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.
Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints. It emerged from the culture and sound palette of electronic styles such as ambient techno, acid house, Detroit techno and breakbeat; it has been regarded as better suited to home listening than dancing. Prominent artists associated with it include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Higher Intelligence Agency, Telefon Tel Aviv, μ-Ziq, The Black Dog, The Future Sound of London, Mouse on Mars, Biosphere, Orbital and Luke Vibert.
Rephlex Records was a record label launched in 1991 in Cornwall by electronic musician Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge. The label coined the term braindance to describe the output of Aphex Twin and fellow artists.
Warp Records is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is currently based in London.
Joey Beltram is an American DJ and music producer, best known for his pioneering singles "Energy Flash" and "Mentasm" and for remixing Human Resource's "Dominator".
Alec Empire is a German experimental electronic musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot, as well as a solo artist, producer and DJ. He has released many albums, EPs and singles, some under aliases, and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the digital hardcore genre, and founded the record labels Digital Hardcore Recordings and Eat Your Heart Out Records.
Laurent Garnier, also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums.
Gerald Rydel Simpson, better known as A Guy Called Gerald, is a British record producer and musician. He was an early member of the electronic group 808 State, contributing to their debut LP Newbuild (1988) and hit single "Pacific State" (1989). He also achieved solo success with his 1988 hit single "Voodoo Ray", which became a touchstone of Manchester's acid house scene and reached No. 12 in the UK charts. He embraced breakbeat production in the 1990s, with his 1995 album Black Secret Technology becoming a "much-touted candidate for 'best jungle album ever.'" He also ran the London-based independent record label Juice Box Records from 1991 to 1998.
Andrew David Jenkinson, known professionally as Ceephax Acid Crew, is a British electronic musician and record producer who works primarily in the acid house and drum and bass subgenres. Jenkinson is also known simply by the pseudonym Ceephax, which is a reference to the BBC teletext service Ceefax. He is the younger brother of Squarepusher.
Universal Indicator is the group name for Rephlex Records artists, Richard D. James and Mike Dred. The name is a reference to the signature acid techno sound found on all the releases. Five projects were released, and a compilation CD was mixed by Dred.
Chris Jeffs, best known by the stage name Cylob, is a British electronic musician and producer closely associated with Aphex Twin. He has produced seven albums, three compilations and a number of remixes. Previously signed to Rephlex records, Jeffs started his own digital label Cylob Industries in 2007. His most well-known tracks include "Rewind" and "Cut The Midrange, Drop The Bass".
Wolfgang Voigt is a German electronic music DJ and producer from Cologne, known for his output under various aliases, such as Gas. He signed on numerous record labels, including Warp, Harvest, Raster-Noton, Force Inc, Astral Industries and Kompakt. The latter was co-founded by Voigt alongside Michael Mayer and Jürgen Paape. He is considered one of the most influential minimal techno artists.
Classics is a 1995 compilation album by the electronic music artist and producer Richard D. James, more commonly known by his pseudonym of Aphex Twin.
Dynamix II is an American DJ act and record label specializing in electro, Florida breaks, and Miami bass. Their 1986 single "Just Give The DJ A Break", reached gold status. Over 600,000+ units of the record were sold and the song reached No. 50 in the United Kingdom in 1987. The record, was considered to be a "formative and influential" in the Miami-bass genre. The track was one of first Miami Bass records to use a Roland TR 808 bass drum.
Kevin Richard Martin, often known under his recording alias The Bug, is an English musician and music producer. Martin moved from Weymouth to London around 1990 and is now currently based in mainland Europe. He has been active for over three decades in the genres of dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall, and dubstep.
Richard David James, known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publications including Mixmag, The New York Times, NME, Fact,Clash and The Guardian have called James one of the most influential and important artists in contemporary electronic music.
Sebastian R. Komor is a Polish-born, Norwegian-raised electronic musician, best known for his collaborative work in Icon of Coil and Zombie Girl. A prolific artist, Komor has also released electronic music under a variety of solo projects and aliases since the late 1990s.
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by the electronic music producer and DJ Aphex Twin. It was released on 9 November 1992 through Apollo Records, a subsidiary of the Belgian label R&S Records. The album consists of ambient techno tracks recorded onto cassette reputedly dating as far back as 1985, when James was fourteen years old. On release it received widespread acclaim and entered the UK Dance Albums Chart at No. 6 on 26 December 1992.
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range of 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
