Bassline House

F

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
Just the name of the (sub)genre gives rise to a variety of reactions within me. Ive been spinning a lot of breaks and dark garage recently, and have noticed the mainstream club music taking a decidedly crunchy, fuzzy, electro feel here in the US (Chicago specifically). Because of this, i find my sets dont often resonate with the house/techno/electro fans of chicago, but they could with a little more help. Further, our collective of Djs do a lot of nights where we trade off sets of 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s (records).

Ok, to get back to the point, i find that when trading off, i need some sort of inter-genre records to successfully transfer from what they spin to what i spin w/o throwing the crowd off. Ive successfully done this with the two 4x4 garage records i have, or using dark electro->breaks works as well. So when I heard of bassline house, i got giddy. I thought "this is it, this is what i need to bring together my adoration of basslines with my crowds' need for 4-to-the-floor".

So what im getting to, is, well..... whats the deal?

Ive found this site:

http://www.basslinez.co.uk/download.php

and proceeded to DL some mixes, and found myself a bit dissapointed. It seems that yes, often there are wicked basslines, but shoved underneath cheesey RnB-like vocals, repetitive garagey hi-hats, and funky house beats.

So, can anyone recommend some releases that minimize the cheese, while maximizing the warping, wobbling bass, but with a 4ttf beat?

Also, how distinguishable from 4x4 garage is it?

Is the cheeziness the result of it coming from cheezey garage, or that funky house is all the rage in england right now?

Who are the artists to keep an eye on, both producers and Djs?

Any more insights?

Thanks!



......... upon further examination, i believe i was listening to the wrong dj. its not ALL cheesey.
 
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swears

swears

preppy-kei
I was thinking the other day...I've been to a lot of non-cheesy club nights in Liverpool where the DJs play in that whole Erol Alkan (his non Trash sets) style where you sort of play a bit of Electro, a bit of Techno a bit of House, sort of four to the floor without being Trancey at all. And I thought, you could probably drop a really big late nineties garage tune like "Gunman" or "Spin Spin Sugar" (the AVH remix) The not quite 2step tunes,and these studenty/trendy types for the most part wouldn't remember it....but it might just work.
Breaks? I hate breaks, the beats just sound like rock to me.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
swears said:
Breaks? I hate breaks, the beats just sound like rock to me.
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I keep meaning to start an 'am I missing anything with breaks' thread... I've heard maybe one or two tunes that seemed to have something going for them, the rest just seemed to be a sort of averaging out of dance music to remove any sort of tension or contrast (mid-paced, mid-rangey,not dark, not euphoric but sort of mechanically energetic, not funky, not hard, not surprising but not hypnotic, no big peaks or troughs...) I really don't understand it. Is there something good I should be listening to, is there something I'm missing in the stuff I've heard, or is it just a bit rubbish?
 
F

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
swears said:
Breaks? I hate breaks, the beats just sound like rock to me.
Click to expand...


God I hate to hear that. Bu treally i understand. The rare times i get to hear breaks in the city, its either eastern europeans or floridians. both of those breaks scenes seem to to be stuck on the same repetitive breaks, over n over n over.

but ive never thought the breaks i spin sound like rock. never. can you explain how?

also, a lot of records i had earlier classified as "dark garage" i had to reclassify as breaks. Things like Rat Records, Running, and a few other labels i cant recall at the moment.

breaks, i think, are the foundation of most of the major genres out there (other than house and techno) - DnB, Hip hop, garage. the variety of styles its created shows how diverse it actually is.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
Freakaholic said:
God I hate to hear that. Bu treally i understand. The rare times i get to hear breaks in the city, its either eastern europeans or floridians. both of those breaks scenes seem to to be stuck on the same repetitive breaks, over n over n over.

but ive never thought the breaks i spin sound like rock. never. can you explain how?

also, a lot of records i had earlier classified as "dark garage" i had to reclassify as breaks. Things like Rat Records, Running, and a few other labels i cant recall at the moment.

breaks, i think, are the foundation of most of the major genres out there (other than house and techno) - DnB, Hip hop, garage. the variety of styles its created shows how diverse it actually is.
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I meant "Breaks" as a genre. Not all breakbeats used ever, that would be silly.
Stuff like....I dunno stuff like Adam Freeland like when they have a Breaks room at Fabric, or when Blade pulls out his knives and the soundtrack explodes into chugaboomchugchugchaboom, etc.
 
bruno

bruno

est malade
i don't know if it's strictly what you want but go for agent x, killer tunes.

i went through dozens of tapes last year but as none had tracknames i can't point you to anything specific. there are dark, wobbly, paranoid tunes but not a lot of them. there was one with a slowed down voice saying 'reefa' which was quite mad, no idea who that's by.
 
F

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
swears said:
I meant "Breaks" as a genre. Not all breakbeats used ever, that would be silly.
Stuff like....I dunno stuff like Adam Freeland like when they have a Breaks room at Fabric, or when Blade pulls out his knives and the soundtrack explodes into chugaboomchugchugchaboom, etc.
Click to expand...


yes, i understand where you are coming from. the popular breaks scenes out there parallel progressive house scenes a lot. monotonous beats, overuse of builds, and sets never really goin anywhere.

i was trying to say that the breakbeat genre is as varied itself as the number of genres breaks have come to create. if that makes sense. maybe one of these days i will be able to record a set of value in the studio, and post it up here.......
 
T

tate

Brown Sugar
Hey Freakaholic, not sure if this will help or not, but there've been a couple of threads on this topic in the past, so maybe there will be some suggestions buried in there: here and here though the second thread is called 'speed garage,' it deals with quite a bit of bassline).
 
G

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
Freakaholic said:
Who are the artists to keep an eye on, both producers and Djs?
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This is probably old hat if you keep an eye on chicago - but I got a load of bryan jones mixes of a friend of mine & I've been getting quite into them. Not so much for the basic beats which arent a huge advance on what Murk, Relief, Mood II Swing etc were doing 12 years ago (but you have to accept with house that the innovation is going to be less than light speed) - more that they layer really quirky, dada-ish samples over the top which is quite wacky, kind of house goes sgt peppers. Or maybe old skool hip hop is a more apposite reference point - a bit those mid 80s wizard & hot mix 5 sets, where hiphop was edging into house.

Maybe he's a big cheese in house music, I dont know. I havnt followed that scene for years.
 
E

Edward

+
Some great big bassline tunes by Morph on ARMY and on their own label... worth seeking out.... a good Plasticman remix EP on ARMY with 2 4/4 tracks, also Mark One had a good one on ARMY.

Surely the ultimate bassline house tune is Flat Eric?



PS
I don't work for ARMY!



oh and I quite agree about breaks, walked through the breaks tent a few times at Glade recently, almost fell asleep each time. completely formula music, but then so is lots of every style.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
swears said:
Breaks? I hate breaks, the beats just sound like rock to me.
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Absolutely. Appalling, appalling hipster-type stuff. Possibly worse than funky house. Listened to five minutes of it at a festival the other week and was virtually in a coma. At least something like rare groove (while the scene was similarly anodyne) had some good tunes.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
baboon2004 said:
Absolutely. Appalling, appalling hipster-type stuff. Possibly worse than funky house. Listened to five minutes of it at a festival the other week and was virtually in a coma. At least something like rare groove (while the scene was similarly anodyne) had some good tunes.
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Y'see, there seems to be as many definitions of "Hipster" as there are people bitching about them, I would have thought hipsters were into all that post-Trash rock/electro crossover stuff and post-punk-lite...

From what Freakaholic said, I probably don't know enough about the scene to judge...can't imagine it's my cup of tea, though.
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
baboon2004 said:
At least something like rare groove (while the scene was similarly anodyne) had some good tunes.
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From what I've read about rare groove, it sounded like fun, all those forgotten soul and funk gems getting their due. The only studenty nights out I enjoy are those ones were they play 70's funk and disco, heard Tina Marie's "Behind THe Groove" last weekend, awesome.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
swears said:
Y'see, there seems to be as many definitions of "Hipster" as there are people bitching about them, I would have thought hipsters were into all that post-Trash rock/electro crossover stuff and post-punk-lite...

From what Freakaholic said, I probably don't know enough about the scene to judge...can't imagine it's my cup of tea, though.
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lol. By hipster, I guess I mean people who take more notice of column inches than whether a scene is any good. At least post-punk lite had some merits ('Take Me Out', and...um).
 
I

IKoss

Wild Horses
expect northern ukg to be alot housier, or 'cheesier' as you say, lol.
you see, it seems that while garidge was going through all these other stages elsewhere, 2step, grime etcetc. it just levitated near its origin up norf..
which is basically sped up, vocal-house, as we all know.
i am rather feelin all the current facets of ukg offerings.

i can tell u of very good places to begin your search for bassline.
but i am unsure if you are trying to aviod the northern, more vocal side of it, or what?
because the london version of bassline is alive and kicking these days as well.
but its def the much darker, dubbier side to the music ...
lemme know mang.
 
F

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
thanks for all the tips. looks like i should check out ARMY.

i listened to afew mixes, and definitely caught that many were jsut sped up vocal, funky house, with a lowe end bassline attached.

i was def. more into the 4x4 garage feel.

but then, i got to listening to a few mixes, and, well, as much as i love lowend basslines, it did get kind of monotonous. there just doesnt seem to be too much variation. much like the "trendy" side of breaks, its a formula that few deviate from, worse, there arent that many elements in the song to give it much of a break.

i will definitely check out ARMY though. Ive also found one track im trying to find off of ebay, but apparently it is rare. its some track called "Low" i believe, and it has a great sample of "sweet dreams". but, shipping anything from the UK seems to cost about $10.

as far as breaks goes, i think you might be right on, actually, when you talk about the "scene". went to a breaks night on friday and the beats gto pretty repetitive. there isnt much of a breaks "scene" here, and so i know based on what i listen to, buy, and spin. and ive managed to avoid repetitive, monotonous breaks for the most part.

lucky me.
 
nomos

nomos

Administrator
Dexplicit and other material on his DXP recordings are also worth seeking out too. Not sure exactly where they officially fit in genre-wise but they're sure fun :)
 
H

halfgirl_halfsick

New member
there are only a few records in my case right now that might come close to what you're looking for,
one of them you should definitely check out:
"smelly" by bogey man versus dub child on storming production, storm007
if you like breaks and house and wobbly basslines check
www.verticalsound.co.uk
and maybe some stuff on rag&bone, www.ragandbonerecords.co.uk
army is of course a good source as well
there is so much electro-house with heavy basslines out there but in the end
that's too techno for my taste and i would rather prefer any good si begg track
to some over-rated kitsune or whatever release...
 
H

halfgirl_halfsick

New member
bleep said:
i like that rag&bone/warlock type sound; its a bit ruff.
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warlock is real good but still could do with a bit mo bass...
but all in all rag&bone is one of my favourite "adventure" labels, from dubstep to happy hardcore
and back, great releases...
 
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