New Forms

Blind album and artist. Im shocked to even say I like some of these hooks even though im not a huge drum n bass fan. Something piqued my interest in brown paper bag....

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

Favorite Track: Railing

Thought it had potential but it's just SO REPETITIVE

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

I love drum and bass done well. This was a fantastic listen. 5 stars.

boooooringgggg mas pelo menos nos trechos que eu ouvi tem sua criatividade 2/5 / 4/10

Ehh, this is not my kind of music but still I have listened to drum and bass that I liked more than this. Feels very of its time and not very interesting.

Yea no, sorry but a five hour album is not necessary. If you listened to the whole thing, you're God's strongest soldier, because I could not do it. It just sounds like bad electro music at a club that would make me want to leave.

Urbrittisk urban soulmusik och om inte breakbeatsen redan har fått dig att fatta det är den från Bristol. Den skulle inte kunna vara någonannanstan ifrån. Det är smattrat från regnet från irländska sjön med en fri funkig bas som botemedel. Här finns länkar tillbaka till stadens utpräglade soundsystem kultur, till Massive Attacks utveckling av trip hop och t.o.m. till ravescenens jungle. Men det är också en länk mot framtiden till 2 step, UK garage och grime. Tillsammans med Goldies Timeless är New forms det mest helgjutna och viktigaste albumet från dnb-åren. Här finns gott om riktiga kanonlåtar, det är inte bara ett sound som manifesteras. "Heroes", "Destination", "Brown paper bag", "Digital", "Share the fall", New forms" och "Watching windows' är alla toppklass. Det är inte ett utpräglat dansgolvsalster (i likhet med Timeless) utan tar snarare sikte på ett bargung, det är ju generellt svårt att dansa till dnb. Jazzen och hiphopen är tydliga ledstjärnor rakt igenom. Det ger albumet en enhetlighet, det är inte bara ett gäng fräcka tolvor som satts ihop till ett album, det är koncentrerat och genomtänkt. Det är lite långt men det blir trots allt ingen stor invändning, inte ens ett beatbox solo tynger ner den nämnvärt, det blir bara en fin blinkning till hiphop arvet. Det är ett fantastiskt album. Tack för påminnelsen. Balanserar mellan fyran och femman

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

Gillade big beat betydligt mer än drum & bas när det begav sig. Det är inget jag haft anledning att omvärdera utifrån New forms. Något orättvist blir kanske omdömet Då musiken förstås är skapad för dansgolvet, inte för sterolyssnande. Ändock, det här är långt och trist. Svårt att uppskatta i nyktert tillstånd (ett bra album ska kunna stå på sina egna ben). Lite roligare är spåren med vokalist, men endast marginellt. Även om vi hör hyfsade röster saknar jag soul. Vi hamnar nånstans där det blir så mycket Expressen fredag att på blir av.

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.

The Brits are at it again. There is enough UK bias on this list that a bunch of reviews are going to amount to an unessential album that happens to be popular in Britain being dunked on by non-UK users and then a bunch of people who did coke or acid at the right time in history talking about how life changing the album was. Drum n' Bass is much bigger in the Uk, probably in no small part becuase it fit into the party culture over there in a way that is doesn't in the US. The actual music is fine, but this album is just way too long and samey to be enjoyed much in a sober mind. I'm sure it rocks if you're on molly, but that isn't really a huge credit to it. QVC rocks when you're high.

New Forms has a bit more personality than Logical Progression. I enjoyed some moments, but it blended into a more than two hour "ehhh" that joins the list of extremely long club albums that have barely any point to be here other than the editors thought it was important. Shoutout Anna Kendrick, she lowkey bad (4/10, 2/5 on this scale)

Take it or leave it.

Hooray, another long and tiring DnB album. I'm sort of glad it's not a compilation, unlike "Logical Progression". "New Forms" still suffers from the same problems that "Logical Progression" had. It's an incredible slog to get through, but the synths managed to keep me sane. I have no idea how this album reached number 8 on the charts. 2 stars for "New Forms".

its actually annoying to listen to.

First song sounded like a more boring rip off of funk soul brother and the rest was weird boring ambient noise that turned into less ambient noise but still just noise. Why tf is this on the list?

A 90’s electronica classic.

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 made it through three songs, which seems fair. Cool that we’re still getting this kind of thing while Belly, Gaga, Courtney Barnett, Brandi Carlile, and even Charo linger on the sidelines.

Needs more bass and less drum 🤔

There have to be better drum n bass records out there. This isn't really it. Gonna rate it lower than 3 only bc of the length.

Jag orkade inte lyssna på hela albumet, det tog liksom aldrig slut. Jag minns att jag gillade Roni Size när det begav sig. I alla fall Brown Paper Bag och Share the fall. Men... Det låter likadant rakt igenom och jag tröttnar snabbt. Ett album som kanske passar bättre i 90-talet?

I will declare my bias at the start: uk born, dnb head, came up with the birth of the scene in the late 90's early 2000's. Love Roni Size and have seen him numerous times and loved every second of it. This is a straight 5, but i will attempt to justify it without my bias. I'm just shy of 900 albums in and this list of albums to hear before you die has done an excellent job of mixing the classics with stand out albums from genre and countries you wouldnt have come across before. Yes there is a western, english language bias but the people who wrote and read the book speak english. This album deserves to be on the list as it is a seminal album that marks the point when dnb moved from the underground to a presence in the mainstream. It does so with incredible style. To my ear there are flavours of jazz, rap, trip hop and some incredible beats throughout. The length shows the confidence in the idea and the execution and each track is given space to breath and grow and be its best self. The music rises and falls like the best classical composition and this is why it was so lauded by the musical world on its release. All this and its a fucking banger you can dance for hours to, or plug in headphones and code for 5 hours and listen to the 20th anniversary extended edition (which i did). Big love Roni.

1 out of 5. This was a hard listen for me. Reading other reviews I learned this album was influential for Dn'B so taking in a piece of history is cool, so there's that.

interesting sound but got old really fast. gave me a headache. DNF

3.0/10 Pretty annoying overall... hard to get through the entire album

Це найкращий драмчик який я коли небудь чув))) Офігезний альбом!!!

Nope. This was a real struggle from the first minute. Some of the songs are so repetetive and little varied that it feels like eternity. I rarely give out 1* but this doesn’t deserve anything else.

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

Only made it through disc 1. It’s ok, I just don’t really like this genre. I really don’t like that one track Morse Code tho I think I am going insane

Never been a big fan of "drum'n'bass" and this album does nothing for me.. overly long, repetitive beat tracks... DNF the album

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.

I mean it’s fine I guess.

I’m on the verge of giving up on this list. It’s just defeating album after defeating album. I think it’s safe to say that Brit rap/techno, hip hop/drum and bass is almost all trash. Vocally that is. As far as the music goes, sans trash vocals. It’s decent. I actually really like the music for Digital. In fact, even the vocals hold up. Thank you Digital for pulling this one out of the trash heap. But that’s really it. You grow tired of the album before you crave more Choice cut: digital

The first impressions aren't good. And I definitely won't make it through the 5hr remastered version that Qobuz suggests...

This just isn't my thing at all. I personally cannot think of anything worse than sitting through any sort of drum and bass, never mind nearly two hours of it. This kind of music feels almost too obnoxious to me and does nothing for me. I believe that for fans of this type of music, it is probably quite a good album; it has some variety to it, but again, for me personally, I truly don't understand it. If you were to play me any of the tracks again, I wouldn't be able to tell you which track it was if you gave me all the possible guesses. They're just so forgetful to me. I don't have any favourites, but I suppose here are the ones that gave slightly more variety, to me, than the others: Beatbox Morse Code (as annoying as I found it) Let's Get It On Jazz

okay

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

I just do not see how Drum and Bass belongs on this list. Maybe I’m just ignorant… but definitely seems like one of the few genres in this list that takes the least amount of talent to make.

