Time for a break

B.L.I.M. Boy Lost In Music. Clever, eh? Aka Gervease Cook (or Gee for short), he’s been making beats based on breaks since 1996 – starting out producing drum and bass, before refining his sound to house-tempo breakbeat in 1998. Since then, his star has been in the ascendant, with plenty of high-profile remixes (including a belter with FreQ Nasty for Irish band Métisse) and now, five years on, his debut album, Lost In Music. With breaks becoming more and more popular, it’s looking like the time is now for the Manchester-born bassline maverick.

In a way, the resurgent breakbeat scene has undergone a transformation almost identical to that of drum and bass. One of the reasons Gee changed tempo from d’n’b to breaks is because he felt that it had become stagnant in and around 1998 – the hard-as-nails sound of Ed Rush, Optical et al became the prevalent sound. While there were some amazing records, the filter-down effect had a detrimental impact on the scene. It’s only in the past year or three that it’s really recovered the sense of fun and funk that broadened its appeal in the first place. And, in a way, it’s the same with breakbeat.

Gee explains: “About three years ago, me and Rennie (Pilgrem – breakbeat gawdfadder) sat down and talked about what was going wrong with the scene and we came to the conclusion that the music wasn’t really attracting girls – the gigs were just becoming full of guys standing around the DJ box. It was missing that sense of fun, a groove – it still has to have an edge, the same high production values, but something was missing.”

The past year has seen the breakbeat scene reap the rewards of forward planning. While ‘nu-school breaks’ concentrated on the dark and hard, today’s breakbeats encompass a wide mish-mash of styles – from the party vibes of the Finger Lickin’ crew to the two-step bounce of the Stanons to the big room bleeps and tweeks of the Plump DJz, it’s far more interesting these days than you would have gambled on two years ago.

Another development has been the (re)embracing of the 4/4. The likes of Phil Kieran and B.L.I.M. have been blending their breakbeats with the good ol’ 4/4 kick to devastating effect – and thereby opening things up to a wider audience. Gee is quite relaxed about the topic (“There’s influences from lots of styles, the album isn’t really genre-based, there’s a mix of stuff in there”), but the wider sonic platform has seen an array of DJs pick up on the records – most notably Sasha and Digweed, who combine breakbeats with the progressive house sound, thus pushing the sound across the US. Handy.

“It’s not a sound I like all that much,” says Gee of prog, “but I think it adds something to the house sound, when you mix 4/4 with breaks – it has definitely helped us reap a wider audience in the US.”

And just to keep you up to date, breakbeat is currently the most popular sound in Australia, with some of the scenes bigger names playing gigs they probably never dreamed about three years ago.

“It’s huge over there,” confirms Gee. “They’re more into the party side of things, the Finger Lickin’ stuff, but they just love the groove. Tech-house is really popular over there, and I think the success of both has something to do with the groove in each. They don’t really go for the really dark stuff in any genre... they just like having a good time in the sun!”

With the album dropping in early June, Gee is gearing up for a tough, gruelling slog around the world in support of it. Except it’ll be nothing of the sort. “The album’s done now, it’s not a live thing, it’s a DJ album of dancefloor music... I’m looking forward to getting out, DJing to thousands of people, seeing new places ... and having some fun.”