As you might have noticed, for nearly a year now, there has been a new e-zine around for Hardcore Techno past and present. Us.
"The Hardcore Overdogs".
The zine not only focuses on Hardcore, but also related genres like Dark Ambient, Industrial, Acid, etc. especially if there is a direct connection to the Hardcore scene via producers or releases.
While it's main aim was to showcase underrated and overlooked *new* Hardcore stuff, it now also has a lot to say about past Hardcore, both well-known classics and sidelined releases.
It's not just about notifying people about this or that release, but a lot of in-depth articles and features have been published, analyzing political and cultural backgrounds to Hardcore music, interviews with famous or infamous Hardcore producers, themed charts, scrutinizing whole label catalogues, and much, much more.
So, after this "big success", how about celebrating The Hardcore Overdogs with its very own compilation release?
This is a call to send in your tracks!
Here are the facts:
1.
Title: "The Hardcore Overdogs" compilation
2.
Label: the compilation will be released on Omnicore Records (a Doomcore Records sublabel) in digital format as a "free or pay what you want release" on bandcamp!
3.
Deadline: 01.09.2023 (that's 1st September, 2023, for you US-americans ;-)
After 01.09.2023 23:59 no further tracks will be accepted! So be on time, please ;-)
4.
Styles: All non-mainstream Hardcore styles are desired!
Such as Speedcore, Oldschool, Gabber, Acidcore, Doomcore, Terror, Experimental, Slowcore, etc. etc.
Whatever you want. But please nothing like Uptempo, Mainstream / Mainstyle Hardcore, or Frenchcore and so on.
Could also be a 90s style or more new, modern music. All is possible.
Also styles that are linked to (are adjacent to) Hardcore in way or the other, such as Dark Ambient, Drone, Industrial, Techno, EBM, etc. etc. etc. are suitable.
This mirrors the spectrum of styles that are featured in The Hardcore Overdogs (and Omnicore Records, too!)
But because this "openness" will likely lead to a lot of submissions, we will be very *strict* on which tracks we accept.
So don't be annoyed when your track doesn't get onto the compilation.
5. We don't do mastering. We assume that as a producer your sound quality is good enough so that the track can be released "as it is", without further mastering.
But if you really want to have a mastered track as a submission, you need to care about the mastering yourself.
6. All submissions should be sent to: low.entropy.80@gmail.com with the topic "The Hardcore Overdogs compilation".
7. Any further questions, and / or inquiries, can also by sent to this email. Feel free to ask away.
Btw: If you are unsure about which style to send, you can also ask us beforehand about this topic.
8. But above all: have fun! And make some wicked Hardcore tracks :-)
We started a new feature series called "The Short Bios" in which we ask DJs and producers of Hardcore spectrum 16 questions so that they can showcase themselves, their music, their activities and so on.
So it's like a short bio / interview.
This time we asked Teknojta.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, who you are, where you a from, etc. a little introduction.
I go by the artist name Teknojta (FKA Teknoaidi), some might remember my previous alias Zutsuu, my dj alias is Avaruusveli and I'm also a part of the group/duo Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat. I'm a founder of the Kovaydin.NET online community/netlabel/crew, which has been a stable in Finnish underground core scene for the past 18 years, and recently I started its international sublabel Ydinväki. (btw in Finnish language the letter Y is similar to the German Ü or Dutch U, sometimes people get confused of the seemingly random consonants, but it's actually a vowel 😃) I've lived almost half of my life in Tampere city, where most of our operation is based. I also make related YouTube content on the Electric Byway channel.
