What the f*ck is Tech-Funk?

Usually one of the more innovative and exciting artists in the realm of breakbeat, Meat Katie has been touting the phrase “tech-funk” around for some time now with regards to his DJing/production style and his rather dashing label Lot49. What the hell’s all that about then eh? We had a little sniff around and talked to rising star 30Hz and stalwart of the scene Dylan Rhymes, as they prepare to team up with their Lot49 labelmate Alex Metric to smash A Different World’s 1st Birthday to pieces at Hidden in London this Saturday.

Tech-funk is generally accepted to be more of a “sound” or “attitude” than a genre as such. It’s the term Meat Katie coined to describe his sets and productions that fused 4/4 beats with elements of breakbeat – and conversely breakbeat with elements of 4/4 house and electro. The beats are always seriously thumping, the energy levels high, and the textures in the music generally very electronic, twisted, and sub-woofer troubling. And of course there are those driving percussive elements – usually associated with techno – combined with a rump-shaking groove underpinning the whole thang. “I think there was a time where the cutting edge of breakbeat became a more house influenced sound” begins 30Hz on the roots of the tech-funk sound, “at a time where there wasn't a huge amount of really heavy clubby house and a lot of people from other scenes were checking out and buying breaks records. When house moved more in the electrohouse direction it did what a lot of big breaks records were doing better in a sense, and that housey breaks sound became a bit obsolete.” Many DJs traditionally considered breaks DJs have moved away from their usual sound to incorporate increasing amounts of electro and tech-funk stylings – and likewise the music policies at key breaks night (such as Chew The Fat!) have diversified greatly. “This hasn’t been a conscious thing at our camp as we have always played out and released a wide variety of music” Dylan clarifies. “I guess the "Breaks DJs" are just moving on as there's no point in playing just breaks if there aren’t enough good breaks tunes out there to support.”

The electro phenomenon of the last few years that has permeated so many different genres and scenes has played a part in the emergence of the tech-funk sound – with the big, brash, larger-than-life sounds of electrohouse fitting in perfectly with the whole ethos. These two are somewhat sceptical of its contribution though. “I think it’s become a bandwagon and for the most part already is a bit of a cliché. It just ended up with loads of breaks DJs running around as if house had never existed before” says 30Hz. Dylan reinforces the viewpoint. “I think the word "electro" conjures up a very different idea in people's heads these days. It has helped the scene but a lot of productions coming through of late have become quite stale and predictable.”

DJs and producers are usually very cautious when it comes to classifying their sound, often shying away from labels and pigeonholes – but these guys seem pretty happy with their current tag. “It’s a perfect description” enthuses Dylan. “We have always used this term for what we do here at Lot 49 as that is the simplest way to describe it.” “I like the tech-funk ethos, though I think I'm probably a bit more on the bassline and sub-oriented side of things than DJs like Meat Katie or Elite Force” says 30Hz. i>“Baobinga and me have been toying around with the tag "acid crunk," which while meaningless conveys a bit more of the rudeness.” If all this sounds rather intriguing, you’d best keep your eye out for what these guys have coming up: 30Hz’s highly promising debut album ‘Electric Sheep’ comes out in November along with the single ‘Daddio’, and he’s finishing his album with Baobinga as The Body Snatchers, plus techno gear from his emptyset project, while Dylan’s new album is in the works and should drop in May 2008. In the meantime, you can catch these two dirty tech-funkers down at A Different World’s 1st Birthday at Hidden in London this Saturday – where they are joined by labelmate Alex Metric (who’s also just released an EP on Adam Freeland’s Marine Parade and remixed the new Hard-Fi track), Formless, and a whole host of other DJs, live acts, acoustic performers and cabaret acts. What happens when the Lot49 crew get together? “We always have a good night. Having done gigs all over the globe with everyone it’s sure to be a cracking night” says Dylan, while 30Hz gives a more insightful forecast. “Someone usually embarrasses themself, and the pimp hand is usually in full swing” Tech-funk? Pimp hand? I can’t keep up with all this crazy vocab...

Breakbeat Culture

Most listeners of hip-hop or drum and bass are aware that Breakbeats are the basis of these musical forms. Unlike the steady kick drums found in house music, Breakbeats are interrupted, choppy drum beats mostly pioneered by the likes of James Brown and others. But what is Urban Breakbeat? The term was coined by the infamous Metalheadz crew to describe a number of musical genres that have emerged since hip-hop. If hip-hop were a daddy, Urban Breakbeat would be his illegitimate children running around in various parts of the world. Urban Breakbeat culture is instantly recognizable as the offspring of hip-hop culture, yet it pushes into territories and ideas that hip-hop has not ventured. The genres of drum and bass, trip-hop, breaks and even the modern day sub-genres in hip-hop are transformed versions of that original sound that emerged in the South Bronx in the 70s. By examining the origins of these genres, hopefully, their significance can be fully understood.