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.

Nope, just way too loud percussion and whiny singing. May as well listen to rush hour traffic

Man this drags. Can't say I hated it. I got through it, but it was challenging and I am sure I never will listen again. I understand why you would include a drum and basse album but this one feels dated and not creative

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

A bit of drum and bass on a lovely first Sunday of spring. Today’s listen is New Forms by Roni Size, and I’ll be honest, I went into this knowing it might be a challenge. It’s definitely different from a lot of what I’ve heard so far on this journey, and I always try to give something like this a fair go. But my optimism didn’t last long. For me, this is nearly two hours of very little happening. It just rolls on and on without ever really grabbing hold. I can appreciate the sound and what it’s trying to do, but it all blends into one. Track after track feels the same, with the occasional vocal breaking things up, but not enough to create any real standout moments. There’s nothing here that I’d go back to, and equally nothing that stands out as particularly bad. It just sits in the middle, a bit flat and forgettable. Favourite tracks: I genuinely couldn’t pick one, it all blurred into the same sound. Least favourite tracks: Could be any of them, nothing stood out. Album artwork: Fair play, it’s actually a pretty cool cover.

Beats

When I began this journey, I made a vow to be a completionist. My goal was simple enough to understand: Every single day, listen to every nanosecond of every track of every single album I generate(the original released versions of the album at that, not deluxe, or specialized versions). While some albums have been more difficult than others, this one broke me. I really did contemplate on quitting in the middle of this album, but I recently surpassed the halfway point of this journey, and I didn't want to break my vow at this point. The thing is, most of the other albums on this list that I've given a one-star rating, were at least reasonable in length(and the longer ones weren't marathons), and had some redeemable moments. However, the absurd length of this album compared with how absolutely terrible this album is, made this a chore, especially on a beautiful Saturday. Aside from the fact there isn't much of an influence with this album, it's just the same electronica bass drum on every track(this is basically a two hour, and nineteen minute song). I don't even want to listen to an album from my favorite artist for two hours, and nineteen minutes straight. Finally, I always select a favorite track for each album. Again, this is difficult for my one-star albums, but at least I can find mildly enjoyable tracks for these albums to be my favorite. With that being said, there was one track that sounded different than the other 21, so that was my pick. This is now the worst album I've listened to in this generator(it's even worse than U.S. Country albums, lord help me). Favorite Track: "Ballet Dance".

Sehr langatmiges Album mit gewöhnungsbedürftigem Grundrauschen. Vielleicht kein Album für einen Tag.

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

I'm not doing this bullshit.

I am just not into this album. From what I remember from the hip hop I listened to in the 90s, this album doesn't sound particularly innovative to what was already out there at that time. Every track seemed to be too long by several minutes and a little monotenous. I was getting bored. And then the full album (at least the 20th anniversary edition that's available on spotify) is over 5 hours of playtime. I think various editions of this album were released, so I ended my listening after disc 1, which contains all the singles released on the album.

Nope

I actually can’t - really hate this kinda music

Et chill D&B-album. Den mest populære låta her, Brown Paper Bag, hadde sklidd ubemerket inn i Geometry Dash. Minner om Jamie xx, bare svakere. Top 3: New Forms, Railings, Heroes

Not bad, just not something I particularly liked.

6.5/10

Brilliant listening. Super nostalgic and great to revisit

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

ich hab nur die ersten drei lieder angehört, da war es leider schon langweilig, deshalb habe ich abgebrochen, es war aber nicht unbedingt schlecht

This is another electronic album that is very hard for me to get into. I could see many of this songs being great in the correct setting but I don't think that 70 minutes of this music in a row is how this is the best way to listen to this genre of music. As an aside I expected for there to be a big bass drop or musical change that never came.

I really enjoyed this one. Maybe because I like listening to synth and electronic while I work, this worked on me 100%. Great beats, wide variety of rythyms, fundamental drum and bass album. The extended edition is confusing, but thats a marketing problem more than an album. Would listen to again when I need to stare at a spreadsheet for several hours.

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.

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.

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)

Kinda sounds like typical 90s electronic music. More odd than good.

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.

Slay

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

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.

It was OK but tracks too long for me and not a huge fan of this genre

Surprisingly I really liked this. Some filthy bass in there

Album 127. New Forms (https://open.spotify.com/album/2wa0kOg4mJ94Iw17Gcv4IL?si=8sSn-QlWSVKc5xzyIQ5O8w) — Roni Size (1997) I'm not really sure if I finished the album today, it's pretty long and I don't remember when it ended. Anyways, it's a strange mix of genres, not my kind of electronica. I enjoyed the song New Forms featuring Bahamadia. Basically, I found a part of hip-hop in the album and it's the only thing I really enjoyed. Okay, finishing this review, I'm adding New Forms to liked playlist. 2/5 Liked: — New Forms

Big up the Bristol. Many memories of this album and going to see Roni Size live at Ashton Gate. Some great tunes although not sure it sustains the quality/ energy over the full 2 hours. Probably a 4 but nostalgia and local connections pushes it to 5.

New Forms Although rhythmic repetitiveness is the nature of the beast (actually nature of the _beats_, amirite?!), I like how there’s a lot of jazz and hip-hop influence weaved throughout this, particularly with the use of upright bass, most effectively on Brown Paper Bag. I listened to the full 2 disc version a couple of times, which of course is very long. Too long really, as although it’s extremely well made and thought out, the virtually identical tempos and drum patterns do start to wane significantly over the course of the full 2hrs 20minutes (although Jazz on the 2nd disc is great). If I was a dnb aficionado I’m sure I would be better able to discern the small differences and nuances, although in general I think can appreciate there are subtleties across it, even if I might sometimes be oblivious to them But the single CD version, from Railing to Destination, although also long, is much more easily digestible, and is in its own right a great album I think. There’s a couple of stand out tracks in Brown Paper Bag, New Forms, Digital and Heroes, and I like the more hip-hop fractured beat of Watching Windows and it’s great to work to, the rhythms and unfussy arrangements giving it a considered feel. And those jazzy accents also give a very appealing late night atmosphere, not really of a frantic dnb club night, but more of a staying up late to write an essay or play Championship Manager 97/98. This really grew on me, especially when I just listened to just disc one a few more times, it has a sense of serenity, but is always interesting, full of little details, but also one of those albums that can drift past pleasantly, and a much better proposition with a greater sense of craft than say LTJ Bukem. As a 2 disc set it is flawed by it’s length, but as a single album I think it’s great, and it gets to a 4, as I’m definitely coming back to it. 🥁🥁🥁🥁 Playlist submission: Brown Paper Bag

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.

Man, every time I see a double album come up, I get a little worried. It's a rare double that merits the form, unless you happen to be a hardcore fan. It's especially wild as a debut! This is a brand new genre for me. As with a lot of electronic music, I find it extremely repetitive. This suits my usual form of listening -- while I work during the day -- but rarely becomes so interesting as to break my concentration. That works well for productivity but isn't a real endorsement in terms of music. This might work much better if I were dancing in a club. As the breaks are fairly monotonous (though shifting, slowly), the occasional vocal content would be heavily leaned on for interest. Unfortunately, the MCs featured here don't have the flow to hold my attention. This isn't bad music, it's just not suited to my tastes and the contexts in which I'm usually listening. I'll try this again sometime when I'm zoned in, working on a project at home -- I imagine I'll enjoy it much more, then. I'll just have to take Dimery's word that this is an important album. The second disc is better than the first. 2/5 but you should check it out -- it might be your jam! Be warned: the 20th Anniversary Edition is doubled (remixes), so it's like five hours long. You don't need to put yourself through that.

