Breakbeat Dance : Reading and Listening Guide

1. Listen the “Break and Enter” by Prodigy. • What kind of musique concrete effects do you hear? • From your reading, what kind of shift in the rave culture did bands such as the Prodigy accompany and, to some extent, cause?

2. Listen to “Five-Man Army” by Massive Attack.

The evolution of electronic in England occurred over a fairly short period of time – basically the 1990s – with several subgenres being developed almost at the same time. Compare three recordings made in 1991: • Hardcore: Praga Khan’s “Injected With a Poison” • Ambient: Orb’s “Little Fluffy Clouds” • Trip-Hop: Massive Attack’s “Five-Man Army”

Is trip-hop more like hardcore or ambient? What has trip-hop added that is new?

3. Based on “Five-Man Army” how does trip-hop compare with the US-based Rap?

4. Where do you hear the influence of other styles of music in “Five-Man Army”? What kind of influences?

5. Listen to Tricky’s “Overcome.” • From its lyrics, is “Overcome” a traditional love song? • How would you describe the sound of this recording? • Does the sound relate to the feeling you get from the lyrics? • Is this merely dance music? Why or why not?

6. Trip-hop has been described as being analogous to jazz in some ways because of its bluesy flavor. If you were to choose a jazz genre that is analogous to trip-hop, which would you choose?

7. What are “breakbeats”? How are they used in rap? Why did some hardcore producers start to use breakbeats in their music?

8. It has been said that in jungle, the rhythm is the melody because “the drum patterns are as hooky as the vocal samples or keyboard refrains.” 1 • What early classical composer’s writings and music does this reflect? • Do you hear examples of this in Goldie’s “Timeless” and Photek’s “Smoke Rings”? If so, what do you hear?

9. Compare Aphex Twin’s “Xtal” and “4”. • How are they similar and how do they differ? • How has James’s music changed in the later recording? What has influenced it?

1 Simon Reynolds. Generation Ecstasy , p 254

January 24, 2010 1 10. Listen to “Pearl’s Girls” by Underworld. • How is this recording a return to house and techno, when compared with trip-hop and jungle recordings? • Is it merely a copy of the earlier styles? Why or why not?

11. Listen to “Setting Sun” by The Chemical Brothers. • This recording is a tribute to the Beatle’s “Tomorrow Never Knows,” to which we listened earlier in the course. • Compare the two songs. What have the Chemical Brothers taken from the earlier recording?

12. Listen to the other assigned music. We will discuss it in class.

January 24, 2010 2