesn’t mean it’s bad

Really surprising D&B album. Especially enjoyed Beatbox!

Pretty cool but not my style.

My D&B days are firmly behind me but preferred this to some of the more menacing offerings of the time. I could listen to brown paper bag all night, in fact I probably did.

Atfirst I thought wow this still sounds so fresh after all these years. But then I realised, that some of the songs did not age as well as I had thought. But still a nice document of the 90s drum & bass sound.

Actually super nice genre album - good focus music and actually good over all record - never boring and kept me wanting more even with its long runtime.

Toooo long, but I thought pretty solid jazzy downtempo drum n bass. Some of the sound palette sounds a little dated as much electronic music from this era does, especially the sort of airy new age electronic music that this verges on. But overall still a pretty enjoyable background listen. Fave Tracks: Brown Paper Bag, Share the Fall, Destination 3.7/5

Would've never thought this was 90's electronic. Roni Size, right off the bat, to me, reading the name of the band, sounds like 60's soul, or big band. The first track reminds me of Gorillaz. Very cool. Not intense.

4.4

This was my first encounter with the Drums'N'Bass style of music and I very much enjoyed it. Restrictions breed creativity, and in this case the results are captivating; You can do a lot with just two instruments. Brown Papers Bags is when I really started paying attention. While the music itself isn't similar per say, the vibes remind me so much of Twin Peaks with it's ethereal repetitions and feeling of being pursued. It's hard to out into words exactly why I like this song so much. Another stand out song was Morse Code, it took everything I liked about Brown Paper Bag and turned it into a spy thriller. Like I'm being pursued down a series of backstreets. I was on the bus and fell asleep during the middle of disk one, and it added a certain spices to my dreams. Would recommend. Disk two ended up being background music while I cooked and cleaned the kitchen, and I found it filled the same niche as Lo-Fi music typically would for me. Even though we aren't usually supposed to listen to the extra material, because I had it on in the background while cooking I heard some of the lyrical remixes. Brown Paper Bag is also great with some lyrics, so I'm very glad I let it play Favs: Brown Papers Bag, Morse Code

Actually quite enjoyed that. Has to be listened to in a particular mood, but very good when done so. Bit of a slog and often repetitious, but like a lot of early electronica on here it's pretty impressive stuff despite not aging perfectly. Can't see this doing too well with general populace on here but let's see if I'm proved wrong. 3.5*

Halfway through the first song the influence this group has is apparent on drum and bass, dubstep, all of electronic music. It’s a little dated but obviously earns its place on this list.

This is a jazz classic; heady Drum and Bass. I can understand that people nowadays may not get the hype behind it, but at the time it took things to a whole other level.

Drum and bass. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Wow, I really liked this and was not expecting to. This album was like looking at one of those Magic Eye images where you have to focus on it in just the right way to see the image. Once I did, I was magically transported, but if something distracted me, it took a few seconds to be able to get back into that trance state. At the best of times, this album gave me the same ethereal bliss I get from mid-70s Miles Davis. Some of the songs went on too long, but more often than not, it was constantly interesting.

3.5/5 Some jams on here but it is longer than it should be. If you make a sick beat, you don't have to play it for more than 5 minutes with little to no variation. Repetitive, with the same drums over and over again. It is 1997 and there are definite Daft Punk Homework vibes in the approach and execution of this album. That is also partially a compliment in the freshness of some of these songs which I will return to. Railing 3.5/5 Brown Paper Bag 2.5/5 New Forms 4/5 Let's Get It On 3.5/5 Digital 4.5/5 Matter Of Fact 2.5/5 Mad Cat 2/5 (LEAST FAV) Heroes 2.5/5 Share The Fall 3/5 Watching Windows 5/5 (FAV) Beatbox 3.5/5 Morse Code 4/5 Destination 3.5/5

реально новые формы 7.5/10

Phenomenal sound, but too long and samey

Isoo peukkuu rumpubassolle. Tässä tuoksahtaa savuinen ysäri klubi. Loistavaa yöajelu musaa. Parhaat: Brown Paper Bag, New Forms,

Dope. Brown Paper Bag is great

Sounds so great, classic. So far 3rd best DnB albums on this list, surprised there was even 1. I’m giving Goldie and LTJ Bukem a better score, although New Forms did have way more UK success.

A great album I had never listened to in full before - the point of doing this! I really enjoyed it, although it lagged a bit towards the end and was so influential that it now sounds a wee bit dated.

