nu skool breaks debate

[Mike]

i don't mind new breaks actually and have done 3 clips of the sort of stuff i mean........ what i'm not sure about is a small part of this scence where someone will get say for instance.... pump up the jam....and say.."hey let's do pump up the jam 2005" ...... i like to see new ideas and melodies.....
here's 3 clips of stuff ive been sent in the past that i thought were ok

I agree... I've been buying this sort of stuff since the late 90s and for a while it was very fresh and exciting... with the production qualities of house or electro but the energy of the old skool hardcore I first got into.

It's the ridiculous amount of bootleg remixes that put me off going record shopping for breaks stuff, it's not so bad now but at one point last year, two thirds of the racks in the breaks section of the shop I usually go to was lame remixes... Most of them priced at £7 or £8 for a single sided pressing.

I need to be careful of being hypocritical here because I've bought the odd remix in the past.. I have a great remake of the Smurf by Tyrone Brunson supposedly done by Shut Up and Dance from a couple of years ago which I love... also another remix that springs to mind is the Plump DJs mix of Stakker Humanoid - mainly because they've not really done much with it other than toughen up the beats a little and made it all sit in time so it's much easier to mix than the original with all those tape edits that keep pushing it out of sync.

I think I know what grover is getting at here because I found the 'Rock to the Boot' version of Reese quite offensive as well. Jonno is spot on with the 'scouse house' comment because the breaks remixes are all very formulaic.... sample a couple of loops from an old tune, add the bog-standard 'breaks' style beat and then apply all the usual bits of trickery you'd get in any modern house or breaks tune... filtering, breakdowns and build-ups, punctuated with big wooshy noises. The Reese remix robs the original tune of its character by taking the menacing strings from the original tune and filtering them, and removing reese's trademark beats to replace them with a programmed attempt at a breakbeat. It waters down a landmark piece of dance music and takes it nowhere.

It is a pity that the breaks scene has been flooded with these bootlegs as there has been over the past 5 or 6 years some really innovative and exciting music come out of it, and it had the potential to become a massive club scene over here as it has in countries like Australia and Spain where breaks has really taken off big time.

 

[Ed]

I couldn't have put that better than Mike has really.

I think the influence of the early 'intelligent drum and bass' that Bukem and Peshay were doing in the mid 90's has been overlooked in talking about 'Breaks' as well, although that was certainly spawned from hardcore and early Jungle.

Basically whatever genre you choose there will be manufactured stuff, crap stuff, so-so stuff and then stuff which has 'soul', really loving crafted music. Breaks is no different.

 

[Mayon]

Bring em on! we have to do these nu skool remixes/relick to re educate the youth of today , imagine what they missed out on in 1989/1994 ? you'd be pissed off if ya missed it, correct.? old stuff is played too slow,. we are just moving things forward thats all., im all up for the nu skool vibe, look @ electro now.... its coming back, full circle, a few ppls post remind me of victor meldrew, ya know stubbon old guy stuck in his ways the year is 2005 correct.?

 

[Mike]

Bring em on! we have to do these nu skool remixes/relick to re educate the youth of today , imagine what they missed out on in 1989/1994 ? you'd be pissed off if ya missed it, correct.? old stuff is played too slow,. we are just moving things forward thats all., im all up for the nu skool vibe, look @ electro now.... its coming back, full circle, a few ppls post remind me of victor meldrew, ya know stubbon old guy stuck in his ways the year is 2005 correct.?

I don't see how churning out formulaic re-hashes of old tunes is 'moving things forward' though?

 

[db909]

I love breaks and have had many a good night listening to a 'nu skool' set but it can,after a while become boring.
A couple a years ago an old skool remix thrown into a set always went down well and broke the monotony,and usually it had been remixed by a respected artist.
However as usual the bandwagon has been well and truly jumped on and there is more quantity than quality about.
The breaks scene is still pretty good imo (Dylan rhymes,breakfastaz doing it for me at the mo)
and hopefully the current obsession with breaks may help the quality stuff to come to more peoples attention

I do agree that it can help to bring old classics to the kids but I just wish
that a bit more thought and respect went into some of them

 

[blue jammer]

Electro isn't coming back as electro though, it's electro-clash, coupling the electro sound with a punk element.

Of course there's electronica, but I doubt many people on here will have listened to that (sorry those that have - fair play)

The genre naming thing can be a nightmare, as there's so many fragmented styles now, it's hard to tell what is what when listening to them side by side. Sadly that's the way a lot of people prefer it, so they know what to ask for in a record shop.

You don't need to do re-hashes of old skool classics for the kids of today, it's just you are lazy and can't come up with new material, fullstop.

The UK bastardised two sounds from America, and since we've tried to feed back to them what we've done, and I often put my head in my hands with a lot of the stuff the Brits have done, as it does lack soul and emotion, and that alone is where I can see the arguement against dance music as not being "musical".

Repetitive stabs are awful, they always were, and those types of styles dated the most.

As for old skool being too slow, I think that the biggest problem people in clubs face thesedays is the DJ who is afraid to play different tempo records.
The whole ethos that a club night has to be one style only is bullshit, back in 1990 a lot of nights I'd gone to played many styles in the one night, it was all about taking risks, not about sticking to a strict set and being too afraid to drop something slow like 97 bpm killer dub track, that you know the crowd would appreciate whilst they were getting ready for the next part of the night.

This will always be a horses for courses thing though, so I'll leave it there.

This is Victor Meldrew signing off.

I Don't Believe It.

Goodnight.

 

[brixtonite]

breaks clubbing

Clubbing-wise, the breaks scene is massive... you've got dj's that play certain styles (don't ask me who, I've always been battered and I've not paid attention)... ok, these nights were in places like The Cross, The Egg, Fabric, Mass- all clubs identified by their eclectic music policy - there could be 3 or 4 rooms: up front house / housey techno, old school, drum n bass n breaks and maybe classic old school.

I've found that the blend of classic old school and breaks can work, but you do feel your heartstrings tug when a blatant rip off kicks in and it sounds hackneyed (ok, maybe thats the old schooler in me - I'd always prefer the original in these situations). The drum and bass room might put on a few breaks djs too - that works... mainly cos the djs blend a mix of nu breaks and the earlier drum n bass.

The minimal breaks works everywhere...techy-house blends nicely. Some of the tracks are amazing. I agree with the comment that breaks could be seen as the new hardcore - aye, the newer stuff I'd agree - some of the older stuff is more cerebral and edges on the electro sound.

In short... minimal techy electro breaks? Nice.

Hyped up rehashes of classics? I'll just go and start up Logic and Reason

 

[Geeky]

As for old skool being too slow, I think that the biggest problem people in clubs face thesedays is the DJ who is afraid to play different tempo records.
The whole ethos that a club night has to be one style only is bullshit, back in 1990 a lot of nights I'd gone to played many styles in the one night, it was all about taking risks, not about sticking to a strict set and being too afraid to drop something slow like 97 bpm killer dub track, that you know the crowd would appreciate whilst they were getting ready for the next part of the night.

Definately. You just need to listen to what was being played at the Hacienda in the late 80's and the old skool nights there. It was predominately house music but anything could get dropped at anytime from hip hop, soul or electro to screaming italian piano stormers and US house.

I remember hearing 45 king - 900 number in there and the place went absolutely bezerk. The Dj kept slowing the tune right down to a standstill then speeding it right up, whilst chopping it up with another copy. Although, It probably would have sounded a right mess if it was taped, LOL

 

[Dreamgirl]

I dont like it

 

[Taff]

I have been collecting Oldskool remixes, Breaks etc since 2001. I know what ya mean that some are shite but not all of them are shite.
Personally I got bored of listening to the same tunes over and over again. It was only in 2001 that I really started listening again to tunes due to some people out there that have injected a bit of energy back into the oldskool vibe which belive it or not folks sounds bloody fantastic in a club when mixed with original oldskool tunes.
If you say I am wrong then your kidding yourselves cos when your bolloxed you'll dance to anything....

 

[ScouseCol]

I dunno about this stuff

if those 3 clips are what ya on about mick, i got one word. pants!! not big into breaks/d&b any how. and anything labeled nu-skool just says to me, no imagination or creativity usually. I'm sure theres some decent nu-skool remix's out there. but on the whole I'd say, leave things alone and try something new. it's mass murder really init.

it's mediocre music for people who can't just sit back and appriciate a classic era without trying change it so they can force feed their remixed semi modern shite to the youth of today for the purpose of making money. cause basically they aint got the talent to start a new eara of good music themselves.

it's the same sort of thing that's goin on with scouse house in liverpool, has anyone heard that Massacre of strings of life with the bird singing over it? i mean ffs JUST STOP IT YOU MURDERING BASTARDS !!

sorry mick couldn't resist the caps, but that remix of an all time classic tune is right out of order !!

I got enough trouble tryin to discover the original tunes without havin to cope with bollox remix's before i hear the classic original versions. I don't need this shit, ya know what i mean mick lol

i just like a good rant and to cause controversy, not my thing but what do i know lolol

 

[Baz1L]

On the one hand i have to admit a lot of 'nu skool breaks' sound superb, and are great to hear out ..... but when i refer to nu skool breaks i mean the stuff you will hear @ clubs like 'urban gorilla, sheffield', 'technique, leeds', 'fabric, london' etc etc ..... anything made by producers like unkle, adam freeland, hybrid, and played out by the likes of james zabiela is as good as anything out there .... if you havent tried it yet then do, cause there is a lot of good stuff your missing out on ..... adam freelands essential mix is excellent, as is zabielas ....

on the other hand, i'm not one for slab after slab of oldskool copies coz that aint what breaks were invented for ..... people like danny mcmillan, meat katie & freeland have been pushing this style for years only for a few booty labels to simply knick the bassline and whack over a few well known samples, pianos, synths etc .... dont know where you hear copy after copy of this stuff being played out coz i know none of the big/respected clubs would ever let it happen, simply because it would get so tedious ..... admitally there is the odd remix which has been well done, ive got a fair few i have to admit but would only drop the odd one to get a reaction so to speak .... the breaks mixes of cj bollonds - la carmaque, blurs - song 2 (which would erupt any club) and bjorks - joga are blinding imo

so i wouldnt go shunting out new skool breaks all together because youve heard a few rip-offs .... theres loadsa good shit out there that you will probs find you like! evil 9's album is pretty tasty too ....

Totally agree with Danny..... listen to some original new breaks tunes if the remixes don't do it for you.

 

[grover]

col you got me all wrong...... the 2nd post i did was 3 examples of the "breaks" scene pushing things further which is stuff that i like....on the verge of new electro......it's the blatant rip offs that i'm not sure about

 

[ScouseCol]

col you got me all wrong...... the 2nd post i did was 3 examples of the "breaks" scene pushing things further which is stuff that i like....on the verge of new electro......it's the blatant rip offs that i'm not sure about

aye, got ya wrong on them clips. wasn't payin attention. but i listened to them clips, and i thought they was avarage mick, maybe pants was a bit strong, but wasn't that impressed. maybe I'd have to hear em properly before i made a proper judgement.

rest of my rant was basically about blatant rip offs. which i don't like at all. i just like givin it loads lol

 

[AB45]

I think that you gotta look at the tongue in cheek aspect that some of these guys are doing to the old skool tunes. They in no way take themselves seriously and recognise that its lazy but its what raves been about from day one. The bastardisation of anything that works. I think we take it as an offence as we remember the originals, but imagine what most of the yanks were thinking of us back then when we were rippin them up. There are some amazing new tunes out there that are engineered to amazing standards and will put you on ya arse with the right system and thats what i love about it. BASS is back
this is a tune i havent got out of my head for ages
http://www.cyberfunkmusic.co.uk/music/tunes/cf010b.mp3
lovin it loud in a crowd

 

[truly-madly]

it's mediocre music for people who can't just sit back and appriciate a classic era without trying change it so they can force feed their remixed semi modern shite to the youth of today for the purpose of making money. cause basically they aint got the talent to start a new eara of good music themselves.

A voice of reason!

 

[Danny]

its not as if breaks have just appeared thou, theyve been around years .... the booty companys only cottoned onto to summet fairy recently ..... take papai neu guinea, an absolute oldskool classic - hybrid did a class breaks remix of that way back in 2000/2001 which hasnt been played to deaf at all, it was another 2 years at least till the oldskool tracks started getting 'breakz'd up for the masses ....

hybrid have been producing class progressive breaks for the past ten years, got a mix on now from 2002 and heres clips of the first two tracks, both wicked tracks, the likes you dont really hear enough of .... but thats deffo a good thing coz it keeps good understanding crowds at the smaller clubs where people like them play .... when someone like meat katie, zabiela, hybrid, freeland play at somewhere like urban gorilla (breaks nite), sheffield they are worshipped and your guarenteed a good a night as anywhere ....

 

[Danny]

..... and a classic example of if your gunna do it, then do it well : heres hybrids remix of REM which is one of my fave ever dance records/remixes. so many unnecessary samples of different noises planted here there and everywhere in it which just makes it sooooo lush ..... pity only 10 copies were ever made

 

[truly-madly]

It's not so much the artists you mention above. I know people like Freeland are pushing things (even if it isn't to my taste). He probably hates all the needless re-hashing as much as anyone though, gives breaks a bad name.

 

[Danny]

yep deffo ... he wouldnt give a toss, it only makes his works look like a million dollars .... hehe