Cycles...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
When I first began releasing instrumental music in, what, 98? (I think that was the first Micronaut record, but I’m sure about 85 people will correct me…) most of the instrumental music I made had one purpose: to appear in Bunnim-Murray produced shows for MTV, Red Bull extreme sports videos, and X-Box games. I was pretty good at this, and from ’99 to about ’05 ASCAP checks were half of my yearly income, as a result.
The style of music I made throughout this period was Big Beat. That genre is now almost 19 years old now, counting from the release of “Exit Planet Dust,” the first real Big Beat record, in 1995 . Weirdly, many younger people don’t really know about it as a genre; they know the biggest acts, but never seem to connect them in to a cohesive group. I only discovered this last night when I put up that video, mentioning in my Twitter and Facebook posts that I thought Big Beat was ripe for a comeback.
So, a primer: Big Beat is easily described as sample- and breakbeat-heavy electronic music done with rock arrangements and stylistic nods. The key acts are, of course, Chemical Brothers (Exit Planet Dust, 1995), Propellerheads (Decksandrumsandrockandroll, 1998), and Crystal Method (Vegas, 1997). There are a bunch more, many of which put out some pretty amazing shit. The thing about Big Beat is that it wasn’t really something you could make in your bedroom; to do it right, you needed more of a band presentation. This greatly limited the number of artists involved, and ultimately the form died out when the easier-to-make EDM styles gained popularity.
Anyhow, one earmark of a Big Beat track is the attention paid to the song structure; most tracks in this genre have a clear ABABCAB format lifted straight from rock music. (Or, more specifically, the popular industrial rock tracks of the early 90s, when that genre ruled the roost. You’re welcome.) Perhaps that’s why the genre appealed to me, specifically; I easily understood its structure, and it utilized my already-extant skillset.
When I got some of my tools shoehorned in my new office this week, I sat down to play and make sure everything survived the move, and the above video is the result. While it only loosely deserves the “Big Beat” moniker, having no defined structure (it is, like almost all my “live” videos, a pure improvisation), it borrows that genre’s sound palette. And once I’d made it, I wondered out loud whether Big Beat was ever coming back. In my opinion, it’s time. Can I get an “amen”?
28 comments
In North America, circa 97-98 with the Fatboy Slim/Chemical Brothers/The Prodigy commercial onslaught, mainstream exposure to it was bundled up as Electronica, which might explain why a lot of younger folk now don't recognize it as Big Beat.
That's a good point. The bigger tracks are mostly recognizable as movie stings and car commercial soundtracks.
-CR
I had no idea that Big Beat was a thing. I even owned albums from every artist listed in this post, and several others from the "a bunch more" link like Junkie XL and Fatboy Slim.
Like shaman said, Electronica is Electronica. I think it's one of those things where you have to be pretty far down the rabbit hole to even realize that there are names for different types. ;)
Yeah, I'd call it Electronica. Big Beat was more like Bentley Rhythm Ace and the Dope On Plastic records.
BTW Here's a good collection of DOP tracks https://soundcloud.com/edp3k/dope-on-plastic-tribute-94-98
Americans and people from the UK have very different opinions on this genre, come to find out. Since the British invented it, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. (At least with respect to Crystal Method and Propellerheads, both of which are very American.) I think we can all agree that Chemical Brothers are the first of the big acts to carry the moniker, though.
I tend to think of the sparser acts as being more indicative, though. Crystal Method and Props both made (make in the case of the former) very thick music.
-CR
I might be mistaken, but I believe Propellerheads were British, from Bristol or Bath or some such.
You didn't have to be too far down the rabbit hole to have known what Big Beat was, it was just a matter of reading lots of UK music magazines in the 90s or frequenting the import racks at the better record shops here in North America. MTV and the like probably rarely to never used the term.
Hey, look at that! They are! I always thought they were L.A. dudes. As I said on Twitter, I am in no way a musicologist.