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

1/5. I know this album has something to offer someone. I personally found it hard to get through. Two thoughts I'll put down here as a non-electronica guy. 1. In the early 2000s British comedy series "Peep Show," one of the protagonists, Jez, is an aspiring electronica artist. There's an episode early on where he shows his self-proclaimed magnum opus to his friends. It is a frenetic D&B track with weird little licks and vocal outbursts spliced throughout, and the friends make fun of it behind his back. This album sounds like that song for 80m. 2. I was listening to this on a speaker as I was making breakfast for my family. My son was looking at the speaker with a concerned look on his face. I asked him what was wrong, to which he said, "the speaker's broken." It was not. "Brown Paper Bag" was playing flawlessly.

I tried to go into this album open minded, especially since I was playing catch up from vacation (about 5 albums behind), but I wasn’t able to get much out of this. Some repetitive beats I could see being a fun backdrop to an action scene in a movie, but hardly something I’d think about much more than that. The lyrics sprinkled in here and there only made it worse.

meh.

Okay, this is one of those albums where you don't need to see the release date before you listen to know when it was made. This is what 1997 sounded like.

I think this would be considered house music. Something along that dance vibe. I feel harsh saying this, but can't think of another way; I found it boring and uninspiring

Favorite songs: none Hard pass for me. Felt like an hour long seizure.

Nah

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.

Not bad driving music. That sound on Brown Paper Bag is interesting, but not as interesting as that song from the Flat Eric advert

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.

I struggled to listen to this in its entirety when it was released. Yes, D&B was innovative, that didn’t make it a good listen. I don’t feel it’s aged well and it soon wears thin. Not one to revisit.

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

Det va heilt ok. Litt repetetivt, men kult te tider

I only liked one track from this LP. This genre doesn't appeal to me.

Felt like a classic at the time - went to a million student parties soundtracked to it. The single version of Brown Paper Bag is far superior to the album one, which seemed to be a common problem of electronic albums of this era. It's a bunch of great tunes, and they all hold up well nearly 30 years on - maybe partly due to the recent DnB resurgence (in the UK at least). But, there are probably far too many of them - could've been edited down to an absolutely killer 45 minutes, especially as quite a few themes repeat themselves.

This was boring and didn’t seem to have much to redeem it. I didn’t not listen to all of the special edition

siento que estoy escuchando todo el rato lo mismo. no me gustó.

This shit is too long. There's little variance within the individual tracks. Most of the tracks could be cut in half and still sound the same structurally. There's also little variance between tracks. They all blur together and could've worked as just one really long track. Several times I got baited by the opening of a track, and I thought that they were actually going to switch up the beat, but a couple minutes later without fail the track will have somehow devolved into the same type of beat as every other track on this album.

This album has good pieces, but it’s way too long. Walking Wounded was a much better drum and bass album that sounded very similar in style.

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

BBGM (british background music)

Day782 - no way the powers that be listened to this and decided we all should be subjected to it also

I don’t even think that this was groundbreaking for 1997. No reason for this to be here.

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.

Didn’t really go it for me

Drum 'n' bass (genre of elwctronic dance music). Very good.

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.

Jesus. My brain hurts from attempting to listen to this. 7AM was not a good time to cue this up.

Super good

Shit sandwich. I am a very open to all music. I tried and made it through, but it was tough.

More UK electronica? C'mon, mate! I sucked it up and listened to the whole (original release) album. Not the 5 hours, 15 minutes version on the YouTube music. (Who the hell could even do that?!?) Isn't the 2hr 19min version enough to get anyone's brain leaking out? This is exactly representative of this genre. (yes, I'm lumping d&b along with any of the various types of electronica here because they're all frigging the same!) Maybe that's why it's on the list. I saw something about it bringing d&b into the mainstream and a bunch of UKers saying that it was the soundtrack of their youth. So, OK. Cool. The problem with it and it's ilk is that someone comes up with a cool sound and then beats the living hell out of it for about 6 minutes too long. The repetition gets soooo annoying! I will give them a little credit for adding some flairs and dips into a few other genres, but it's not enough to make up for the constant beat beat beat and repeated hooks and lyrics. Usually, I go back in to listen to every album at least twice. This is only the 3rd out of just about 200 that I just couldn't bring myself to do again. It's all too same-y throughout AND did I mention it's repetitious? I'll give it a couple of points for being a good representative of the genre and I see that some folks really like it. So, I'll chalk it up to Different Stokes for Different Folks (Thanks, Sly Stone!) But it's a 2 for me!

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

I didn't make it all the way through this one, but I'm still giving it a 2. Deal with it.

Another new to me album and artist. When I pulled this up on Spotify it gave me the 20th anniversary edition. 53 tracks, about 5 hours. And I thought, in for a penny in for a pound muggerfugger. I eventually went with the original 2 disc release. Turns out I enjoy the (d)Rum and (b)Ass genre.

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

This was very trippy and interesting. Lots of neat sounds and vibes.

some nice tracks, way too long

Primera noticia. No sé nade ni de este disco ni de este músico. Madre mía me sale la edición 20 aniversario con 58 temas y casi 6 horas!!! He buscado en la wikipedia para escuchar solo las de la edición original. Aún gustándome esta música se me ha hecho bola. Mercury Prize a disco del año 97. Ha envejecido mal.

High tempo but slow moving drum and bass. All the tracks sound very similar and felt way too long. I didn't enjoy it and ended up skipping through the second half.

Quite repetitive - sometimes it worked and was pleasant listening, and with some tracks, I found myself wanting them to just end already. It didn't feel as groundbreaking or inspiring as many of the other albums on this list. I could, however, see myself getting busy or creative with this playing in the background, so I didn't hate it.

Begon heel goed. Super blij dat er drum&bass voorbij kwam. Ben eigenlijk niet zo'n fan van jungle, maar dat maakte me niet zo veel uit. Later werd het steeds raarder en was het precies zulke muziek waar ik echt een allergie voor heb: 'geluiden'. Wilde uit principe 4 sterren geven, maar dat vind ik achteraf veel te hoog. Zit te twijfelen tussen 2 en 3, omdat ik het gewoon te saai of zenuwachtig vond. Maar omdat het dnb is, geef ik 3 sterren

Album 1053 of 1089 New Forms- Roni Size (1997) Rating : 2 / 5 What did I just listen to? That was my first thought when it ended. This is a deep dive into drum and bass — layered beats, rapid-fire rhythms, electronic textures stacked on top of each other for well over an hour. It’s ambitious, no doubt about that. You can hear the craft. You can hear the production detail. You can tell this was meant to be immersive. But immersive and enjoyable aren’t always the same thing for me. There were moments where I caught myself appreciating the complexity — the way the percussion drives everything forward, the way vocals float in and out almost like another instrument. But just as quickly, it would slip back into long stretches that felt repetitive to my ears. It’s clearly built for listeners who want to sink into rhythm and atmosphere. I tend to want songs. That doesn’t make it bad. It just means it isn’t really made for me. I respect the artistry. I respect the ambition. But when it was over, I wasn’t left wanting to go back. More of an experience than a pleasure listen, in my world.

