Breakcore as a genre developed from elements of many different styles of music beginning around the mid 1990s. Simultaneously, it began to evolve out of a boredom with stagnant forms of more traditional techno and rave music as well as an evolution within noise and sound art.
A need for faster BPM's as well as a more anti-authoritarian sound also pushed the various sub-genres to more extreme states. At this point pre-breakcore came from London, Berlin and Newcastle, Australia (home of Bloody Fist Records).
While Breakcore is definitely not only organized around the cutting and distortion of the Amen Break, it is a key to defining the genre. The amen break in Breakcore is primarily used at high-speeds and edited to produce jarring effects when distorted and layered in combination with almost any sound. This particular drum-break sound characterizes many breakcore songs and is still used as a key factor to define the sound.
THE AMEN BREAK
Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated to d&b, DnB, dnb, d'n'b, drum n bass and drum & bass) is a type of electronic dance music also known as jungle which emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is characterised by fast tempo broken beat drums (generally between 160–180 beats per minute) with heavy, often intricate basslines. In the 2000s, drum and bass is still considered an underground musical style, but it has nevertheless had a significant influence on popular music and culture.
It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that drum and bass was a style built around a single broken beat element which was a single sample, the Amen, but other samples have had a significant impact, including the Apache break, the Funky Drummer, and others.
Drum and bass began as an offshoot
of the UK breakbeat hardcore and rave scene of the late 1980s, and over the
first decade of its existence there were many permutations in its style, incorporating
elements from ragga, dancehall, electro, funk, hip hop, house, jazz, heavy metal,
reggae, rock, techno and trance.
A musical style called acid house developed in the UK in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, along with a "scene" which consisted of related social
activities in nightclubs and other venues. Acid house music combined regular
beats alongside broken, syncopated beats, strong basslines and a faster tempo
than the regular house music. By 1991, musical tracks made up of only "broken"
beats began to be known as "jungle" and became a separate musical
genre (circa 1991-1992) popular at raves and on pirate radio in urban Britain.
These tracks often combined ragga vocal tracks with broken beats and basslines.
By 1994 jungle began to gain mainstream popularity and fans of the music (known
as junglists) became a recognisable part of British youth subculture. At this
time jungle began to be associated with criminals and criminal activity and
perhaps as a reaction or perhaps independently of this, producers began to draw
away from the ragga style and create what they labelled drum and bass. There
is no clear point at which jungle became drum and bass, though most jungle producers
continue nowadays to produce what they call drum and bass.
As the music style became more polished and sophisticated, it began to shift
from pirate to commercial radio and gain widespread acceptance (circa 1995-1997).
It also began to split into recognisable subgenres such as jump-up. As a lighter
sound of drum and bass began to win over the musical mainstream, many producers
continued to work on the other end of the spectrum, resulting in a series of
releases which highlighted a dark, technical sound which drew more influence
from techno music and the soundscapes of science fiction and anime films, this
sub-genre became know as techstep (circa 1997-1998).