Breakbeat hardcore
| Breakbeat hardcore | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Acid house, Breakbeat, Techno, Italo house, Reggae/Ragga |
| Cultural origins | 1990, United Kingdom |
| Typical instruments | Synthesizer, Drum machine, Sequencer, Keyboard, Sampler |
| Derivative forms | jungle music, Darkcore, Hardcore Breaks |
| Subgenres | |
| Happy hardcore, 4-beat (complete list) | |
| Fusion genres | |
| none | |
| Other topics | |
| Electronic musical instrument - Computer music | |
Breakbeat hardcore (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.
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 cheap, 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 glorified quick production with minimal hardware, Made in 2 Minutes as the title of a track by Plastic Jam proclaimed. The music, although in retrospect poorly produced and amateur (part of its charm), was generally extrovert, uplifting, gritty, and hypnotic.
The rave scene
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 soundsystems held at numerous locations up and down the length of England. This scene spawned the idea of holding huge parties rather than small clubs.
Effect and fragmentation
Between 1993 and 1994 the scene fragmented, and forked off into two distinct styles - Jungle (later known as 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.
21st century
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.
Selected information
Artists
Altern-8, Automation, Baby D, Brainstorm Crew, Genaside II, Kicksquad, Nebula 2, Lords of Acid, Luna-C, Nookie, Ratpack, Release, Shades of Rhythm, Smart E's, SL2, Sonz of a Loop Da Loop Era, The Prodigy, Two Bad Mice, Urban Hype, Urban Shakedown
DJs
Acen, Carl Cox, DJ Freshtrax, DJ Rap, DJ Seduction, DJ SS, DJ Sy, Dougal, Ellis Dee, Fabio, Grooverider, Jumping Jack Frost, Krome & Time, LTJ Bukem, Micky Finn, Phantasy, Praga Khan, Ratty, Ray Keith, Sharky, Slipmatt, Stu Allan, Swan-E, Vinylgroover
Record labels
786 Approved, Absolute 2, Awesome Records, Basement Records, Boogie Beat Records, Contagious, FFrreedom, Formation Records, Full Effect Recordings, Great Asset, Ibiza Records, Kickin Records, Kniteforce, Little Giant Music, Moving Shadow, Production House, Reinforced Records, Suburban Base, Triple Helix, XL Recordings
Raves
Amnesia House, Dance Planet, Dreamscape, Eclipse/Edge , Ektos, Fantazia, Helter Skelter, Interdance at Sterns Nightclub, Obsession, Pandemonium, Perception, Quest, Raindance, Technodrome, Universe, Vision, Shelleys Laserdome, Quest, Dieha, hey there
Coventry was the unlikely place for the rave scene to take a new direction. 2 local businessmen called barry edwards and stuart reid bought an old bingo hall and turned it into britains first legal all night rave club back in 1990. This was called 'The Eclipse'. The first night had a top line up including MC tunes, but things didn't go as planned. 5 minutes into his set the sound system packed up and he left the stage pledging to return. He didn't, but the night was a massive success.
The Eclipse got lucky, it managed to sneak through the legal system by being a members only club and not selling alcohol, which meant they didn't need a licence. This made The Eclipse the premier venue in britain for the rapidly growing rave scene. Top promoters' came from far and wide to hold events at the most popular venue in the country, including amnesia, energy, dance planet amongst many others. It even managed to get a TV appearance on 'The Hitman And Her', the (previously) cheesy late night club programme.
The club was also the starting point for The Prodigy, who played their first ever gig there for just £60, K Klass, SL2, Altern 8, Leftfield, Moby, Shades of Rhythm and LFO.
By June 1991 the Eclipse was getting even more adventurous. As once again the High Court banned druids from celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge, four Wiltshire druids were invited to perform an ancient ritual fertilising the nation’s spirit and honouring the Earth Mother at a mini-Stonehenge created at the club.
Eclipse’s influence on the dance scene was officially recognised at the start of 1992, when readers of top clubbers’ mag DJ voted it club of the year. It was also voted as having the best lights, the nicest door staff, the second best sound system, third best toilets and fourth best flyers.
A "chuffed" Stuart Reid said: "We have taken a lot of flak in the time that we have been here, but this is a national magazine and people are voting for us throughout the country."
DJ lineups included Sasha, Grooverider, Carl Cox, Slipmatt, and Joey Beltram. These DJs played side by side before the split of the sub-genre's that was about to follow. In 1992 the club underwent a revamp and name change to "The Edge", but the glory days were over. The club closed early in 1994.
The student union took over the club after that, but it was never to regain its former glory, and after several name changes it was finally demolished in 2006.
Notable Releases
- [DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer] - Slammin' Vinyl, (GUMH 011, 1990)
- The Scientist - The Exorcist (Kickin Records, KICK 001, 1990)
- 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, 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)
References
- Simon Reynolds' Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture (ISBN 0-330-35056-0)