Search - Various Artists :: Best of House 7

This compilation showcases breakbeat house, a dance music subgenre that features syncopated hip-hop grooves rather than the four-to-the-floor pulse that house inherited from disco. In presenting this infectious style, Funky Breaks displays a wide range of material on its 12 tracks. Sugar's "The Feeling" is little more than a squelching, ever-mutating acid riff, some vocal snippets, and a steady beat. By contrast, "Loose Caboose" by Electroliners is a highly active playground of sound; squeaks, hyperspeed snare rolls, and synth swoops are just some of the elements that make up the track's wild mix. The CD's opener, Violet's "Burn the Elastic," is a tightly wound rhythm machine. This perfect encapsulation of breakbeat house layers a house rhythm on top of a hip-hop foundation, sending the tune into rhythmic overdrive. --Fred Cisterna