THE BIZ AND THE BUZZ Adam Freeland-taking new skool breakbeat to the head of the class.

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, Chris Gill

Adam Freeland-taking new skool breakbeat to the head of the class. U.K. DJ Adam Freeland has landed some enviable gigs, including residencies at London's hottest clubs-like Fabric, Friction, and Bedrock-where he's shared the bill with luminaries John Digweed and Sasha. While many DJs have enjoyed similar honors, what's unusual about Freeland is that he doesn't spin trance or house: his specialty is new skool breakbeat. He's triggered a breakbeat revival, his inspiration rubbing off on artists and DJs such as BT, Timo Maas, and Danny Howells.

"I've taken bits of all my favorite styles-elements of drum 'n' bass, hip-hop, electro, house, and even trance-and fused them together to create a new sound," says Freeland. "Anyone who likes those styles can relate to what I'm doing. My music isn't a million miles away from what Sasha and Digweed do, and anyone who has an ear for music will see that certain sonics of what I'm doing are similar to trance. In fact, I've converted a lot of trance kids."

Although Freeland avoids the mechanical four-on-the-floor drumbeats that dominate trance and house, he strives to create a similar atmosphere of drama and energy. "I try to tell a story," he explains. "I draw a little graph in my head that is the shape of my set. I like to gradually build up the intensity until it reaches a steady point and grooves along for a while. Then I build up again until it reaches a high point, bring things up and down, and taper off to bring you down and leave you with a nice warm feeling at the end."

To achieve that intensity, Freeland uses an elaborate DJ setup consisting of three turntables, a Yamaha SU-10 sampler, an Electrix Filter Factory, and a digital delay unit. Freeland uses the sampler to lay loops over the top of the records he's spinning. "I like to establish a theme in a set, bringing in ideas and certain sounds, and using them as reference points that I come back to later on," he says. "It draws a bigger picture."

You can experience a good example of Freeland's mixing magic on his Tectonics compilation, recently released by Ultra Records. Instead of putting together a collection of all the latest tunes, Freeland opted to include songs he felt would stand the test of time. The release has earned rave reviews from the U.K. dance-music press, including album-of-the-month honors from nearly every publication that has covered his work.

Freeland has kept the new skool breakbeat scene alive and healthy by starting his own label, Marine Parade. He plans to release an album of his own original material next year. "I'm not interested in just doing new skool breaks," he says. "I'm trying to make music move forward. I don't want to string together a bunch of club tunes and call it an album. I want to create a great album that stands on its own, similar to what Leftfield or Massive Attack would do. I want to transcend the genre and just put out some good music."

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