Y3K - Soundtrack To The Future
(Avex Trax)
What's this? A breakbeat album with the likes of Sasha, Timo Mass and BT on it? Well, yes, it is actually, and with DJ Hyper at the controls the sound of the underground is rapidly tunnelling its way towards the surface. Hyper is the UK's foremost champion of breakbeat, tirelessly pushing the sound at clubs Tyrant and Home in London, and beyond. Now he's evangelising on record. Soundtrack To The Future is the second in his Y3K series, the first winning plaudits after its release earlier this year.
This, too, should have listeners raving. It combines tracks from hard house to electro funk to drum'n'bass with one common denominator - they all have a break in them. From the progressive house madness of Sasha's Rabbitweed to the pounding bassline of Ashtrax's Digital Reason and the jungle rhythms of Solid Ground's Unknown Territory.
Highlights include a Hybrid remix of the 2 Bad Mice breakbeat classic, Bombscare, and Lexi Love's I See You. Then there's the magnificent climax, Hybrid's Sniper - the dramatic tension created in the build-ups on it are so good they could knock Moby off a Hollywood soundtrack.
So is this really the soundtrack to the future? It's doubtful breakbeat will ever cross over completely into the house mainstream, but not for the want of Hyper's trying.