Jamie xx explains an accidental discovery from the track Breather. He's been running an 808 through a guitar distortion pedal. The pedal reacted to the kick's level like a strange compressor, reshaping the whole drum sound depending on how hot the 808 hit.
Backing off the distortion let the snare's decay breathe, while pushing it added grit and glued the drums together. It sounds massive solo, but that same heavy character makes it hard to sit in a full mix without careful placement.
To solve that, Jamie layered in scratched and bounced snare snippets, a plain kick for extra weight, and small elements that pop in and drop out unpredictably. The goal was a glitchy, non-repetitive drum texture, that still holds together as a groove.