-CR
I was going to concede just because the American definition is usually the definition online. But, yeah, the sampling is such an important part for the vibe of what was sampled. Big Beat has kitsch. The rock aspect of Electronica is what made it palatable to a bigger audience.
Amen.
Big Beat and Trip Hop are two peas in the same pod, separated only by tempo and amount of reverb.
I'm about half-way done with the first of the five songs I'm doing for this bitch. All the squelching gives me a headache, but, like any pro, I play through the pain!
-CR
I've done a lot of Audio Damage coding while listening to Big Beat, specifically The Crystal Method, Propellerheads, and Fluke. It occurrs to me that I was introduced to the genre mostly via the soundtracks for the first two Matrix films.
I, for one, welcome CR's foray in this direction.
--Adam
"Or, more specifically, the popular industrial rock tracks of the early 90s, when that genre ruled the roost. You're welcome."
So it's YOUR fault that my 5-year-old nephew won't listen to anything other than a damned Apollo440 track? DAMN YOU TO HELL RANDAAAALLLLLLLL
There is a big beat elephant in the room here.... Fatboy Slim.
Not everyones cup of tea, but definitely one of the big players of the big beat era.
I would love to see a Big Beat and Trip Hop revival.
Maybe we should all just get it done with and move to Bristol?
I'm happy to keep ignoring Fatboy Slim.
Now that we're talking about trip hop, which artists of the original trip hop wave are worth listening to?
There's the holy trinity: Portishead, Tricky, Massive Attack. Beyond them, all I remember are cheesy imitators like Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Sneaker Pimps, Esthero, etc., who could process drum loops to death but basically couldn't write a good song to save their proverbials.
Ah yes the "Chemical Brothers" they put out some EPs as the Dust Brothers before getting a US label and running afoul of the US Dust Brothers (who worked with the Beastie Boys). Those were a big deal in 92-94 on the IDM list. After "Exit Planet Dust" I kind of lost interest as they got a bit too big-room rockist for my taste.
You (Chris) are old enough to remember the early 90s, before the genre boundaries had solidified, and people didn't mind if you dropped "Chemical Beats" in a set with House & Techno records. That track can still demolish dance floors, especially when most of the crowd wasn't born when that track was made.
To me, though, the track in the video doesn't sound so much Big Beat as ... well I guess you're doing it right if you're a genre of one. It's kind of semi-Break-Beaty and semi-Acid... you better watch out, because you're verging on something they'd play in London these days. You'll have to get some safety orange sunglasses and do a set at Fabric.
Oh, hells yes.
r.e. Trip Hop acts.
Red Snapper were a really good band.
Encounters by Sofa Surfers is also another really good album that fits into the 'Trip Hop' niche.
Meat Beat Manifesto's 99% was released in 1990.
If that record's not 'Big Beat'.....
+1 on vintage Chem Bros shows. I saw them numerous times in LA and their shows were also absolutely killer and clearly not a DAT tape playing while they stood there. Same for the Prodigy- excellent live though they sometimes went so overboard with the 808's that you it made you dizzy in a not-at-all nice way. And even then, Oakenfold was regarded as a guy who paid musicians to make his records whilst he waved his hands around as if he had musical talent.
Back in 1990 I had a bar in Kingston (-Upon Thames, not -Jamaica unfortunately).
It had an upstairs room that held about 180 people as long as they were willing to get very, very close together.
I let bands and DJ's use it free as long as they could generate sufficient drinkers.
One Wednesday three guys turned up to ask if they could do Sunday nights, they'd get a good crowd, they had famous friends ,yadda yadda; I'd heard similar from loads of hopefuls.
On the first Sunday the place was rammed within ten minutes of opening, I sold so much beer I had to send out for more AND they they packed up and were gone fifteen minutes after closing time.
The next week the queue to get in stretched off into the distance...people were turned away crying, when no more bodies could be greased up and shoehorned in.
Week three, and this is the point, Paul Oakenfold did a guest spot for the last hour. It was the first time I had appreciated that there really could be a skillset associated with DJ'ing; the crowd were whipped up to such a frenzy I genuinely thought the floor would give way.
