BT - Breakz From The Nu Skool

BT has risen to the pinnacle of the electronica pack, and one of the reasons is his lethal rhythm programming. His machine-gun stutter edits and jackhammer grooves are the stuff of legend, and now you can get a piece of the action on his signature library CD, Breakz from the Nu Skool. (The companion Twisted Textures CD is reviewed below.) In our Nov. '01 interview with BT, he talked about the library, and emphasized that every loop on the disc is "sample-accurate. No more flamming as you stack loop upon loop."



The loops on Breakz from the Nu Skool are divided into two main categories: Dirt Breaks (mostly electronic with extreme editing and processing) and Live Breakz (aggressive acoustic loops, many of which are compressed, distressed, and creatively processed). Strap on a seatbelt for loops such as "Rumbler," one of many in-your-face live offerings. The styles on Breakz range from trance and big beat to drum & bass and beyond. Lengths range from two to four bars long, tempos from 60 to a soaring 180.

In reviewing Breakz, I put it to good use on a remix project for an electro/metal band. The problem with using this collection was deciding what not to include. Signature "BTisms" abound, such as on the digital slicefest "NSync Freaked" or the ultra-funky, percolating "Fingers in Ya Ears." In my case, I ended up using three lethal grooves, and, just as BT would, imported the files into an audio editor and chopped them up even more.

The "cons" of this collection are few. The vast majority of loops are winners, but there are a few throwaways in the lot, such as "Ilumm Top," a tired "boom-tsh-boom-tsh" 909 pattern, and the clammy fill at the end of "Hedge Hopper." "I agree that there seems to be some dead wood here," says Associate Editor Ken Hughes. "But even the weakest of loops are still quite usable."

BT has established himself as one of the greats of electronic music. Now that he's opened his vault of loops and let us in, we should all get in line. "This is a killer sample set," concludes Ken. A no-brainer purchase indeed.


http://rapidshare.com/files/187021643/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187021644/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187021640/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187021645/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187025957/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187025973/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/187026825/B-T_-_B-re-akz_fr-om_th-e_N-u_Skoo-l.part7.rar