I’m kind of ambivalent towards this one. A double album of very similar isn’t normally something I’d go for. Bits and pieces were fine

If possible, I’d rate this 0 stars. Pretty much the same electronic drum track layover 20 times. This should not be on the list, no matter how much some fools say this revolutionized anything, or whatever silly argument would be given.

É um Drum&Bass com elementos bem ricos. Só que devo ser sincero e dizer que não é um tipo de som que me apetece. QoA Adonis New.

As soon as I saw the length of this album I started dreading having to listen to it. After hearing it I stand by that, the songs just drag on without being very interesting. The title track is decent but that was the highlight. It never became grating hence the rating

Pas tous écouté, c’est interminable et pas intéressant. 2-3 courts moments relativement un peu agréable.. définitivement pas un album que j’aurais du écouté avant de mourir, rendez moi mes minutes perdues. 1.5/5

My son enjoyed dancing to some of the songs, but the breakbeat is all the same, giving the album a lack of variety in sound. It’s also too long by 30-45 minutes, but most electronic albums are.

Long, and does wash into the background, but was rewarding when I paid attention.

EVERY SONG SOUNDS THE FUCKING SAME

Really??? I just had to listen to *this* before I die??? *THIS?* 1/5 Please stop with the british electro-slop, I beg of you...

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.

I listened to the first three tracks. I don't anticipate great revelations in the remaining twenty-one. As with the Prodigy album this is background music for me and not something I will sit with and listen through deeply.

I don't get techno (or EDM, or DnB, or any of its uncountable sub-sub-variations). There are some cool riffs - "Brown Paper Bag" and "Hi-Potent" for example - but they lose all meaning when they're repeated a few hundred times in a row with no variation. I am far from the target audience, and I'm okay with that. This is another one of the "excellent example of a genre I don't care about" albums.

it is what it is innit

banging

Top 10 tracks to have a seizure to

I think it's supposed to be this way but way too repetitive for me. 2 stars.

ui bin bim dritte song und das wird STRENG. finds au irgendwie no geil ha eig gern drum n bass, goht uuuhuere füre. aber scho sehr repetitiv. hui ich bin irgendwie 8 songs deep und gseh nöd wie ich das ushalt. finds ultra unspannend und afoch au nöd so abwechsligsriich. ich has zum teil schono groovy gfunde. aber ich mues es protest 1 geh sorry. loses etzdenn no fertig aber bezwiifle dass öpis meeega cools no passiert.

han de erst song probiert aber s isch gad NÖD ziit für 90er drum'n'bass am morge ok 1 lorna shore spöter bini halbwegs ready railing isch na lustig aber naja, würkt fast wie es intro zu brown paper bag ok es gaht z lang aber wenn sich s sample denn "etabliert" het und de classy dnb-beat innechunnt, findis na geil vlt tüsch ich mich au, aber modernere dnb wo ich kenn isch eifach basslastiger, für mis empfinde isch s ganze wie z höch OHHH de ahfang vo matter of fact isch na dumm he würkli wenns chli aggressiver wär und d sonsg chürzer würd ichs vlt na gnüsse, heroes findi vom prinzip her eig cool NEIII NÖD BEATBOXXXXXXXXX ok nur 1 min morse code isch zwar obnoxious aber iwie slappts na hi-potent findi auno hard, de bass slappt immer wieder chlini beacons of hope hahaha OMG han denkt "ja isch bald fertig" ABER DENKSTE NOMAL share the fall WÜRKLI DIE SCHISSLIEDER SIND Z WENIG GUET FÜR 7 MINUTE muss sege jazz findi reecht funny no zweiii lieder aso ich glaub ballet dance ischs letschte lied? aber s ischmer au HERZLICH egal wenns für vo mier us 50 min die beste songs gno hetted, hett vlt es 3 ussegluegt aber eso wie s album staht isches es HERTS 1

Straight out of your older brother's garage who has got a bunch of drum pads (so sharp they will burst your ears) and is cooking up drum and bass. This is clearly a big precursor to a lot of dnb we hear now from song structure to beats and flows. Some of this slaps, when it leans into great vocals, and more of a gospel/jazz/fusion direction and the clinical and quite sharp beats meet warm vocals and dreamy synths. Not exactly to my taste but I do rate this as siginficantly refining the genre. It is a bit too long, needs cutting, but has some absolute classic tracks

How is this possibly on the top 1001? It’s so long and boring.

Is this "boom-bap"? If so I like it. Got a teeny bit repetitive in parts for me, but that's the point obviously. I also really like the album cover. Hope there's more like this.

First song was hideous. But then it started to flow for me as I was working on a business project. It was quite good at keeping me in my hyper focused zone, although parts of it are just annoying. But because it mostly kept me in this zone I love, I’ll give it a three.

Starting off and I thought it was the theme to the Powerpuff Girls lol but continuing on with the album, what the actual FUCK is this? Super repetitive and unsettling. I have to sit with this for over an hour? Kill me now. Update: only tolerable song was 'Heroes' but even with that I don't want to listen to it again.

I seek exposure to musical artists, not computer programmers. Computer programming doesn’t move me.

blah

I interrupted my listening of The Fall Off to get whatever tf this is over with. I’m sorry Cole for wasting an hour and 14 minutes on this…. Some sick beats tho

Don't really enjoy this type of music. Found the first half of the album quite repetitive but picked up in the second half. Still not for me

I love this album. I've owned it on CD and Record. My friend had the cassette. It was formative for me. I branched out from love of heady Hip-Hop beats into wider electronic music thanks to this album. I don't expect it to get great reviews from others participating in the 1001 Albums project. I wonder if people will even end up reviewing the same album as me. Searching "Roni Size" alone (without "& Reprazent" included) on Apple Music will quickly show you "New Forms2", which is re-edits and reworkings of the original material. While it's valid and cool that Roni Size created the new version, it's not at all the same monument that the original release was. I had to dig a bit, and even then, on streaming I only found the 4-disc "New Forms (20th Anniversary Edition)". That is 5 hours long. I doubt anyone without prior knowledge and affection for this album would go deeper than 'normal album length, of the first disk anyways. Disc 2 starting with a track called "Intro", possibly adds to the confusion. This would even fuck with me. It still did yesterday! Seeing the track "Intro" come up, I thought for a second the album had somehow finished, gone on repeat, and I had zoned out for the whole second half. Back when I first bought the CD I had many stoned moments wondering why introductions happened halfway through the album. Now, I've been out in the world and clubs and rooms where music plays all night and people are always coming and going. Now, I think putting the introduction halfway through is brilliant. The band's opening set, the first disc, is just a warmup. A showcase. There are more vocal tracks, more variation across DnB sub-genres, and notable shifts in tempo ("Watching Windows"). Despite these clever deviations, even Disc 1 runs, headlong, with a "dancers first" mentality. Despite the grabby vocals and fun experiments (like "Beatbox"), Disc 1 is wildly unapologetic in launching all nine minutes of the repetitive, up-jumped, hypnotic instrumental, "Brown Paper Bag", second from the gate. The second disc shows its warrant for "Intro", as it takes on a subtly new energy. Following night life procedure, Disc 1 was just the welcome and the warmup. Disc 2 digs its heels in more firmly into an aesthetic of instrumental, loopy, heady DnB. There's less overt catchy, experimental moments. Energies rise and fall smoothly, and mostly stay chilled out on the couch until album crescendos with "Electricks", which shows off a hint of wobble (an infection that was well-caught by producers even back in 1997), and stylish electro jump-up flavor that foretells a lot of the direction that Roni Size would head into following "New Forms" with his 12" singles. As a cohesive two hour unit of music, "New Forms" is incredible in it's ability to flex intelligence, freshness, subtlety and experimentation with a tight aesthetic pallet of sounds and an only slightly-flexible adherence to the rigid requirements of DnB forms. It futuristic and optimistic. It's quite friendly, considering how gatekeepy DnB can be. It is certainly. "New". It in no way ignores "Forms". Musically, the palate evokes a cast of characters in a city. Recurring sounds like acoustic bass, chopped up bell-clear nylon guitar, whirring mechanics like an extruded toy dub siren, and orderly but deeply insistent drums step in and out. Each re-entrance become a comforting familiar voice in settings around the future city. People meet on fast moving subways. There's stylish intelligent people of all backgrounds sharing ideas over coffee. Somehow the basement nightclub is lushly planted with ferns. Of course the setting is still a city of concrete and steel. I'm not sure if we've escaped Capitalism, but some significant and undefined thing has certainly been figured out. The gleaming stuff is high-polished plasteel of a future that still exists just outside of collective imagineation. Plasteel is a trope of cyberpunk dystopianism. Armor for corporate goons. Somehow, Roni Size makes a future with plasteel indoor house planters seem hopeful. "New Forms" is not full-blown Utopian, just optimistic.