From a muso perspective I still thought it was cheating somehow; not least because
the audience was probably 60% hot barely -clad women, so far removed from the sausage bonanza at our indie gigs of that period it made my teeth ache with jealousy.
Sadly, Super Funky Sunday only lasted a couple of months. There was so much dope being ingested (a year later it would have been E) my desire for profit was outweighed by my fear of being marched straight to jail, and I had to ask them to stop.
Damn,
This takes me back, waaay back. 1997-1999, when my favorite driving albums were Metropolis (Sister Machine Gun), and Metropol (lunitaic Calm), Darker (C-tec), and anything Haujobb/Daniel Myer related. I grew up having to drive A LOT to get anywhere. Both Lunatic Calm and SMG albums from that era still sound fresh, carry their weight, and are are my desert island (or driving the vast expanse of the CA high desert) playlist. Especially Desperation (Sister Machine Gun "Metropolis", track 2, for those that don't know) . A kid I work with decided to play dubstep to show me how well a PA system handled Sub bass (in reality the mid bass they think is sub bass), and I countered with said track, no comparison, or competition, whatsoever.
Too bad a lot of the stuff made today can't carry itself that well, let alone grab anyone's attention for more than a few weeks. Even industrial has succumbed to this disturbing trend. It's just not the same anymore.
An Electronic Music professor summed up the state of modern electronic music: We make music by ourselves, for people to listen to by themselves, and if you're lucky, you get a few minutes of club play. If you're really lucky, you get a Beats by Dre headphone line named after you.
Please excuse any grammatical errors, rambling, etc. I'm suffering from horrible insomnia, with a healthy dose of I spent all night soldering, breathing in the fumes (those damn exhaust fans never work like they should), so I'm nowhere in the right state of mind to be posting anything online, to be seen for all eternity.
There is a tiny bit of low end in "Desperation." ;-)
-CR
Big Beat and Trip Hop were probably the 1st region specific electronic genres to emerge in the uk, and were dutifully adopted by the uk music press. It's still strange to think of electronic music having geographic sensibilities, especially in the uk, but in the mid 90's this was a direct musical guide to 2 cities
:#
Oh man. Gonna have to dig out the Chemical Bros and maybe even Prodigy CDs now. And Future Sound of London, maybe.
I'd be totally fine with Big Beat coming back and kicking dubstep to the curb.
As for triphop: nothing approaches Portishead, but I was also pretty into Lamb for a while too.
I kind of think Cylab and Collide are where triphop wandered off to.
Chris: Most Big Beat tunes were written by one or two guys in the bedroom with Akai samplers. BUT all Chemical stuff was mixed by Steve Dub in expensive studio as well as fatboy Slim had engineer to make his tracks big. That was the times of big recording budgets. It has nothing to do with having "band", but more with budget.
Best songs by Chemicals are done(written) with very simple and cheap gear.
1996 i was still into Goa Trance and saw Chemical Brothers live in Roskilde festival. All i could think was what a big bunch of rock shit :D It was all about big drums, distortion and headbangin. Next summer i thought that it was coolest thing ever :D
Their setup was still nerdy at that time. Juno 106 , mixer and rack of samplers/fx.
Big Beat merged into mainstream in early '00.
This was my attempt on the genre in 1999: http://open.spotify.com/track/0xhBXfvjwie9vYEy91mKuk
Didn't understand why my beats were not as big as Chemicals had. Didn't know that they had real mixing engineers in real studios. I mixed my stuff with Mackie mixer and HiFi speakers. But i had sampled guitars and vocals! :P
Oh and i hope that Trip Hop makes comeback next year as record that i'm currently producing is heavily Portishead/Massive Attack influenced.
Big Beat was definitely palatable to American audiences because of the familiar song structure, it was an easier translation than the other genres.
I still have a soft spot for it and acid house...I'm waiting for the squelchy 303 revival.
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