<track file="no_new"><![CDATA[No New StylesPlan B]]></track>
<track file="girls"><![CDATA[I See GirlsStudio B (Plan B Club Mix)]]></track>
<track file="breathe"><![CDATA[Breathe DonΓÇÖt StopMr On vs the Jungle Brothers (Plan B mix)]]></track>
</tracks>
</tracks>
<pages>
<copy><![CDATA[Having evolved on the underground circuit for a decade, UK breaks has become the most exciting, innovative and downright fun dance scene in Britain. It finally erupted last year, thanks in part to big releases from the likes of the Plump DJs and Adam Freeland. When some dance genres are shedding record sales, breaks singles and compilations are flying off the shelves, and club nights are springing up across this country and around the world. At the heart of it all is Ali B. While not as big a name as the Plumps or Stanton Warriors, the London-born DJ and producer has been there from the start and his contribution and influence should not be underestimated. His club night, Air, which started life in Hoxton, east London, in 1995,<br>has become the premier breaks night in the<br> country, the event at which nu skool’s A-list are queueing up to DJ. And then there’s his Friday night show on Capital Radio, from which he has been spreading the breakbeat<br>gospel for the past four years. “It’s an exciting time for breaks,” he says, “it’s starting to get some proper attention. Suddenly it has become one of dance music’s strongest areas.” Consider Ali’s Fabriclive residency and the fact that he’s hosting a 2,000-capacity Air tent at Global Gathering near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, later this month, and you realise how far he and breaks have come since the early days at the 333 club in London’s Old Street. “Back then [the music] was the tempo of house, around 130bpm, but it had the beat programming of jungle, which made it much more interesting,” he recalls. Yet few pure breaks tracks were commercially available. “You’d be playing drum’n’bass records at the wrong speed and mixing them with jazz funk records that were on that sort of tip.” All well and good, but what does breaks sound like? Some say it’s the love child of hip-hop and drum’n’bass. Like both, it uses sampled breakbeats (hence “breaks”), but it is faster than hip-hop and slower than drum’n’bass. As with the latter, it’s all about the bassline, which is usually funky, filthy and filtered as hell. But when Ali first fell in love with music, dance DJs were still a distant prospect. As a kid, he bought chart singles. “I just got obsessed with it. It didn’t really matter whether it was on vinyl, I just used to collect music.” By the time he hit 17, however, DJs had made the leap from dodgy weddings to magazine covers. Wanting in, Ali bought a beaten-up record deck from a Kingston Hospital car boot sale. “For £4.55 – it was one of the best investments I’ve ever made! But I only had one turntable, so I used to mix to the radio.” Soon he started DJing at a bar in Richmond, Surrey, and then at college parties. “It’s funny,” he says, “most of my mates were into rave and I was staunchly against it at the time. I was into acid jazz and ‘real’ music.” Things got serious in 1994, the year the famous Blue Note club opened in Hoxton Square. It was owned by Acid Jazz, one of his favourite record labels, and Ali was desperate to be involved. “When I heard it was opening I got on a train, hopped up to Old Street and just knocked on the door. I was totally up for working there, so from day one I was clearing the building of rubble.”<br> A few months later he was working for the label itself. “Straight away they got me DJing at the Blue Note. Acid Jazz was good in that respect because it had a team of DJs, but being an independent label obviously wages weren’t quite as generous as the majors, so it supplemented them by getting you out there DJing. So suddenly I was off to places such as Poland or France to play – and I was 19.” The club opened his ears to labels such as Ninja Tune, Mo’Wax and Metalheadz. And it was through blending these sounds that a breaks scene started to emerge with Air as the platform. “For the first one we booked Rennie Pilgrem and Tayo. I remember ringing up Rennie Pilgrem because he’d just put a record out a few weeks before we started, and I said: ‘That is what I’m talking about, that’s the kind of music I mean!'” After a couple of successful events at 333, Blue Note invited Ali to put on Air as a monthly residency, which lasted for three years. When the club closed in 1998 – because of noise complaints, not unpopularity – Air was made homeless, shifting among venues north and south of the river until 2002, when it found its current base at east London’s Rhythm Factory. “Until that point it was a much more low-key scene,” he says. “Suddenly it became a bigger deal. A lot of the artists we had booked years ago were now drawing big crowds, but because of the history we had with those DJs, we were able to put on big line-ups for a reasonable door price.” Ali likens the vibe at Rhythm Factory to that of Blue Note. “The guys who run the Rhythm Factory are that rare breed of smart, nice, kind club owners who really do see people and not pounds.” And Air has gained a reputation for DJs sticking around after their sets to watch their peers. “I remember Freq Nasty was getting on a plane to go to Miami the next morning and he rang up to ask if he could change to an earlier set. I said sure, but he ended up staying until six in the morning because he wanted to hear the Freestylers!” With so many names trying to attach themselves to the scene, which DJs does he respect? “Oh, obvious ones, such as the Plump DJs, Stanton Warriors, Lee Coombs, Koma and Bones, Adam Freeland, Evil 9, Krafty Kuts...” But where does breaks go from here? “I think you’ll start to get crossover records hitting the charts. But I’m not one of those people who’s going to be ultra precious to keep a scene for me and my mates. What’s the point? You want that sound to become more and more popular.”Air, July 3, featuring Ali B, Freq Nasty, Jo Ransom, Meat Katie, Rennie Pilgrem, The Freestylers + guests, The Rhythm Factory, London; 020 7375 3774, <a href="asfunction:Tardis.webPageOpen,http://www.rhythmfactory.co.uk"><b>www.rhythmfactory.co.uk</b></a>]]></copy>
<page type="13">
<headline><![CDATA[Nu skool rules]]></headline>
<quote><![CDATA[ItΓÇÖs the sound thatΓÇÖs really ripping up dancefloors this summer. Ali B tells James Hopkirk why if it ainΓÇÖt breaks, fix it]]></quote>
<image>
<image/>
<caption/>
<note/>
</image>
</page>
<page type="6">
<headline><![CDATA[Nu skool rules]]></headline>
<quote/>
<image>
<image><![CDATA[ali/page2.jpg]]></image>
<caption><![CDATA[Ali B enjoys his<br>music in oddly<br>decorated rooms]]></caption>
<note/>
</image>
</page>
<page type="2">
<headline><![CDATA[Nu skool rules]]></headline>
<quote/>
<image>
<image/>
<caption/>
<note/>
</image>
</page>
<page type="6">
<headline><![CDATA[Nu skool rules]]></headline>
<quote/>
<image>
<image><![CDATA[/ali/page4.jpg]]></image>
<caption><![CDATA[The Plump DJs are perhaps the biggest name in breaks]]></caption>
