New Beat

New beat is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in Belgium in 1987 and 1988, formed by slowing electronic body music and early acid house records down to roughly 100 to 115 BPM. The lowered tempo produced a heavy, grinding groove of drum-machine beats, sequenced basslines and dark synthesizer figures, over which producers added sampled vocals, industrial noise and novelty hooks. Played in large Flemish clubs such as the #Boccaccio#, the style generated its own fashion and a flood of studio productions before mutating, by 1990, into the faster Belgian hardcore techno.