A Lesson in "Future History" with Professor of Jungle, Nu:Tone

From Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, Cambridge has seen its fair share of game-changing professors imparting knowledge upon the city's cobbled streets. Even drum & bass has its own Cambridge-born scholar – Dan Gresham, AKA Nu:Tone.

The Hospital Records OG has always exhibited a certain intellectual flair when it comes to his productions, and his brand new album Future History is a lesson within itself. It cites references ranging from the early days of hardcore and jungle all the way to present day and beyond. Whether it's on pop-tastic ditties like his remix of Billon's "Special," or tracks with a bit more mettle like the bassline-driven "Roundabout," it's all done with a tasteful approach and a measured hand.

"I do think about the music creation process in maybe a slightly different way," Nu:Tone tells THUMP." Just because I come from a kind of classically trained background which I guess automatically means that I approach it in a slightly different way. But to be honest, half the time I find that to be a hindrance rather than a benefit."

it's headily-minded music like Nu:Tone's that brought the junglist culture out of the maligned social state in which it once found itself perceived, often wrongly, as the soundtrack to anti-social behavior and teenage fisticuffs on local high streets. "I think it was always kind of seen as a reprobate sibling of most of dance music, at least early on," says Gresham. "But we've come to a point now where it's been around for so long it's part of the furniture. I think it's taken seriously in a way that it wasn't for a very long time. I dunno, I guess that there are artists in dnb that are very conceptual and very kinda philosophical, but maybe not as many as you find in other kind of dance music genres."

To Gresham, that shift in opinion is a reflection of society at large and not the jungle scene itself. "If you look back right at the start it's always been a mix of people and that's no different now. It doesn't matter where you come from, what you look like, what your background is, if your music is good or interesting, people will give the time of day."

And although Future History makes referential nods to the chronology of the sound, it is a wholly unique and earnest creative work within itself. "I didn't want to make a retro or pastiche album – that was really important to me," explains Gresham. "I wanted it to be looking forwards but honing influences, ideas, sounds from basically my time in drum n bass. It's weird you just plug along and you don't realize you've been doing it for a long time and all of the sudden it's like 20 years that I've been DJing this music and a little bit less I've been making it – it's just reflecting on that a bit and having fun with all of those sounds."

In celebration of those sounds, we've got 8 essential tracks in the progression of drum & bass:

LTJ Bukem - Atlantis (I Need You)

"When I first got into dnb I was really into the kinda head sound, Metalheadz sound, Renegade Hardware, a lot of the kinda darker stuff to be honest. Although, the Bristol sound was really important to me too. The Bukem thing was unlike anything else, everybody was going on about intelligent drum & bass at that time, but for me its just got such a simplicity about it – it's a very, very housey approach to drum n bass and there's not an awful lot to not like about it in my opinion."

J. Magik - Your Sound

"For me it's just amazing. I think it's some of the best amen programming about – it's not particularly flashy but its just super, super effective and the sub is really low but somehow manages to hit incredibly hard in just about every sound system."

Photek - The Hidden Camera

"This one's slow. I can't remember what it is, 150 or 140 or something? But around this period, I don't think anyone could touch Photek in terms of kind of sounds, beat programming, and just atmosphere I guess more than anything – and I think this track is one of his best."

Jonny L - Piper (Grooverider remix)

"Johnny L was out on a limb, around this period there were quite a few producers who didn't sound like anybody else and just managed to create a vibe that was completely unique to them – and Johnny L had that in buckets."

Optical - The Shining (Ed Rush and Optical remix)

"I remember hearing this for the first time at the Notting Hill Carnival in London and every year, there was a stage and it was kind of it was all-over Moschino, like this full kind of repeat print Moschino, shining trousers…You couldn't move. Yeah, they dropped this and the place just went crazy."

Nuyorican Soul - It's Alright, I Feel it (Roni Size remix)

"I've always loved house and I've always been into soul-jazz. Nuyorican Soul as a project in of itself I thought was incredible. This remix, an amazing song, featuring Jocelyn Brown, one of my absolute heroes. Roni Size just turned out this beautiful remix that the really interesting thing about it to my ears…when it first drops it's all quite kind of this very nice or quite straight and then it drops again and then it drops a third time and each time it drops again it gets more and more Jungle-y until by the time it gets to the end he's kind of lets loose with full-on jungle."

Calibre - Fire & Water

"So this was the second release on Soul:R, which is like a hugely important label for me – just for soulful drum and bass in general. I had to have some Calibre in there and it's really hard to choose because there's so much amazing music. This is probably one of his stripped back loopy things but it's just refined to a tee."

Un-Cut - Midnight M.I.S.T VIP

"We're properly into the 2000s at this point. We're probably into kind of liquid, soulful drum and bass at this point. Big brass, I think it was originally a Shirley Bassey sample, when they signed to a major, uncut got it replayed – so you can tell it's not quite the same as the Shirley Bassey record. Which I own, as a point of interest. But it's just a brilliant piece – it just shows what you can do with a good song and a good vocal in dnb. "

Find Nu:Tone on FB // Soundcloud // Twitter
Buy "Future History" on iTunes

The next Hospital Records showcase in Los Angeles has just been announced. Check the details: