Tuesday Is For Tunes: Breakbot

Sorry for the delayed Tuesday Is For Tunes, dear readers. I spent all of yesterday screaming into the great and fabled existential void, which is not conducive to comprehensible music reviews. But that was yesterday, and today is Wednesday. Let’s get happy, cut a rug, and shake what our good mommas gave us! Breakbot wants to groove us right ‘til the end of the night. A Frenchman and a DJ, I’ve been loving his tracks for a few months now. Dance me to Paris, Monsieur Breakbot!

In middle school I used to go to the roller skating rink at least once a month, and that really came to define what the 90s looked and sounded like to me. My favorite outfit was concocted of the following: stonewash jean short shorts, black crop top, oversized floral print flannel, velour Blossom hat, and rollerblades with neon buckles. Fortunately, they also played good music. Boyz II Men, Technotronic, C&C Music Company, Rob Base, Montell Jordan, Show Me Love by Robyn S., and many songs from the Jock Jams compilations. They’d take it back to some old school funk with Frankie Smith’s Double Dutch Bus. And then someone would have the foresight to play Daft Punk. Ah, the sweet electro noises and beats of my formative years! If reading this also makes you a little nostalgic, then you need to check out Breakbot.

Breakbot makes and remixes songs that sound like that whole scene I just described. It is absolutely perfect for kicking off your Friday night, or recovering from the kind of day I had yesterday. I dare you not to tap your feet or move your hips when you hear what he’s laying down. This year he’s already put out an EP with two stellar tracks, Baby I’m Yours and Make You Mine, guaranteed to turn the party out. And, he also released solid remixes of songs by Air, Kavinsky, and Jamaica. It’s a whole lot of delightfully orchestrated break beats, synth tones, and lazer noises designed to put smiles on faces and move bodies. Just like every good dance party I’ve ever been to, it’s a little over the top. And, just how I like my nachos, there’s the right amount of cheesiness to make me happy.

The EP tracks were some of the most popular songs on Hype Machine earlier this year, and they quickly hit my replay list. Baby I’m Yours features some falsetto vocals that sound like they should bear the signature “from the 80s with love” thanks to fellow Parisian, Irfane. Make You Mine has both a hip-humping baseline and vocoder processed vocals. Basically, it sounds like robots making babies. Now that’s some hotness. And, then there's the remixes. His remix of Extraball by Yuksek opens like 90s hip hop and then time warps back to more 80s falsetto. Also, the Breakbot remix of When We Were Young by Sneaky Sound System serves up a lesson in what sassy lady pop mistresses should actually sound like.

'Cause no one should be serious all the time. Fuck it. Let's dance.