Breakbeats
The use of a non-straightened 4/4 drum pattern is one of the defining attributes of the Breakbeat genre. The genre essentially grew from the usage of two sampled drum beats: "Amen, brother" and "Funky drummer (The Winstons, James Brown, respectively). The core element of Breakbeat began with electronic elements centered around the use of those specific samples in terms of identifying attributes, and eventually grew to be unified by the type of drum pattern those breaks represented . Numerous sub-genres spawned in the wake of this genre including; Big beat, Breakcore Broken beat, Funky breaks, Hardcore breaks, Nu Skool breaks and Progressive breaks.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, hip-hop DJs (starting with Kool DJ Herc) began using several of these essential "breaks" (the part of a funk or jazz song in which the music "breaks" to let the rhythm section play unaccompanied) in a row to use as the rhythmic basis for hip-hop songs. Kool DJ Herc's breakbeat style was to play the same record on two turntables and play the break repeatedly by alternating between the two records (letting one play while spinning the second record back to the beginning of the break). This style was copied and improved upon by early hip hop DJs Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Wizard Theodore. This style was extremely popular in clubs and dance halls because the extended breakbeat was the perfect backdrop for break dancers to show their skills.
In the early 1990s, acid house artists and producers started using breakbeat samples in their music to create breakbeat hardcore, also known as rave music. The hardcore scene then diverged into sub-genres like jungle and drum and bass, which generally had a darker sound and focused more on complex sampled drum patterns. A good example of this is Goldie's album 'Timeless'.
In 1992 a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" 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 of rave enabled.
In recent times, the term breakbeat has become synonymous with the many genres of breaks music which have become popular within the global dance music scene, including big beat, Nu Skool breaks and Progressive breaks. DJs from a variety of genres, including house and techno, work breaks tracks into their sets. This may occur because the tempo of breaks tracks (ranging from 110 to 150 beats per minute) means they can be readily mixed with these genres, whereas the comparatively fast speed of jungle and drum and bass (160-180 bpm) may have restricted the utility of these subgenres to DJs playing slower-tempo music. Some artists well known for breakbeat include Frankie Bones, The Freestylers, NAPT, Soul Of Man, The Breakfastaz, Ctrl Z, Freq Nasty and the Plump DJ's.
Big Beat
Rescuing the electronica community from a near fall off the edge of its experimental fringe, Big Beat emerged in the mid-'90s as the next wave of big dumb dance music. Regional pockets around the world had emphasized the "less intelligent" side of dance music as early as 1994, in reaction to the growing coterie of chin-stroking intellectuals attached to the drum'n'bass and experimental movements. Big beat as a distinct movement finally coalesced in 1995-96 around two British labels: Brighton's Skint and London's Wall of Sound. The former -- home to releases by Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace, and Lo-Fidelity Allstars -- deserves more honors for innovation and quality, though Wall of Sound was founded slightly earlier and released great singles by Propellerheads, Wiseguys, and Les Rythmes Digitales. Big beat soon proved very popular in America as well, and artists attached to City of Angels Records (the Crystal Method, Überzone, Lunatic Calm, Front BC) gained a higher profile thanks to like-minded Brits. Other than Fatboy Slim, the other superstar artists of big beat were the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy, two groups who predated the style (and assisted its birth). Both the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy were never tight fits either, given productions that often reflected the more intelligent edge of trip-hop, and rarely broke into the mindless arena of true big beat.
The sound of big beat, a rather shameless fusion of old-school party breakbeats with appropriately off-the-wall samples, was reminiscent of house music's sampladelic phase of the late '80s as well as old-school rap and its penchant for silly samples and irresistible breaks. Though the sample programming and overall production was leaps and bounds beyond its predecessors, big beat was nevertheless criticized for dumbing down the electronica wave of the late '90s. Even while recordings by the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, and Fatboy Slim hit the American charts and earned positive reviews -- granted, from rock critics -- worldwide, many dance fans rejected the style wholesale for being too reliant on gimmicky production values and played-out samples. Big beat lasted a surprisingly long time, given the constraints of a style reliant on the patience of listeners who've heard the same break dozens of times, as well as the patience of DJs to hunt local thrift stores to find interesting samples on old instructional records.
Breakcore
Breakcore is an electronic music style that brings together elements of industrial, jungle, hardcore techno and IDM into a breakbeat-oriented sound that encourages speed, complexity, impact and maximum sonic density. It adheres to a loose set of stylistic rules.
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.
One of the most controversial issues in breakcore is that of the mere existence of the genre. Because it pulls liberally from other musical genres, there is not a consensus on what is and what is not breakcore, or even over the usefulness of the term itself. Because of the fragmentation, the breakcore scene is not centered in any one geographical location, but is rather scattered into disparate groups. Perhaps the one place where breakcore's "voice" can be heard is virtually, through the internet and various online forums, such as those at C8 and Widerstand (Eiterherd's website, now defunct).
According to Simon Reynolds, of The New York Times, breakcore is "purveyed by artists like DJ/Rupture and Teamshadetek, the music combines rumbling bass lines, fidgety beats and grainy ragga vocals to create a home-listening surrogate for the bashment vibe of a Jamaican sound system party. Others within the breakcore genre, like Knifehandchop, Kid 606 and Soundmurderer, hark back to rave's own early days, their music evoking the rowdy fervor of a time when huge crowds flailed their limbs to a barrage of abstract noise and convulsive rhythm. It's a poignant aural mirage of a time when techno music was made for the popular vanguard rather than a connoisseurial elite, as it is today.
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, Sickboy and Droon; 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.