- British based breaks label, 10 Kilo signs up some of the heavyweights of breakbeat to pull out some massive tunes, all the while keeping it tasteful - the cheese grater is locked in the drawer where it should be.
Red Star feat. MC Spee - Pretender. This is Danny Briottet's new moniker. He used to be Renegade Soundwave (remember them?) so he basically went from one RS to another RS and this kickass tune screams Freestyler all the way through. If you are familiar with the ragga breaks tracks on the Freestyler's massive sophmore album Pressure Point such as Get Down Massive, then you will know this. A more minimal effort, this one has the phattest beats, familiar bassline and has definitely grown on me after repeated listens. Everything but those damn vocals in the middle. No matter, it is sort of a welcome change, and I find myself singing along to it in the car. I really like the dropping basslines which shakes the glass in my car.
PFN - Future Burn. Electro vocodered voices always seem to feature in tracks done by anyone nowadays. Yet only some people do it right. Still continuing with the minimal breaks feel, this tune is mainly for listening rather than dancing. The bleeps and bloops add that extra touch of futurism. If you like TCR breaks then you can dig this one!.
Nathan Coles - RAAS Bucket. This starts with a sample saying "I get deep" and deep into the breaks it does get and builds up from there. The arpeggio sound is quite nice and gives it a bit of an authentic 80's feel.
DJ Hal - Close To The Edge. Getting onto a more 4/4 tip - breakbeat was bound to explore that area and has been doing so recently, wouldn't that mean it should be called fixedbeat? - duh! forget I said that. This is quite chunky and is similar to current projects coming out on the Kingsize label - that heavy 4/4 tech housey style. If you have heard Meat Katie's Seismic Sounds mix CD then you have an idea of what you are in for. The bassline feels like it's been done in reverse. But it's the beat that hits ya - it's housey yet not too uplifting to make you wanna go "Ooohh! Ooohh!"
Dylan Rhymes & Meat Katie - Moist. Hearing this on vinyl at my local record store, I dismissed it as being too much of a filler track and while it leans towards that direction if you keep moving the needle to hear other parts of the track, it definitely isn't. The drum pattern takes it's lead from Meat Katie's breaks anthem Dirty South and has a bit of a tribal feel to it. Just like house has a dirty house subgenre, breaks should have one just for tracks like these - dirty breakbeats.
Sneaker Pimps - Bloodsport (Dylan Rhymes Remix). It's been a while since the Sneaker Pimps have graced us with any new tracks, and it hasn't been any of the breakbeat kind either. The same could be said for Dylan Rhymes who hasn't released any classic tracks by himself since Naked & Ashamed in 97. The bassline and melody feel as if the Crystal Method have lent a hand in creating this as it feels so US West Coast breakbeat. This track uses a lot of build ups to it and basically reaches a climax and no there is no female singer on it as we can usually expect from a Sneaker Pimps track.
Rennie Pilgrem & BLIM - Monkfish. The teaming up of two of breakbeats superheroes once again. After a huge hit with Eskimo, breaks headz are treated to a potential classic - Monkfish. Starting off with that tribal feel that Pilgrem is so keen to move TCR into, this has the same feel. It's good to see that their not saving their ideas just for Rennie's label. If you have the new Tribalizm album then you are pretty much in for the same thing.
Elite Force - Haiku.
This track has more of
That four to the floor tech feel.
Bassline gets me pumped.
Tribal beats in the
middle can cause some mayhem
on the breaks dancefloor.
I still do not see
why they called this track Haiku.
There's no relation.
Broadway Danny Rose - Night Of The Elastic. More techy breaks and this one is top heavy on the tech sounds and it sounds quite evil at that. The beats are less prominent and it just shows that a decent breaks tracks doesn't always have to have mad beats however it does change the songs dancefloor friendliness.
Subsonic Legacy vs. Dreadzone - Phantom. This is apparently a classic breaks track from '92 and also makes an appearance on the Stanton Warrior's Stanton Session album under the name of Version Excursions and was remixed by Layo and Bushwacka. Here we see it given the low down sub bass remix treatment by some time Fingerlickin cohort's, Dreadzone. As with a lot of Dreadzone tracks this has a bit of a ragga feel to it and uses a lot of bass yet still maintaining the feel of the original. Unlike the L&B remix, the bassline is kept at low volume and gives it that really dark feel. Can be quite likeable.
10 Kilo records has really put out an impressive release with this, if you like breakbeats and are after a bit of variation from the usual party vibe you get from Fingerlickin' then you might want to try this. Even though it is as good as it is, it doesn't get the full 10 kilos of a score. Maybe about 8 Kilos yet it's still a good score.