00 / ABOUT

Developer, DJ and explorer of digital things

Hello, I’m Jakub Urbanec — a Prague-based web developer and DJ performing under the name Urbik.

I have spent more than a decade working with the web, primarily on front-end applications, while continuously experimenting with graphics, games, audio, interaction and other areas where programming becomes more than just forms and buttons.

Outside software development, music is a major part of my life. I have been collecting electronic music and DJing for many years, playing mainly drum and bass, halftime, jungle and other forms of underground bass music.

Urbik performing at Dark Atmo Breaks — Urbik / Dark Atmo Breaks

Prague

Base
Czech Republic

10+

Development
years professionally

Primary field
Front-end engineering

Urbik

DJ name
Alternative bass

01 / PROFILE

Three important parts of my life

Web development

I build modern web applications with JavaScript and TypeScript, primarily using React, Vue, Next.js and Nuxt.

I enjoy solving architecture, performance and interaction problems rather than treating front-end development purely as UI implementation.

Music

As Urbik, I play alternative electronic music with a strong focus on drum and bass, halftime, modern jungle and deeper experimental sounds.

I previously organized the Dark Atmo Breaks and BrainStorm club nights and currently focus primarily on DJing, mixes and musical exploration.

Jupiter

I am also the owner of Jupiter — Jupík — a golden hovawart and a fairly substantial part of my everyday life.

Hovawarts are large, intelligent working dogs, so living with one provides a useful counterbalance to spending too much time in front of a computer.

Offline mode

Away from the screen

When I am not programming, I am usually listening to music, preparing DJ sets, looking for new releases or spending time outside with Jupiter.

I am naturally drawn to things that involve exploration — whether that means discovering an unusual record, understanding how a browser renders graphics, experimenting with a new API or finding a new place during a long walk.

01 / DEVELOPER

Basic developer info

I am proficient in Vue as well as React, capable of working with framework ecosystems and component libraries, as well as developing new components, handling complex data transformations and integrating applications with APIs primarily through REST and WebSockets. I also have experience with build processes, deployment, debugging, performance optimization and more complex algorithms.

I have been working with TypeScript for about 4 years and Vue for around 5 years. I first used React professionally later than Vue, but I am comfortable working with both ecosystems. Altogether, I have approximately 13 years of experience with JavaScript.

Beyond conventional front-end development, I am strongly interested in computer graphics and interactive browser experiences. I have spent a significant amount of time working with Canvas 2D, animation, particles, compositing and real-time rendering, while also gradually expanding my knowledge of WebGL and GPU-based graphics.

I am also capable of working with JavaScript and TypeScript on the backend using Node.js at a solid level, although I consider front-end engineering, browser technologies and graphics to be my main areas of specialization.

Outside of work, music is probably my biggest interest. I perform as a DJ under the name Urbik, and I also have a large golden hovawart named Jupiter.

02 / PORTFOLIO

This portfolio webpage

Link to the repository: repository with extensive README.md

One of the reasons behind this portfolio is to present my work while also using the project as a place where I can experiment with web programming outside the constraints of commercial development.

From the technical side, one of my goals was to use a minimal number of libraries while keeping the application written in TypeScript and separating the front end and back end. The backend is deliberately simple and mainly provides server-side rendering using functionality shared with the front-end source.

The front end experiments with lower-level concepts normally hidden behind modern frameworks. One example is the use of JavaScript Proxy to implement a small reactive store. Rather than building another application entirely around an existing framework, I wanted to look underneath some of the abstractions I use professionally every day.

A major part of the visual identity of the portfolio comes from my separate generative graphics project Eraser. Integrating Eraser with the portfolio also created an interesting development challenge: keeping the visual system in its own project while maintaining a good development experience between both repositories and their shared environment.

03 / ERASER

Generative visual project

Eraser is my long-term generative visual project and probably the clearest connection between my interests in programming, computer graphics and music. It originally developed alongside my DJ work and takes its name from my original mix Eraser, which won a competition organized by Decoded Magazine.

The visual explores transformation, distortion and the boundary between recognizable shapes and abstraction. Elements can appear structured or almost organic for a moment and then dissolve, collide or become unstable. I am interested in creating something that feels generated by a system while still having a strong visual character rather than looking like a conventional screensaver or visualization.

