Breakcore

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Breakcore is a style and microgenre of electronic dance music that emerged from jungle, hardcore, and drum and bass in the mid-to-late 1990s. [3] [4] It is characterized by very complex and intricate breakbeats and a wide palette of sampling sources played at high tempos.

Contents

History

American breakcore DJ Donna Summer performing live at Glastonbury Festival, UK DJDS at Glastonbury.jpeg
American breakcore DJ Donna Summer performing live at Glastonbury Festival, UK

As the early days of "hardcore techno" or just "hardcore" began to settle in Europe, breakcore as a genre began to take more concrete forms in other parts of the world. Inspired by new labels such as Addict, from Milwaukee, US; Peace Off from Rennes, France; Sonic Belligeranza from Bologna, Italy; and Planet Mu, from London, it began to take a new shape, adding in more elements of mashup and IDM [6] to the hardcore sounds. Each of these labels began to draw in aspects of their own social and aesthetic scenes into their music, allowing for an even broader definition of what was possible in the music.

In Europe, the breakcore genre was solidified by raves and club events such as Belgium's Breakcore Gives Me Wood, [7] featuring local acts such as UndaCova and Sickboy; Breakcore A Go Go, in the Netherlands, which was run by FFF and Bong-Ra; as well as Anticartel, in Rennes, the seat of PeaceOff, and later, Wasted, [7] in Berlin and Bangface in London.

Breakcore has been subject to changing and branching. Many newer breakcore artists (such as Mochipet etc.) focus on melodic progressions and complex drum programming while other artists still focus on distorted hardcore breakbeats and dark-edged musical influences (such as heavy metal and industrial). The artist Venetian Snares has produced breakcore blended with elements of classical music. [8] [9] Other artists such as Shitmat, Sickboy, DJ Scotch Egg, and Drop the Lime [10] take another direction towards mash-up, happy hardcore, and rave to make a lighter, more humorous sound. The rise of Chiptune music has also blended with breakcore with artists such as Tarmvred. The UK free party scene has also expressed a large interest in producing and distributing its own takes on breakcore, with crews and labels such as Life4land, Hekate, Headfuk, and Bad Sekta helping to push the scene and sound forward, as well as bringing over a number of international artists to play at their parties and club nights. Breakcore is steadily gaining in popularity, and aspiring artists are found scattered across the Internet. [2]

In Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer, sociologist Andrew Whelan notes that Venetian Snares has become "synonymous with breakcore such that alternative styles are being sidelined." [11] He adds that breakcore is the best example of a music genre whose development is intrinsically linked to online and peer-to-peer distribution. [12]

2020s revival

In the 2020s breakcore underwent a revival, bringing with it a noticeably different sound than the music produced in the 1990s and 2000s. According to Bandcamp Daily writer James Gui, 2020s breakcore is nostalgic, atmospheric, and sentimental, and grew out of the digital hardcore scene of the 2010s. It is accompanied by an aesthetic that draws from video games, anime, and internet culture with artists such as Machine Girl and Goreshit being influential to the revival's aesthetic and sound. [13]

Characteristics

The most defining characteristic of breakcore is the drum work, which is often based on the manipulation of the Amen break [14] and other classic jungle and hip-hop breaks at high BPM. The techniques applied to achieve this differs from musician to musician, some preferring to cut up and rearrange the breaks, while others merely distort and loop breaks or apply various effects such as delay and chorus to alter the break's timbre.

Melodically, there is nothing that defines breakcore. Classic rave sounds such as acid bass lines, Hoovers and Reese bass are common, but breakcore is mostly known for sampling sounds from all over the musical spectrum to accommodate the frantic and fast-paced nature of the rhythm section. Around the turn of the century, more and more breakcore musicians began employing traditional synthesis techniques to compose elaborate melodies and harmonies. There are a growing number of musicians who make use of recorded live instrumentation in their music, such as Istari Lasterfahrer, Hecate, Benn Jordan, Ruby My Dear, Qüatros, Venetian Snares, Drumcorps, and Igorrr.

