Ending The Year With A Boom - Prepare Your Speakers For Some Big Beats

Now that Christmas is over, its time to prepare for the upcoming New Year and what better way to end 2007 than with a mix of the best in bangin' electronic beats.

As my biggest influence in electronic music, I've compiled and mixed the best tracks from four of the biggest names in the big beat genre: The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Prodigy and The Crystal Method. I remember the first time hearing "Block Rockin' Beats" from The Chemical Brothers back in '99 and that was when I've decided to get back into mixing and DJ'ing.

Big beat tends to feature distorted and compressed breakbeats at moderate tempos, usually between 90-140 BPMs, acidic synthesized lines, and heavy, repetitive loops. Big beat is like drum n' bass' retarded cousin, both sharing frantic breaks, heavy bass, and an odd "jittery rhythm," but the former tends to have more simplistic loops beats than the latter.

The Chemical Brothers, formed by the duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simmons, were the pioneers of this electronic dance genre and were known for their high-quality live sets with the use of MPC samplers, Electribes, and the ever so popular Kaoss Pad Effects processor.

The Prodigy, another English band, known for various styles ranging from rave, hardcore to industrial, looks more like that of a live act with members, Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, Maxim and Leeroy Thornhill.

Fatboy Slim, the only single act of the four, is Norman Cook, former bassist of the 80s band, "The Housemartins," reinvented himself as one of the best DJs in the world and a well-known big beat producer/artist.

Lastly is The Crystal Method, which is the only American act in the group, consisting of the dynamic duo of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, and considered the pioneers of this genre in the US. They have a very distinctive musical style, which features hard hitting "big beat" percussion, driving synthesized baselines and often distorted synthesized lead tones.

Today's set comprises some of the four's best original tracks and remixes.

Tracklist:

1) Come On Beats Version 2 - Moby vs. The Chemical Brothers (Beatmeister's Method Rockin' Bass Mash-Up Mix)

2) Rock The House - The Chemical Brothers (Prodigy Remix)

3) The Roof Is On Fire vs. Hey Boy Hey Girl - Rockmaster Scott vs. The Chemical Brothers

4) Not Another Drugstore - The Chemical Brothers (Planet Nine Mix)
5) Don't Stop - Freestylers (Fatboy Slim Mix)

6) Block Rockin Breaks - The Chemical Brothers (Counterfeit Beatz Mix)

7) Breathe - Prodigy (Erick E Re-Edit)

8) Right Here, Right Now - Fatboy Slim (Carrison Vs. Scorpio Mix)

9) Hey Boy, Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers (2006 User Friendly Mix)

10) Outta Space - Prodigy (Autobots Mix)

11) Praise You - Fatboy Slim (46th Street Mix)

12) The Salmon Dance - The Chemical Brothers (Herve Mix)

13) Girls - Prodigy (2006 Rogue Elements Remix)

14) Slash Dot Dash - Fatboy Slim (Act Of Dog's Hack Dot Slash Mix)

15) Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers (H.A.B. Electroplate Mix)

16) Crystalized - Crystal Method (Extended Mix)

17) Electrobank - The Chemical Brothers (Album Version)

18) Everybody In The Place - Prodigy (Act Of Dog's 3 Oh Frenzy Mix)

19) Setting The Firestarter's Sun - The Chemical Brothers vs. Prodigy (Beatmeister's Dreamtime Mash-Up Mix) - another mash-up from yours truly

Link... MyBlockRockinBigBeatMix - The Beatmeister

Here's to an explosive year ahead!! Happy New Year!!!