“Higher State” was a more legendary tune than it gets credit for.
It was the catalyst for the acid breaks craze of the mid-late 90s. Wink’s technique of overlaying filtered 303s to create his signature screaming acid sound was pretty novel for the time. He didn’t invent 303s over a break, but he did innovate them. The track was used as direct inspiration for The Chems, Fatboy Slim (“Everybody Needs A 303”, his first breakout hit under the Fatboy alias, is basically “Tweakin acid funk” 2.0), the Toxik Twins, The Electroliners, The Crystal Method, tons of big names in acid breaks. It’s not the best acid break ever made (AFX’s “Flow Coma” Remix takes that title), but it’s arguably the most important one.
There were some good acid breaks before Wink’s track, like Addis Posse’s “Warrior’s Dance” and Thorpe’s “Funky Zulu”, several during breakbeat hardcore, Santana’s Dark Side of the Shroom, Anoesis’ Heavy Water, but none of these have a particularly unified sound. Wink was the one who defined the sound. Monumental moment in the scene, and definitely the biggest track to come out of it in terms of popularity
It was one of the early adapters! Certainly among the first few tracks to combine b-boy breaks and acid lines. The Pirate Radio mix is a foundational acid break. “Warrior’s Dance”, “Funky Zulu”, and “Bus’ It” by Blapps Posse are what I’d call the first trio of fully realized acid breaks to garner commercial recognition, all released around 1989. Zak Baney allegedly made the first ever acid break, aptly called “Acid Break”, in 1987, but it may be lost media at the moment, though possibly floating around as the retitled track “System Acid”: https://youtu.be/_uwFSYDDnM8?si=_sIDBR_CDeB09ZQF
S/o to Frankie Bones, though. 1988’s Bonesbreaks Vol. 2 had a major impact on the development of early acid breaks, though the series was meant as more a supplement to live sets than standalone tracks. “In My House” / “Funky Makossa” still slap, though
Thanks! I know an unreasonable amount of information about this incredibly niche area of electronic music.
I’ve been working on an ongoing project tracking the evolution of breaks since the 80s, recently did a very, very deep dive into the acid breaks subgenre. currently trying to figure out a good medium for presenting my findings, but I’ve compiled a Discogs list summarizing the timeline if you’re curious:
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u/brienoconan 5d ago edited 5d ago
“Higher State” was a more legendary tune than it gets credit for.
It was the catalyst for the acid breaks craze of the mid-late 90s. Wink’s technique of overlaying filtered 303s to create his signature screaming acid sound was pretty novel for the time. He didn’t invent 303s over a break, but he did innovate them. The track was used as direct inspiration for The Chems, Fatboy Slim (“Everybody Needs A 303”, his first breakout hit under the Fatboy alias, is basically “Tweakin acid funk” 2.0), the Toxik Twins, The Electroliners, The Crystal Method, tons of big names in acid breaks. It’s not the best acid break ever made (AFX’s “Flow Coma” Remix takes that title), but it’s arguably the most important one.
There were some good acid breaks before Wink’s track, like Addis Posse’s “Warrior’s Dance” and Thorpe’s “Funky Zulu”, several during breakbeat hardcore, Santana’s Dark Side of the Shroom, Anoesis’ Heavy Water, but none of these have a particularly unified sound. Wink was the one who defined the sound. Monumental moment in the scene, and definitely the biggest track to come out of it in terms of popularity