According to Simon Reynolds of The New York Times , "purveyed by artists like DJ/Rupture and Teamshadetek, the [breakcore] music combines rumbling bass lines, fidgety beats and grainy ragga vocals to create a home-listening surrogate for the 'bashment' vibe of a Jamaican sound system party. Others within the breakcore genre, like Knifehandchop, Kid606 and Soundmurderer, hark back to rave's own early days, their music evoking the rowdy fervor of a time when huge crowds flailed their limbs to a barrage of abstract noise and convulsive rhythm. It's a poignant aural mirage of a time when techno music was made for the popular vanguard rather than a connoisseurial elite, as it is today." [15]

Raggacore

Raggacore is a style of music derived from ragga jungle that somewhat predates breakcore, characterized by ragga and dancehall rhythms and vocals. [16] Its roots can arguably be traced back to jungle producer Remarc, who was one of the first producers to mix ragga and dancehall vocals with chaotic and intricately rearranged break beats. While only a few producers primarily work in the style, it still has a sizable following among breakcore fans. Notable releases in this style include those by Aaron Spectre and Bong-Ra. [4]

Influences

In London, DJ Scud co-founded Ambush Records in 1997 with fellow producer Aphasic to focus on more extreme noise-oriented hardcore drum and bass. Some artists released on Ambush are Christoph Fringeli, Slepcy, The Panacea, and Noize Creator. "Scud and Nomex tracks like 'Total Destruction' helped create the blueprint for much of breakcore's sound, a high-bpm mash-up of hyperkinetic, post-jungle breaks, feedback, noise, and Jamaican elements paired with a devil-may-care attitude towards sampling that pulls from the broadest musical spectrum of styles (hip-hop, rock, industrial, pop, and beyond)." [7]

At the same time, Bloody Fist Records based in Newcastle, Australia, released many records of hardcore/gabber, industrial, and noise. Artists signed to Bloody Fist in its lifetime include Syndicate, Xylocaine, Epsilon and Nasenbluten. Label founder Mark Newlands said, in 1997, "I think that the uncomfortableness also comes from a reaction towards the mainstream and popular culture that's constantly shoved down our throats, that's forced on the people via television, radio, mass media, etc. I think that also fuels the fire and keeps the aggressiveness there and the uncomfortableness." [17] Newlands described their music as products of "cut'n'paste mentality" and an industrial environment. [18] In her Experimental Music, Gail Priest credits the label as recognized globally for its contributions to the breakcore genre, [19] [20] and for spurring its 1990s development. [18] The Bloody Fist sound became breakcore from what was the noise genre, with added elements of high beats per minute and "extreme, thick, low-fi textures". [20] By way of example, Nasenbluten's 1996 Fuck Anna Wood exemplified this style with controversial public affairs audio samples collaged into dialogue atop early hardcore beats. [20]

Formed in 1994, Digital Hardcore Recordings released music by artists such as Alec Empire, Shizuo, Atari Teenage Riot, EC8OR, and Bomb20, shaping the breakcore sound. [7] This label is also responsible for digital hardcore, a genre developed simultaneously to breakcore. The Alec Empire album The Destroyer is often noted as the first breakcore album.[ by whom? ]

Reception

Vice magazine compared the genre to the types of music used during Guantanamo Bay interrogations. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Drum and bass is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre grew out of the UK's jungle scene in the 1990s.

Breakbeat hardcore is a music genre that spawned from the UK rave scene during the early 1990s. It combines four-on-the-floor rhythms with breakbeats usually sampled from hip hop. In addition to the inclusion of breakbeats, the genre also features shuffled drum machine patterns, hoover, and other noises originating from new beat and Belgian techno, sounds from acid house and bleep techno, and often upbeat house piano riffs and vocals.

Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK garage styles.

Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and synthesised effects, combined with the deep basslines, melodies, and vocal samples found in dub, reggae and dancehall, as well as hip hop and funk. Many producers frequently sampled the "Amen break" or other breakbeats from funk and jazz recordings. Jungle was a direct precursor to the drum and bass genre which emerged in the mid-1990s.

Digital hardcore is a fusion genre that combines hardcore punk with electronic dance music genres such as breakbeat, techno, and drum and bass while also drawing on heavy metal and noise music. It typically features fast tempos and aggressive sound samples. The style was pioneered by Alec Empire of the German band Atari Teenage Riot during the early 1990s, and often has sociological or leftist lyrical themes.

Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.

Techstep is a dark subgenre of drum and bass that was created in the mid-1990s.

Nasenbluten were an Australian electronic music group, formed in Newcastle in 1992. The group was made up of Aaron Lubinski, David Melo, and Mark Newlands, and released six studio albums before disbanding in 2001. They have been described as a significant influence on the breakcore genre.