To completely grasp the concept of urban Breakbeat, a bit of a history lesson is necessary. Black music has come in many forms throughout the decades, in each instance grabbing hold of the public imagination with a forceful grip. The Blues grew out of African spirituals and worksongs to become the recorded interpretation of the African-Americans inner pain and heartache. Jazz was the sound of the 1920s and 30s, the very sonic representation of those crazy times where sex, violence and alcohol seemed to go hand in hand. The 60s saw the emergence of soul and R&B (a blending of gospel vocals with the sexuality of the blues), which later brought about the more aggressive style of funk. These were the seeds of hip-hop. Out of the decaying urban environment of New York City, a youth culture sprung up using turntables and old records as instruments. Hip-hop has always been about reinvigorating the past, cutting and pasting classics into new experiments in sound.

But to be fair, hip-hop did not evolve without some help. Sociologist and author, Paul Gilroy developed the concept of the Black Atlantic, citing a flow of cultural ideas among people of African descent throughout the US, the UK and the Caribbean. The emergence of urban Breakbeat culture is a testament to Gilroy’s work. As noted by David Hesmondhalgh and Caspar Melville in their essay Urban Breakbeat Culture: “U.S. hip-hop is itself the product of the physical and cultural traffic between Jamaica and New York, an influence embodied in the figure of Clive “Kool DJ Herc” Campbell from Kingston, one of hip-hop’s founding fathers. Rapping, while clearly based to some degree in African American oral tradition, borrows heavily from the development of the Caribbean’s myriad creolized languages. Reggae, meanwhile, was heavily informed by U.S. R&B. Twenty years later hip-hop had a profound effect on Jamaican music, influencing the development of a harder style of reggae rapping known as ragga (or dancehall), which became popular among Caribbean audiences in the United Kingdom.”

There is clearly an exchange of musical ideas that has been going on for decades across the Atlantic Ocean that has only hastened since the advent of hip-hop. In the UK, there is a large segment of the population with roots in the former British Caribbean, namely Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and other islands. Sound System culture is an important part of the Black British experience. The culture, originating in Jamaica, involves a large sound system operating as a small business taken from venue to venue. This concept, although commonplace in Britain, is completely foreign to most Americans. Once hip-hop began to truly make waves in the mid-1980s, it began to influence British youth culture in a variety of ways. There was an initial movement for a British hip-hop which was essentially the same music with British accents but despite many promising artists, this ultimately failed. Hesmondhalgh and Melville contend that, “Hip-hop, however, exerted a huge influence on UK music making primarily in relation to DJing (scratching and mixing) and production techniques. In particular, that period saw the rise of the Breakbeat phenomenon: the development of a subculture based around searching for rare breaks on soul and funk records and sampling and reconstructing beats using Roland 808 drum machines. This began to lay roots that would come to fruition in the early 1990s.”

Rave began to take hold in the late 80s and early 90s in the UK. The direct result of hip-hop and black offshoots of disco, in particular house and techno, rave in England was seen as mostly a “white” thing. But with the injection of Breakbeats and the reggae influence that persisted in the UK, things changed quickly. Once the BPMs were sped up jungle was born.

The frenetic beats of jungle/drum and bass added much needed edge into the happy go-lucky UK rave scene of the early 90s. Jungle has a lot in common with hip-hop sonically, thematically as well as culturally. In terms of the music, jungle uses many of the same production techniques pioneered by hip-hop DJs and producers. The use of samplers and sequencers along with the high value placed upon the beat are inherited from hip-hop. There is a darker sensibility that underscores most drum and bass that links it to the nihilistic attitudes seen in most gangsta rap. Gunshots, sirens, and the like were common in early jungle. There has always been a fascination within drum and bass of technology, weaponry, science fiction and horror. But jungle also has strong ties to Caribbean music so it was common to hear drum and bass versions of popular reggae and dancehall tunes. The names of drum and bass artists are obviously influenced by American MCs and West Indian Pride with titles like DJ Hype, DJ Die, Shy FX, Reprazent, Ed Rush, and Ganja Kru.

