Future bass
Future bass is an EDM subgenre born in the 2010s which developed from EDM trap, dubstep and UK garage. While rooting in trap, future bass – as the name implies – is focusing on the bassline and has a warmer, bright sound, conveying a positive and often perceived as relaxed atmosphere. By 2016, future bass had almost completely merged with lovetrap.
Future bass tracks usually have a tempo between 130 and 175 bpm and a beat with a 4/4 time and featuring a syncopated hi-hat. Like in many other electronic music genres, the beats are often created on a Roland TR-808 drum computer. The bassline is typically created by detuned sawtooth or square waves, modulated by a low frequency oscillator controlling the cutoff of a low- or high-pass audio filter (resulting in a »wobbly« effect). Further characteristics include arpeggiated chords, vocal chops or vocoder vocals and a so-called »twinkly sound«, i.e. a gradual rise in pitch.
Some see earliest genre traces in Flying Lotus' (born Steven Ellison) 2006 album »1983«, an experimental hip hop album incorporating elements from dubstep and chill-trap. Considered as future bass pioneers are Scottish producers Rustie (born Russell Whyte) and Hudson Mohawke (born Ross Matthew Birchard) as well as American producer RL Grime (born Henry Steinway), known e.g. for his debut album »Void« (2014). Especially Rustie helped define future bass with his – now considered genre classics – EP »Sunburst« (2010) and LP »Glass Swords« (2011). Other genre pioneers and important records include Norwegian dj/producer Cashmere Cat (born Magnus August Høiberg) and his debut EP »Mirror Maru« (2012) as well as Dutch dj/producer San Holo (born Sander van Dijck) and his 2016 track »Light«.
YouTube channel Trap Nation soon incorporated the new genre and Flume’s 2013 remix of »You & Me« by Disclosure was the first genre hit which drew mainstream attention to future bass. Further mainstream success enjoyed French dj/producer DJ Snake (born William Grigahcine) with his lovetrap track »Middle« (2015) and US- American duo The Chainsmokers (consisting of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall) who had a string of big hits like »Roses« (2015), »Closer« (2016), »Something Just Like This« (2017, with Coldplay), »Who Do You Love« and »Takeaway« (both 2019).
One of the most popular future bass dj is US-American dj/producer Marshmello (born Christopher Comstock), known for e.g. his debut album »Joytime« (2016) or tracks like »Alone« (2016) or »Twinbow« (2017, with Slushii). Further notable genre artists include ILLENIUM and Louis the Child (consisting of Robby Hauldren and Frederic J. Kennett) from the United States and Dutch dj/producer Martin Garrix, known e.g. for »In the Name of Love« ( 2016, with Bebe Rexha).
With the EP »Kirara« by Japanese artist Snail’s House (born Keitaro Ujiie), 2015 saw the birth of the subgenre kawaii future bass (aka kawaii bass) which is characterized by strong influences of Japanese pop culture, chip tune sounds and the use of samples from anime or video games, resulting in a happy sound and cute appearance.