I recognize this very well is great dance/rave music. While there are moments of interesting combinations of sounds overall I found the music overly repetitive.

Skipped most tracks, unfortunate automatic 1 star

Nothing too horrible, but also nothing special

decent!

Too repetitive and kind of basic overall it felt like.

It started off heavy and thought it'd be a very long 2+ hours to get through it, but then it got better and could listen to the whole album. It's not my thing but I can see why it was so new in the late 1990s, and it still doesn't sound too dated. The thing is, that it is too much background music for me and it's not something I would actively seek out. It's also a very long album. 2 stars, but it's not a really bad album, it just isn't really my taste.

This is a joke, right? Cool, D&B roots....

I don't really listen to DnB but this was pretty good. I don't get the hate

Gave this a skip listen because drum and base very much isn't my thing but it wasn't too bad. Wouldn't play it again and a lot of it sounds very similar to me but probably a good entry point to this type of music.

Didn’t listen

2026.01.28.-01.29.

Bland vanilla electronic music that sometimes accidentally picks up a vibe. Much better stuff coming out at the time. Not worth another listen.

Maybe I just don’t get this kind of music. No thanks.

I had fun listening to this one, always love some British rap! But overall there's nothing revolutionary here, at least for me personally. I enjoyed my listen and would listen to more, I just don't think I'd think of throwing them on myself.

Not my thing at all.

It just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on... I don't care if it's impressive or innovative for its time, I don't want to hear any more of it.

This along with Timeless is probably is good as drum n bass gets! Though as it tends to do it gets a bit repetitive over a double album!

Love Brown Paper Bag. Pretty sure New Forms includes sound FX samples from Star Trek IV. If I had more musical context I might’ve rated it higher, but I think I’d be more apt to return to other UK electronic music of the time (UNLKLE, Massive attack)

this won awards???

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

This was one long song...right? Def not the only one on this list - but for sure an album where right away you go..is it bad? Not really. Did i need to hear it before i die? DEF NOT

Each track has its own odd, jazzy sounds and moody atmospheres - enough of it to fill exactly one or two minutes of interesting music per track. But with the average track length here being around 7 minutes, that leaves on average 5-6 minutes per track where the music just kind of rambles on, becoming a functional soundtrack to aid your study sessions at best. Not bad at all, but just imagine what could have been, if only these tracks would actually go somewhere.

Listening to New Forms in 2026 is not the same experience it was in 1997. Though it sounds very much of its time, you have to take stock of the musical landscape then. Drum and Bass was just emerging from techno, jungle, and bigbeat, and this record was heralded as one of the great albums of the new genre. Don't believe me? It won the Mercury Prize for best album in 97, beating OK Computer by Radiohead, Fat of the Land by The Prodigy, and Dig Your Own Hole by The Chemical Brothers. All arguably better albums in hindsight (and to many at the time as well). Regardless of your feelings on DnB as a genre, Roni Size captured lightning in a bottle with New Forms.

Sounds very modern for when it came out, so i totally understand it being influential. Sounds alright but probably nothing I would listen to during my normal day

🤮

I like a lot of this but I'm not keen on the "mononess" of the recording. I think it could be mixed much better than this. Also I personally find it way too long... but then I'm not planning on getting spaced out and dancing to it until the sun rises. But I applaud people who do.

I usually like Electronica and DnB to some extent. But this was way too long and too repetitive, even for Electronica.

I try not to be genrephobic but I don't know how many more of these crappy electro albums I can take. 2/10

Considered a 4 because I enjoyed parts and think in the right mood I'd enjoy more, or possibly just other stuff by them, but parts of the album were not very enjoyable so I'm rating more harshly

2.6 From the 90s, and I’d say it feels like it. It’s a little rap, more electronic. Chill beats, but also a lot of songs without lyrics, and the songs are mostly very long. Can definitely bop along, but I wish there were more words

Given that this list is UK-rooted, I guess I can see why this makes the list. But what started as kind of fun and interesting frenetic looped beats with some trappings, quickly devolved into a tedious slog.

Drum and bass is not my genre. There were some cool sounds and I can see why people get into it, but this felt pretty endless.

Drum and base is not my style of Techno. This had some interesting songs though, but overall i'd pass on it. 2.5/5

Hab's mir schlimmer vorgestellt.

Dreck

Weißt du noch, Vitali. Als wir in den 90ern Boxer waren und die Musik so seltsam war - Mhm - Die Texte hatten keine Bedeutung und die Beats waren repetitv und kamen vom Band - Mhm - Das war grauenhaft - Mhm

I know it's not like anyone is checking, but I always listen to these albums in full. (Original track listing only – reissued bonus tracks don't count.) For some reason though, Spotify is missing the last two tracks of New Forms and it came as a bit of a relief that I had a valid excuse not to see it through to the bitter end. I think an album that tries to expand the artistic possibilities of drum and bass is more interesting in theory than in reality.

every song sounds like background music in a 90s movie. not bad but nothing stood out for me

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.

10/10

Fairly boring and repetitive drum/bass beats throughout. Seemed like lame rave stuff. Production sounds bad.

Inoffensive but not exactly impressive

Terrible. Funniest part of listening to this was finding out there's a 20th anniversary edition with 5 hours of this nightmare

Breakbeats 💯

I've never been a a dnb fan, though have at times appreciated its influence on other genres. This used to strike me as odd as I once was a drummer. But most all "drums" on dnb trucks are boring a fuck. Largely dnb feels to me like it likes soul, heart, feeling. And some tracks feel schizophrenic in their combination of a meth-addled drum line and other moody ambient samples. This isn't as bad as most dnb so rouding up to 3.

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.

A couple of groundbreaking songs does not make for a bloated album.

This was some techno. It was ok. Nothing to spectacular, but nothing terrible.

Drum and bass gets a bit tiring. Hard to listen to the full thing

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 figure the length of this is a factor on why this one is so divisive on this site, another one being that it's Drum and Bass, which is a genre that not everyone is a fan of. I dug this one, though, since it's a good album to just vibe to while you're gaming or doing other activities. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

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.

