Dave Tipper is a humble man. When asked why one the UK’s finest breakbeat DJs has chosen to return to our shores he responds, “I don’t know…who is this person and when are they coming? I’d like to see them…(can you get my name on the door?)

Not bad for a figure that has contributed so significantly to the current diverse landscape of breakbeat music and popularity now enjoyed by the ‘nu-skool’ sound. Today’s post big beat era owes much to the work of djs and producers like Englishman Dave Tipper, who has from the outset never been afraid of doing something a bit different.

Tipper is a commonsense electronic musician and reluctant to read too much into the flagrant pigeonholing of musical styles, particularly when it comes to breakbeat. His seminal debut album, The Critical Path, was hailed by those in the know but was, on the whole too far ahead of its time to reach a wider audience.

Tipper has maintained his optimism however and is content to keep producing his music within the relatively rigid framework of breakbeat.

“It is obviously hard to avoid the conformity of formula involved in any genre of music. I try hard not to let these rules hinder the creation process. (probably why I cop so much flak for making arrangements that are slightly left of centre). Essentially one shoud concentrate on making music from the heart and not follow other people like sheep.”

From this we should find it unsurprising to learn that Tipper has been devoting much of his production time recently to perfecting the ultimate cutting edge music listening experience, 5.1 surround. Tipper’s latest album, Surrounded has been created entirely for 5.1 surround sound and is an attempt to explore the possible horizons of multi-directional sound. Tipper explains,

“5.1 surround sound involves sitting in the middle of five speakers, all equidistant from the listener and all equally calibrated in db level. Then there is a sub speaker which is normally placed in the corner of the room. Making use of panning and placement with this many speakers can achieve some astounding results. Once you hear surround sound in the proper environment it becomes addictive…very addictive…stereo will no longer be enough.”

So not only may we credit Tipper as one of the founders of nu-skool breaks, but he may also prove responsible for the untimely death of stereo too. Only time will tell.

Surrounded will be out in May 2003.

Tipper plays at:

Fractured at Seven Nightclub (Melb) on Friday 7th February

Friction (Canberra) on Friday 12th February @ Lot 33

C-Moog (Byron Bay) on Saturday, 22nd February

Frigid (Syd) on Sunday 16th February and again @ Funktrust at The Hunter Bar (Syd) on Thursday 27th February

Skylounge Abstract with Andrew Pekler (Canberra) on Friday 28th February.