Technically, Eraser is a real-time browser graphics experiment built from multiple rendering layers. The current visual combines WebGL with two Canvas 2D layers. Much of the visual complexity comes from large numbers of particles, transparency, blending and different compositing operations.

Keeping a substantial part of the project in Canvas 2D is intentional. I like the API and the flexibility of its compositing model, even though this also makes performance one of the most challenging parts of the project. Large transparent areas, particle rendering and multiple stacked canvases can become expensive, especially at high resolutions.

Because of that, Eraser has also become a practical playground for investigating how browsers actually render graphics. I have spent a lot of time profiling frame rendering, reducing unnecessary drawing, experimenting with batching and state changes, studying alpha and composite-operation costs and looking at the interaction between CPU rasterization, GPU acceleration and the browser compositor.

Multi-layer real-time rendering using WebGL and Canvas 2D
Particle systems, transparency and compositing
Procedural and generative visual behaviour
Browser rendering and frame-rate optimization
Experimentation with the boundary between 2D raster graphics and GPU rendering
Integration as the main generative visual layer of this portfolio

The project continues to evolve as I learn more about browser graphics. My current direction is to keep exploring what can be achieved with Canvas 2D while gradually introducing more GPU-driven techniques through WebGL and, eventually, WebGPU where they make sense.

04 / GAMES

Game development

I have loved games since childhood, and they were one of the reasons I became interested in programming in the first place. When I started learning web development around 15 years ago, one of my first larger projects was a D&D-inspired browser game built using PHP 5, JavaScript, jQuery and XHR.

I originally imagined that game development might eventually become a career. As the industry and the complexity of modern games grew, however, I followed web development professionally instead. Game development nevertheless remained one of my hobbies and an important reason for my continuing interest in graphics, animation and interactive systems.

I experimented with several smaller games, with two projects becoming presentable enough to mention here. The first is a simple Asteroids-like browser game built with JavaScript, Canvas and EaselJS. The second is Quarantine Zone: Warfare, a mobile top-down shooter developed with Solar2D.

Quarantine Zone: Warfare eventually grew into a considerably more ambitious project. It has never been publicly released and remains a work in progress, but developing it taught me a lot about game loops, object management, animation, interaction and designing systems that have to operate continuously in real time.

01 / BIO

Music Bio

Beyond programming, music has always been one of the most important parts of my life. I perform under the name Urbik and have been collecting electronic music and DJing for well over a decade.

What started as an obsession with discovering new records gradually developed into regular club performances, radio appearances, DJ competitions, guest mixes and eventually my own event series.

My musical roots are primarily in drum and bass. I discovered the genre during the period when drum and bass was becoming increasingly visible in Prague, and over time I became much more interested in its less conventional edges than in its mainstream forms. That gradually led me towards deeper drum and bass, autonomic, halftime, modern jungle, experimental bass music and other sounds built around broken rhythms.

Urbik performing at Let It Roll — Urbik / Let It Roll Winter Warm Up

I am especially interested in music that has a strong individual character: unusual rhythm, atmosphere, sound design or structure. I do not approach DJing as simply playing a sequence of recognizable tracks. For me, selection is the most important part of the process. I enjoy finding music that is overlooked, connecting records from different scenes and periods, and building sets that have their own identity.

A major turning point came around 2022, when I started performing regularly in Prague clubs and became much more involved in the local scene. During that period I won several DJ contests, started receiving more bookings and eventually founded my own club nights, Dark Atmo Breaks and BrainStorm.

Although drum and bass remains the center of my musical identity, I do not want my sets to be limited by genre labels. Depending on the context, I can move through 170 BPM jungle, halftime, autonomic, broken beat, bass music, techno-influenced material and slower experimental electronics. The common element is usually rhythm, atmosphere and music that does not immediately reveal everything about itself.

02 / SOUND

My Sound

My sets are usually rooted in bass and breaks, but I am more interested in a particular feeling than in maintaining a strict genre definition. I tend to look for music that sits somewhere between functional club music and more detailed listening music.

