{
  "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight",
  "theme": {
    "name": "Bass Weight",
    "criterion": "The sub-bass has to be the subject of the record, not its foundation. A track with an enormous low end that would survive being played on a small speaker does not belong here.",
    "drawnFrom": [
      {
        "slug": "drum-and-bass",
        "name": "Drum and Bass",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/"
      },
      {
        "slug": "dub",
        "name": "Dub",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/"
      },
      {
        "slug": "dubstep",
        "name": "Dubstep",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/"
      },
      {
        "slug": "uk-garage",
        "name": "UK Garage",
        "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/"
      }
    ]
  },
  "genre": null,
  "genreUrl": null,
  "brief": "One line, five records, forty years: Kingston to Croydon by way of every British rave that treated the sub-bass as the point rather than the foundation.",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/",
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "curator": {
    "slug": "the-desk",
    "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
    "bio": "The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.",
    "link": "https://waxonia.com/",
    "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/"
  },
  "ordered": false,
  "pickCount": 5,
  "years": {
    "first": 1976,
    "last": 2007
  },
  "picks": [
    {
      "trackKey": "the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/",
      "title": "Kunta Kinte Dub",
      "artist": "The Revolutionaries",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/",
      "year": 1976,
      "label": "Well Charge",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Kingston rhythm that would not stay in its decade. Sped up and cut into jungle plates twenty years later, it is the physical evidence that British bass music imported more than an attitude.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "dub",
          "name": "Dub",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six",
          "name": "1976",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-ghosts",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/",
      "title": "Original Nuttah",
      "artist": "Shy FX & UK Apache",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/",
      "year": 1994,
      "label": "SOUR",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The sound system and the sampler stop being separate traditions. A ragga vocal over an Amen break at 170 BPM, and nobody involved thought the combination needed explaining.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "drum-and-bass",
          "name": "Drum and Bass",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "nineteen-ninety-four",
          "name": "1994",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-160",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — 160",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-ghosts",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "double-99--rip-groove",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/",
      "title": "RIP Groove",
      "artist": "Double 99",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/",
      "year": 1997,
      "label": "Ice Cream",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Jungle's tempo halved and its aggression kept. Garage is usually filed as the friendly one, and this is the record that shows how thin that description always was.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "uk-garage",
          "name": "UK Garage",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=uR3Vw8J8vUo",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "skream--midnight-request-line",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/",
      "title": "Midnight Request Line",
      "artist": "Skream",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/",
      "year": 2005,
      "label": "Tempa",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The same 140 BPM grid with the kicks taken out and the low end left to do the work alone. The record that made dubstep legible to people who had never stood in front of a proper rig.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "dubstep",
          "name": "Dubstep",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-dubstep-goes-national",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "trackKey": "the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng/",
      "title": "Skeng",
      "artist": "The Bug featuring Killa P & Flowdan",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan/",
      "year": 2007,
      "label": "Ninja Tune",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The line closes. A dancehall vocal over a corroded synth bass, thirty years and five thousand miles from where it started, and it still sounds like the same argument.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "genre",
          "slug": "dubstep",
          "name": "Dubstep",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Bug%20featuring%20Killa%20P%20%26%20Flowdan%20Skeng",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}