Glasgow Breakcore: Not Much of a Club Thing?

It's basically spastic breakcore jungle that sounds like raves from 1992

Feature by Robbie Thomson | 15 Jun 2006
When it comes to beats, Glasgow is a city that likes them hard and fast. No surprise then that the city's Breakcore scene, small though it is, has spawned a handful of artists capable of making enough noise to keep the Weedjies happy. Sabrepulse and Acrnym (Ash Eskrett and Calum Gunn, respectively) have been honing their laptop skills for the last couple of years and at the age of 20 already have albums under their belts. Acrnym's 2005 release 'Sense Data' on Chicago based label Give Daddy The Knife fuses butchered breaks with a variety of melodic influences, ranging from orchestral samples to deep spacey synths; while Sabrepulse's 'Famicon Connection' (also on GDTK) leans towards Chipbreak, taking inspiration from Game Boy music and splicing it together with a savage percussive core.

"Venetian Snares has been a big influence on our music," Calum explains, "Squarepusher and Warp Records have also been important, but most of all the Glasgow scene has helped us to improve." Other Glaswegian acts like Ohhh!!!, Smile For The Cameraman Honey, Germlin and Yoko Oh No! have breathed new life into the city's electronica scene: "It's a good community, we all feed off one another," says Calum.

As well as studio work, both musicians are keen to play live: "It's not much of a club thing in Glasgow really," says Ash, "It's more of a gig environment and takes in performance as well." Gigs in the past have seen the two throwing themselves around the stage and using live vocals to up the ante for their shows. "Breakcore is great live because it's so fast and there's so much going on, you can have loads of changes and get really intense... It's like shitting your pants in a windtunnel!"

So, what next for these young Glaswegian noise makers? – "Raveblast!" exclaims an excited Calum: "We invented it last night, it's basically spastic breakcore jungle that sounds like raves from 1992." (This isn't a joke by the way – it's actually pretty good!). And apart from that? "I'm just really happy making music," explains Ash, "I'd like to set up an online CD-R label but mostly just work on my production and live show." With the plethora of House, Techno and Hip Hop nights on offer in Glasgow it's refreshing to know that exciting and original home-grown Elecronica is making some headway. Sabrepulse and Acrnym are doing it for themselves: bring on Raveblast!



Much of the Glasgow Breakcore scene's music can be found online, along with gig and release info:

www.barnofhell.com/gdtk
www.myspace.com/theacrnyms
www.myspace.com/sabrepulse http://www.barnofhell.com/gdtk, www.myspace.com/theacrnyms, www.myspace.com/sabrepulse