Within drum and bass, I am particularly drawn to the space around halftime, autonomic and modern jungle: music where rhythm can breathe, where silence and space matter, and where the relationship between percussion, sub-bass and atmosphere is often more important than constant intensity.

At 170 BPM, I like sets that can move between stripped-down rhythmic tracks, abstract sound design, deeper rollers, modern jungle and atmospheric material without becoming either relentlessly dark or overly smooth. Contrast is important to me. A set can be heavy without being aggressive all the time, and experimental without losing its physical impact.

Drum and bass
Halftime
Autonomic
Modern jungle
Experimental bass music
Breaks and broken rhythms
Occasional excursions into techno and slower electronic music

03 / PROMOTER

Dark Atmo Breaks & BrainStorm

My involvement in music eventually moved beyond DJing. I founded Dark Atmo Breaks and later BrainStorm as event concepts focused on music that I felt was underrepresented in the regular Prague club program.

DAB

Dark Atmo Breaks

Built around deeper, darker and more experimental approaches to drum and bass, halftime and related bass music.

BrainStorm

Broadened that idea further, creating room for alternative forms of electronic music and for artists whose sets did not always fit easily into conventional genre-focused club nights.

Through these events I had the opportunity to perform together with friends, local DJs and artists such as Last Life, Heatwave and Fuj. The nights also gave me experience on the other side of club culture: programming lineups, communicating with artists and venues, promoting events and trying to create a coherent identity around a particular musical idea.

Organizing events significantly influenced how I think about DJing. A successful night is not simply a collection of individual sets. The sequence of artists, changes in energy and the relationship between different sounds can create a much larger musical narrative. That way of thinking also carries over into how I construct my own recorded and live sets.

At present, I am focusing primarily on DJing, recording mixes and developing my own musical direction rather than actively promoting regular club nights.

04 / GIGS

Selected Performances

Most of my performances have taken place in Prague and the Czech underground electronic scene, although I have also played outside Prague and been selected for international opportunities.

Shadowbox on Radio 1guest DJ appearance

Let It Roll Winter Warm Up, Pilsenwinner of the DJ contest

Dark Atmo Breaks eventspromoter and resident DJ

BrainStorm eventspromoter and resident DJ

Vzorkovnaregular performances and residency

Cross ClubPrague

Chapeau RougePrague

KlubovnaPrague

FAMUPrague

K7 and rest.artPrague

Festival VIDINY 2025Třeboň 105

Ravekjavik Festival, Polandselected through the YEAH initiative alongside artists including Bambi Uzi — eventually missed because of appendix surgery

I have also performed at smaller club nights, independent events and underground venues that are difficult to summarize in a single list. These smaller events have often been equally important to me because they provide more freedom for unusual selections and longer musical journeys.

05 / SETS

Recorded Sets & Guest Mixes

Recorded mixes are an important part of my DJ work. A club set is influenced by the room, the time of night and the audience, while a recorded mix offers much more freedom to construct a specific musical idea from beginning to end.

I enjoy preparing mixes that can function almost like self-contained pieces. Selection, sequencing and transitions are used to create a progression rather than simply demonstrating a collection of tracks. Some mixes stay tightly focused on one sound, while others deliberately connect several related styles.

Over the years I have recorded guest mixes for a number of collectives, radio projects and platforms:

Syhda Music

Dub Logic

Vykhod Sily

Rádio Punctum

Dark Atmo Breaks mix seriesown series

The Dark Atmo Breaks mix series extends the philosophy of the club night into recorded form. It gives me a place to present music I particularly value without having to adapt the selection to a specific dancefloor or event.

My mixes often contain music from producers and labels occupying the more experimental sides of drum and bass and jungle. Depending on the particular recording, this can include sparse halftime, modern jungle, atmospheric 170 BPM material, autonomic-influenced tracks and more abstract forms of bass music.

06 / SELECTION

How I Approach DJing

I see DJing primarily as curation. Technical mixing matters, but technique alone cannot make a set interesting. The most important decisions happen before and during the selection of the music itself: what to include, what to leave out, what should follow what, and how long a particular mood should be allowed to develop.

