Appendix: real live music: Zomby.

Animal Collective, "Summertime Clothes (Zomby's Analog Lego Mix)" "Summertime Clothes" 12-inch (Domino 2009)

This song gave Zomby a vessel to get loose and light-hearted, something he doesn't do easily, or for long: the spry beat baubles ride gauzily to start, but he can't help himself. Halfway through he throws in low-blazing dubsteppy pops and light samples from the original that make Animal Collective sound like Enigma, which is to say, a bunch of Gregorian monks chanting in a cave. JES

Zomby, "Helter Skelter" One Foot Ahead Of The Other EP (Ramp Recordings 2009)

Rave culture is so completely embedded into the British lexicon that the words "raving" and "partying" are interchangeable. "Helter Skelter" probably takes its name from one of the longest running raves in the country, something that started out as an illegal outdoor event in 1989 and morphed into a sprawling 18,000 reveler-deep extravaganza by the mid-'90s. A lot like Zomby, Helter Skelter existed at the intersection of so many UK dance genres--there were massive marquees housing the best DJs from drum and bass, happy hardcore and acid house. It was like one big blissed-out rave amusement park. By the time I was old enough to finance a rave habit, Helter Skelter nights had moved up north. Listening to this track makes me a little less bummed that I missed it. CN

Zomby, "U Are My Fantasy (Street Fighter II Theme Remix)" Where Were U in 92? (Werk Records 2008)

It's cliche to reference video games when talking about electronic music unless you're nerding out on some 8-bit dudes who spend their nights dreaming about wifing Zelda, but Zomby reworking the Street Fighter II theme is some special shit. The original sounded like "Rhythm is a Dancer" meets "Eye of the Tiger," but "Fantasy" is full martial arts with a drum and bass touchstone, underscoring the seriousness of maiming your opponent with a Sumo Head Butt or Psycho Crusher in a Sudden Death Match--or on the dancefloor. JES

Kick Like a Mule, "The Bouncer" 12-inch (Tribal Bass Records 1992)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In UK slang, when a man is described as "hench," it means he is built like a brick shit house--basically a tank. Zomby's song "Hench" uses the same sample as "The Bouncer," a track that neo-rave duds the Klaxons covered really poorly a few years ago. "Hench" has all the intense moodiness of an early drum and bass tune, with the kind of beats that chased a lot of female ravers off the scene in the mid-'90s. Around the same time, jungle raves entered a period I like to call "the darkness"--shit got overcrowded and violent, and the old school bouncers were replaced with pitbull-wielding henchmen. It's actually my least favorite tune on the album because it literally gives me nightmarish flashbacks. This one's for the pea-brained asshole who frisked me back in '96. CN

Zomby, "Float" Where Were U in 92? (Werk Records 2008)

Old school New York house heads are serious. My spin class instructor is one of them and only plays classics in the dark with disco lights lazering our sweat. The playlist is not up for discussion. But one day after class, I played her "Float" off my iPod and she was fiending. Maybe it was just the Aaliyah sample but I doubt it, 'cause this is like Zomby doing 21st Century hip-house, true to form but totally on a spaceship somewhere. Break out the Boy London and polka dots. JES

Cutty Ranks Six Million Ways to Die (Priority 1996)

Figuring out exactly when dub started being cut with acid house is a little tricky. A lot of folks cite SL2's "On a Ragga Tip," which was a huge commercial dance hit and, incidentally, was also produced in 1992. On "Where Were U in '92?," Zomby samples "A Who Seh Me Dun," the Cutty Ranks reggae classic that I would argue was at the ragga jungle tipping point. I can't remember the number of Cutty remixes that I heard in the early '90s ("Limb By Limb" was another really popular one) but it's what prompted me to buy my first Jungle Mania compilation. Funnily enough, 1992 saw the biggest boom in the history of UK radio piracy, and a lot of those new stations were keeping kids too young to rave dancing in their bedrooms all night long. CN

COMPILED BY CHIOMA NNADI AND JULIANNE ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD