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Breakage aka James Boyle is never been one to be pigeonholed. Moving effortlessly through styles from drum and bass to dubstep, Breakage has proved himself to be one of the most versatile operators in either scene to date. A prodigious talent, he already has a number of classic releases under his belt but continues to develop his sound. Combining rich tones and a sense of spaciousness in the mix, Breakage’s music is both subtle yet devastatingly effective.

Never afraid to make an impact, he burst onto the drum and bass scene back in 2000, announcing his arrival with a raucous remix of a hardcore classic, Nasty Habit’s ‘Here Come the Drums’ on Reinforced. He backed up this bold move; however, with a series of EPs for the legendary label proving he was no young pretender. Developing a close relationship with veterans such as Equinox (Scientific Wax) and Threshold (Special Branch), Breakage was at the forefront of a new wave of breakbeat scientists bringing a percussive sound back to drum and bass at a time when the scene seemed to have forgotten it’s jungle roots.

Breakage continued his good form dropping a number of sort after releases for the Inperspective label, his remix of Equinox’s ‘Acid Rain’ twisted the Amen break to new levels and served as a rallying call for producers looking to bring back the original drum and bass sound. Further releases came on labels including Critical and Scientific Wax, before his debut album release in 2006 ‘This To Shall Pass’ gained wide spread critical acclaim and included some slower tempo material, hinting at what was to come.

James signed with Shy FX’s mighty Digital Soundboy imprint in 2007, and soon turned heads with the haunting half- time beats of ‘Clarendon b/w Shroud.’ It came as no surprise that he would make waves in the dubstep community with his next release, ‘Callahan b/w Untitled,’ after having remixed one of the scene’s biggest tracks to date, Benga & Coki’s ‘Night,’ alongside Shy FX as Digital Soundboy. 2009 has seen Breakage cemented himself as ‘one to watch’ across the British dance music press and taste-making elite. Following on from the superb ‘Together’ earlier this year, Breakage released ‘Run Em Out’ feat. Roots Manuva b/w ‘Higher’ this October and continues his good form with the thuggish reworked ‘Hard’ feat. Newham Generals and David Rodigan released Dec 7th. Alongside his orginal recordings James has also recently turned in remixes for the likes of Sidney Sampson, David Guetta and the legendary Aswad.

Zane Lowe named ʻHardʼ as his ʻHottest Record In The Worldʼ on his Radio 1 show and heʼs gone on to gain massive support across the airwaves from the likes of has Annie Mac, Mista Jam, Rob Da Bank, Giles Peterson, Ras Kwame, Toddla T, Mary Anne Hobbs, Sinden, Nick Grimshaw, John Kennedy, DJ Bailey, Semtex, Joe Ransom & more.

With his sophomore LP ‘Foundation’ due for release in Feb 2010 on Digital Soundboy, it’s sure to be another busy year ahead for Breakage. Features on the record come courtesy of Skream, Burial, Roots Manuva, David Rodigan, Newham Generals, Kemo and more. Expect bass heavy quality music with a broad appeal.

To quote a certain Mr. Roots Manuva...
“Breakage is a man with an ear for deep, deep, sub-sonic frequencies. He goes in low. I thinking he’s talking to sea-life. He’s talking to the squid”.

“His command of sound and the sheer amount of music he can squeeze from so little is phenomenal. Breakage generates bags of deep meditational vibes and effortless forward movement in equal measure. Sometimes simple really is the best”
IDJ Mag TOP TUNE 10/10

“Breakage’s beats are packed with more beef than an Argentinean steakhouse”
DJ Mag Sept 2009 4/5

“His half-step beats are pure catch your-breath tension. Intense”
Mixmag Sept 2009 4/5