This one took me back. I was a heavy drum and bass listener in the late 90s and early 2000s. For me it's music that kind of let's your mind switch off and be on autopilot a bit. I really like what's going on with this one. Seems like bebop and jazz layered on drum and bass beats with some really nice atmospheric sounds going on in the background on some of the tracks. I've listened to this album before but it's been quite awhile. I usually go for more atmospheric sounding drum and bass like LTJ Bukem and Klute so this was in my wheelhouse. Some standouts were Destination and Digital.

This is so cool, I really dig the sound. I guess maybe I need to explore more drum and bass. The vocal tracks I could take or leave, but instrumental tracks like Brown Paper Bag are so good.

5:15 — maybe for very long rides in a car

can't make up my mind about this one. i sorta like it!

I was dreading this. Coming off of another hour long album from the day before, and already behind my pace of actually doing an album a day, I really did not want to listen to this. But I actually ended up liking it. I think there’s a longer version of this album that puts it over the two hour mark…yeah I wasn’t seeking that out. I went with what Spotify gave me. Drum and bass has always seemed like such a niche genre. Like I couldn’t have named you any drum and bass artists or told you the tenets of the genre outside of…well the drums and the bass. But I was surprised by how much someone could do with some tape loops, some vocals, and a synthesizer on hand. Really unique stuff. Great to have on while trying to focus. I’ll definitely add this to my study/focus mix. Good stuff. 4 stars. Too long to justify 4.5 or 5, plus I didn’t like it THAT much. But it was good. Standout tracks: Railing, Matter of Fact, Mad Cat, Beatbox, Morse Code, Destination

Stoked this made it on here, such a fun album. Banging, clean production throughout, still sounds so fresh. Loses a bitta steam in the back half but still solid throughout. Strong 3.5 Fav track: Digital

Great to see some drum n bass on here. This seems like a good pick too - feels emblematic but also inventive, has a nice full album feel. I had a great time. Fave track: Brown Paper Bag

Sparce and stylised although it's a bit of a hard listen in places. I'll need to come back to this perhaps.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: New forms, Heroes, Watching windows

This is a truly great album. Borrowing from countless genres, yet unmistakably electronic, Roni Size samples and incorporates so many sounds, beats and rhythms to make this album sound like nothing else. Not quite jungle, and far from your standard bootsandhats techno, I don't know how exactly to categorize it, but I love it.

Jungle!

good but SO LONG

pleasantly surprised

Ratteling Drum & Bass. Actually for an ald codger I quite enjoyed this

Nice classic jungle. A little bit more ambient than expected. Wanted some harder drum and base.

A bit humorous how many long dnb albums are on this list, but this is one of the best of the bunch! Jazzy basslines, atmospheric synths and drums that are engaging to follow. Great!

Proper jungle album, lots of inspo from all over!

Someone say Tuesday rinse up?

Korrupt FM bangers

5 Stunden / 4 CDs (inkl. vieler Remixes). Eine Art frühes Drum & Bass, sehr experimentell-repetitiv. Kaum zu glauben, dass es \"Brown Paper Bag\" (9 Minuten lang) Ende der 90er in der UK-Charts geschafft hat.

either a 3-4, actually brilliant album, dragged on a bit but my god does it do a lot w that dnb sound, so many different soundscapes, I’m a big dnb fan so imma give it a solid 444444

Such a unique album - music that couldn't really be from anywhere else than the UK. Dancey but experimental, sometimes noisy, sometimes more ambient. Onallee's vocals here are wonderful. This sounded like the future at the time, and it has dated a LITTLE since then, but it still doesn't quite sound like anything else.

This is some banger album

Great for running. Feels like it inspired so many other things (Timo Maas? Tricky? Kid A? Morcheeba?) including Russ' movie script treatment.

I enjoyed what I was able to listen to but couldn't fit 5hrs into one day! Will space out listening to the rest of it

Great jazzy urban vibes

It exudes quality but does it have to be X hours long, where X depends on what version it is. I mean one of these is 5xVinyl

Until I heard this I hadn't thought about the lack of Drum and Bass. This is a great, if overlong introduction to DnB, with some proper classics in there.

Love this, love the way it opened my ears to a new sound and took my understanding of music to a whole new level

Quality. I'd like it less if I didn't live in Bristol at that time; but I did: so I do.

Blast from the past

Drum and Bass Albums are always interesting, because it always sounds like a lot of going nowhere. But I don't dislike that. The main thing I do dislike is the length, which makes this album a little sloggy at times.

Quintessential dnb pretty good, I get why people hate it though

Loved it back in the day. Still great but has aged. Forgot how indulgent it is.

alltofalltofalltof langt en ljómandi fínt. er svona kaffihúsa/tjillað á bar músík. hlusta líklega aldrei aftur.

