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Breakbeat is it a genre?
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| cmay119 |
Don't know if this has been discussed before, but something that I've been considering for a while. Is Breakbeat a genre?
I have a hard time completely agreeing that it is or isn't. Since the genre is completely classified by the Beat Pattern (I'm not a producer, so I don't know if that's the correct terminology) of a particular track, can that in itself classify a genre?
There are Housey style Breaks, Trancey Style Breaks, Ambient Breaks, Progressive Breaks. Breaks like DJ Icey plays (Florida Breaks?).
All of these are pidgeon-holed in the Breakbeat category when they usually share nothing in common with one another sans the Beat Pattern riding underneath.
What do you think? I'd love some input on this one. |
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| iammesol |
| Why do you care? Nowadays I can't even tell the difference between genres. :p |
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| cmay119 |
| quote: | Originally posted by iammesol
Why do you care? Nowadays I can't even tell the difference between genres. :p |
No good reason, really. Just curiousity. I agree with you though, lines between other genres seemed to be getting very blurry as of late. |
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| hkaliher |
| quote: | Originally posted by cmay119
No good reason, really. Just curiousity. I agree with you though, lines between other genres seemed to be getting very blurry as of late. |
and that's why i don't even bother putting music into genres
that and i am too lazy to care about all the little differences that make songs go into specific sub-genres |
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| cmay119 |
| quote: | Originally posted by hkaliher
and that's why i don't even bother putting music into genres
that and i am too lazy to care about all the little differences that make songs go into specific sub-genres |
I'm usually that way too.
This one though, like I said earlier is more curiousity about what makes it a genre in the first place. Not what belongs under it. |
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| wotyzoid |
I'd say it's a sub genre.
EDM is a genre, rock is a genre.
punk is a sub genre, metal is a sub genre, techno is a sub genre, breaks is a sub genre.
/2cents |
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| SYSTEM-J |
I've had this argument before, with Mr Mystery as I recall. Here's my take on it:
There is a genre called breaks (or breakbeat) but simply having a breakbeat does not put a track in that genre. For instance, jungle is a genre of its own, even though it always uses breakbeats. So is electro (true electro). Then there can be off-shoot genres like breakbeat trance or breakbeat techno, which are trance or techno tracks that simply use a breakbeat.
For me, breaks is basically descended from hip-hop. All styles I'd put under breaks essentially stem from hip-hop. Jungle doesn't- it comes from dancehall. Electro predates hip-hop. Techno descended from electro and trance from techno, so breakbeat examples from these genres aren't breaks. |
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| RJT |
Huh, interesting to see this topic come up as it's something I've always wondered as well.
J, out of curiosity - what kinds of tunes would you classify in your definition of the genre "breaks"?
:conf:
There are definitely some specific tunes, and a very, very specific style I conjur up when someone says "breaks" - but I'm almost invariably way off the mark from what whomever I'm talking to is discussing.
For me "breaks" is really "prog breaks" - which may be completely wrong, it's just the first idea I go to. |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| freestyle / electro |
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| julien2 |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
I've had this argument before, with Mr Mystery as I recall. Here's my take on it:
There is a genre called breaks (or breakbeat) but simply having a breakbeat does not put a track in that genre. For instance, jungle is a genre of its own, even though it always uses breakbeats. So is electro (true electro). Then there can be off-shoot genres like breakbeat trance or breakbeat techno, which are trance or techno tracks that simply use a breakbeat.
For me, breaks is basically descended from hip-hop. All styles I'd put under breaks essentially stem from hip-hop. Jungle doesn't- it comes from dancehall. Electro predates hip-hop. Techno descended from electro and trance from techno, so breakbeat examples from these genres aren't breaks. |
you are right that because a track has a "breakbeat" doesnt make it breakbeat per se, but in many musical styles, the breakbeat (often the amen break itself -if you dont know what it is, google amen break-) is the main constituant of a type of music
for example, electro (true electro) is a subgenre of breakbeat, so are hip hop and idm |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by RJT
J, out of curiosity - what kinds of tunes would you classify in your definition of the genre "breaks"?
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There's the big-beat crew: early Chems, Fatboy, Crystal Method, Lunatic Calm, Propellerheads etc.
Trip hop and so forth: Massive Attack, Portishead, Shadow, Coldcut, Nightmares On Wax etc.
And then the likes of the Freestylers, Hyper and Plump DJs who just seem to be generally "breaks".
I'm not sure about prog breaks... that to me seems to more about the prog and less about the breaks, but that begs the question of whether we should be considering "progressive" a genre all of its own. Acts like Hybrid have me scratching my head, because they have nothing to do with hip-hop and yet they can't really be sourced in house or trance either. I suppose they get called "breaks" simply because there's nowhere better to put them, but I'd be inclined to call progressive breaks an offshoot of progressive- and leave the house/trance distinction up in the air.
| quote: | Originally posted by julien2
for example, electro (true electro) is a subgenre of breakbeat, so are hip hop and idm |
I'm sorry, but I just don't swallow that. You just can't sell Kraftwerk to me as a breaks act.
I start at hip-hop because for me the idea of the breakbeat begins around the core trick that start hip-hop: looping the drum break. Electro was going before then, hip-hop merely decided to use electro breaks as well as funk breaks and so forth. |
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| PETRAN |
| quote: | Originally posted by wotyzoid
I'd say it's a sub genre.
EDM is a genre, rock is a genre.
punk is a sub genre, metal is a sub genre, techno is a sub genre, breaks is a sub genre.
/2cents |
Genre-policeee!
Metal is a genre not a sub-genre. Divided into more subgenres such as "heavy", "power","progressive", "thrash", "black", "death", "gothic", "doom", "new" etc. at times, they are completely opossite to each other (musically, ideologically etc.). |
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