Because of this, we neglected the "motherland of gabber" a bit so far - The Netherlands.
After all, every boy and his dog was raving to the wicked hardcore beats of gabber madness in the 90s - right?
So gabber from holland is hardly hardcore of "underdog" quality... and everyone already knows it, right?
well, while that was true for the 90s, it might not be so true anymore. We maybe could define a kind of "temporal overdog". Stuff that indeed everyone knew in the 90s, but in today's media culture, is shadowed and under-appreciated because everyone else focuses on the "big" labels mostly.
So let us look at the various interesting dutch gabber label from the 90s.
And this time, we want to tell you about 7 very interesting releases on the label Rave Records from ’s-Gravenhage (aka The Hague).
T.O.P.D.R.O.P. - Achtung! (RAVE 13th)
"hey meine gabber freunde". who doesn't know "achtung!"? and in case you really do not know it...
this track takes the early hardcore classic "b.o.t.t.r.o.p" by dj hooligan (see the similarity in name? a clever trick!), well at least it's acid sample, speeds it up and boom boom adds more gabba basses to it.
a track that either smashes or clears the dancefloor, depending on whether the crowd is hard enuff.
Noisegate - Goddamn' Mind (RAVE 028)
"goddamn mind" is one of these releases that goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5. the track starts, boom! the bass hits and there is slaughter.
take no prisoners!
other tracks are cool as well.
generally, this is one of the "gabber" releases that do not focus so much on melodies or nice harmonies, but are just lovely NOIZE.
Square Dimensione - A Brand New Dance (RAVE 35th)
You might know this one from a mayday rave recording, or other sets...
Almost trancy intro, beats come in, then some cool rapping, everything get's harder... word!
A track on the b-side, "brand new bassdrums", in an early pill-driver style bass-drum only track.
One of the more complex simple gabber tracks (hah!)
DJ Isaac - Bad Dreams (RAVE 45TH)
"Bad Dreams" later became a Thunderdome classic. But this early draft on here is even bigger, bolder, rougher and tougher!
Various - The Erotic Kingdom E.P. (Rave 8th)
One of the more sleazy hardcore / techno releases.
The main track is some house / funk affair, that also feels like early rave-hardcore, if you catch my drift.
Most interesting to me is the "happy hardcore" edit, because this is neither the breakbeat happy hardcore that was typical for 92, nor the "happy gabber" of 1996.
It's legit oldschool gabber, with some mellow / happy sounds, and that combination is very rare, my friends!
Ech Heftag! - Uit Je Dakkie (RAVE 18TH)
Has this ep been pre-mastered to a cassette tape? There is definitely something odd (i.e. lo-fi) about the levels and sound...
Either way, it kicks more hard this way, I suppose.
Brutalist Hardcore for 1993.
The Falcon - Tear You Apart (RAVE 23)
Do you remember when gabber (or "rave") labels released acidcore EPs too?
Like this one. Very cool.
There is some weird rhythm stuff going on, as it feels like some elements run at different or "broken" speed (somehow).
and that bass is extra large.