2. How did you get involved in Hardcore and its subgenres?
I had been into more commercial electronic dance music when I was a kid/teen and I heard hardcore for the first time when I was living in the south of The Netherlands with my family in 97-99. It was something that couldn't be missed even in a small town. It was however only in 2003 that I started to dig deeper into the music and its subgenres after I asked an old school buddy of mine from NL to send me some new and old Dutch compilations. That was a life changing point for me. I started making my own hardcore and created a Finnish hardcore website Kovaydin.NET with a forum as well as sharing people's tracks on the page. Later we started organizing parties and moved from releasing individual tracks into a netlabel format. Early on I also got into the various international communities online as well as traveling to different scenes in Europe and Japan. I was more and less involved with j-core, industrial hardcore, speedcore and some other subgenres with my Zutsuu alias. In early 2010’s I started to develop my own style of ritualistic folk influenced hardcore and speedcore and internationally became a bit more involved with the scenes where flashcore, atmospheric speedcore, French industrial hardcore and similar stuff is played.
3. What inspires you as a producer?
The energy state that the music creates, be it composing or doing a live jam.
4. What DAW or equipment are you using for your music?
FL Studio since version 3 and Ableton Live for some years. In the acoustic department I have a frame drum, khomus (a Sakha style jaw harp), rainstick and some other instruments that help me simulate "acoustic hardcore" lol.
5. Is there something particular you want to express with your music? Emotions, an idea, something political?
I often explore the connection between high tempo ritualistic music of ancient and modern times and how it can be similar to hardcore techno music. Other topics include for example nature consciousness, ecstatic shaking and visions of future utopias. I like the fusion of calm and intense as well as northern melancholy, sounds that touch on different levels at the same time.
6. What are some tracks or releases you did that you are especially proud of? Let us know.
For the past 4 years or so I've focused on collaborating with different vocalists. 'Luonnon Nostatus' was the first of such tracks that I composed with Iconobreaker, featuring Samu Kuusisto throat-singing a Finnish spell. There was also a music video for it. I've mostly gotten positive feedback for it and it has been important for some people. Recently I also released a new EP 'Luontotietoisuus', which continues on the same path.
7. Any good / bad experiences that you had with gigs and want to mention?
The best gigs I've played have been abroad and at our crew's parties in Finland. I've played at a variety of local harder and random electronic music parties and there is sometimes a huge gap between what party people are used to hearing and dancing to and what I actually play. There are of course positive exceptions here and there when people just go with the flow and don't think about genres and limitations. I think how the lineup progresses energetically can also play a big role in the experience. But gigs at parties where we go full power from the beginning and where people just get it have been the best so far tbh. Germany has definitely been one of the easiest places to play this kind of stuff when I'm not even necessarily the fastest and most experimental in the lineup. But a part of the gig life is that I love traveling and seeing new places, cultures and people. Sometimes the gigs can be more challenging and sometimes everything just falls into place. Some of the most memorable gigs in Finland have been out in the nature inside a cave.
8. Any other interesting / funny / emotional story that you had in your "Hardcore history" that you want to share?
8 years ago I was sitting 30 hours in a car traveling to Witches Sabbath, a free party that was held in rural Russia. + 30 hours back. That was actually my third time playing at WS. Intense and good memories. There are many places I'd still wish to explore and cultures (Finno-Ugrics, Samoyeds, Turkic peoples and others) I'd still wish to meet in that part of the world and I hope it will become possible again some day, but I know that currently there are more important things in the world than what I want.
9. What other artists do you admire?
Anyone who is stubborn enough to pioneer hardcore in places where it doesn't exist and doesn't give up the dream of evolving and spreading it.
10. What are some of your favorite records or tracks?
There are really too many to list, but I'd like to use this space to mention some CD albums that have had some kind of impact on me and that just came to mind at this particular moment:
Dashcraft - Creative Destruction
Razor Edge - Mind Stimulation
Zenith - Flowers of Intelligence
11. What are you aiming for in your music? Any goals, visions, things that you want to achieve?
As Teknojta I want to keep developing in the same direction that I've been on recently and making collaborations with more singers and perhaps folk musicians who are more pro with their acoustic instruments than I am. At the moment I'm especially interested in finding an indigenous Sámi yoik singer to collaborate with.
