Tag Archive - The Hardcore Continuum

The Hardcore Continuum

The Hardcore Continuum

The Hardcore Continuum
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who began writing about the UK’s electronic music scene for Wire Magazine back in 1992. This month is the magazine’s 300th edition and to mark the occasion, the editors have released a 7-part series of Reynolds’ work through the years under the title “The Hardcore Continuum” that begins by profiling Hardcore Rave and moves on through Jungle, Drum ‘n’ Bass and Hard Step to Grime and the Dubstep breaks of the last few years.

The series is remarkable for its immediacy, as a record of a specific time and place in a musical genre that “abolishes narrative” all the while juxtaposed with the more overarching critically theoretical approach with which Reynolds approaches his subject. As he states in the introduction, “It was only in 1999, with the sixth piece … that I really became conscious that for several years I’d been documenting a continuum of musical culture that emerged out of the British rave scene.”

Fascinating stuff. But if the above series leaves you wanting more, check out Reynolds’ lecture on the Hardcore Continuum at FACT Liverpool featuring a discussion with Mark ‘K-Punk’ Fisher.

The Amen Break

The Amen Break

The Amen Break
In 1969, soul music group The Winstons released the single “Color Him Father” which would go on to reach number 2 on the R&B; charts and number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and win them a Grammy Award in 1970 for Best R&B; song.

However what is most remarkable about this record comes from the song on the B-side, “Amen, Brother”, specifically a six second drum break in the middle of the tune that has since become one of the most heavily sampled drum breaks in the course of electronic music and played a foundational role in the evolution of hip hop, jungle and breakbeat genres.

Nate Harrison provides a brilliant look into what has come to be known as “The Amen Break”.