Breakcore
Breaks · 1994 · 170 to 220 BPM · also known as Break Core, Mashcore
Breakcore is the punk escalation of the breakbeat: the Amen break saturated to the point of fusion, wild collages mixing ragga, metal and gabber in the same grinder, running between 180 and 220 beats per minute. The scene grew out of squats and netlabels in the late 1990s, with Venetian Snares as its genius of odd time signatures. It aims to be violent, funny and virtuosic, all three at once or nothing at all.
16 reference tracks
- Atari Teenage Riot: Deutschland (Has Gotta Die!) (1996)
- Bong-Ra: Killergram (2003)
- Venetian Snares: Szamar Madar (2005)
- Venetian Snares: Hajnal (2005)
- Alec Empire: Digital Hardcore (1994)
- goreshit: burn this moment into the retina of my eye (2019)
- Sewerslvt: Cyberia Lyr1 (2020)
- Femtanyl: Chaser (2023)
- Femtanyl: Lovesick, Cannibal! (2023)
- Femtanyl: Dogmatica (2023)
- Venetian Snares: Gentleman
- Venetian Snares: Szerencsétlen
- Venetian Snares: Második galamb
- Igorrr: Tout Petit Moineau
- Venetian Snares: Öngyilkos vasárnap
- goreshit: fine night
At a glance
- Tempo: 170 to 220 BPM
- First appeared: around 1994
- Machines: Renoise, Trackers (Amiga)
- The sound: Amen écrasé et distordu, Renoise et trackers, Signatures impaires, Collages de samples sans permission
- Labels: Planet Mu, Ad Noiseam, PRSPCT Recordings, Peace Off, Bloody Fist
- Key artists: Venetian Snares, Bong-Ra, Enduser, Shitmat, Igorrr (héritier)
Producing Breakcore
Breakcore runs from 180 to 220 BPM and the tempo can shift mid phrase, its violence and odd time signatures, Venetian Snares writing in seven four or five four. The crushed Amen break is chopped into 32 slices written into patterns of seven or fourteen lines, using tracker commands like retrigger and pitch slide on the snare slices for bursts, stacking two or three Amens at different pitches. The bass is secondary and brutal, often just the saturated gabber kick stretched down to 50 Hz, or a distorted square and pitched ragga sample fused with the kick through the same distortion and compressor into a single mass. The tracker is the real instrument, its per line commands producing the retriggered bursts, while unlicensed samples, cartoons, metal, ragga, film dialogue, get pitched and saturated alongside screamed vocals and hoover stabs.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Breakcore?
Breakcore is the punk escalation of the breakbeat: the Amen break saturated to the point of fusion, wild collages mixing ragga, metal and gabber in the same grinder, running between 180 and 220 beats per minute. The scene grew out of squats and netlabels in the late 1990s, with Venetian Snares as…
What tempo is Breakcore played at?
Between 170 and 220 BPM.
Who are the key Breakcore artists?
Venetian Snares, Bong-Ra, Enduser, Shitmat, Igorrr (héritier).
