New Forms – Roni Size/Reprazent (1997, Island Records)
According to Roni Size, when he and his crew Reprazent started to record ‘New Forms’ the idea was to make a record that sounded like the future. It was an idea that to some extent they succeeded in making a reality. Because, back in the late nineties in the early throngs of the Blair government, drum n bass was still something of an unknown quantity. Well to the masses at least but like Roni said, they wanted to do something different.
For instance, there are tracks on ‘New Forms’ that involve drum patterns made with the voices of Reprazent (‘Beatbox’), they used a double bass to create that sound you can hear at the start of ‘Brown Paper Bag’ and then sampled it and messed around with it to create that deep bass sound that throbs its way through the record. Elsewhere they used strings, soundscapes sampled from obscure science fiction films, cut ups, scratches, basslines and in Onallee they had a wonderful singer whose vocals could fill a room with ease. Its only when they glued all those ideas that ‘New Forms’ began to make sense and blend and only then did it start to sound like it actually came from the future.
Brown Paper Bag – Roni Size (1997, Island Records)
‘New Forms’ originally raised eyebrows when it came out due to the sheer length of it – 22 tracks stretched out over two discs, (an edited single disc version was available) but nearly all of it was brilliantly twitchy, buzzing drum n bass that charmed the masses enough to move drum n bass away from its largely underground club roots into cafes, high streets, student flats and coffee tables everywhere.
Although, the first reviews were not great, one magazine famously said it was the “sound of bored West Country kids in a bedroom fiddling around with computers” and it took a couple of live shows, complete with a live bassist and a live drummer surrounded by MCs and DJs recreating that sound, a sound that hadn’t really been heard outside of the clubs before for the reviews to start to glow. And glow they did and then came the Mercury Music Prize matter.
Heroes – Roni Size (1997, Island Records)
The most famous thing that everyone knows about ‘New Forms’ is that it beat ‘Ok Computer’ to the 1997 Mercury Music Prize. A decision that literally split the music industry down the middle and at the time did little for the reputation of the Mercury Music Prize, with literally everyone in the audience wanting and expecting ‘OK Computer’ to win (Roni Size says that he was told that Radiohead had won it and that he was helping himself to sandwiches when Eddie Izzard of all people grabbed him and hugged him and told him he’d won).
When the decision was made there was an audible gasp (and even the odd boo) in the crowd and caused the head judge to tip his hat in the direction of ‘Ok Computer’ saying it was a brilliant album but ‘New Forms’ was trailblazing and had carved a path for drum n bass into the mainstream like no album before (or after it as it happens) and that is why it had won.
Share The Fall – Roni Size (1997, Island Records)
And you know what? He was right. ‘New Forms’ is better than ‘Ok Computer’ it was better than it in 1997 and even though parts of ‘New Forms’ sound dated now (or rather dusty from not being played as much as it should have been), its better than it now and no explanations are really needed because you only have to listen to it to really understand that – or at a push review this series to see that ‘Ok Computer’ doesn’t feature on it.
Digital – Roni Size (1997, Island Records)
For what it’s worth ‘New Forms’ is also better than two of the other high profile nominees from the 1997 Mercury Music Prize those being, ‘Fat Of the Land’ by the Prodigy and ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ by the Chemical Brothers.
File under groundbreaking brilliance.
No Badger Required 