Breakcore is a genre of music that originated in the late 90s, however has had a resurgence in recent years. While it draws from many places and may be hard to pin initially, It regularly features fast and intense drums, often sampled and heavily distorted.
One artist who particularly grabbed me while researching break core was Igorrr, a French musician who stuck out to me due to his further experimentation within the genre. While break core is often associated with being mostly electronic and sampled, Igorrr plays around with instrumentation within his music, often recording his own drums and taking inspiration from classical, metal and industrial. This song ‘very noise’ differs from the typical break core song, using low tuned distorted metal guitars reminiscent of Gojira or something similar. The drums, while fulfilling the fast and distorted quota, is playing a blast beat which is commonly associated with heavier metal genres too. This sort of experimentation within an already experimental genre is what draws me to Igorrr’s work.
While Igorrr’s work is more reminiscent of the earlier era of break core (90’s), there’s been a resurgence in recent years, with artists such as Machinegirl and sewerslvt making break core more focused on nostalgia and ambience. This era is inherently connected to the internet, evolving from digital hardcore in the 2010s, and aesthetically linked to internet culture such as video games and anime. However, many people from the earlier breakcore scene view this new resurgence as a new genre, more akin to ambient or drum and bass.
This newer wave of break core has a lot more ambience and noise to it, more reminiscent of industrial. However, one massive similarity between old and new break core is the use of the ‘amen break’. Initially a soul beat, it was risen to fame within music circles when it was sampled countless times by hip hop and jungle music, and more recently within break core.
in conclusion, artists such as igorrr take break core to a new level, experimenting within the already experimental genre to bring in influences such as industrial and metal. These pairings work well and create unique and interesting tracks that rarely age, unlike some of Igorrrs break core peers. Earlier break core feels inherently dated to a late 90s/ early 2000s aesthetic, while the modern breacore revival is so infatuated with internet culture that when the zeitgeist moves on it’ll again seem very dated.
Breakcore (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakcore (Accessed: 27 November 2023).
Igorrr (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igorrr (Accessed: 27 November 2023).