Irish lads Phil and Bren AKA Splitloop, met on the bus to a Prodigy gig back in the day and found they not only shared a love for Liam Howlett’s beats, but a passion for producing banging tunes. The chance meeting sparked an enduring partnership that’s rocketed them high into the breakbeat premier league.
Since the release of their first album “Here on Business” in late 2005, Splitloop have been nominated for Best Album & Best Producers at the international breakbeat awards, been on the cover of IDJ, had feature articles in Knowledge and DJ mag and have been very much in demand with a hectic touring schedule playing to stadium crowds in Russia, Spain, Australia, China, New Zealand and the UK.
On their second long player “Pleasure Machine” Splitloop have dipped their toes into other styles of electronic music giving it a velvety sheen, touching on modern sexy D. Ramirez-type electro-house, juddery Justice riddims, Plumpy breaks and a hell of a lot more. Phil and Bren of Splitloop admit to exploring other genres when writing ‘Pleasure Machine’, the broadening of their horizons has had a profound influence on the Splitloop sound. “You can’t be looking only to one genre to get inspiration for your music,” reckons Bren. “That would just be a ridiculous feedback loop”.
“We’re at a stage where we really just wanted to make music we thought was really good and moving our sound forward, not worrying about what anyone else would think.”
Bren is philosophical about their early career. “Our first studio had a broken toilet, so everything smelled like piss,” he remembers. “We could never afford monitors ‘cos all our money went on pills and beer. As soon as we gave up pills, we bought monitors and got signed.”
Like Orbital, with whom they share an absence of hair, Splitloop jam tunes live. “It’s a great opportunity to tweak tunes as a crowd vibes off them,” enthuses Phil. “Something you can only do in a limited way playing records.”
“Chopping and changing parts, adding synths… I think more energy comes across in what we do live,” declares Bren.