| Breakbeat | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid-1970s, US (hip-hop production) Late 1980s, US and UK (electronic genre) |
| Derivative forms | |
| Subgenres | |
| |
| Fusion genres | |
Breakbeat is a broad type ofelectronic music that usesdrum breaks, often sampled from early recordings offunk,jazz, andR&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such asFlorida breaks,hip-hop,jungle,drum and bass,big beat,breakbeat hardcore, andUK garage styles (including2-step,breakstep anddubstep).[1][2]
The origin of the word "breakbeat" is the fact that thedrumloops that were sampled occurred during a "break" in the music – for example, theAmen break (adrum solo from "Amen, Brother" bythe Winstons) or theThink break (from "Think (About It)" byLyn Collins).[1][2]
Beginning in 1973 and continuing through the late 1970s and early 1980s,hip-hopturntablists such asDJ Kool Herc began using severalfunkbreaks in a row, usingdrum breaks fromjazz-funk tracks such asJames Brown's "Funky Drummer" andthe Winstons' "Amen, Brother", to form the rhythmic base for hip-hop songs.
DJ Kool Herc's breaks style involved playing the same record on two turntables and playing the break repeatedly, alternating between the two records.Grandmaster Flash perfected this idea with what he called the "quick-mix theory": he would mark the points on the record where the break began and ended with a crayon, so that he could easily replay the break by spinning the record and not touching the tone arm.[3] This style was copied and improved upon by early hip-hop DJsAfrika Bambaataa andGrand Wizard Theodore.[4][dubious –discuss] This style was extremely popular in clubs and dancehalls because the extended breaks compositions providedbreakers with more opportunities to showcase their skills.
In the late 1970s, breakbeats had attained a large presence in hip-hop. In the 1980s, the evolution of technology began to make sampling breaks easier and more affordable for DJs and producers, which helped nurture the commercialization of hip-hop. Through early techniques such as pausing tapes and then recording the break, by the 1980s, technology allowed anybody with a tape recorder to find the breakbeat.[5]
In the late-1980s, breakbeat became an essential feature of many genres of breaks music which became popular within the global dance music scene, includingacid breaks,electro-funk, andMiami bass, and a decade laterbig beat andnu skool breaks.
In the early 1990s,acid house artists and producers started using breakbeatsamples in their music to createbreakbeat hardcore.[6] The hardcore scene then diverged into subgenres likejungle anddrum and bass, which generally was faster and focused more on complex sampled drum patterns. An example of this isGoldie's albumTimeless. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave"[7] because the ever-changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out, trance-like state that the standard, steady 4/4 beats ofhouse enabled.
Incorporating many components of those genres, theFlorida breaks subgenre followed during the early-to-mid 1990s and had a unique sound that was soon internationally popular among producers, DJs, and club-goers.
In 1994, the influentialtechno actAutechre releasedAnti EP in response to theCriminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, deliberately using advancedalgorithmic programming to generate non-repetitive breakbeats for the full duration of the tracks, in order to subvert the legal definitions within that legislation which specified in the section creating police powers to remove ravers from raves that "'music' includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats".
In the late 1990s, another style of breakbeat emerged,funky breaks, a style that was incorporating elements oftrance,hip-hop andjungle. It was pioneered bythe Chemical Brothers andJames Lavelle'sMo'Wax imprint. The genre had commercial peak in 1997, when such music was topping in pop charts and often featured in commercials. The most notable artists of the sound werethe Prodigy,Death in Vegas,the Crystal Method, andPropellerheads.[8]
The tempo of breaks tracks, ranging from 110 to 150 beats per minute, allows DJs to mix breaks with a wide range of different genres in their sets. This has led to breakbeats being used in manyhip-hop,jungle,drum and bass andhardcore tracks. They can also be heard in other music, anywhere from popular music to background music in car and clothing commercials on radio or TV.[9]
The Amen break, a drum break fromthe Winstons' song "Amen, Brother" is widely regarded as one of the most widely used and sampled breaks among music using breakbeats.[10] One of the earliest uses of the Amen break was on "King of the Beats" byMantronix, and has since been used in thousands of songs.[11] Other popular breaks are fromJames Brown's "Funky Drummer" (1970) and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (1969),the Incredible Bongo Band's 1973 cover ofthe Shadows' "Apache", andLyn Collins's 1972 song "Think (About It)".[4] The Winstons have not receivedroyalties for third-party use of samples of the break recorded on their original music release.[11]
With the advent of digital sampling and music editing on the computer, breakbeats have become much easier to create and use. Now, instead of cutting and splicing tape sections or constantly backspinning two records at the same time, a computer program can be used to cut, paste, and loop breakbeats endlessly. Digital effects such asfilters,reverb, reversing,time stretching andpitch shifting can be added to the beat, and even to individual sounds by themselves. Individual instruments from within a breakbeat can be sampled and combined with others, thereby creating wholly new breakbeat patterns.