In terms of drum and bass culture, the connections are even more obvious. The producer and DJ became the icons with the dubplate (or test press) becoming a much sought after item. Hip-hop began with the DJ as the central figure before the MC took center stage while in Jamaica, the dubplate is the way dancehall tracks are often circulated to DJs. Drum and bass continues many traditions set up through hip-hop and soundsystem culture most recognizably the use of the MC as a hype man and not the central focus; the use of rewinds, when the DJ starts a track over; and references to lighters and weed. But what makes drum and bass a more evolved version of hip-hop is that it all but eradicates much of the sexism and ethnocentricity found in that genre. There is a certain multi-national all-inclusiveness that presides over drum and bass as a culture that has allowed artists from all over the world to partake in its existence in ways that hip-hop artists from outside of the US have never been able to.

Trip-hop goes in the opposite direction of drum and bass, moving to slower bpms translating hip-hop through the prism of dub, dancehall and soul into an entirely different art form. Mostly emerging from the city of Bristol in southwest England, bands like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead and Smith & Mighty took hip-hop production techniques like looping and sampling but filtered them through their unique multi-racial experience and exposure to “white” art forms such as alternative rock and punk. Where drum and bass was hard and dark like a scary movie, trip-hop was more somber like an art house flick. Trip-hop culture is loose-knit community compared to that of drum and bass (with most of the bands involved denying the existence of the genre itself) so the music itself acts as the only link to its origins in hip-hop.

American breaks, most often characterized by the funky breaks sound of Florida, has a direct link to hip-hop as its evolution was purely home grown. When Afrika Bambataa sampled the German electronic oddity Kraftwerk and released “Planet Rock” a new sound in hip-hop emerged known as electro. This style has always been tied to break dancers, poppers and lockers throughout its many evolutions. Electro eventually found a regional stronghold in the South, in particular Miami and other cities like Atlanta and Jacksonville. This allowed the music to branch off into two distinct styles: techno bass which emphasized the electronic elements of the music through artists like Dynamix II and Bass, which focused on raunchy lyrical content and stayed rooted in hip-hop culture and traditions. Where Bass laid the seeds for today’s crunk and Southern styles of hip-hop, techno bass paved the way for Florida breaks, a hyped up blending of hip-hop samples, scratching techniques, and 808 bass with house and rave vibe that was grabbing hold of Florida in the mid-90s. The sound was pioneered by Orlando’s DJ Icey yet is largely influenced by the nostalgic vibe of early hip-hop and 70s funk. The culture itself has remained about the dancing and the DJ, never straying from the simple pleasure of dancing to some thick 808s. In recent years funky breaks brought about the emergence of Nu-skool or UK breaks. Where funky breaks uses samples and a retro feel, UK breaks is more forward thinking, pushing the technology into new territories often using many of the techniques pioneered by drum and bass producers such as layered basslines, distortion, overdrive and stabs.

So by now it should be pretty clear that hip-hop music has influenced decades of musical hybrids that can be considered as urban Breakbeat. Interestingly enough, as hip-hop itself seemed to be running out of creative steam, it began to re-interpret Breakbeat culture in order to revive itself. The producer has re-emerged as an icon in hip-hop, most famously through the work of Timbaland and the Neptunes. Timbaland began introducing drum and bass style production through popular artists such as Aaliyah and Missy Elliott creating a signature style that transformed the rules of hip-hop production. Meanwhile, the Neptunes use simple Breakbeats and electro inspired synths to get their point across. These two producers are proof that Gilroy’s Black Atlantic theory is still in effect today.

David Hesmondhalgh and Caspar Melville conclude that “Urban Breakbeat culture… builds on technologies and attitudes of hip-hop but transforms them according to particular national diasporic conditions.” Translated this simply means that urban Breakbeat is the natural evolution of hip-hop culture as interpreted through the eyes of different cultures, whether it is rave culture in Florida or Black culture in the UK. But there is a common bond that exists in all the forms that are expressed as urban Breakbeat: the love of the beat. Whether drum and bass, trip-hop or breaks, the love and reverence of the Breakbeat is what connects us all.

History of BigBeat

Big beat is a term employed since the mid 1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, Propellerheads and The Prodigy, typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in common with established forms of electronic dance music such as Techno and Acid House.

Big Beat tends to feature distorted, compressed breakbeats at moderate tempos (usually between 90 to 140 beats per minute), acid house style synthesizer lines and heavy loops from 60s and 70s Funk, Jazz, rock and pop songs. They are often punctuated with punkish vocals and driven by intense, distorted basslines with conventional pop and techno song structures. Big beat tracks have a sound that include: crescendos, builds, drops, explosions, crowd-inciting drum rolls, and whooshing sounds that pan across the stereo-field.

