Darkcore is a subgenre

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

 of jungle

Oldschool jungle

Jungle is a genre of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably...

 (not be confused with the more recent developments of Hardcore) that became popular in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 hardcore rave

Rave

Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

 scene in late 1992. It is recognized as being one of the direct precursors of the genre now known as drum and bass

Drum and bass

Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...

. Darkcore was a counter movement to the happy

4-beat

4-beat is a breakbeat style of music that emerged around 1993. It evolved from breakbeat hardcore emanating from the United Kingdom rave scene...

 alternative that occurred at the same time — both styles evolving from breakbeat hardcore

Breakbeat hardcore

Breakbeat hardcore is a derivative of the acid house and techno, of the late 1980s and early 1990s, that combines four-to-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats, and is associated with the UK rave scene.-The rave scene:...

. The name was most likely derived from the track "Darkcore" by Two Dark Troopers, released on Basement Records in 1993.

Qualities

Darkcore is characterized by layered breakbeat

Breakbeat

In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...

s at around 150 to 160 bpm combined with very low frequency bass lines. In addition to these basic traits, dark themed samples

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 such as horror movie theme music or cries for help were commonly included. As the style evolved, the almost gratuitous use of horror elements was dropped as producers relied more on simple effects such as reverb, delay, pitch shifting and time stretching to create a chaotic and sinister mood.

Artists and Labels

Many of the British hardcore and junglist

Junglist

Junglist is a slang term first referring to a person living in an area of West Kingston, Jamaica, called Jungle. Then after as a term referring to a dedicated listener of jungle and/or drum and bass. Tracks from this genre often contain calls and references to the "original junglists" and "jungle...

 DJs of the day dabbled in darkcore for a time, mostly around its heyday in 1993, but some of the more notable DJ/producers of darkcore include:

• Johnny Jungle
• Goldie
  Goldie
  Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
  
  
• Doc Scott
• Jack Smooth
  Jack Smooth
  Jack Smooth, real name Ron Wells, born in London 1970.Ron is often credited as the pioneer of Jungle techno. During his career Ron has produced over 200 dance music records, spanning many genres....
  
  
• Metalheadz
  Metalheadz
  Metalheadz is a pioneering drum and bass record label based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1994 by Kemistry & Storm and Goldie, it has been home to some of the drum and bass scene's brightest talent and is notable for the high quality of its back catalogue....
  
   productions
• Reinforced records
• 4 Hero
  4 Hero
  4hero are an electronic music band from Dollis Hill, northwest London, comprising producers Mark "Marc Mac" Clair & Dennis "Dego" McFarlane. While the band is often cited as "4 Hero" or "4-Hero", the name is presented as "4hero" on their own albums and websites.4hero are known as early pioneers of...
  
  
• Tango
• Bizzy B
• Remarc
• Lewi Cifer
• Hyper-On Experience
  Hyper-On Experience
  Hyper-On Experience is a UK breakbeat hardcore and drum and bass duo made up of Alex Banks and Danny Demierre .-History:...
  
  
• International Rude Boyz
• Q Project
  Q Project
  Q Project is a drum and bass music producer currently signed to Hospital Records. He makes up half of Total Science, along with fellow producer Paul Smith . He is well known for his release "Champion Sound", a popular jungle anthem of the 1990s.-References:...
  
  
• Top Buzz
  Top Buzz
  Top Buzz are a British DJ / MC team, which performed at rave events in the 1990s.Top Buzz was originally formed in 1988 by MC Patrick McPhee and DJ Mikee B, playing at house events, before being joined by DJ Jason Kyriakides several years later...
  
  
• DJ Ratty
• FBD Project
• Fallout
• DJ Crystl
• Skanna
• Essence of Aura
• Peshay
• Wax Doctor

Significant releases

The 1993 CD release Hard Leaders III - Enter The Darkside contains many popular darkcore tunes of the era.

Examples of darkcore tracks

• BlisSsynth - The Tell Tale Heart
• Metalheadz - Terminator
• Nasty Habits - Dark Angel
• Two Dark Troopers - Darkcore
• The Invisible Man - The Beginning
• FBD Project - The Core
• Boogie Times Tribe - The Dark Stranger (Origin Unknown remix)
• Skanna - Until The Night Is Morning
• DJ Scoobie - Wait 4 The Bass
• DJ Crystl - The Dark Crystal
• Tango & Ratty - The Killer
• Fugitive - Mind Games
• Remarc - Help Me
• Phrenetic - The Candy Man
• Jungle Buddha - Drug Me
• Green Buddha - The Chamber
• Trip - The Snowball
• Lewi Cifer - Heat
• Babylon Timewarp - Changing
• Sound Corp - Regentime Part 2
• DJ Gershwin - Solar Energy
• Ed Rush - Bloodclot Artattack
• DJ Dove - Bird Of Prey
• Essence Of Aura - Soul Temptation
• T.H.C - The Dark Zone
• DJ Crystl - Deep Cover
• Dillinja - Deadly Ceremonies
• Criminal Set - Dreamscape
• Silver Fox - Dreaded Beast
• Origination - Out Of This World
• Q Project - Champion Sound
• DJ Hype - Weird Energy
• Essence of Aura - Can I Dream
• Doc Scott - NHS
• Suburbia -"2"The Dark

Darkcore today

Today, darkcore is used to describe the entire array of breakbeat producers and DJs who work within the 160-190+ BPM tempo range. Its current configuration, darkstep

Darkstep

Darkstep is a subgenre of drum and bass that fuses elements of darkcore with uptempo breakbeats and ambient noises . Darkstep music is typically composed in a chromatic scale...

, is notably different in quality and process availability as the modern drum and bass elements are included.