James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem rants and raves about the overbearing wieght of 50 years of pop culture crushing down on his shoulders with the expectation of originality, of being "there." The insurgent popularity of breakcore among underground music fans in numerous cities is definitely a response to this existential crisis of music fans. When half the internet can fall for a KLF stunt claiming the Libertines were faked you know there is a crisis in music's heart - there are no more scenes, nothing is happening, at least with breakcore people shut up and dance. But it could go all Nathan Barley.

The "breakcore uk" massive has been spreading through word of mouth, with interest being obvious in the increased amounts of Bong-ra and Enduser records clogging up boxs in alternative city centre stores. NWODTELM from Toronto and Heres My Card Records honcho resident in Brightin lead the charge with a hellish cacophony of noise from a set based on loops played back on cassette tapes, part gabber, part breaks with one mentalist collage using songs with the word "jump" in them to instigate the obvious on the dancefloor.

Chevron did just as well dropping his most rough and violent "Running Out Of Time" as the second track illustrates what an uppity set this was with a wide range of new material being showcased at the expense of some of the material off "Everythings Exactly The Same." Any time I've seen him Chevron has struck me as predictable and boring, but this was a complete break with form largely due to the revision of his set which puts his live shows in the same bracket as his production, top notch.

Shitmat the mash up mentalist was up next, none of his ideas should work, but believe me it does on record. Live is another question, with one speaker cutting out all night and a psyched Shitmat in his underwear struggling to maintain anything resembling a set. Shitmat has delivered some whirling fly by night sets maintaining a simple 4x4 throughout while processing tracks on the fly. At the breakcore binge of Overkill at the London Electrowerkz, it was a similar story - but when he does drop his tunes in a co-herant manner which he managed to do for some time, the place went ape.

Updated to add: Wavioli, a regular contributer to Thumped has added a great Flickr set from the night over here.

Labels: Breakcore, Gig Review, Music