The Ydinväki netlabel is something that I want to develop as a platform for ritual folk + hardcore fusions as well as the DIY working method of recording one's own sounds. The aesthetique of the label is also for example about using field recordings from nature as rhythms, ambience or whatever. When the time is right I want to expand this into an event concept.
12. What are your plans for the near future? Upcoming releases, gigs, and such.
At the moment we're working on a Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat EP for Ydinväki.
Planning to play some Teknojta sets with 1-2 live vocalists soon. We got at least one Kovaydin.NET UG party coming up in Tampere on September 30.
13. What do you think of the "Hardcore scene" right now? Anything you'd like to change?
I feel like the festival hardcore scene and sounds are going further and further away from what I used to appreciate in hardcore. Actually interesting new developments in the recent years have come from places like Indonesia (Raja Kirik, Gabber Modus Operandi) and East-Africa (Duma, Makossiri, Slikback + others). It's part of a new movement that's more widely electronic/experimental music and not just hardcore. Those also seem to be the types of events where these artists primarily get booked in Europe.
So there are interesting pockets of new hardcore here and there, but a "unified" hardcore scene is kind of vague. I think what would be interesting to see more of are inclusive festivals where the different subgenres, also less commercial ones, are brought together on different stages to celebrate hardcore. Also artists from different countries across the world who are doing their own thing and not just catering to already established subgenres.
I see the Finnish core artist scene as one example of a microcosmic social experiment of a unified hardcore scene. Most of the local artists are focused in doing 1 core subgenre well, so there is often 1 individual for one style, but there are not that many artists who are very similar to each other (the dj scene is of course a bit different story). If everyone had a huge local community behind their style, they would probably not get out of that bubble. But we are at the same time all alone and all together in this. When we as individuals work together it’s for the good of all of us, everyone benefits in the local scene.
Would it work on a bigger scale? It would definitely be more challenging, especially because of different economics and standards, but it’s at least a nice dream of a hardcore utopia. Repeated aesthetics create hype, a critical mass and a sense of belonging somewhere, but I want to help to cocreate a hardcore scene where our differences in sound, background and experiences are celebrated and embraced.
14. What other music besides Hardcore do you like, or are involved in?
My earliest interest in electronic music comes from the late 80's to 90's computer and video game music and I still enjoy it today. I also listen to ambient, noise, breakcore, idm, spacesynth, space rock, soundtracks, various kinds of folk music, often of ritualistic nature, some psytrance things selectively (like forest, dark, suomi, psycore etc.). Socially conscious and abstract hiphop has also had a big impact on me as a person and as an artist in that I've often wanted to convey a message with my music and there was a time when some local rappers were showing that you can fuse folk music and hiphop in a serious way and without sampling, so this is something that I wanted to do with hardcore as well. These are the kinds of things that are more regularly on my playlists, but I'm not limited to these only.
Occasionally I play dj sets of free tekno (mental tribe, oldschool hardtek etc) and the extreme end of psycore. This has come more from a need where there haven't been many dj's exploring the more unknown corners of these styles in Finland. Luckily nowadays especially free tekno is gaining in popularity among local dj's and as a movement. I have also done a few experiments in the ecstatic dance / yoga/sober rave community building sets from more chillout and ritual folk music into hardcore beats. This has had varying results. There is a good reason why there are different electronic tribes, because many times there can be disappointments when we don't vibe to the same energies, but at the same time I'm often thirsty for cross subcultural experiments and to question the status quo of things.
15. What other interests or activities besides strictly music do you want to mention? Like painting art, movies or political activism...
In my professional life I'm trying to be a sound designer and video editor. I'm into Chinese style tea ceremonies, though not practicing very actively at the moment. I'm a walking distance away from deep forests, where I enjoy taking walks.