Big Beat is also characterized by a strong psychedelic influence stemming from the influence of Dougie Wright, the arrangements and songs by French pop composers such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Jacques Perrey, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and the acid house musical movement of the late 1980s. Celebrated instigators of the genre's sound Fatboy Slim tend to feature heavily compressed thunderous drum sound (hence the name) in their tracks, along with a range of sampled sounds such as explosions, police sirens, and snippets of Turntablism. Big Beat shares attributes with Jungle and Drum & Bass, based on the use of frantic, heavy breakbeats and basslines but has a much slower rhythm.

At the beginning of the 1990s, several local UK electronic music genres converged at several points. Against the backdrop of several popular musical subcultures including the rave scene, UK rap, "chill out" or ambient music and gestating subgenres such as "Trip-Hop" and Breaks - plus the emerging Britpop movement, a process of hybridisation and a taste for eclecticism was developing within British dance music generally. Early purveyors of this approach include influential artists such as The Orb, Depth Charge, Transglobal Underground and Andy Weatherall's Sabres Of Paradise. Sampling had become an integral part of dance music production and made the fusion of many genres easier. Record labels such as Junior Boy's Own and Heavenly Records demonstrated this open-minded approach releasing slower breakbeat-based music alongside House and Techno singles, introducing dynamic new artists such as The Chemical Brothers (then known as The Dust Brothers) and Monkey Mafia in 1994. Norman Cook and Damien Harris first became associated with the term Big Beat through Harris' label Skint Records and club night 'The Big Beat Boutique', held on Fridays at Brighton's now demolished Concorde club between 1995 and 2001. The music played there ranged from breakbeats, rock, funk, drum'n'bass, industrial, jazz, acid house, hip hop and trance. The Heavenly label's London club The Sunday Social had adopted a similar philosopy with resident DJs the Chemical Brothers and their similarly eclectic approach. The term caught on, and was subsequently applied to a wide variety of acts, notably Bentley Rhythm Ace, Lionrock, Monkey Mafia, Meat Beat Manifesto, Lunatic Calm, Death in Vegas and the Propellerheads.

Big Beat was later brought into the American mainstream because of the "rock-like" qualities found in the music of acts such as The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. By mixing their electronic elements with the characteristics of post-grunge, The Prodigy was able to popularize the Big Beat genre even more. "Firestarter" was The Prodigy's first big national and international hit. Because of their cross-genre sound, the band was booked to play rock festivals causing rock fans to appreciate their electronic style and opening a gateway for other Big Beat musicians. The band released their third album, The Fat of the Land, in 1997 and it topped both the UK and US charts along with the charts of twenty or so other countries.

Other notable Big Beat acts include The Crystal Method, Overseer, Adam Freeland, David Holmes, and the Lo-Fidelity All Stars. The Big Beat scene started to decline in popularity by 1999, due to the novelty of the genre's formulae dwindling and a subsequent media backlash[citation needed]. Artists started to diversify their sound with other genres such as Trance (Chemical Brothers), Soul and Gospel (Fatboy Slim). However, Big Beat had left an indelible mark on popular music as an indigenous progression from rave music, bridging a divide between clubbers and indie-rock fans. Without this connection some have argued that it never would have reached the heights that it did, or talked to as many listeners as it did.   The genre's mainstream popularity was to be taken by funky house, then later electro house in the mid-2000s.

Big Beat acts such as The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim have collaborated on a variety of musical styles from rave, house, rap, disco, etc. In "Generation Ectasy", Reynolds says, "they've reminded us that dance music is supposed to be about fun, about freaky dancing as opposed to head nodding and train spotting." 

History of Breakbeat

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, hip-hop DJs (starting with Kool DJ Herc) began using several 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 breakdancers to show their skills.

The Amen Break, a drum break from The Winston's song "Amen, Brother" is widely regarded as the most used break ever. This break was first used on "King of the Beats" by Mantronix, and has since been used in thousands of songs. Other popular breaks are from James Brown's "Funky Drummer" and "Give it Up or Turnit a Loose", The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache", and Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)". 

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 The Freestylers, Pendulum, Soul Of Man, The Breakfastaz, Ctrl Z, Freq Nasty and the Plump DJ's. New artists are emerging all the time, most notabley Wavewhore, Whitenoize and The Rogue Element.

Breakbeats are used in many hip hop, rap, jungle, and hardcore songs, and can also be heard in other music, from popular music to background music in car and jean commercials on the radio or TV.  

Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop