Breakcore | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Mid-1990s Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, online |
Typical instruments | |
Subgenres | |
Raggacore Noisecore | |
Other topics | |
Breakcore is a style of electronic dance music influenced by hardcore, jungle, digital hardcore and industrial music that is characterized by its use of heavy kick drums, breaks and a wide palette of sampling sources, played at high tempos.
As the early days of "hardcore techno" or just "hardcore" began to settle in Europe, breakcore as a genre began to take more concrete forms in other parts of the world. Inspired by new labels such as Addict, from Milwaukee, USA; Peace Off from Rennes, France; Sonic Belligeranza from Bologna, Italy; and Planet Mu, from London, began to take a new shape, adding in more elements of mashup and IDM to the hardcore sounds. Each of these labels began to draw in aspects of their own social and aesthetic scenes into their music, allowing for an even broader definition of what was possible in the music. In Notes on Breakcore, Society Suckers explained that breakcore grew out of the mid-1990s acid techno rave culture and disdain for Neo-Nazis and their associated early hardcore (gabber).
In Europe, the breakcore genre was solidified by raves and club events such as Belgium's Breakcore Gives Me Wood, featuring local acts such as UndaCova and Sickboy; Breakcore A Go Go, in the Netherlands, which was run by FFF and Bong-Ra; as well as Anticartel, in Rennes, the seat of PeaceOff, and later, Wasted, in Berlin and Bangface in London.
Breakcore has been subject to changing and branching. Many newer breakcore artists (such as Mochipet etc.) focus on melodic progressions and complex drum programming while other artists still focus on distorted hardcore breakbeats and dark-edged musical influences (such as heavy metal, and industrial). The artist Venetian Snares has produced breakcore blended with elements of classical music. Other artists such as Shitmat, Sickboy, DJ Scotch Egg, and Drop the Lime take another direction towards mash-up, happy hardcore, and rave to make a lighter, more humorous sound. The rise of Chiptune music has also blended with breakcore with artists such as Tarmvred. The UK Free Party scene has also expressed a large interest in producing and distributing its own takes on breakcore, with crews and labels such as Life4land, Hekate, Headfuk, and Bad Sekta helping to push the scene and sound forward, as well as bringing over a number of international artists to play at their parties and club nights. Breakcore is steadily gaining in popularity, and aspiring artists are found scattered across the Internet.