To 150 and beyond
Just when you thought conversations about tempo were over, along comes 2020 with the hot, new, must-have bpm: 150. Though technically there’s actually nothing new about it nosebleed techno has been happily ramping itself up to around that speed the past few years, and hardcore/ jungle producers like Foul Play and LTJ Bukem were doing it in the early ’90s this year has seen a fresh wave of 150bpm beats sweep the UK scene.
There are two main reasons for this. The first is practicality; the past decade has seen multi-genre DJing explode like never before. With sounds from across the world evermore accessible, and DJ technology making once complex tasks evermore simple, artists have become more adventurous with what and how they play. Though there have been tricks for jumping between ‘unmixable’ tunes since the dawn of DJing, to achieve smooth blends when moving from, say, 140bpm dubstep to 160bpm footwork, stepping stones are needed: enter 150bpm.