On Monday, June 23, 1997 5:49 PM, The Rare Guy [SMTP:buh@clark.net] wrote:
quoted 7 lines they are breaks.. forget all about loops and think about what a break is..> they are breaks.. forget all about loops and think about what a break is..
>
> the point in the drum sequence when you break away from the beat with
> something else, and then go back to the original. i'm not saying that
> Squarepusher uses loops, I'm saying he uses breaks, and his breaks *are*
> complex and programmed like you say.
> at least that's what I think of when I hear the word "breaks."
Exactly, that's what a break is.
My spur-of-the-moment definition of breakbeat/jungle/d&b is: "High tempo
electronic music characterized by the heavy (sometimes even exclusive) use of
drum patterns conventionally used during breaks in house/techno music."
But calling what SP plays "breaks" seems wrong to me. He never "goes back to
the original" because there is no dominant or repeating single pattern to the
beats. Yes it's all in a steady tempo, but it contains measure after measure of
unique, intricate constructions which sound more like the kind of
improvisational flourishes of a real jazz drummer than like the
once-every-so-often flourish known in techno as a breakbeat. Seriously, many of
his songs do not have any two measures of drums which are alike, as far as I
can tell. So where's the main beat in somethign liek that? If there's no main
beat, then what's a break?
It's just a matter of semantics. The term breakbeat to me implies that it is
either an actual breakbeat by your definition (a momentary flourish change to
the looping main pattern) or music composed of a bunch of measures of drumming
usually intended for that purpose. But when the music is composed as a drum
epic, it's hard to call it breakbeat.
It's like calling a jazz solo just a bunch of riffs. Sure, every little bit
could b=probably be sampled and made into some dumb acid-jazz song, but it
doesn't mean that the original is composed of riffs or samples.
Whatever. But it's interesting to talk about the clinical definitions of pop
music ain't it?
-CF