Neurofunk

Neurofunk (also known informally as neuro) is a dark subgenre of drum and bass which emerged between 1997 and 1998 in London, England as a progression of techstep. It was further developed by juxtaposing elements of darker, heavier, and harder forms of funk with multiple influences ranging from techno, house and jazz.

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Wikidata ID

Q967654

The first sounds of neurofunk emerged from techstep within the larger musical genre of drum and bass and jungle during the late nineties. Techstep garnered a name for itself during the mid-nineties when rave (especially in the UK) was dying out, and amassed popularity quickly.[citation needed]

Neurofunk's early evolution – when diverging from techstep – can be heard on Ed Rush and Optical's Funktion (1997) single for V Recordings, as well as on their first album Wormhole (1998) for Virus Recordings.

The first known mention of the term was in the book Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture (1998) by Simon Reynolds. This is where the English music critic coined the name as a result of his personal perception of stylistic shifts in techstep – backbeats replacing breakbeats, funk harmonies replacing industrial timbres, and lack of emphasis on the drop:

"(Neurofunk) is the fun-free culmination of jungle's strategy of cultural resistance: the eroticization of anxiety."