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Beats & Breaks

 
 

Description of Beats & Breaks

 
Composed of layered musical cliches borrowed from the 1980s, this general grouping of breakbeat innovators took electronic music further into the mainstream than any of their pre-1997 progenitors. Popularized by the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace and the Crystal Method, its chunky rhythms vibrate dancefloors with rock textures, hip-swinging house and techno grooves -- all seasoned with a heavy dose of hip-hop. With a premium on excitement and intensity, funky breaks/big beat tracks sound sliced and diced, with steep buildups, rough crescendos, quick drops, drum rolls and heavy sample usage.
 

Filed Under

 
Electronica/Dance  >  Beats & Breaks
 

Beats & Breaks Key Artists

 
Bentley Rhythm Ace

Birmingham-based Mike
Stokes and Richard March
produce thematic
mainstream-friendly
Trip-Hop full of percussiv...

Cirrus

Mixing Rock guitars with
breakbeat-driven Acid and
Trance sounds, this LA
outfit have been hailed as
the American Prodigy.

Coldcut

Matt Black and Jonathon
Moore, together since the
mid-1980s, create a hybrid
of experimental and
electronic music. Black a...

DJ Icey

Icey started to mix Acid
House and Breaks in the
early '90s. He soon
produced original works
that foreshadowed big be...

Dub Pistols

Though appearing late in
the life of big-beat (1996),
Dub Pistols remain a fiercely
powerful live act.

Fatboy Slim

Fatboy's Norman Cook uses
pop sensibilities acquired as
bassist for the Housemartins
to turn out unstoppable big
beat hits. Cook's old frien...

Freestylers

Crossing the lines of hip-hop
and electronic, the
Freestylers fuse electro
and dancehall into their old
school style.

Future Sound of London

Brian Dougans and Gary
Cobain formed FSOL in 1989
and have since covered the
full spectrum of electronic
music. The duo started ou...

Paul D. Miller

Plump DJs

A huge name on the breaks
scene, Plump DJs, aka Lee
Rous and Andy Gardner, are
natural heirs to Fatboy
Slim’s crown.

Propellerheads

Alex Gifford (keys, bass, DJ)
and Will White (drums, DJ)
play a hybrid of rock,
hip-hop and electronica.
Gifford (keyboards, saxop...

The Chemical Brothers

Tom Rowlands and Ed
Simons from Manchester
fuse progressive dance,
rock, and HI-NRG urban
beats. Originally called th...

The Crystal Method

Coming from the land of
hybridization (L.A.), this
duo fits right in with its
mainstream, multigenre
rocktronica. Jordan and...

Electronics

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