Breakbeat Science: Exercise 6

AMG Review of Breakbeat Science: Exercise 6

Rick Anderson
All Music Guide

Those who say that all drum'n'bass sounds the same are wrong -- or rather, they're right, but they're right in the same way that people are right when they say that all aroque music or all country music sounds the same. It all sounds the same to people who don't listen to it very much and haven't learned to hear the variations on the theme that distinguish one performer or subgenre from another. That said, an hour-long drum'n'bass DJ mix can get tiresome even for a fan, especially when the breaks on which the tracks are based don't vary much in rhythmic structure. All kinds of funk variants are available for junglist applications, so it's always a little surprising (and distressing) when a DJ picks one break pattern and sticks with it for a whole album-long mix -- which is pretty much what Total Science have done on this, their contribution to the celebrated Exercise series. Still, they manage to keep things interesting by drawing on material from a variety of sources -- such as the agga-flavored "Champion Sound" by Q Project, the almost industrial-sounding "Bulletproof Monk (Taxman Remix)" by Splittin' Atoms, and the sunny "Closer" by DJ Marky and XRS. Vocals are included on most tracks, but are generally cut into gossamer shreds of dubwise impressionism rather than retained for lyrical purposes. As always, a little more eggae influence would have been welcome, but this disc is a solid winner overall.