At its peak in the UK, circa 1992 and ’93, rave split apart into two distinct cultures: the manic, piano-fuelled “happy hardcore” and its evil twin “darkside,” which introduced horror atmospherics, along with the dread bass pressure of ragga and dub and the threat of gangsta rap (a key early track, “Nightmare” by Kid Unknown on WARP, sampled Ice-T’s line “I am a nightmare walking” for its hook). There was, of course, a racial and cultural subtext to this: “darkness” became a metaphor, playing on and amplifying fears of blackness as the once-unifying rave scene splintered apart. Almost a decade later, a few south London musicians turned the funky shuffle of UK garage into the starker, heavier “new dark swing,” which intensified and became dubstep. This time, the darkness was literal: a move from glitzy clubs and dressing up to introspective, hoods-up dancing on dark, smoky dancefloors.