Broken Beat

As with many dance music genres, the "broken beat" tag is often shirked by key proponents who prefer not to be so narrowly confined ("My beats are quite fixed, thank you," says Colin Lindo of Nubian Mindz). Nevertheless, this strain of rhythmically complex, worldly dance music, originating in West London around the turn of the millennium, deserves its own category away from the downtempo hordes. Leading broken beat act 4 Hero were early drum 'n' bass pioneers before they became more interested in texture than tempo. Their shift towards jazzier territories collided with acid jazz and funk acts traveling in the opposite direction, so it's no surprise that broken beat's primary champion is BBC Radio 1 DJ/Talkin' Loud label founder Gilles Peterson.