God this is a lot of DnB for a Saturday morning. I probably need to revisit this more in the mood. I can see the influence which always bumps ratings up for me, but not my sort of thing

Bristol rave scene. DnB/Jungle. New forms is a good track with cool vocals. Watching windows is good, funky beat. For a DnB album, it's giving a decent amount of variety. Destination is also a fun track

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)

I listened to the album that came up which was only half. Still a fucking hour. Did not like this! A lot of it was really annoying and repetitive at least vocals wise. The drums were kinda tough. One exception I give is to mad cat that song was fire loved that opening.

I listened to this both on the way to work in the car, as I often listen to things, and also while at work while I was working the canning line. I think this is relevant because the thing with this album is that it’s dance music, and the things that work for a dance floor aren’t necessarily the same things that work for listening. And so I liked it better while hearing it while doing a repetitive task. I’m not much of a dance music person, but I’ve long preferred drum n bass to other styles: the breakbeats, the deep bass, the synth pads. This tends more towards the jazzy/funky/soul side of things, but I like it, particularly where it veers into the more abstract, like it does on tracks like “Matter of Fact”. Still, I’m not sure it holds up as an album like other classics of the genre like Goldie’s Timeless. Throughout this listening project I think there are always questions of why a particularly album made the list, and I’m not sure if this one should have been included. It feels a little too niche. Still I’d probably rather listen to this than some overrated classic rock album.

Pretty mid. First half has some decent tracks but the second half was a slog with a lot of samey sounding songs.

Only found the remastered version 5!!! Hours

No and No again. This list has become tedious and full of fringe albums that were big in Bristol & Manchester but nowhere else. This whole album does not sound good today, it's dated with it's awful frenetic drum machines and robotic instrumentation. I'm starting to think Brits listen to shit music most of the time. If "Brown Paper Bag" is the crown jewel of this album (11M listens) then there's no reason I should have to endure this entire album before I die. I need a joint to calm my mind down after that scramble of hyperactive noise. This is the lowest point in modern music, I'd rather endure an entire Britney Spears LP than hear this a second time. Total crap album and the repetitiveness of it all is mind boggling. 9 minutes of "Digital" was the final straw for me. There was a Disc 2 added for the 20th Anniversary. Congrats to the 4 people who bought that~! 1 star - unlistenable, no hits, no rhythm, no warmth, no good vocals, no actual instruments, no soul, no nothing for me.

I found myself much too bored with this album. Its electronic style has a bit of hip hop, which makes for a different sound, but that's all I can say when it was so repetitive. In fact, there is no reason for an album to be this long. I've watched Bollywood movies shorter than this album!

I really hated every minute of this. This is far from essential listening. It was just repetitive beats for over 2 hours, and even then, by the time I had finally finished it, it felt like it had been at least 6 hours.

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.

I listened to all two hours and twenty minutes of this. #AMA

Sounds like most 90s/00s DnB and Jungle. Not terrible but nothing standout. Would make a great soundtrack for a PS2 game.

Best Track - "Railing"

54 canciones???

What a load of rubbish. I like both electronica and drum & bass, which is why I was interested in the album. It got on my nerves right from the first track. It's more hip-hop than anything else. It didn't get any better. I gave up in exasperation during the third track. Yet another album I can die without regret without having heard it. 2/5

None of this was particularly bad to listen to, but it wasn't at all interesting for me and was just waaaaaaaaay too long, both the individual songs, and the album. It also felt like most of the songs had an intro that was 1-2 minutes long and then jumped into something unrelated which just made things seem longer. Probably could have gotten to 3 stars if everything was shorter and tighter, but just too much repetition and length of uninteresting things...

6/10 Favourite: Brown Paper Bag Least Favourite: Matter of Fact

Drum and bass electronic album. There are some good beats and moments here. However, I was ready for it to end.

This absolutely did not need to be 2+ hours long. Especially since 'Brown Paper Bag', the second track, was the highlight. I can't imagine listening to all 5+ hours of the 2oth anniversary edition.

Not bad for what it is but it’s tough to figure out what was the original album

This just isn't for me. The beats were ok in places, but felt repetitive with no variation at all. I also could not stand the vocals for the life of me. This felt like some weird combo of an electronic rap beat with some of the worst rapping I have ever heard. I get that this was an important album in the drum and bass genre, but it is not something I will come back to, 78 minutes is far too long even for a good album, and I was waiting for it to end. Sorry, but 1/5.

The Mercury Music Prize has produced a few head-scratchers over the years, which I suppose is a good thing. But nothing about this grabbed me at all, and I was well and truly bored less than 2/3rds of the way through Disc 1 alone.

It started out good with great vocals and a jazz feel mixed with electronica. However the electro beats just lasted way too long

It's no 69 juice by partiboi69 but then again what is?

Repetitive

It was just fine, pretty repetitive.

Oh it's drum and bass run though a mixer. Great for movie soundtracks, trailers and commercials. Lame for an entire album.

I like Drum and Bass, especially 90s Drum and Bass, so if you take 22 shots at that you're likely to land some hits with me, but this isn't really an album. It's just lots of shots at a sound that was finding its way.

I remember this album well, downloading a copy of it when it first came out, listening to half of it, feeling I had wasted a CDR. I never listened to it all the way through, so here's my chance. Early D&B is just a bit sparse, slow, and lame. This is the Goldie-type of D&B, the type I don't like because it's atmospheric with no actual beats to hook you in. Lots of tapping, jazzy sounds, stretched out so that each track hangs around forever, tapping and beeping/ booping from time to time. In the background we have some synths, also doing very little. The vocals are just awful. Just when I'm starting to push the music into the background, along come some grating vocals to remind me how long this album actually is. I came to the end, feeling my experience justified my initial rejection of this album. I love D&B, to the point where it's definitely one of my top three genres, but this is not the D&B I love in the slightest. Two stars.

I love this, the ambient accents in this drum and bass album really generate a vibe that makes me want to experience a club night like it

No

This is fine, but... why is it 140 minutes long... and why does every song seem to repeat in the middle... this is fine, but... why is it 140 minutes long... and why does every song seem to repeat in the middle...

Not a fan

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

Do not waste your time.

I mostly recognize Roni Size & Reprazent from the Kruder und Dorfmeister downtempo remix collection the K&D Sessions. While I had an interest in d&b around the same time that lasted into around 2000, my preference remains in the slower, more atmospheric artists from this time period.

Fun background music for video game

fascinating that this is the album that people cite as what made the public take drum and bass seriously as a genre when to me this album feels like a parody of itself. perhaps it's partially a measure of distance and development in the edm space, but i can't imagine ever wanting to listen to this when breakcore exists ngl. even tracks like "hi-potent" that have Something going on drastically overstay their welcome without expansion. unserious vocals across the album as well. the sampling of YMO's "lotus love" in "digital" for instance just made me want to go listen to that instead, but it's a great cut. i can't place the horns in "destination" but it's the same thing where there are glimpses of other (and better) records interwoven into The Same Generic Bassline for over 2 hours. "trust me" as an example feels like unchanging purgatory. i could've watched an a movie in the time spent listening to this instead of getting pranked by garbage. complete joke of an album. DNF in full.

Apparantly this book was made by a bunch of different critics and I have to assume all of them were British by what I've heard so far. I like some of this, I'd like it a lot more if it was maaaybe 30 minutes long instead of anywhere between 1 and 2 hours depending on the version. It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from an "English Drum and Bass album that's very late 90s" but I think my ear is somewhat attuned to that by the fact that I've actually at least heard one of these songs before but didn't realize it at the time (Brown Paper Bag). Still it is very, very repetitive. If I imagine myself listening to one or two of the songs instead of sitting through the whole thing though, I think I'd have a pretty good time. My favorites are probably "Share the Fall", "Down" and "New Forms". I swear you could play 10 second snippets of half these songs, say they're a different song from the same album and no one would be able to tell the difference.