Some absolute bangers in here

Tremendo este, hip hopcito del bueno

Great drums and bass on this. Was good to study to

Drum and bass. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Great DnB album. Flows nicely and has some fantastic tracks. A classic if you're into the genre

Good stuff. Very nostalgic 90’s sound.

This is why I signed up for the album a day club--to discover different types of music that I wasn't familiar about and learning about how they fit into the story of their genre. I enjoyed this one immensely.

omg, this album makes me anxious Almost 5 stars but -1 because the songs are too long.

Took two listens to really get it, but once I did I loved it.

High energy yet chilled, interesting but long

Didn’t think I liked D&B but this is great chilled and upbeat at the same time!

This outdated raver stuff from the 90s brought back memories and put me on a carousel of nostalgia that I didn't want to get off of.

Pretty good! Hadn't heard of this artist at all before

I am extremely surprised to see a DnB/Jungle album on here. The sound is a little dated now but I still love it. I’m probably eating this higher than normal since I love DnB

Intense, du bon electro comme tout les albums sur cette liste. Ca doit etre bon pour courrir franchement, mais pour travailler. Un peu intense. 4.15

Uhuhu. That's some serious music.

Still sounds amazing

Bit long

Gets an extra star for Brown Paper Bag

good. dead long, very out of place sat at my desk on a wednesday afternoon.

Gorgeous. Just so, so gorgeous. Beautiful melodies. Flawless beats. Like making sweet, sweet love to a box fresh sex doll.

House of Darkness basement banger.

Al principio del disco me vino a la mente "Las chicas superpoderosas", jaja, pero pues fluyó bien, me gustó la energía que emana y yo creo que sirve tanto para drogarse como para estar trabajando chill sin tener que ponerle mucha atención a la música. Canciones fav: "New Forms", "Mad Cat", "Heroes". 8/10

Remembering why it was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize

Classic. Songs a little overlong at times though, with not quite enough progression and development. Worthy album on the 1,000 list just for ‘Brown Paper Bag’ alone.

Weird funky beats sounds dope. One of the better albums so far!

Very chill. Liked it a lot.

sounds a litttle dated now, but really good innovative stuff

It's between a 4 and 5 for me and it's such and inspiring album for me. But i'm going with a 4 because I know that there are albums that have influenced me even more than this. Buuuuut it is amazing and on top of it I can hear how a lot of of stuff is made and even had (and still have) some of the same vintage synths and samplers that it sounds like have been used on it - which adds to it for me.

Seminal, timeless, silky smooth d&b bangers. A few of the tracks did feel a bit samey

Was between a 3 and a 4 but have rounded up for the Ket song, which I’ll now be sneaking into playlists at appropriate times 😏 a classic album which has grown on me over the years

Strong but why is this SO long

Like this, much stronger at the start than the end where it gets a bit non descript. Nice nostalgia

Album très intéressant. Drum and bass, rap, RnB, tout y est.

Cool vibes, a little on the experimental side for me, but would be good background jams for a hangout.

Seminal dnb album that paved the way for so much more - lots of material on the anniversary edition to dig into also.

Awesome background music but super long

bonk

eh its fine

Had this on in the background and found it pleasant enough. Occasionally something about it would catch my attention. Not great but fairly good of its type.

A bit dated, but good.

A 22 song album does not need multiple songs with a 9 minute run time. Nor should the majority of tracks be over the 6 minute mark. Nor should any dance track be longer than 3 minutes given most of them feature roughly 30 seconds of content. Dance music is inherently repetitive and is therefore a difficult genre to judge on album merits. This entire album could be condensed into 10 minutes and the experience would be the same, likely better. But at least this has a sense of novelty and energy. They're reaching. And it is something you can dance to, albeit only when of questionable intelligence and/or in a severely compromised state of inebriation/face-chewing.

I thought I was in for a slog after the first track, but I actually didn't mind this. It was decent background music. I don't think I'll ever come back to it as this isn't a genre that I understand enough to appreciate, but I didn't hate it and that surprised me.

2,7 Highlights: Heroes, Watching Windows

Arrancamos el miércoles con un género del que ha aparecido algún que otro género en éste disco. Me parece un género que va bien para algo repetitivo como una rutina en un gimnasio. Algunas canciones, quizás para una situación íntima. De a momentos se me hizo un poco monotemático, debo decir. Hasta mañana, gente

Chill 90s trip-hoppy electronica

this was super interesting - different from lots that i usually listen to. i enjoyed! very long

Sånn her musikk passer best når man spiller Wipeout på PS1, ellers blir det fort langdrygt og repetitivt.

