During his brief stint at Higher Ground / Sony, Tipper released one of the most powerful breakbeat albums ever: The Critical Path. Tipper's debut full length album twists and turns through the bowels of breakbeat, experimental, electronic-pop, and beyond. Utilizing Sony's substantial pocketbook allowed Tipper to expand his any creative inkling including full orchestras and noted female vocalists. After the disappointingly poor sales of The Critical Path, Tipper realized that Sony simply didn't know how to (or didn't care to) promote an artist like himself and so he migrated back to Fuel full-time and began his next project. His Sound Off album was a huge success with its mix-up of electro and breaks that only Tipper can pull off successfully. The compilation included tunes by Cold Fusion Mafia, Buckfunk 3000, Andrea Parker, and Tipper himself. Never slowing down for more than a minute, Tipper released his second solo album directly on the heels of Sound Off. Holding Pattern was much more dancefloor-friendly than The Critical Path, yet still delved into more experimental landscapes than most breakbeat albums dare. Tunes like "Tip-Hop" and "End of Make Believe" let listeners know that there is much more to Dave Tipper than simply breakbeats.

That said, if one digs into the music vaults of Dave Tipper they will see that Tipper cannot simply written off as a breakbeat producer. He is also very much involved in the IDM & experimental music scene. His Crunch project with Mike Wallis has been compared to IDM Kings, Autechre, with its fractured, skittery beats and warm, soft melodies. At times, it sounds like an extension of Tipper's Critical Path album...quite possibly musical realms he wanted to visit, but was afraid to even try such lunacy on a "breakbeat" release. Crunch's debut full length album entitled Nullpluze.n2, was released with by the eager hands of IDM gurus Funkstorung on their Musik Aus Strom imprint. Following that successful album, the duo followed up with the Laurel EP on their own label, Colony Productions. The latest noise from Crunch was their 10" on the indispensable Delikatessen records. Look for a Crunch remixes on Colony very soon (remixers include Cold Fusion Mafia, E.V.A.C., & Micheal Fakesch. If that's not enough for you, Crunch will be dropping their second full length later in 2002.