I found this pretty repetitive and also fairly derivative. Nothing unique in this record.

Well, this has sent me down a massive Drum’b’Bass wormhole, bloody love it!

2.5 (2:19:54, yes two hours+, 22 tracks, debut, 1997) British Drum and Bass Mercury Prize winner (best UK album of the year, also certified platinum in UK). Really not sure why Onallee (Tracey Bowen) wasn't more credited as it is a vocal heavy album. I don't feel she adds a ton but 2 1/2 hours of drum and bass alone would have gotten pretty repetitive. (It still got repetitive). I feel like this album would have been more cutting edge in 1990 at the height of the Rave culture. Four singles, "Share the Fall", "Heroes", "Brown Paper Bag" and "Watching Windows". Given the length of the album I think my 3 listen goal is going to have to be waived. Clearly a UK bias to include this in a must listen list but not a bad album - not my genre and I still enjoyed it. Kind of Trance. Main criticism - too long.

151 Suena entretenido, pero demasiado largo. Y no sé si debería estar en esta lista. La versión actual en splotify tiene como 5 discos y revisé como 10 veces a ver si había pasado al segundo disco, y nop.

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.

I’m sorry, it’s only my opinion, but I hate this.

Þetta var þéttur og góður beat til að hlusta á á hjólinu

Þetta var smá erfitt. 6-9 mínútna lög. Þú þekkir þetta: of löng. Fá samt miðjuna í stjörnugjöf.

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

This is awful. There is no other way to describe what I've listened to. Some songs are not "that" bad but, overall, it's a very uninteresting, repetitive and bad album. I'm not into this music, and I honestly can't understand the love to drum and bass and this kind of electronic music, but I guess it could be less painful. I mean, the album gets really boring by the second track, and it doesn't get any better at any time (and it's more than an hour long!). Maybe this kind of music is made for listening while being on a disco or something... I don't really know, but consciously, with all my attention, it actually is based on very long songs that are all the time following the same structures and rhythms. What may I find interesting here? Is there anything I'm missing? Because, honestly, electronic music can be interesting, all the layers and textures in the songs but, with this album, I can't even enjoy it, if there is anything to enjoy here more than jumping to it, and that is something I didn't do and that I'm not going to do – one listen has been enough. Next!

No, thanks.

Pretty uninspiring

Can't believe this is on the list and not Mezzanine. Definitely not essential. 1/5

Meh

Drum and bass.. one of my least favourite electronic music types. This whole album sounds very 90s. I guess most drum and bass does, but this one in particular. Just like with all drum and bass album, this record suffers from the same problem: you get tired of the drum pattern after hearing one or two songs. And it's almost always the same as well, barely changes one bit over the course of the album. How incredibly boring. Especially when paired with the fact that their snare (or rim shot or w/e it is) sounds incredibly weak and annoying. There were definitely some high-points on this album, but they were few. 'Heroes' was a pretty cool song, but mostly due to all other reasons than what made it drum and bass. The end part of 'New Forms' also had something going to it. Overall this wasn't my thing at all, as I dislike drum and bass quite a lot. But if this is your jam, I'm sure it might be as good as claimed in the wiki.

Felt like a pretty standard drum and base album to me. It has a cool sound that I enjoy but none of the songs stood out in particular. If I had to select one, “Brown Paper Bag” stood out the most (it was also in the beginning of the album, before I got too bored). The main drawback of this album is that it is 1 hour too long. I think it might've been a 4 if it was a short one. Now it gets a weak 3.

Strong start and end to the album. The rest in the middle were kind of repetitive and just there for me.

It was ok.

English drum and bass electric...dont deserve more than 2,5

New to my ears - pretty good dance music - hoppin' and totally approachable. Just may not do a second listen

First record that I'm not listening. I don't deserve 78 mins of dnb at 34 years old, sorry.

Good D&B and I was in the zone for it. However it got tiring after a while.

Cool UK people sounding cool but leaves me a bit cold.

