5 Drum and Bass EDM Artists to Hear First, Old and New

The best drum and bass EDM artists to start with are Goldie for the origins, Andy C for the club headliner sound, Noisia for dark and technical bass, Chase & Status for chart-friendly energy, and Bou for what is selling right now. A good pick has a deep catalog, a clear sound, and one track you can play today. Choose by mood: roots and atmosphere, rave-speed mixing, headphone-heavy sound design, festival hooks, or the current scene.

The problem is that drum and bass is a huge genre. It grew out of UK jungle in the early 1990s, usually runs at 160 to 180 BPM, and splits into styles like liquid, neurofunk and jump up that sound nothing alike. Most artist lists name dozens of acts with no guidance on where to press play first.

At RIKIO ROCKS we follow the EDM scene daily, so this list works as a short, ordered route in. Each of the five artists below gets the same treatment: why they matter, which release to start with, and who they suit. Each entry also names a few related acts, so one good pick leads to the next.

Goldie helped turn jungle into drum and bass. He released "Terminator" as Rufige Kru in 1992, then founded Metalheadz in 1994 as a home for darker, more technical records. His debut album Timeless arrived in 1995 and showed that the genre could be cinematic.

Among drum and bass EDM artists of the 90s, few shaped the sound as widely. Later producers borrowed his sense of atmosphere, from the strings to the long, slow-building arrangements.

Goldie is the answer when you want to hear where the genre came from.

Start with Timeless if you like moody, jazz-tinged drum and bass and prefer albums to single tracks. It is less about drops and more about mood, so it suits late-night listening better than a gym session.

• Start with: "Inner City Life" from Timeless (1995)
• Then try: Roni Size & Reprazent, New Forms, which won the 1997 Mercury Prize
• Also in this lane: Photek (Modus Operandi, 1997) and Dillinja

Andy C co-founded Ram Records in 1992 and became the best-known DJ in the genre. He is famous for fast, layered mixing across three decks, cutting tracks in and out at a pace few DJs match.

Few drum and bass EDM artists have headlined for as long, and that matters if you want to understand the live side. His sets show what the music does on a big system.

Andy C is the best way to hear drum and bass the way a crowd hears it.

Andy C suits club and festival listeners who like constant momentum. Because he is a DJ first, his mix compilations and the Ram Records catalog tell you more than any single production credit.

• Start with: "Workout" and his Ram Records mixes
• Then try: the wider Ram roster
• Also in this lane: Wilkinson, whose "Afterglow" is a widely played crossover tune

Noisia is a Dutch trio and the leading name in neurofunk, the dark, machine-tight side of drum and bass. They run their own label, Vision Recordings, and their sound design is widely studied by producers.

The sound is cold, precise and heavy. Where Goldie sounds like a city at night, Noisia sounds like the machines running it.

Noisia is the pick if you want drum and bass as pure sound design.

Noisia suits headphone listeners and aspiring producers. If you make music yourself, the layering of basslines and drums rewards close listening more than any other act here.

• Start with: the album Split the Atom (2010)
• Then try: Outer Edges (2016)
• Also in this lane: Black Sun Empire and Mefjus

Chase & Status are a London duo, Saul Milton and Will Kennard, who brought drum and bass to the mainstream. Their 2011 album No More Idols mixed bass music with vocal hooks, including "Blind Faith."

Ask who the biggest DnB artist is and the answer depends on the measure. For reach beyond the genre, it is Chase & Status. For influence, Goldie. For club headlining, Andy C.

Chase & Status are the easiest door into drum and bass for a pop or festival listener.

This duo suits newcomers, festival fans and anyone building a workout playlist. The production is big, the hooks are clear, and the tempo keeps you moving.

• Start with: "Blind Faith" from No More Idols
• Then try: Sub Focus, whose "Rock It" and "Tidal Wave" are festival staples
• Also in this lane: Pendulum, who play drum and bass with a rock band's energy, and Dimension

Bou is the new-generation pick. On Beatport's list of best-selling drum and bass artists of 2025, Bou ranked first and Sub Focus second. The rest of that top ten includes Kanine, Culture Shock and Grafix.

Sales charts are only a snapshot, but they show where today's dancefloors are. Among current drum and bass EDM artists, Bou is the one whose sound defines the high-energy, rave-ready style younger crowds are chasing.

Bou is the quickest way to hear what drum and bass sounds like right now.

Bou suits listeners who want the current scene, not the history. Expect hard drops and vocal chants built for big crowds.

• Start with: "Baddadan," with Chase & Status, Irah, Flowdan and Takura
• Then try: Sub Focus, who ranked second on that chart
• Also in this lane: Kanine, Culture Shock, Grafix, Hedex and, for a softer liquid sound, Hybrid Minds

These five artists cover the genre's span: Goldie for the roots, Andy C for the live craft, Noisia for the darkest sound design, Chase & Status for the crossover, and Bou for the present. If you only have time for one tune each, play the "start with" picks in that order and you will hear thirty years of the genre.

Pay attention to which one you replay. That tells you whether to follow the atmospheric, neurofunk, festival or current-scene thread next, using the related names in each entry.

Because drum and bass runs fast, it is also great training music. If you want more high-tempo tracks for a workout, try the CARDIO HITS 2026 playlist on Spotify and keep following RIKIO ROCKS for daily EDM news.