Big beat

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Big beat (sometimes called chemical breaks) is a term deployed in the mid 1990s by the British music press to describe the work of artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, and The Prodigy. Big beat tend to feature distorted, compressed breakbeats at moderate tempos (usually between 110 to 136 beats per minute), acidic synthesizer lines and heavy jazz loops. They are often punctuated with punkish-style vocals and driven by intense, distorted basslines with conventional pop and techno song structures. Big beat is also characterised by a strong psychedelic influence stemming from the influence of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin's breakbeats, and the acid house musical movement. Particularly in the style of Fatboy Slim, the genre features a heavily compressed, thunderous drum sound (hence the name).

Contents 1 History 2 Notable big beat artists 3 See also 4 External links

History

At a time when electronic dance music tended to have deliberately artificial, robotic and repetitious drum beats mixed with sampled drum loops, the Chemical Brothers took the unusual step of recreating rock-style drum lines with individually-sampled drums, their music consequently combining elements of dance and rock music. The term caught on, and was subsequently applied to a wide variety of acts, notably Bentley Rhythm Ace, Lionrock, Monkey Mafia, Death in Vegas and David Holmes.

Other notable 'big beat' acts include The Crystal Method, Overseer, Mr. Oizo, many artists signed to Brighton's Skint label and London's Wall Of Sound label, and to some extent the later work of The Prodigy. By the time of the latter's successful 1997 album The Fat of the Land, the music press were increasingly drawn to using the catch-all term 'electronica' to describe the big beat sound, and the term 'big beat' itself is now rarely used.

Notable big beat artists

Andy Hunter° Apollo 440 The Avalanches Bentley Rhythm Ace Boom Boom Satellites The Chemical Brothers The Crystal Method Death in Vegas DJ Chamber Fatboy Slim Freestylers Freddy Fresh Fluke Groove Armada Hexstatic

David Holmes Junkie XL Lionrock Lo Fidelity Allstars Lunatic Calm Moby Monkey Mafia Mr. Oizo Overseer PsychedeliaSmith Rob Dougan Timo Maas The Prodigy Propellerheads Space Raiders The Wiseguys Synthabix

See also

• Acid house
• Breakbeat
• Electronica
• List of electronic music genres

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