I spend a lot of time searching for music and following artists, labels and smaller scenes. Digging is therefore almost inseparable from DJing for me. I enjoy finding tracks before they become familiar, discovering older music that still sounds unusual today, and hearing relationships between records that were never necessarily intended to belong together.

I generally prefer long transitions and gradual changes when the material allows it, but I do not try to force every record into the same mixing style. Some tracks benefit from blending, others from contrast or an abrupt shift. The musical idea should determine the technique, not the other way around.

I am also interested in working outside the limitations of a traditional two-deck setup. For some recorded sets I have used VirtualDJ with four virtual decks, allowing additional layers, extended transitions and more control over how individual pieces of music interact.

Ultimately, I want a set to feel deliberate without sounding over-planned. The goal is to create a coherent world for an hour or two while still leaving enough room for surprise.

07 / INFLUENCES

Labels, Artists & Musical Direction

A large part of my taste developed around producers and labels that expanded the vocabulary of drum and bass rather than simply refining an established formula. I have always been attracted to scenes where drum and bass meets sound design, techno, ambient music, dub and experimental electronics.

Samurai Music and the wider musical world around it have been an especially important reference point for me, together with the autonomic movement and the later development of halftime drum and bass. I am interested in the line that connects those earlier experiments with contemporary producers pushing 170 BPM music in new directions.

Producers such as Last Life, gyrofield, Quartz, Overlook, Mako and Rainforest represent different parts of that spectrum and have all appeared in or influenced selections I have worked with. What connects them for me is not one specific sound, but the willingness to treat drum and bass as an open format rather than a fixed genre template.

LAST LIFE · GYROFIELD · QUARTZ · OVERLOOK · MAKO · RAINFOREST

08 / NOW

Current Direction

At the moment I am concentrating more on DJing and recorded mixes than on organizing events. This gives me more time to dig for music, develop new sets and explore the part of drum and bass that interests me most.

Modern jungle and experimental 170 BPM music are currently especially important to me. I am interested in sets that combine the physical energy of drum and bass with the detail and freedom usually associated with more experimental electronic music.

I do not want Urbik to become associated with one narrowly defined subgenre. The project is ultimately about selection: finding original music, placing it in the right context and creating sets that offer something different from what can be heard on an average night out.

From half-step
to abstract 170

The sparse, dark, techno-informed halftime sound associated with contemporary Samurai Music is the result of several overlapping developments inside drum & bass rather than one single genre lineage.

Last Life · “Tensor” · Samurai Music · 2023

01 / TIMELINE

How halftime developed

1990s — mid 2000s

Pre-history

Half-time before “halftime”

Half-time passages already existed throughout jungle and drum & bass, but primarily as a rhythmic technique rather than a distinct scene. Producers could reduce the apparent pulse while keeping the underlying tempo in the 160–175 BPM range.

LOXY · BREAKAGE · dBRIDGE · AMIT

~2004 — 2007

Recognizable half-step

The technique expands

Whole sections and tracks increasingly use heavy half-step rhythms instead of treating them only as breakdown devices. The sound still belongs clearly to drum & bass, but the slower perceived pulse becomes a compositional idea in its own right.

BREAKAGE · LOXY · AMIT · DARK D&B / DUB-INFORMED EXPERIMENTS

2008 — 2010

Major turning point

Autonomic changes the grammar

dBridge and Instra:mental radically reduce rhythmic density. Negative space, electro, ambient, techno and R&B influences enter the 170 BPM grid, while the dominant physical pulse often feels closer to 85 BPM.

dBRIDGE · INSTRA:MENTAL · ASC · CONSEQUENCE · STRAY · VACCINE

dBridge — “Wonder Where”Nonplus 001 · 2009

Instra:mental — “Watching You”Nonplus 002 · 2009

2009 — 2011

Dissemination

The Autonomic vocabulary spreads

Records such as “Wonder Where”, “No Future” and “Watching You”, followed by FabricLive.50 and the wider Exit ecosystem, expose this language beyond a small experimental D&B circle.

NONPLUS+ · EXIT · FABRIC · MOSAIC

2011 — 2014

Second mutation

Footwork and slow/fast

Footwork, juke, hip-hop and dubstep collide with the Autonomic approach. Producers increasingly treat 160–170 BPM as an open rhythmic grid rather than a fixed two-step drum pattern.

OM UNIT · FRACTURE · SAM BINGA · MACHINEDRUM · SKEPTICAL · STRAY

19 Dec 2011

Bridge record

Dub Phizix & Skeptical feat. Strategy — “Marka”

Sparse, dancehall-influenced and unmistakably half-step, “Marka” demonstrates how far D&B can move away from conventional two-step while still remaining inside the genre's ecosystem.

EXIT RECORDS

Dub Phizix & Skeptical feat. Strategy — “Marka”Exit Records · 2011

2012 — 2014

Scene formation

Halftime becomes recognizable

The slow/fast idea becomes coherent enough to be understood as a wider stylistic movement. 80/85 BPM body movement, fast percussion, footwork syncopation, jungle breaks and hip-hop swing coexist in the same tracks.

OM UNIT · FRACTURE · SAM BINGA · IVY LAB · ALIX PEREZ · FIXATE

Om Unit — “Corridor 2013”Civil Music · 2013

Sam Binga — “Freezy”Critical / Modulations · 2013

2014 — 2017

Maximum visibility

Halftime becomes a scene identity

Hip-hop, LA beats, crunk, trap, footwork, jungle and D&B production converge. This is the period when “halftime” is most visible as a named musical movement.

IVY LAB · 20/20 LDN · CRITICAL · EXIT · 1985 · SHADES

Ivy Lab — “Sunday Crunk”Critical Music · 2014

2015

Grey Area

85 / 170 meets techno

Samurai Horo and ASC's Auxiliary formalize another direction: intentionally ambiguous music between 85/170 BPM structures and techno around 128 BPM.

ASC · SAM KDC · PRESHA · HORO · AUXILIARY

“Grey Area 1”Grey Area · 2015

2015 — 2017

Dark experimental fork

The Samurai / Horo lineage crystallizes

Less hip-hop swagger; more negative space, ritualistic repetition, dub pressure, industrial texture, polyrhythm, techno influence and sparse break manipulation.

ASC · SAM KDC · FIS · ENA · HOMEMADE WEAPONS · THE UNTOUCHABLES · TORN

2017 onward

Mature language

Abstract 160 / 170 becomes its own aesthetic

The darker branch increasingly treats tempo as a structural grid rather than a genre rule. Conventional D&B drum architecture can disappear for long stretches without the music losing its connection to the 160–170 continuum.

SAMURAI MUSIC · HORO / SAIBAI · HOMEMADE WEAPONS · TORN · THE UNTOUCHABLES

Homemade Weapons — “Tylos”Samurai Music · 2017

Torn — “It Should Be Seen As A Disease”Samurai Music · 2017

2024 — 2026

Present state

Smaller label, wider language

Halftime is less prominent as a genre name, but its rhythmic vocabulary has spread through experimental D&B, 160, techno hybrids and leftfield bass music. The darker Samurai lineage remains active as a specialized underground ecosystem.

EXPERIMENTAL D&B · 160 · TECHNO HYBRIDS · LEFTFIELD BASS

ASC — “S100”Samurai Music · 2024

02 / AUTONOMIC

Why Autonomic mattered

Space became rhythmic information.

Autonomic did more than move a snare into half-time. It weakened the assumption that drum & bass had to be identified by one particular drum pattern.

Conventional D&B implication

K — S — K — S

Autonomic perception

K ——————— S ———————

Negative space

Silence and empty space become active compositional elements rather than gaps waiting to be filled.

85 / 170 ambiguity

The same track can suggest an 85 BPM physical groove and a fast 170 BPM rhythmic grid at the same time.

Outside influences

Electro, ambient, R&B, techno, dubstep and hip-hop fit naturally inside high-tempo music.

D&B without two-step

Footwork, techno, hip-hop and abstract percussion can all inhabit the 160–175 BPM continuum.

03 / SPLIT

Autonomic did not lead to one sound

Common ancestorAutonomic / experimental 170

BRANCH A

Beats / bass halftime

The internationally visible halftime movement.

