15 EDM Producers That You Didn't Know Made Drum & Bass

Drum & Bass is damn near the redheaded step-child of the EDM scene. While dubstep was the recent wave of the current dance music revival (with no one being able to escape house in its many forms as well), drum & bass has been around much longer, and has had a lot of flirtations with mainstream media, from pioneer Goldie being featured James Bond films to being found in numerous TV advertisements and as beds in films. The best part? Some of your favorite EDM producers of today cut their teeth in the dnb sound.

That's right, from Knife Party to Bro Safari, there's a serious batch of former drum & bass producers making moves in a number of different arenas. And mind you, these are just the 15 we chose to highlight. There are many (like Nero and Chase & Status) who gained fame as dnb artists that branched into other sounds, as well as Daniel Disaster of Heroes x Villains, who has had his hand in the dnb scene long before he became the trap ambassador. They cut their teeth in this scene, and went on to capitalize elsewhere.

Previously Known As: Pendulum

Notable Tracks: "Slam" / "Another Planet"

For a while, the measuring stick within the drum & bass scene was Pendulum. Their work as a trio, which brought on successful tracks and three albums, both for Breakbeat Kaos and with Warner Music under their Earstorm label. As their career as a band went on, and the hits kept rolling in, their sound started to change, incorporating everything from dubstep to punk, and by 2011, they took a hiatus from recording as a group/band, with members Rob and Gareth combining to create the electro house duo known as Knife Party.

Previously Known As: MRSA

Notable Tracks: "Chemicals" / "Different"

While his career outside of drum & bass has been more successful than his time in it, Mat Zo's time spent as MRSA is nothing to sneeze at. All three of his tracks were picked up by Hospital Records; "Chemicals" on their Sick Music compilation, and "Different" on Sick Music 2. His last track, "Recurring Dream" (with Parallax) dropped in 2011 via their Hospitality Festival Drum & Bass compilation, but by that point, his work as Mat Zo was already taking off.

Previously Known As: Ewun

Notable Tracks: "Face Off" / "Screw Up"

Before Kill the Noise became an undeniable figure within the American EDM scene, he was an American drum & bass producer making tracks that were getting signed by Evol Intent, Lifted Music, and Barcode Recordings. Like many producers within his graduating class, he got bit by the bass music bug, and decided to start Kill the Noise as a guise to release this material. The rest, as they say, is history: He linked up with OWSLA, has worked with Korn, and is flying the flag for the American dance music scene.

Previously Known As: Infiltrata

Notable Tracks: "You Don't Know Me" (with DJ Craze & GENR8) / "56 Fusion"

12th Planet actually had a pretty strong run as a drum & bass producer; his tunes as Infiltrata not only saw him releasing cuts on Human Imprint, Barcode, and Gasm, but it was his affiliation with Photek's TEKDBZ camp that was the real high-water mark. At a time where Photek was assembling an army of like-minded producers that understood the fusion between hip-hop and drum & bass/dance music, he handpicked Infiltrata as one of his crew. The TEKDBZ wave fizzled out, but Infiltrata kept on, even starting his own Infiltrata label, before ultimately getting his dubstep on as 12th Planet.

Previously Known As: Spor

Notable Tracks: "Aztec" / "Dreadnought"

For a time, Spor was one of the most beloved drum & bass producers in the scene. He linked up with Renegade Hardware early into his career, helping mold the harder, more aggresive sound that was rising in the late 2000s. That wasn't his only sound, though, and through Lifted Music, Spor's sound really started to develop, incorporating deeper flavors and vibes throughout his productions, which earned him spots on other respected imprints, from Shogun Audio to Subtitles. His last dnb tune, "Ziggurat," was released by Lifted in 2012, and there's not been any word as to if he has any more drum & bass tracks up his sleeve, although with the way Feed Me took off, we wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't revisit dnb ever again.

Previously Known As: Clipz

Notable Tracks: "Pitch Dem Up" / "Funk Physics"

Clipz was part of a new wave in the Full Cycle crew, aligning with them in 2003 to create some dancefloor-infused bangers that left many heads divided; sure, cuts like "Pitch Dem Up" did damage in the club, but was this what people wanted from Full Cycle? It didn't really matter, as he had more than enough to give, releasing a string of well-received singles throughout most of the 2000s, including a number of collaborations with DJ Die.

In 2009, word came that the infectious riddims from Redlight were from noneother than DJ Clipz, with tracks like "Stupid" and the dynamic "What You Talking About" being too good to pass up. There's been no sight of Clipz since these tracks took off.