With the rise in popularity of breakbeat music and the advent of digital audio samplers, companies started selling "breakbeat packages" for the express purpose of helping artists create breakbeats. A breakbeat kit CD would contain many breakbeat samples from different songs and artists, often without the artist's permission or even knowledge.[12]
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"Acid breaks" or "chemical breaks" isacid house, but with a breakbeat instead of a house beat. One of the earliest synthesizers to be employed in acid music was theRoland TB-303, which makes use of a resonant low-pass filter to emphasize theharmonics of the sound.
The Asian breakbeat scene is a remix genre blending elements offreestyle,electro,progressive trance melodies,Florida breaks drums and Southerncrunk rap. It was originated and made popular by predominantlyVietnamese American and Southeast Asian DJs throughout the U.S. South (Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina) during the 1990s and 2000s.[13][14] Notable active DJs include New Orleans's DJ Babyboi, Tinman, and Loopy.[15]
Big beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such asthe Prodigy,Cut La Roc,Fatboy Slim,the Chemical Brothers,the Crystal Method andPropellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats combined withfour-on-the floor kick drums, synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in common with established forms ofelectronic dance music such astechno andacid house.
Breakbeat combined withelectro music, often using 80s synths, robotic sounds, vocals withvocoders ortalkboxes, and infused with elements offunk. Electro breaks was pioneered byAfrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force,Kraftwerk,Man Parrish,Cybotron, andNewcleus.
In Spain from the mid-1990s to early 2000s, breakbeat became a massive social movement, especially in the southern part of the country,Andalusia.
Largely responsible for the spread of the "broken rhythm" in Andalusia, was the public radio station of the autonomous community:Canal Sur Radio andCanal Fiesta, known at that time as Fórmula 1, where the program "Mundo Evassion" was broadcast, or "Evassion Planet" which was presented by Dani Moreno. Artists of that era includedDigital Base,Dj Nitro, Jordi Slate, Man, Wally, Kultur, Jan B, Anuschka, and Ale Baquero.[16]
The breakbeat of Andalusia has formed its own style, based on a simple structure of pre breaks + pre drop + drop. All this is repeated a second time with some variations in the song. With this structure, the tracks are mixed when one has passed the drop, until the pre drop of the next one arrives, respecting the melodies without breaks.
Andalusian breakbeat has once again become a mass industry, with festivals almost exclusively dedicated to this genre, such as the Winter Festival, Summer Festival, Floridance, Retro Fest, and Olibass.[17]
Progressive breaks orprog breaks, also known asatmospheric breaks, is a subgenre of breaks that is essentially a fusion of breakbeat andprogressive house. Much like progressive house, this subgenre is characterized by its "trancey" sound. Its defining traits include extended synthesizer pads and washes, melodic synth leads, heavyreverberation, and electronic breakbeats. However, unlike progressive house, very few progressive breaks tracks have vocals, with most tracks being entirely instrumental or using only electronically altered snippets of vocal samples for sonic effect. Typical progressive breaks tracks will often have a long build-up section that leads to abreakdown and a climax, often having numerous sonic elements being added or subtracted from the track at various intervals in order to increase its intensity. Progressive breaks artists includeHybrid,BT,Way Out West,Digital Witchcraft,Momu, Wrecked Angle, Fourthstate, Burufunk, Under This and Fretwell.