HIP-HOP SWING

TIMBALAND / DILLA

808 WEIGHT

FOOTWORK

CRUNK / LA BEATS

EXPERIMENTAL BASS

Associated artistsIvy Lab · Sam Binga · Om Unit · Fracture · Alix Perez · EPROM / SHADES · Fixate

BRANCH B

Dark experimental

The lineage most relevant to sparse, techno-informed Samurai halftime.

AUTONOMIC SPACE

MINIMAL DARK D&B

DUB / TECHNO

POLYRHYTHM

INDUSTRIAL DETAIL

85 / 170 AMBIGUITY

Associated artistsASC · Sam KDC · FIS · Ena · Homemade Weapons · The Untouchables · Torn

04 / PEAK

When was halftime biggest?

2011–14

Creative explosion: slow/fast, footwork, Exit and post-Autonomic experimentation.

2013–17

The broad period in which halftime becomes a recognizable scene and identity.

2015–16

Approximate centre of maximum international visibility.

05 / LINEAGE

The condensed family tree

Experimental jungle / D&B1990s → early 2000s

Loxy / Breakage / Amitearly half-step experiments

dBridge + Instra:mental — AUTONOMIC2008/09 → 2010

ASC / Consequence / Exit / Mosaicminimal 170

Beats branch

Footwork / slow-fast → Om Unit → Fracture → Sam Binga → Ivy Lab → 20/20 → Alix Perez / 1985 → SHADES

Dark experimental branch

ASC / Sam KDC → Samurai Horo → Grey Area → Homemade Weapons → The Untouchables → Torn → modern Samurai experimental 160 / 170

Half-time 160 × deep techno × experimental D&Bcontemporary continuation

06 / NOW

Halftime in 2026

↓

As a genre label
Past its period of maximum visibility.

→

As a rhythmic vocabulary
Deeply absorbed into modern bass music and experimental D&B.

↑

Dark 85 / 160 / 170 music
Small, specialized and still actively evolving.

07 / SAMURAI MUSIC TODAY

Samurai Music today

By 2026, Samurai Music has become a fluid 160 / 170 space where experimental D&B, deep techno, ambient pressure and reduced breakbeat music meet.

150–170 BPM

A wider field

The 2025 OHM Berlin night was framed around experimental techno and 170 hybrids: a clear signal that Samurai is no longer defined by a single half-time format.

SAIBAI / 2026

Structure over influence

Last Life’s work treats half-time 160 as a framework for stretched rhythm, metallic sound design and patient repetition, finding the shared structure between D&B and deep techno.

POST-GENRE 160 / 170

A changing catalogue

Sciama, Reeko, Marco Shuttle, Brendon Moeller, Mike Parker, Pugilist and Pianeti Sintetici sit alongside experimental D&B artists, extending one shared language of space, pressure and detailed rhythm.

08 / NEXT

A speculative future of halftime

This is a prediction rather than documented history. If the trajectory of the last fifteen years continues, halftime may become less identifiable as a genre and more important as a method for making tempo itself ambiguous.

Late 2020s

BPM stops defining the genre

Producers increasingly write music that can be mixed and perceived at 80, 120, 140, 160 or 170 without belonging completely to any of them. The interesting unit becomes rhythmic density, not the number displayed on a CDJ.

Late 2020s

Techno and D&B become structurally interchangeable

Rather than “D&B with techno sounds”, the deeper crossover may use techno's repetition and spatial development with jungle's micro-rhythm, allowing a track to mutate between both systems without a conventional drop or tempo switch.

Early 2030s

The breakbeat returns — but fragmented

Dense Amen programming is unlikely to disappear. A plausible next step is the coexistence of extremely detailed break fragments with the huge negative spaces inherited from Autonomic: maximal drum information appearing only in flashes.

Early 2030s

Halftime dissolves into a post-tempo continuum

The logical endpoint is not a bigger “halftime scene”. It is a club language where jungle, dub, techno, footwork and bass music share one elastic rhythmic vocabulary, with tempo functioning as perspective rather than identity.

SPECULATIVE OUTLOOK — These points are an inference from the historical direction described above, not claims about releases or scenes that already exist.

Autonomic established the conceptual grammar from which modern halftime emerged. Footwork and slow/fast expanded it, while Horo, Grey Area and Samurai pushed one branch toward increasingly abstract 160 / 170 territory.