Previously Known As: Telemetrik

Notable Tracks: "Exit Civilization" / "Space Coke"

The Telemetrik output is the personification of quality over quantity. As one half of Corrupt Souls, Telemetrik helped usher in a sharper focus to the neurofunk side of drum & bass, gaining the attention of Black Sun Empire, who released his My Lightyear album in 2008. We're not sure how long he'd been cultivating that sound for a few years before re-emerging as Alvin Risk in 2011, but we definitely haven't heard much about Telemetrik since.

Previously Known As: Slum Dogz, DJ Picto

Notable Tracks: "Annihilator" / "Bad VIP"

Truth be told, Doctor P's work outside of drum & bass has reaped way more rewards, but he did, for a time, create some knocking jump up drum & bass both as DJ Picto and as one half of Slum Dogz, releasing tracks on Maximum Boost and Maximum Ammo.

Previously Known As: Knick (of Evol Intent)

Notable Tracks: "Hit List (with The Enemy)" / "Take That" (with Gigantor)

The trio of Evol Intent helped create the appreciation of the US drum & bass scene has today, and Bro Safari was one of its members. This trio has been affiliated with bringing more of a glitchy sound to the mix (just check the breakdown from their beautiful remix of Pish Posh's "Corrupt Copz"), and it paid off, with Renegade Hardware, Barcode, Outbreak, Lifted Music, Non Vogue, and Human Imprint all snapping up releases from them during their time in the sun.

While there's not much in the way of solo dnb material from Knick, it should be noted that the first few singles on Evol Intent were tracks he did with Gigantor. When all of Evol Intent started doing their own solo projects, Knick was the one who went through many different guises, from Minus Music and LUDACHRIST to Bro Safari, which has definitely taken off.

Previously Known As: The Enemy (of Evol Intent)

Notable Tracks: "Seedic" / "The Reign"

The Enemy saw a number of 12" vinyl singles (both solo and shared) get released on Killing Sheep early into his career. Knick and The Enemy linked up for "Hit List" on the Atlanta-based 404audio imprint in 2004, but most of their output together has been as part of Evol Intent. There's been no solo The Enemy material since 2005, and rarely any drum & bass, as his house/disco love is being shared across the world with his Treasure Fingers work.

Previously Known As: Gigantor (of Evol Intent)

Notable Tracks: "Hook Echo"

As we mentioned earlier, Gigantor and Knick were featured on the first two Evol Intent singles. There was a solo cut, "Hook Echo," that Cymbalism signed to their Cymbalism Limited imprint, and the mighty "Take That" from Knick and Gigantor ended up on Ewun's Phone Tap EP in remixed form. Gigantor has since created Computer Club, where he experiments with any sound he sees fit... including drum & bass.

Previously Known As: Marcus Intalex

Notable Tracks: "Chip" / "Indulge"

Marcus Intalex is an important figure within the drum & bass movement, and his imprint (Soul:R) is one of the most important labels within the liquid/soulful drum & bass spectrum. He has had an affinity for techno and house for years; you can hear some acid influence in his drum & bass work, and he had been performing special techno DJ sets around the country. In 2011, he slowly started to release his original techno tracks as Trevino, and has gained loads of acclaim.

Previously Known As: Natural Kauses

Notable Tracks: "Grins 'N' Games"

Before getting production credit on Korn's EDM-influenced The Path of Totality (which also featured Skrilex and Kill the Noise), Flinch was one half of Natural Kauses, who had a handful of releases, including this amazing bit for Xposure Recordings.

Previously Known As: DJ Dose

Notable Tracks: "Rat Bastard" (with D Tox)

The masked-dubstep vandal was something of an enigma; many had heard he dabbled in drum & bass, causing a lot of panic than truly necessary. Surely, we don't write drum & bass, and "Rat Bastard" is a good tune, but we wonder if people felt let down that the guy who made "So Vexed" also, randomly, made drum & bass under a moniker they probably hadn't heard.

Previously Known As: Alix Perez

Notable Tracks: "Magnolias" / "Contradictions"

Truth be told, Alix Perez is probably bigger than his bass music alias ARP101, but ARP did get a handful of tunes over the last three years, and we imagine some have no idea that they were connected. Alix's done a lot of drum & bass work dating back to his early releases on Fokuz, Horizons Music, and Creative Source. Friction started snapping up Alix's music in 2007, and while he's put out tunes on Metalheadz, Neosignal, and Soul:R, his drum & bass home is Shogun Audio. They put out his 1984 album, and as we recently heard that they're putting out his next project.