Free tekno, also known as tekno, freetekno and hardtek, is the music predominantly played at free parties in Europe. The spelling tekno is deliberately used to differentiate the musical style from techno. The music is fast and it can vary between 150 and 185 bpm and is characterised by a pounding repetitive kick drum. Nevertheless, bass drum distortion by clipping is used less often as in the related genre of mainstyle hardcore. Nowadays, some tekno producers also use drum sets that rather sound trancey, since many members of the tekno subculture as well as the psytrance subculture frequently attend the same raves and the two scenes are closely connected.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venetian Snares</span> Canadian electronic musician

Aaron Funk, known as Venetian Snares, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is widely known for innovating and popularising the breakcore genre, and is one of the most recognisable artists to be signed to Planet Mu, an experimental electronic music label. His signature style involves meticulously complex drums, eclectic use of samples, and odd time signatures, in particular, 7
4.

<i>Law of the Jungle</i> (album) 1994 compilation album by various artists

Law of the Jungle is a compilation album of various early jungle music tracks by various artists, released in 1994 in the United States on Moonshine Music. Jungle had started to emerge in the United Kingdom a couple of years earlier but despite its growth, albeit slow, in the United States, no jungle albums were available on the American market. Moonshine conceived the album as a primer for jungle music for American shores, using music from British jungle label SOUR Records, and as a spin-off to their fast tempo techno compilation series Speed Limit 140 BPM+. Law of the Jungle was the first jungle album released in the United States.

<i>Reggae Owes Me Money</i> 1991 studio album by The Ragga Twins

Reggae Owes Me Money is the debut album by British duo The Ragga Twins, produced by hardcore duo Shut Up and Dance and released on the latter's record label of the same name. After establishing themselves as dancehall artists from the Unity soundsystem in the 1980s, the Ragga Twins switched direction in the early 1990s, combining into a duo after signing to Shut Up & Dance's label. The production duo stirred the Ragga Twins' change in direction, fusing their previous reggae and dancehall style into the Shut Up & Dance rave dance music.

Belgian hardcore techno is an early style of hardcore techno that emerged from new beat as EBM and techno influences became more prevalent in this genre. This particular style has been described as an "apocalyptic, almost Wagnerian, bombastic techno", due to its use of dramatic orchestral stabs and menacing synth tones that set it apart from earlier forms of electronic dance music. It flourished in Belgium and influenced the sound of early hardcore from Netherlands, Germany, Italy, UK and North America during the early-1990s, as a part of the rave movement during that period.

References

  1. ↑ Ishkur (2005). "Ishkur's guide to Electronic Music". Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 Whelan, Andrew (2008). Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  3. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. pp. The style is patched together from all the rude 'n' cheesy street sounds that never be part of the Kompakt universe: jungle, gabba, dancehall, Miami bass, gangsta rap, etc.
  4. 1 2 3 "Breakcore". Vice . Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. Tigerbeat 6 were just one node in an international network of breakcore — labels like Broklyn Beats, Irritant, Mashit, Cock Rock Disco, producers like Spreedranch Janksy, Hrvatski, V/Vm, knife-hand-chop, Donna Summer.
  6. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2013). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Soft Skull Press. Ironically, the scene started as an offshoot of IDM, a.k.a. 'Intelligent Dance Music'.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Matt Earp, "Breakcore: Live Fast", XLR8R, 20 July 2006. Access date: 8 August 2008.
  8. ↑ "Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett" review, Tiny Mix Tapes
  9. ↑ Detrimentalist! review, "Soundcheck", The Wire 293, July 2008, p. 60.
  10. ↑ Vivian Host, "Night Music", XLR8R 123, December 2008, p. 40.
  11. ↑ Whelan, Andrew (2008). Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 264.
  12. ↑ Whelan, Andrew (2008). Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 308.
  13. ↑ Gui, James (20 April 2022). "Demystifying the Internet's Breakcore Revival". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  14. ↑ Whelan, Andrew (2008). Breakcore: Identity and Interaction on Peer-to-Peer. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 12. Whelan focuses on three practices that he describes as "shibboleths," or "terms indicative of social location or origin, the use of which therefore serves to distinguish between groups" (p.14). These are the use of 1) nigga/nigger (Chapter 5); 2) gay/ghey (Chapter 7), and 3) the "Amen break" (Chapter 8), a widely sampled drum break from The Winstons' 1969 hit, "Amen Brother".
  15. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (23 January 2005). "The Turn Away From the Turntable". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "Ragga-jungle et raggacore : le reggae sous amphétamines" (in French). 7 May 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2014..
  17. ↑ Interview in Datacide Three, October 1997
  18. 1 2 Priest 2009, p. 85.
  19. ↑ Priest 2009, p. 98.
  20. 1 2 3 Priest 2009, p. 68.

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