O Canada: Breakbeats from Far and Wide

Canada: the land of ice hockey, Inuit igloo-dwellers, a horse-jockey Mountie police force, and amongst all other things, where the most macaroni & cheese per capita is consumed in the world. Canada is not usually the first place you think of as having a healthy diet of breakbeats. But Canadian breakbeats are alive and well. Our northern neighbors have a burgeoning and diverse scene, spreading from east to west and cemented in breakbeat history since the mid-90's. These days you could say breakbeat consumption is up.

If you are not immediately familiar with who the players are, just some of the names involved include: Robb G, D-Monic, Influenza,Smalltown DJs, Dave Dub, Wicked Lester, Simon Paul and the Phat Conductor. And that's just skimming the surface. There is an increasing number of labels, club nights, crews, and industry insiders who make the wheels go 'round for Canadian breakbeats.

On the label front, not long ago 2 Wars & A Revolution was a veritable superpower, with five labels under its belt including 2 Wars, D-Monic's Pure Phunk Recordings, DSV (Double-Sided Vinyl), Womp and Robb G's Promo Records. Though the 2 Wars Label group has since been disseminated, Pure Phunk and Promo still stand strong with frequent releases. Add to that Influenza's imprint Epidemic Recordings, Smalltown DJ's' Big Foot Records and Angus Robinson's Moneyshot Recordings and it is easy to see that there is a vast array of Canadian labels and flavors to consider. In addition, one-off releases such as Macca's 'Big Rinse' on Hatiras' Blow Media or DJ Wood's 'Poppa Large' on Twentyhz are too huge to ignore.

Also too huge to ignore is Toronto nightclub The Guvernment. Hosting a selection of themes and DJs any given weekend most notably breaks
artists like Uberzone and Splitloop have passed through thanks to D-Monic. With a capacity of something like 8000 between its half-dozen or more rooms, it is truly a world-class nightclub and haven to many a partygoer. Head over to the west coast and you'll find the scene buzzing around the Smalltown DJs ' Hai Karate Thursday nights at their very own Hi Fi Club in Calgary. Celebrating its 6 year anniversary recently, it is Canada's longest-running breaks-oriented residency. Catering more to (but not limited to) the mash ups/Baltimore/electro/funk/hip hop/block party vibe, Hi Fi Club has seen the likes of Stanton Warriors, Fort Knox Five, The Juan MacLean, Diplo and The Rub, with A-Skillz upcoming on March 29th. Also to be considered is Big Sexy Funk Saturdays at Shine in Vancouver hosted by Mat the Alien and Wicked Lester's Vinyl Ritchie. Recently names like A-Skillz and Flosstradamus have rolled through.

Crews are numerous and everywhere. Make it Funky (a collaboration of oronto promoter/artists Farbsie, Jay Cleary and Big League Chu) hosts
one-off nights featuring names like Freddy Fresh, Dave Dub, Krafty uts, Afrika Bambaataa, John E (who, consequently, was one of Canada's first breaks exports) and Czech, a west coast breaks stalwart. BreaksWarriaz, a collective of six DJs (Soul Sonic, Dez_One, Sifu,Vicious, Substance and Eyeris) from Quebec City are doing some damage, ringing a tour of France's #1 female DJ Missill. Online info source www.Breakbeat.ca (run by breaks heads in Montreal and Toronto) hosted a Summer Breaks party in Montreal that saw Atomic Hooligan as a headliner. Back in Calgary, Mama Miche helps hold things down through her Mother's Cupboard agency running Canadian tours and dates for Deekline and Wizard, Ali B, The Smalltown DJ's and more. She has
brought Rennie Pilgrem, Stanton Warriors, Evil Nine and more to Victoria & Calgary and hosts a show on nuskoolbreaks.co.uk every Sunday. Plus she doubles as Bitchin', with the help of female electro DJ friend Kenzie Clarke from Victoria. Add another crew, Frogland Breaks out of Montreal, and you have a country with its breakbeat bases covered.

For more info, check out:

www.breakbeat.ca, www.breakbeats.ca (Montreal/Toronto)
www.subtutious.com (Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver)
www.clubvibes.com (Vancouver)
www.breakswarriaz.com
myspace.com/purephunk
myspace.com/bigfootrecords
myspace.com/robbg123
myspace.com/smalltowndjs
myspace.com/mama_miche
myspace.com/bitchinladies
myspace.com/theguvernment
myspace.com/hificlub