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Could Orlando breaks be at the dawning of a new wave? It could be. And from some of the underground sounds that’ve come out in recent years, it won’t just be a throwback for retro’s sake. That there is an important distinction.

When Orlando breaks first emerged in the early 1990s rave revolution as the big-bass cousin to breakbeat, it permanently etched our city into EDM history as not just a world-class dance scene at the time but one that sired its own original sound. But by the late 1990s — after adjacent styles like big beat had pierced the mainstream — breaks was overrun with cheap knockoffs, signaling a genre that had run out of ideas.

Recently, however, young artists have been reviving the form in ways both faithful and innovative. Of the current native artists to emerge, two of the brightest are Arina Krondeva and Propah Ganda. Individually, they’ve been releasing noteworthy music. Together, though, they’ve just planted a flag that’s the most cogent declaration yet that there’s a discrete new generation of talent and relevance brewing for Orlando EDM.

Arina Krondeva and Propah Ganda have merged forces to release the joint 407 F.R. EP, and it’s the most deeply local work of music seen in ages. The four-song collection is a new Orlando touchstone whose conceptual motif comes from field recordings made on a walk through the city, specifically downtown and the Milk District. Yet it’s less the field recordings than the actual music crafted by the two collaborators that beats loudest with an Orlando pulse.

The most immediate nods to Orlando breaks are sleek bumper “Lights Behind” and acid banger “Lucy” (a track named after Lake Eola’s celebrity goose), both of which keep the bass good, heavy and constant. The other two cuts are dynamic hybrids, with “Humidity” blending classic hard breakbeat with mechanical techno stomp while “‘I Took Acid and the City Was Humming in 303” oscillates between house and dark, grinding breaks.

The 407 F.R. EP is at once a reclamation and a furtherance of Orlando’s famous EDM signature. Yes, there are clear salutes to the classic sounds. But true to the work that Krondeva and Propah Ganda have each already been doing, the angle here is more progressive than revivalist, with a left-field intelligence that even some of the original Orlando legends didn’t have.

In pedigree, heart and inspiration, 407 F.R. is so local that it’s a layer cake of terroir. The collection is indeed a summit between two of the most eminent young torchbearers of Orlando’s storied EDM legacy. Perhaps even more than that, though, it is at long last an auspicious and forward vision of Orlando breaks. The EP now streams everywhere. 

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This article appears in Nov. 26–Dec. 2, 2025.

Music columnist.