Zero-G Freak Beats is a huge collection of dark and brooding beats to vibe to. Freak Beats covers lots of ground from Electro to Trip Hop, slow groovers to percussion lunacy.

Tempo matched and grouped, sliced and diced for absolute compatibility with all software sequencers.. We know you'll freak out when you hear Freak Beats.

Freak Beats was produced by J. R. Beaumier aka J. R. Exley, an extremely experienced composer and producer who has been working in the dance music area since the early 80s.

From advertising and television music (Sony, Renault...) to pop records (Etienne Daho, Jean Louis Murat, Indochine), since the 90s J. R. has been busy remixing top artists (Silencers, Gypsy Kings, Peter Kingsbury, Indochine, Lambarena, Cerrone...) and produced the first French House Compilation in 1991 for Virgin Records.

He also co-wrote ‘Human Nature’ with Cerrone which made an appearance high in the Billboard Dance Chart with mixes by David Morales and Frankie Knuckles.

Format

• WAV

Press Reviews

Freak Beats is what I call a no-nonsense...

by Sound On Sound Magazine, UK

Freak Beats is what I call a no-nonsense sample CD. It does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, insofar as it is a collection of 530 drum loops (plus a few highly usable vinyl scratching effects) grouped in blocks of 10 loops per track ID, each listed within a specific tempo range. There are no construction kits, no multisamples or mix-out, just loads of interesting breakbeats that may lack flexibility, but more than make up for it with volume and variety.

As is becoming the norm these days, you get an Audio CD and a CD-ROM containing all the loops stored as WAV files. Starting out at 70bpm and moving up 5bpm at a time, the fastest loops appear at 105bpm, so you can see this is a fairly mellow and at times thoughtful collection of breakbeats. There is a strong electro and trip-hop feel to Freak Beats and it has a heavily retro vibe. In many ways it reminded me of the first Zero-G releases, namely the Datafile series where countless styles of drum loop were collected from all sorts of odd places, providing a mammoth and much loved resource for the would-be samplist looking for a quick fix.

However, one of the most impressive things about the release is the range of styles and genres it manages to cover within a fairly tight tempo framework. There are hints towards vintage '80s big beat indie sounds and some early Soul II Soul-type flavours, with bands like Kraftwerk even proving to be a major influence on more than a few tracks. As perhaps you might expect with any collection of loops that encompasses so much stylistic variation, the sound quality and nature of the drum sounds used also varies greatly from track to track. By turns lo-fi and gritty to magnificent, crystal-clear and very contemporary-sounding, a random flick through the tracks often feels like a comprehensive 'History of The Drum Loop Part I'.

The high degree of variation doesn't affect its usability a vast amount, because with so much material to choose from you are bound by the very law of averages to find something you like within two or three tracks at the very least. The scratching section tagged on the end of the disk (although it could be longer) is also a welcome inclusion, and you could argue that this is exactly the kind of thing every programmer should have on the shelf just in case...

So are there any downsides to Freak Beats? Sampling connoisseurs would perhaps be right in claiming that this is a release that concentrates far too much on the sounds of yesteryear, neglecting to say anything astoundingly original about rhythm in the 21st century, but the view I favour is that its non-pretentious 'just the drum loops' attitude makes it exactly the sort of studio tool that the vast majority of programmers and producers would be happy (if not delighted) to have in their collection.

Many swingbeat love monsters seem to...

by Computer Music Magazine, UK

Many swingbeat love monsters seem to have appropriated the word freakin' as their sexual euphemism of choice, so we were expecting some laid back, open shirted, medallion-wearing slow jams from Freak Beats. A few of the loops do indeed fit this bill, but this isn't an anodyne collection by any means, and shouldn't be unjustly dismissed as such.

The pace picks up as you progress, and there are some interesting effect-loaded hip-hop patterns to take in along the way. The kits used are right out of the top drawer (as is the programming), and there's far more variety and quirkiness than we initially anticipated. Funky, feisty and with plenty of beats for your pound: This is one to look out for.

The samples are nicely cropped to...

by Next Magazine, Australia

The samples are nicely cropped to exactly two bars, so there is little fuss incorporating them into your music. They have added some pretty twisted and freaky effects and arrangements on this CD and the sound quality is very nice. Those that love their music funky and chunky will find this pair of discs a great tool, as they are absolutely laden with loops great for styles like BigBeat and Breakbeat as well as HipHop.....Overall, this is a great CD with lots of good ideas buried inside.

FreakBeats, over 500 fresh drum loops...

by The Birmingham Post Newspaper, UK

FreakBeats, over 500 fresh drum loops ranging from 70 bpm to 150 bpm. The easiest way to describe these loops is charismatic and they're perfect for the more adventurous programmer.There's so much ground covered here it's difficult to fit them into any one category.

The tempo puts them in the downbeat and hip hop arena, but with some deft chopping and timestretching they could be used in almost any type of production. From pounding beats to nifty percussion fills, there's a huge scope for mixing and matching. With a healthy section of scratches at the end, this should be near the top of your must-have list.