Big Beat

Big beat on vinyl: breakbeats with rock power

In short: Big beat emerged in Britain in the mid-nineties: producers mixed heavy breakbeats with rock guitars, acid sounds and samples into loud, danceable music. The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim made the sound big, and labels such as Skint and Wall Of Sound gave it a home. The Vinyl Room currently has 20 big beat records.

What is big beat?

A party with breakbeats: The Chemical Brothers are represented several times – from “Exit Planet Dust” to “Surrender” and “Push The Button”.

From the Wall Of Sound circle come The Wiseguys with “Ooh La La” and the compilation “Off The Wall”. The sound travelled far: Boom Boom Satellites from Tokyo and Pepe Deluxé from Finland took it up, while UNKLE combined it with dark trip-hop.

What to look for

Many big beat tracks came out on 12-inches with several mixes; label, format and year of release help you tell which edition you have – it’s noted with each copy.

From our stock

First pressings

New in

→ The Chemical Brothers · Wall Of Sound · Breakbeat · Electronic on vinyl · How to spot a first pressing · Grading explained

FAQ

What is big beat? Loud, danceable breakbeat with rock guitars, acid sounds and samples from nineties Britain.

Who stands for big beat? Among others The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

Which labels shaped big beat? Above all Skint from Brighton and Wall Of Sound from London.

Is there big beat outside Britain? Yes – here, for example, Boom Boom Satellites from Japan and Pepe Deluxé from Finland.