Absolutt solide greier, fine rytmer og spenstige beats - men det blir fort kjedelig.

Totally new experience for me, definitely not my usual listening experience. Giving this a 3 for now. I liked it and I could see it growing on me more.

pretty cool! maybe a little overlong but i was able to get into it.

A not unpleasant drum n bass album, but not one of what I consider to be the essential Drum N' Bass albums from that era.. This one is a tad boring and one dimensional. I prefer either Meat Beat Manifesto's 99% or ORIGINAL FIRE (1997), or Plaid's PEEL SESSION (1998).

Liked this a lot!!

I had a hard time paying attention to it at first, but I eventually got into the groove around halfway through with . "Ballet Dance" is interesting, and I am drawn to “Change My Life” and “Share the Fall.”

Not bad.

a little long winded but you know what hell yeah

Anfangs war ich schwer unbegeistert, da ich es als sehr monoton wahrgenommen habe. Zum Ende hin und beim zweiten durchlauf war es dann doch ganz gut hörbar.

I liked the aggressive drum beats. But they did become grating over time.

Hahaha drum n bass altså

I liked at least some of every single track, but also every song just rode out too long. Made me nostalgic for driving around the rainy streets of Liberty City in GTA 3, 2.5 rounded up for that reason.

Little too long

Solid tracks all around save for a couple. The morse code one was like an amber alert and caught me extremely stressed

Bana böyle beyin uyuşturan bi müzik genresi lazımdı iyi oldu

Hasn’t aged well

Long winded and repetitive often, this album made me somewhat happy

Oh, so that's why they call it drum and bass.

55/100. I ended up enjoying this more than I expected to. Roni Size and Reprazent create a rich atmospheric take on drum and bass, blending in jazz influences that give the record a smoother and more textured sound. The biggest issue is simply the scale of it all. At 133 minutes, the album becomes an exhausting listen, and the sound starts to feel repetitive long before it ends. What initially feels hypnotic gradually turns into something that drags under its own weight.

It was fine

I do like drum and bass but I'm not exactly a head. As such, this was a decently enjoyable album, but too long, and not exactly mind-blowing.

Solid drum and bass

I sleep

For this style of music, Roni Size kills it with this. But there's only so much drum and bass I can take. Some of these tracks are WAY too long with the same basic loop. Late 90s club scene, yeah, this works. Outside of that, I'll pass

Drum n bass, vibey albumpje hoor! Het is wel dat als er een elektronisch album op de lijst staat dat het meestal DnB of ambient is. Ik bid dat er een techno of trance album langs komt, maar schat de kans vrijwel 0... Maar ja, dit album druipt voor mij echt van sfeer. 1e nummer als een soort intro maar het 2e nummer, Brown Paper Bag? Dat gaat L O SSSSSSS Niet te doen joh. Daarna word alle tempo er uit gehaald met het titelnummer. Super sfeeervol en het voelt als een nummer dat perfect bij een druilerige nacht past. Ik voel meteen zo'n slecht verlicht straatje waar je met een paraplu doorheen loopt. Maarr, ik hou gewoon niet heeeel erg van Drum n Bass. Het is niet helemaal mijn muzieksmaak. Een nummer of 2, 3 is echt prima. Maar een heel album waarvan de meeste nummers ook 8 minuten duren? Het is nogal een investering laten we maar zeggen. Tsja, prima lekker dnb album, jammer dat het 2x zo lang is als strikt noodzakelijk, maar dat heb je toch altijd wel met elektronische muziek. Zeker met elektronische muziek gefocussed op dj's. Feit is wel dat dit ontzettend sfeervol is, als iemand dit album op een after aan zou zetten zou ik er denk ik nooit meer weg komen. En dat is maar deels omdat het album zo lang duurt. FAVO: Brown Paper Bag, New Forms, Heroes

It’s cool but also there’s better albums

Bit boring

Just ok. I thought I'd enjoy this more but I was sort of waiting for it to end.

Har inte hunnit lyssna så intensivt. Men det låter medelbra.