Nous sommes en 1997, une année charnière, une année de bascule, une année où le rock britannique se regardait le nombril avec arrogance et où l'électronique essayait désespérément de s'acheter une crédibilité "salon de thé". Je bossais chez mon disquaire indépendant à l'époque, et je peux vous dire qu'on en a brassé, de la galette, cette année-là. Il y avait des monuments, des trucs qui te retournent le cerveau et te changent la vie. "OK Computer" de Radiohead, évidemment, "Urban Hymns" de The Verve, le "Homogenic" de Björk. Et puis, au milieu de tout ça, il y avait la hype Drum & Bass (ou Jungle, selon l'heure de la journée et le taux d'alcoolémie de l'interlocuteur). La Drum & Bass, j'ai rien contre sur le principe. J'aime Underworld, j'aime quand ça part en vrille, j'aime quand la rythmique te prend aux tripes et te secoue comme un prunier. Mais en 1997, il s'est passé un truc qu'on n'a toujours pas digéré : le Mercury Prize. Pour ceux qui ne suivent pas, le Mercury Prize, c'est censé récompenser le meilleur album britannique ou irlandais de l'année. En face, tu avais Radiohead qui venait de redéfinir le rock pour les vingt prochaines années, The Prodigy qui mettait le feu à la planète avec "The Fat of the Land", et Chemical Brothers qui nous faisait creuser notre propre trou. Et qui gagne ? Roni Size et son collectif Reprazent avec "New Forms". À l'époque, on nous a vendu ça comme le futur du jazz, la fusion ultime, l'intelligence rythmique incarnée. Aujourd'hui, avec le recul et surtout avec la note de 2 sur 5 que je lui colle sans trembler des genoux, on peut le dire : c'était peut-être un poil exagéré, voire une vaste blague. Alors, qu'est-ce que c'est que ce "New Forms" ? C'est un double album et là, déjà, on a un problème. Un double album de Drum & Bass "jazzy", c'est comme un marathon où on t'oblige à courir avec des chaussures de clown : c'est long, c'est pénible, et à la fin, tu as juste envie de t'asseoir et de ne plus jamais entendre parler de contretemps. Le concept, c'est de mélanger des rythmiques breakbeat ultra-rapides avec une contrebasse (souvent acoustique, ouh là là, quelle audace !), des nappes un peu planantes et des vocaux qui oscillent entre le rap mou et la soul de supermarché. Sur le papier, pourquoi pas mais dans les faits, c'est une épreuve d'endurance. Mon ressenti principal... c'est répétitif. Mais pas répétitif comme un bon drone de Sunn O))) qui t'écrase sous une chape de plomb jusqu'à la transe mystique. Non, c'est répétitif comme un moustique bloqué dans une chambre d'hôtel à 3 heures du matin. Tu as l'impression d'écouter la même boucle pendant deux heures. Boum-tish-k-tish, Boum-tish-k-tish avec une ligne de basse qui fait "boum-boum-boum" de manière très, très sérieuse. C'est de la musique pour les gens qui voulaient se sentir "urbains" et "modernes" en 1997 sans pour autant transpirer dans un club insalubre. C'est de la Drum & Bass de table basse, de la Jungle pour vernissages d'art contemporain où l'on sert du vin blanc tiède. Il y a un côté "démonstration technique" qui m'agace prodigieusement. Oui, c'est bien produit, oui, les mecs savent jouer. Mais bordel, où est l'âme ? Où est la crasse ? On est à Bristol putain, la ville de Tricky et de Massive Attack, des gens qui savent créer des ambiances poisseuses, claustrophobes, géniales. Ici, tout est propre, tout est lisse, tout est poli, c'est du formica sonore. Le problème de la longueur est aussi rédhibitoire. Si l'album avait duré 40 minutes, en sélectionnant les meilleurs moments (parce qu'il y en a, "Brown Paper Bag" n'est pas un mauvais morceau en soi, c'est juste qu'il est noyé dans la masse), ça aurait pu être un disque sympathique, un témoignage d'une époque. Mais là, ça s'étire, ça dilue, ça remplit de l'espace avec du vide. On a l'impression que le groupe est payé à la minute. "Tiens, si on rajoutait quatre minutes de breakbeat générique ici ? Allez, vas-y, personne ne remarquera la différence avec la piste précédente." C'est d'autant plus frustrant que je suis client de musiques répétitives. J'ai passé des nuits entières sur des mixes de techno minimale ou sur des albums de post-rock qui prennent 15 minutes pour monter en pression. Mais la différence, c'est l'émotion, c'est la narration. Ici, c'est juste une boucle technique, une performance sportive sans enjeu. C'est symptomatique d'une certaine époque de la musique électronique britannique qui a cru qu'en ajoutant du jazz (souvent mal digéré), elle gagnait ses lettres de noblesse. Comme si le fait de mettre une contrebasse rendait le breakbeat plus intelligent. Spoiler : non ça le rend juste plus chiant. On a souvent comparé ça à "Timeless" de Goldie, sorti deux ans plus tôt. Mais chez Goldie, il y avait une mégalomanie, une ambition cinématographique, une folie qui manque cruellement ici. Roni Size, c'est le bon élève, c'est le premier de la classe qui a bien appris sa leçon, qui a rendu une copie impeccable, sans ratures, mais sans aucune étincelle de génie ou de folie. C'est un disque qui a très mal vieilli. Écoutez "OK Computer" aujourd'hui : ça sonne toujours comme le futur (ou un présent dystopique). Écoutez "New Forms : vous avez l'impression d'être dans une pub pour une voiture citadine de 1998 ou dans le menu d'un jeu vidéo PlayStation 1. C'est daté, c'est ancré dans son époque d'une manière qui ne pardonne pas. Je suis peut-être dur, peut-être que si j'avais 20 ans aujourd'hui et que je découvrais la jungle, je trouverais ça "rétro-cool". Mais avec mon bagage, avec mes oreilles nourries au post-punk, à l'indus et au rock qui tâche, je ne peux pas, je bloque, c'est physique. Ce disque représente tout ce que je n'aime pas dans l'évolution de la musique "club" vers le grand public : la dilution, la perte de l'urgence, le polissage des aspérités. On passe du rave illégal dans un hangar boueux à un cocktail dînatoire. Alors oui, 2 sur 5 et c'est généreux. C'est pour la technique, pour la propreté du son, et pour "Brown Paper Bag" qui reste un single efficace si on l'écoute isolément. Mais pour le reste ? C'est l'ennui mortel, c'est la boucle sans fin, c'est le jour de la marmotte version breakbeat. Si vous voulez écouter de la musique répétitive, mettez-vous un bon "Earth 2" ou un Neu!. Si vous voulez du jazz barré, mettez John Zorn. Si vous voulez de la noirceur électronique, mettez le premier Suicide. Mais laissez ce "New Forms" là où il est : dans les bacs à solde de l'histoire, rayon "Erreurs de casting du Mercury Prize".

Bass sounded cool on some tracks, interesting enough to understand why it was assigned. Overall not a style of music I enjoy and too repetitive for repeated listens.

I had to listen to this garbage in the last two hours of a road trip. It was absolute torture. This is music you make for yourself and don’t share with anyone else. I know no one forced me to listen to it, but for respect of this project, I had to listen. Good news: I still have my hearing by some miracle. But my mind is gone.

I'm going to create a new genre where I whisper in a small Styrofoam cup while stomping out a beat. I'll get my wooden clogs on, grab my favorite one-use dixie drinking receptacle, and go to the local studio to record a 139 minute album. Folks won't get it at first, but years from now it will be known as one of the pioneering albums of stomp 'n' hushcup. I'm being facetious, and I typically like off the wall music, but honestly who would go out of their way to listen to nearly 140 minutes of drum and bass!? And not just that, the fact that it won so many prizes?? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I listened to this years ago and thought i liked it, but in retrospect I made it through maybe half of disc 1. I'm sorry Roni Size, but I was just begging the album to be over by the 30 minute mark. I'll give an extra .4 for the craftsmanship. 1.4/5 -> 1/5

Crikey, this one's over two hours long! And it gets worse - the version on Qobuz comes in at 5h14m11s over four CDs. I'll give this a go, but... I played this album for about 1h45m and I thought it remarkably dull and unvarying.

This is bad. I hate this. Really fake drums. It uses the same rhythm for the entire album. There are no low tempo songs. There are moments without drums, but those are really brief. It's DJ slop that never stops. Favorite Song(s): -

This album is decently well-made, but that doesn’t mean it deserves 2 and a half hours. 2/5

Brown Paper Bag

I had a better review written up about this album but it got wiped away in a browser refresh. I'm not going to waste my time rewriting what a waste of time this 2 hour+ album is. My only thing I would stress is the nerve it must take for the glowing reviews of this album while people complain about the Ella Fitzgerald album. 1/5

Great singles, gets a bit repetitive as full album.

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

The jungle stuff is fine but this is way too long

So funky, so tight

I gave this a good go but life really is too short. Never got it and never will

No drum and base no matter how good should be in any list with the beatles and zepplin. Its ok repetitive and boring

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"?

Brutally repetitive.

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

I’m old enough to remember this winning the Mercury prize in 1997 ahead of The Prodigy’s Fat Of The Land and, more notably, Radiohead’s OK Computer. Back then there was no streaming so you had to buy the cd to listen to it. Consequently I’ve never heard this until now. D&B hasn’t aged particularly well but this album is not bad if you like repetitive beats. Very long though.

Not for me.

Like it 3/5

gently clattering along, with some snatches of pleasant melodies, but very repetitive

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

there were far better drum and bass djs around this time than this one

Unfortunately, I'm not into electronic music. It's not the fault of the album, though. It is definitely a gulp of fresh air during these 1001 album marathon: a drop of smth interesting in the sea of punk, rock and country music. The arrangements and transitions between the parts of tracks are quite interesting, and the samples are cool. Again, I'm not a big fan, but it's worth a listen once and it's quite interesting.

Ok so I need some brownie mirror points after this one. It wasn’t the must difficult album I’ve ever listened to, but it’s definitely the longest. Originally I was only going to listen to the tracklist from the very first release of this album. But I got caught up with work and let it play through for the rest of the work day. Honestly I couldn’t believe it went for almost 6 hours. Like I’d check in and out as the album went on and I ended up saving a few songs here and there and this is my take away. It’s a lot. Like for better or worse it’s an awful nsanely long album with a ton of tracks. Some underwhelming ambient tracks, and some more impactful songs that were a lot easier to digest and get into. But honestly if you are looking for like “house ambient” music this is it. It felt like I was living in the future but from the perspective of the “90’s future”. I know that doesn’t make any sense but ultimately I didn’t love this album but I also didn’t hate it.

I quite liked the drum and bass genre, which isn’t something I listen to normally. The album as a whole is quite long and the songs were quite repetitive (probably a signature of this genre), so not an album I’d listen to again back to front.

Bom