Breakbeat hardcore

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Breakbeat hardcore
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins
Typical instruments
Mainstream popularity Large in the United Kingdom
Derivative forms jungle music, Darkcore, Hardcore Breaks
Subgenres
Happy hardcore, 4-beat
Fusion genres
none
Other topics
Electronic musical instrument - Computer music

Breakbeat hardcore (not to be confused with Breakcore) and popularly known as rave music, originally referred to as simply hardcore in the United Kingdom, with oldskool hardcore a common term in the 21st century) is a style of electronic music that primarily uses breakbeats for its rhythm lines. It was an early 1990s offshoot of the acid house scene of late 1980s Britain and was the precursor to various genres including jungle/drum and bass and happy hardcore.

Contents

[edit] Origins

Hardcore emerged as an irreverent response to the soothing, soulful direction that Electronic Dance Music had taken in the early iterations of trance and deep house. In contrast with lushly produced house music, hardcore emphasized a unique, harsh, aggressive sound that drew strongly from hip-hop and early acid house. It added a hip-hop influence with the addition of breakbeats and increased the tempo. A strong reggae and ragga influence emerged in 1991/92, with uplifting piano melody loops or Jamaican reggae samples used at normal speed layered on top of frenetic 150 to 170 bpm breakbeats. The music itself very much reflected the effects of the rave scene's drugs of choice, Ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines, with its bombastic beats, manic synths, sped-up vocal samples and rumbling bass-lines. Evoking the anarchist spirit of embattled underground parties, hardcore sometimes glorified quick production with minimal hardware, Made in 2 Minutes as the title of a track by Plastic Jam proclaimed but in truth was key in evolving many innovative sounds and styles in dance music. As Chris Sharp in Modulations describes on the evolution of the hardcore sound,

"Despite its emphasis on sheer speed, hardcore came to articulate misty nostalgia, momentary rapture, urban dread, criminal moodiness, and sci-fi futurism."

[edit] The rave scene

Main article: Rave

The scene revolved around the M25 motorway (London's orbital motorway), and its audience was mainly urban teenagers and lower middle-class suburban teenagers with cars. The audience was very much multi-cultural, with black and white influences resulting in a unique sound. The scene expanded rapidly in 1991, with large raves of 30,000 to 50,000 people attending in open air venues around England, put on by Spiral Tribe and other free party sound systems held at numerous locations up and down the length of England. This scene spawned the idea of holding huge parties rather than small clubs.

[edit] MDMA and Parties

Emerging from the early 1980's proto-Rave scene............... and landing squarely in Balearic Ibiza and London, Rave was originally the product of the MDMA culture. When MDMA became a schedule 1 drug, the yuppies dropped out, and the parties went underground. Prior to this, MDMA was available generally, used mostly for its ability to form close bonds between users rather than as a trance-dance drug. Ironically the drug that was the catalyst for the Rave scene would also be the force that would drive it back underground. Entrepreneurs, both legal and illegal, sensing the money producing potential of the scene introduced the culture to the London West End clubs, attracting the attention of a broader class of people and increasing the scrutiny of the parties and people involved. (Reynolds, 1998)

[edit] Effect and fragmentation

The early 90s saw the shifting of the underground sound become more prevalent in the mainstream. Even without any radio play, many hybrid and regional styles made their way into Top20 charts. However, during 1990, the two main subdivisions of this underground rave movement was primarily either house or techno (although often interchangeable or vaguely used to define a multitude of styles). However, between 1993 and 1994 the scene fragmented, and forked off into two distinct styles - Jungle (later giving rise to Drum and Bass) and 4-beat (alternatively known as happy hardcore). Jungle's sound was more focused on basslines, whilst 4-beat retained the rave synths, the 4/4 kickdrum, and happier piano elements. By 1996, most 4-beat had dropped its breakbeats (in-part due to bouncy techno), whilst drum and bass had long dropped the techno style synth stabs, thus further separating the two styles. The almost independent evolution of styles created distinct sounds of "bleep and bass", brutalist techno, hardcore jungle, pop-rave, hip-house, and ragga-techno sounds.

[edit] 21st century

Main article: Hardcore Breaks

Since the early-to-mid-2000s, several new record labels and artists have appeared producing music in the hardcore breaks style with the aim of recreating the sound and vibe of the early 1990s breakbeat hardcore. Compositions stay faithful to the original sound by using a combination of old and new piano melodies, techno riffs and breaks, whilst taking advantage of technological advances in music productions of the 21st century. Additionally more artists from the first wave of breakbeat hardcore such as Luna-C (of Kniteforce and Suburban Base's Smart E's), Brainstormer (of Formation Records and F Project's Brainstorm Crew), and Phuture Assassins (of Suburban Base) are returning to do new productions.

[edit] Selected information

[edit] Record labels

786 Approved, Absolute 2, Awesome Records, Basement Records, Boogie Beat Records, Chill, Contagious, FFrreedom, Formation Records, Full Effect Recordings, Great Asset, Pranged, Ibiza Records, Kickin Records, Kniteforce, Little Giant Music, Moving Shadow, Network Records, Production House Records, Rabbit City recordings, Reinforced Records, Suburban Base, Triple Helix, XL Recordings

[edit] Notable Releases

  • The Scientist - The Exorcist (Kickin Records, KICK 001, 1990)
  • Altern-8 - Frequency (Network Records, NWKTR 34, 1991)
  • SL2 - DJ's Take Control (Awesome Records, SL002, 1991)
  • Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era - Far Out (Suburban Base, SUBBASE 008, 1991)
  • Wax Doctor - A New Direction (Basement Records, BRSS 0011, 1992)
  • DJ Seduction - Hardcore Heaven (FFrreedom, TABX 103, 1992)
  • Acen - Trip To The Moon (Production House Records, PNT 42, 1992)
  • The Prodigy - Experience (XL Recordings, XLCD 110, 1992)
  • Nookie - Return Of Nookie (Reinforced, RIVET 1239, 1993)
  • DJ Krome & Mr. Time - The Slammer (Suburban Base, SUBBASE 26, 1993)
  • DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer - Slammin' Vinyl (GUMH 011, 1995)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Breakbeat/Breaks
Other electronic dance music genres
v • d • e
Hardcore
Other electronic dance music genres