Written by Tom Whitsitt
I am a huge admirer of the autonomic drum and bass movement. It’s a sound that is so disconnected from the drum and bass roots that it completely confused a lot of people when the sound started to grow in popularity around the mid to late 2000’s.
Drawing heavily from synths, 80s music and ambient, the music is drenched in emotive tones that create lush textures which in turn create a stealth cover for it to operate as a disconnected subgenre that floats around the DnB scene undetectedly with an occasional uncovering by diehard DnB fans who disregard it as nonsense because of its lack of snares or drops.
Before anyone thinks I’m going on a rant, may I add that I have a large collection of drum and bass music spanning across all eras that I adore, but the genre comes with a stigma and also a lot of closed-mindedness. As and when I did share music with people who were not into drum and bass, I would always opt for autonomic to prove that as a genre it’s not what people think it is and quite often I would get the response: “This is drum and bass?” Or people who were even into the scene would say: “Didn’t even know this stuff existed!”
I tested my theory a few times when doing song shares at parties. One time that springs to mind was at a house party with a group of Spanish friends who have a fun taste in music but LOVE their cheese. I popped on a tune called ‘Invisible Cities’ by an artist called Croms.
This was a pick that suited the time and vibe of the party. The tune is a stompy one but still retains that classic autonomic vibe. After watching people dance around to it I was asked if it was mine and a few people commented saying they liked it, saying it was a cool 80s tune!
Other instances have been me piping lush vibes into peoples’ lives when they had become disillusioned with the drum and bass sound after going out in the scene for a number of years. This was the case for one person who I met through the scene and who now is very close to me, so I sent them a select few tunes to show them the versatility of the genre. My go-to first choice is always a tune by Stray called ‘When it Rains’.
It’s actually one of my favourite tunes ever and is great at displaying how emotive autonomic can be!
After that, I sent over a Consequence tune called ‘Lovershell’.
After getting a positive response, I then sent over another Stray tune called ‘Pushed’, following up with Synkro’s ‘Open Arms’….
…and eventually finished with an autonomic anthem by Instra:mental called ‘End Credits’.
This person also knew a fellow Kentish type of mine who made criminally underrated autonomic as part of Silent Dust so I sent them across the tunes “A Million Words”….
….and “Typist” to sample.
I recently met someone else who used to love drum and bass in the early 2000s but had lost touch with the scene. After exchanging music, we eventually hit on Board of Canada which prompted me to ask if they were aware of the autonomic movement, which they hadn’t… another opening for me to supply examples. I started with Method One’s ‘Symbol #5.3’. A super deep and spacey tune to try and set the tone right after moving on from Boards of Canada.
Considering they were aware of DBridge already, I sent across his classic ‘Detuned Heart’ to display what he had contributed to the movement (one of many!).
I also sent over a collaboration between DBridge, Kid Drama and Lewis James called ‘Wij Zijn’.
After that, I decided to send a lesser known but great tune by DB1 called ‘B1’.
As they had shown an interest I directed them towards the autonomic podcasts which give the ultimate taste of what the early movement had to offer!
So much variation in those mixes! Layer 6 will always have a special place in my heart and Synkro’s DJ set from Lab London also bursts with more modern Autonomic goodness.
As they already had a passion for the music, I thought I’d send across examples of some of the more progressive stuff that was made. First was the phenomenal ‘Abysmal Depth’ by Abstract Elements.
One of those tunes that you have to listen to in its entirety as its shape shifts, but it’s a perfect example of what’s so good about the autonomic sound, so interesting but bassy!
I then sent them Instra:mental with ‘Watching You’, an absolute fave of mine! So unique and a perfect example of progressive Autonomic.
After this, I sent a tune by Mark System called ‘The Voices’. Another tune that has to be experienced in its entirety and is probably the best test of what the more leftfield side of the genre has to offer.
As the genre has been around for a while now, a new wave of producers has come through that people who appreciated the initial wave might have missed. That was the case when I once chatted to someone at a techno event who was a massive fan of the club autonomic era of the sound but stopped listening around 2013. I sent him a Bandcamp playlist and it went something like this…
Jaskin and Uneven – ‘Smokey’
Oliver Yorke – ‘Touch’
Sorse – ‘Sun Shower’
Lewis James – ‘Response’
Soul Beat Runna – ‘Burton’
Tellus – ‘Subduction’
Necrotype – ‘Treetops’
Law and Wheeler – ‘Cold snap’
and finally Jaskin and Uneven – ‘After Dawn’
I tried my best to focus on fresh faces within the scene to show the music is still going strong and included some of my favourites too!
There are currently not many labels pushing the autonomic sound apart from a few trusted outlets. The label Squares Music has released so many brilliant cuts of autonomic from lush to the more tough side of the genre. It’s a great place to start.
https://squareshq.bandcamp.com/
The US label Modern Conveniences has built up quite the back catalogue since it launched in 2020 with a range of great music to pick from. Special mention to the recent Biorythym album that was released in May that is very good!
https://modernconveniences.bandcamp.com/
The German label Urban Poetry has always released great stuff, so well worth checking too!
https://urbanpoetryrecords.bandcamp.com/
The Autonomic movement breathed life back into the scene and has also shown how versatile the music can be which is an acolade that is pretty hard to achieve. My experiences with sharing music with people who either aren’t familiar with drum and bass, have a fixed opinion on the sound or are active in the scene but lose faith has always been positive and it’s pretty cool that this subgenre didn’t even attempt to conform. Although it stayed underground, it has ended up being the most accessible sound for the masses.
This isn’t an article about Autonomic but merely a recognition of what it has done to the music. It’s been my tool for showing people the genre isn’t all super energetic beats and basslines and for that I will forever be greatful.
This article was written by Tom Whitsitt (he hosts a radio show on Bloop and organises ad-hoc events), you can check him out here:
Futurepast Zine 
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