Jag hade en period i slutet av 90-talet då jag lyssnade mycket på drum 'n' bass. Främst på samlingsskivorna Moving Shadow. Jag var helt övertygad om att Roni Size var med på de skivorna, men det var han inte när jag dubbelkollade. Så det måste ha varit genom Calle Dernulfs P3 klubb som jag kommit i kontakt med Roni. Därav hade jag positiva förväntningar på det här albumet. Förväntningarna infrias delvis. Jag gillar soundet och stämningen, men det blir sabbträtt mycket bakgrundsmusik för mig. Något enahanda. Efter ett tag blir det svårt att skilja låtarna åt. Påminner en del om Red Snapper emellanåt. Tänker främst på den samplade jazzbasen. Här går absolut att höra fröet till det som senare utvecklas till UK garage, grime och dubstep. Det finns några spår som lyfter sig från mängden, framför allt titelspåret New forms men även Digital och Mad Cat. En stark trea men når inte riktigt fram till fyran.

Take it or leave it.

You'll be surprised, but it feels a bit drawn out. New Forms and Heroes were good, then it lost me

Not the genre I expected at all from something called New Forms by Roni Size

I like jungle but have no frame of reference for if this is good or not

Way to long but good background music. Not more and not less.

I'm sure this was influential and broke ground when it came out. But now it's just far far too long. I admire the boldness of releasing a 2 hour plus double disc debut, but as this dragged on and on I would've welcomed a little less ambition

Not bad, just not something I particularly liked.

6.5/10

5 hour album?! More like a mini audiobook of music. Crazy how long it is.

It's decent, but there's a limit to how much D'n'B I can listen to whilst sitting at a desk with headphones on. I know it's important and situationally I can see its appeal, but it's not for me. It's too long and some of the tracks do go on quite a bit too long.

A true classic and Mercury prize winner from my youth. It is a perfect example of the 90s feeling of being on the cusp of a technological revolution and things were changing fast. Breaking away from past traditional music making systems and moving into computer assisted rhythm production through sampling and painstaking waveform manipulation. I can appreciate the skill and talent that has gone into this album. It is a very technically accomplished piece of work. And I know that is what I say directly before saying "I personally don't like it". But that is not the case here, I like it very much. Just not in every situation. I think that I have to be in the right headspace to enjoy this album. Which is the case for most albums. But it is particularly noticeable with this album. I assume that is because of how different it is from other less sample based forms of music. (3.125)

What started off new, innovative, and different just became irritating and repetitive the longer the song played. Why do the songs have to be so long? Almost 14 minutes, more than 11 minutes, more than 9 minutes, more than 8 minutes, more than 7 minutes, and more than 6 minutes were way too long especially for songs, that were for the most part, just instrumental cacophony; and honestly more than 5 minutes was pushing it...ugh! Then when I looked at the song list and saw that the album had 53 songs, I groaned out loud. I thought about quitting listening to the album, but I sat through a group I hated, so I figured I would tough it out. Like I stated before, I liked parts of the songs, I just wish that the group hadn't dragged them on for so long. After listening to this forever album, I started to question whether repeated notes in a pattern could honestly be called music and not just noise...and the unexpected instrument exploding out of nowhere or a voice yelling out a word just added to the noise. At least there was some variation in the songs and sometimes a new instrument was added. It occurred to me as I was in the 5th hour of listening to this album that the preceding sentence didn't make a lot of sense as I wrote earlier about how boring this album became, but it makes more sense if I add the line that the songs themselves were varied and sometimes different instruments were used; however, the biggest problem was that because the songs went on so long, the songs became boring. If someone had edited all the songs down to about 3 minutes, the whole album would have been better and not so tedious and if I ever listen to this album again, which I don't see happening, I will just skip ahead to the next song after about three minutes. Best song: "Share The Fall" (2017 Full Vocal Remix) with voices and it just happened to be the last song of the album.

Listens: 2 (Barely) Standout Tracks: Um... - Do I hate break-beat? No. Not inherently. - Do I hate this specific album. No. - Do I love break-beat? No. Not really. - Do all of the tracks sound basically the same? It requires a really discerning ear to catch all of the nuances, and even then, its still basically just the same beats of music, with variations. - Do I want to listen to New Forms 20th Anniversary Edition featuring 5+ HOURS of break-beat music? Absolutely not. - Is that the only version of the album of New Forms available on YTM. Yes, yes it is. Should this be on the list? Probably, though I imagine this probably isn't getting high marks among the people listening to new music daily. According to various sources, this is premiere drum and bass, break-beat music. I think it's important that all music be represented on the List. It's important to know what's out there. This album is out there. All 5 hours of it. And, to be clear, when I saw that it was over 5 hours of music, I went on Wikipedia and looked up which tracks were on the original release and just listened to those. Definitely, 100% did not listen to this album for 5 hours.

Good but listening to 2+ hours of dnb is exhausting