Upon a rainy day here in Manchester I receive an email from my Japanese friend Ume over at
Murder Channel, with a seemingly simple request; to create a list in honour of the 10th anniversary of this formidable label. The request to create a list of my top 5 breakcore tracks of all time. "TOP 5", I thought! But...but there is so many great tunes to mention 5 is such a small number.
So I replied, "is 10 OK?"
With Ume creating a top 50 albums list weeks earlier, I set to work! So here it is, with too many
great classic tracks to mention, this was going to be the most heart wrenching piece of journalism
I'd ever have to do, but, here goes!
10. Shitmat - You be Virgil and I'll be Ted Dibiase
I first heard this on a CDR handed to my friends at Marionette Records in 2004 following a Glade stage take over in the UK, this was the second track on the EP a black and white photocopied sleeve with "Now that's what I call wrong music on it" this CD got rinsed everywhere we went we
took it with us. Growing up in council estates in the north of England, Bonkers Hardcore compilation cassette tapes where what "the kids" would listen too, when I first heard the likes of Shitmat and Oen Flux I just knew things would never be the same again for Hardcore.
9. Oen Flux - Cut With A Chizel
Another track from the same CDR. this track just blew us all away we'd play this at every Doom Night (Mood Basement Buxton) we'd loose our shit. Very much verging on straight early UK Hardcore, amongst many awesome tracks Oen Flux did this is still one of my favourite tracks of all time, it's bleak, it's aggressive and it's unrelenting. It contained all the correct ingredients for a monster track, the main vocal hook is taken from a Ludacris acappella, I later used this same acappella in "Hammers of Blasphemy" but still hasn't come close to how well it's used in this track.
8. Bong-Ra - 666mph
This tune, honestly changed it for me, an incredible mix of hip hop, Jungle and crushing blues-like guitar, then a main guitar hook that was just pure and deep. I think the driving cowbell in this track mixed with the scratching was quite unique for it's time. This track showed a very young Gore Tech what was possible in the world of electronic music. Cut to an awesome video mashup of Bikini Bandits this was even shown on MTV late at night in Holland. I was blessed to be asked to remix this for the 2014 remake of the EP it was an honour.
7. Doormouse - Skelechairs (Venetian Snares Remix)
No introduction required, get it heard! complete with macabre Texas Chainsaw Massacre samples and montoruous kick drums and breakbeats it's a sure fire stomper in the dance!
6. Enduser - Shotgun Anthem
Now this was a tough one for me, I'm sure I could even make a top 10 based just on Enduser's music alone, I mean, Switch, End of The Beginning, Glock Dub, There was a period in about 2005/6 where every tune I heard and loved at the raves seemed to be and Enduser track, When Nicolas and I played our Vinyl sets in Berlin this year Enduser featured heavily in our selections. I heard this first being played as part of Aaron Spectre's Berlin mix which for a long time never left my MP3 player.
5. Tim Exile - The Devil's Chimney
Now it's debatable that this one could in fact be DnB (if you actually give a fuck about genres) it was very rolling drum and bass in it's structure, and Exile as he was then known would play shows with the likes of Bailey, Lemon D and Valve Sound system in London, however this track from his Pro Agonist EP on Planet Mu was certainly very breakcore in it's glitches, strange pads and dark subject matter, the words "the devil's in exile, exile is in the devil,.....sleep tight" will haunt me forever, This track was mixed regularly into my sets way back with "Big Bad Purple Badboy" taken from the same album, fun fact I once created a bootleg remix of this track (never released so don't bother looking) what Tim said he liked. Mike Teknoist and I went to see him play the Berghain the weekend I moved to Berlin, he's still got a "if it aint broke, break it"
attitude in his performances.
4. Player - Angel of Theft
This tune, it as much haunts me as it does comfort me, it's a classic, another track I heard featuring heavily in the Aaron Spectre live mixes, I was in Germany in 2006 in a hotel where I first saw the iconic pentagram vinyl sticker and the re-appropriated Slayer logo. Rumour has it this is actually a bootleg created by non-other than Amon Tobin, Fun fact: When I went to Holland to play PRSPCT XL 17 the day before I flew the tragic news came to light that Jeff Hanneman founding member and guitarist of Slayer has passed away. But in honour of this awesome band almost all the producers and DJ's played this track in their sets. Great tune, Good luck ever finding the 12" though. If you do, Tell me first.
3. Rotator - Jump da fuck up
Dancehall, DANCEHALL! What!, This is new to me, a young an inexperienced producer, it changed everything, it stays with me even today when I write music, this amongst many more tracks by this formidable gabbertronic, 2 step king will stay with me. This guy (whether he knew it or not, perhaps the later knowing Frank) awoke something in many of us, like all of the producers above he managed to take something, and fuse it into something more sinister, darker or almost totally upside down by taking rhythms like this, and sounds like that, made for something fresh and unique. Their are of course so many great tracks by Rotator but this one sticks out for me.
2. Broke Note - The Fury
Now, This track, again very debatable as to what you can consider the actual "genre" but at 175 BPM and very Drum and Bass orientated it works for both Drum and Bass and Breakcore, What strikes me as most awesome about this track (and subsequently many other Broken Note tracks) is the attention to detail. a very long and suspenseful intro layering on more and more elements and false starts that when it finally breaks out and the immortal "Bring on the Chaos" is heard, all hell breaks loose, the track is quite long in length and never really seems to repeat, I've been listening to Terminal Static closely for many years and still hear new sections and parts I didn't hear before.
1. Aaron Spectre - Look Out Fi Liar
A little more mellow perhaps in comparison, but this is certainly one of the most timeless breakcore anthems, complete with anti-war dub ragga acappella and some of the most complex and imaginative drum work I've heard, this amongst many of Aaron's tracks stands out above all as having some of the most unique styles of analog style glitching compliment the Ragga, Dancehall style of music.
These aren't necessary a countdown in order of what I think is better, they're equally as notable as each other, If I had the time I'd love to create a top 100, maybe one day, additionally this simply scratches the surface of what is out there, here is a list of notable
producers that certainly deserve a mention,
Krumble, DJ Donna Summer, Duran Duran Duran, Droon, Sickboy, DJ Scud, Eustachian, Jahba, Le
Jad. Monster X, FFF, DJ Scotch Egg, Ove-NaXx and that's not to mention all of the other
countless producers that lay the ground work before this generation of breakcore circa 2002 - 2010.
Notable labels, Death$ucker, Wrong Music, Ad Noiseam, Noize-Tek, Marionette Records, Kriss,
also check out forums such as Ih8breakcore and breakcore.nl for more communities.
This concludes my list, Some obvious, some even seemingly generic but all honest, doing the research for this brought back many memories of the scene in general, the parties and times I've shared with the mentioned artists and a really great opportunity to relisten to some awesome tunes,
And remember, if it ain't broke, break it!
George, Gore Tech
http://www.gore-tech.net/
