Breakbeat Hardcore is On the Rise

What do Carl Cox, The Prodigy, Goldie and Andy C all have in common? Asides from being some of the biggest names in dance music they are also connected by the precursor to Jungle and DnB, a sound we now call Breakbeat Hardcore, a sound that is once again on the rise!

Breakbeat Hardcore came out of the warehouse rave scene of the early 90s. It was the sound of UK musicians and DJs putting Hip Hop, Reggae, House and Techno through a Windrush generation influenced filter. It launched the career of The Prodigy with the infamous 70s child safety commercial sampling ‘Charly’ (a far superior track called ‘Your Love’ can be found on the release EP, one of the best rave tracks of all time) and the rest is history. A DJ by the name of Carl Cox would appear on BBC Radio One in 1992 playing Hardcore tunes by Terrorize, Nebula II and his own early productions.

Although Breakbeat Hardcore vanished from the nations radio stations by the end of 1992, it carried on all the way up to 1995 before Jungle, DnB and 4 Beat Happy Hardcore became the dominant sounds of the raves.

By 2000, a revival had begun spearheaded by Vinyl Junkie, Dave Skywalker, DJ Jedi and a host of other producers, DJs and labels later becoming Hardcore Breaks, J-Tek and 140 Jungle.

The influence of Hardcore is ever present in today’s House and Techno scene and some ‘oldskool’ style tunes have popped up in the charts from time to time like Chase & Status ‘Count On Me.’

It’s hard to accurately pinpoint where the latest Hardcore revival began but for arguments sake (don’t @ me!) let’s say 2017. One of the biggest Hardcore labels ever, Kniteforce made a return with regular vinyl releases that continue to this day. Jay Cunning began a podcast and livestream under the banner ‘We Are Hardcore’ initially playing oldskool tracks but now dedicating entire bi-weekly shows to brand new Hardcore and Jungle tunes plus remixed classics from the 90s.

Now, Hardcore is back, alive and kicking thanks to labels like Amen Brother, Cantina Cuts, Rave Radio, Lazarus, 4 To The Core and longstanding labels like Warehouse Wax and Paranoid Recordings to name just a few.

It’s not just labels though, a whole new generation of artists are busy producing Hardcore either in the oldskool style or with fresh twists. Artists like Lavery, Pete Cannon (who makes tunes using an Amiga and oldskool hardware), Tim Reaper, Samurai Breaks and Denham Audio are all flying the flag for this new wave of 140-160BPM piano, hoovers and chipmunk vocal powered UK-centric dance genre. This is by no means an exhaustive list and I apologise in advance for anyone I have missed out!

A certain Dan Donelly once made a tune back in 1992 sampling Public Enemy. Its called ‘Hardcore Will Never Die’ and that is a slogan that seems to have been right!