Weekend Weapons…Elite Force

Weekend Weapons…Elite Force

30 July, 2009 | 4.30AM

• Written by: Zack Rico
• Filed under: Music News: elite force

Elite Force unites the sometimes warring factions of electro house, techno, and breakbeat, like a peace keeper who values the spirit of cooperation and tolerance.

He was forged in the fires of breakbeat, which has always had a habit of sucking in sounds that pass by. Elite’s sets are like a team performance, with tracks coming from all corners of the bass-driven sector, to create a vibrant hodgepodge of boundary-pushing dance music.

His U&A Recordings is a bastion for genre-defying club music from open-minded artists like Zodiac Cartel, Dustbowl, and Meat Katie, all of whom sit comfortably in the grey territory between four-to-the-floor grooves and broken beat.

With genres meaning less and less these days, we decided to find which weapons Elite Force has lurking in his accommodating record box.

The Loops of Fury ‘Flick A Switch’ (Original Mix) [U&A Recordings]

I’m really excited about these guys from Brisbane - I’ve just signed them under their new ‘Loops of Fury’ moniker (they previously recorded for U&A as Hyperion), and they are delivering some perfect, crossover electro-techno, and this perfectly encapsulates their sound.

It’s just one of those tracks with a massive kinetic energy to it and it seems to work regardless of the crowd and the tip of the night.

I’ve just finished playing a couple of sets at this year’s Wickerman Festival with Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, Lee Coombs, and Kid Blue - it was a blinding festival and every single DJ set I heard in the tent featured this tune. There’s a series of blinding remixes out this week on Beatport too, featuring DJ Dan & Mike Balance, Hijack, and Mike Hulme.

Bar 9 ‘Shaolin Style’ (Elite Force Re-Fix) [Unreleased]

I’ve been liking a lot of the tougher, more floor-friendly dubstep of late but it’s not really workable in my sets, but sonically it’s a perfect match for a lot of the techier beatsy stuff that I play.

There’s been a real dearth of any quality, playable breakbeat around for several years now, so I tend to be heavy on the remakes and re-edits in my sets, which helps maintain a balance across the spectrum of styles I like to draw on.

A few months back I was heading out to Spain to do one of the massive breaks raves they have out there on a regular basis which pull in six or seven thousand people, and I started messing around on the flight with a re-edit of this track, finished it off in the hotel room, and dropped it that night.

It went over a treat and since then I put it up on Soundcloud where it’s still my most listened to track this year.

Calvertron Vs Banga ‘Invisible’ (Lazy Rich Remix) [Destination?]

I love this track. It’s one of those perfect, simple, compulsive tracks that just rolls and rolls and has a simple, punishing and irresistible groove to it. There’s plenty of suspense, a wobbly bassline that shimmers with just the right amount of intent, and some rattling percussion parts that give it that constant sense of movement.

There’s a more melodic side to it that happens in the final third of the track (which I have to confess I chopped out, because I just wanted the groove to roll and roll), but all in all this is a perfect tune for my sets, and worked a treat as an opening track this weekend just gone.

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• Check out Elite Force on Beatport