Breakestra – Hit The Floor

2019 Reissue / Repress

Released on Stones Throw in 2001 The Live Mix part 2 put the Los Angeles-based live funk band Breakestra on the map. In 2005, their new album Hit the Floor (Ubiquity Records), a new single featuring members of Jurassic 5 and People Under The Stairs, and recent performances with GZA, Guru, Raekwon, Digable Planets and De La Soul (at New York’s Summer Stage) will launch the band further into the public eye. While their debut album and legendary live shows predominantly paid homage to old school breaks n’ beats gone by, Hit the Floor goes a step further as Breakestra create an album featuring all-original compositions and songs. The funk flavor is as strong as ever and Breakestra’s main man Miles Tackett explains the transformation from a cover band into one flaunting their own material as the obvious next step, “While hip hop dj/medley inspired covers are the foundation of Breakestra, it is only natural we’d want to express our own soulful proclamations,” he says. “I've been releasing original funk cuts before putting out The Live Mix Part 2. The first Breakestra single was an original song called "Getcho Soul Togetha", so this album is really just a part of the natural flow,” he adds.

Four years is a long time to wait for a second album, but judging by the size and enthusiasm of crowds at Breakestra shows or at their weekly hosted Rootdown party in LA their fan base continues to grow. And the global funk scene, which Breakestra are thoroughly entrenched in, now includes a distinguished list of bands like The Bamboos in Australia, The Dapkings in NYC, the New Master Sounds, Speedometer and Quantic Soul Orchestra in England and seems to be growing stronger by the day. “I don't think this music is going to be here today but gone tomorrow,” Tackett enthuses, “it's the best it’s been in years.”