Taking a look at the big bright yellow lettering of DJ Hype‘s non-too subtle Essentials compilation, I can’t help but be reminded of the flood of €3.99 UK garage compilations that flooded bargain bins in years past. Where that oft-woed genre has morphed into something altogether more interesting today (grime, dubstep), dnb has largely stalled.

Like its whiter-than-white dance-floor chum electro, the most successful dnb in recent years has taken its cues from rock music; the result being a turgid mix of ultra compressed guitars sandwiched between masochistic synth stabs and ‘donking’ beats. On the basis of this compilation dnb has settled into a mentality of no-brainer riffage; all big distorted basslines looped to endless and aimless conclusions. It’s a compilation which in a sense highlights the contemporary limits of the genre, fallen willingly into the ‘harder faster stronger’ motif laid down by stalwarts such as Hype.

Whereas dubstep upstarts like Appleblim and Pangaea have become the gate keepers of choppy basslines and transcendent ambient drifts, dnb has largely been left behind with nothing but a jaded a 2-step beat, sucked lifeless by rock-hybrid NRG hoovering and the tech-hammering of the ‘ave it large’ Butlin‘s contingent.

It’s claustrophobic, software reliant stuff,  looped solely ON a four bar beat as opposed to riding it; a stark contrast to the pioneering work of LTJ Bukem, Photek and pre-Eastenders Goldie.

Clichéd as it might sound, DJ Hype‘s compilation has, for the most part, missed out on a key component to the makings of this music’s true greatness – soul. Aside from High Contrast‘s input, this collection is a by-the-by mixed bag of Dutch teen bedroom music, as limited in length (most tracks clock in around the 2.40 mark) as it is in creativity. LTJ Bukem‘s Fabric Live compilation is doing the rounds now, buy that instead.