16. Anything else you want to tell our readers? Whatever it is, feel free to tell our readers!
I want to challenge other hardcore artists, who are ready, to use less samples from ready products and to make more DIY sounds or do collaborations with musicians in other fields. Maybe even contact your professional/amateur actor friend to record movie-like vocals, if that's your thing. With consent the intent of the music becomes even more powerful and we can evolve it. But I admit I was also a more enthusiastic advocate for sampling at one point. Do whatever feels right in the moment!
We are experiencing the hottest days on earth in recorded history [1], and other weather extremes besides the scorching heat. From the millions of acres burning in Canada and the smoke traveling south to the US that significantly decreases air quality [2], flash floods taking lives in the northeast US [3], and European countries experiencing high temperatures and wildfires [4].
Summer is here!
But what to do in times like this? When the world is burning, and it’s too hot to go out?
There is only one answer: find shelter in abandoned, moist bunkers and rave to Doomcore.
The perfect soundtrack to embrace the undeniable crisis but also to find moments of peace and recalibrate.
We have scoured the internet to find fresh Doomcore releases you can remember listening to in this record-breaking Summer of 2023.
We will kick off the playlist with the latest release on Slowcore Records by Der Cherep, who needs no further introduction.
Besides the EP title and opener ‘Doom Corps’ that put you in the right mood, the second track ‘Death Of Humanity’ is frighteningly fitting for today's world and should start to get everyone contemplating where we are heading.
Next up, we have something special…while looking through Bandcamp, it was sad to see many promising Doomcore labels now defunct but do not shed any more tears because Demonic Wavs is back with a new release!
Bdacid brings the soundtrack to get your Doomcore bunker rave going and lets you either forget or face your problems. Either way, you can not forget this release in your Summer Hits playlist.
The release's title, Exploration Of Core, indicates the journey you will experience while listening. Tracks like Rave Generator and Steps to hell will crank up the heat and get your rave going.
But what is a proper Doomcore rave without the slow hitters that really go back down your spine and get your goosebumps going?
Let us introduce you to the Substrate EP by Creature on Aurora Mortem Records.
Impermeable and Substrate are must-haves and will shatter bones on the right sound system.
The next release is again on the faster side, but the opener track can find its rightful place in any Doomcore playlist.
Moreover, a release inspired by the sci-fi saga Dune can not be left out in a playlist for the Summer and in times like this where people have to increasingly adapt to extreme conditions.
We are clearly talking about The Sandrider by Cubic Nomad on Dark. Descent.
The cover art is an adaptation of the probably most famous piece of fashion for the Fremen, the ones fit for survival in the desert, the Stillsuit [5].
And who knows, maybe a Stillsuit is soon becoming a fashion trend and/or necessity for survival?
Life on Dune, or Arrakis, gives a glimpse into the harsh conditions people already have to suffer and probably more to come.
Therefore, Eyes of Ibad, the opener of this release, definitely deserves a spot in the Summer Hits list.
Before venturing further into the depths of Doomcore, we want to share a release that, while not being Doomcore, deserves an honorable mention here due to its strong influences by Dune.
For all the Dune heads out there, give The Dosadi Experiments on Ute.Rec a listen, but be warned, this proper Trance release will let you travel through space without moving.
Coming back from the escape into a world where we can travel through space and just move onto different planets, we want to put our feet back onto the ground because we realize it’s all a lie and we still face the same issues..
This takes us to Japan, specifically Narcolepsy Records, on which Diffuse released a Single called It’s All a Lie. It keeps the theme of extreme conditions as its cover is a seemingly endless desert. Maybe it wasn’t just an escape we took in Frank Herbet’s novels but reality?
Talking about desert and scorching heat, the next artist is clearly experiencing it every day out on the street. Origin Of Styx, hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, has released yet another Doomcore influenced EP that will make you gaze into the stars during the night and contemplate our blue planet.
Realizing that we are still in a forsaken bunker alone, thinking about space, we feel the urge for some jawbreaking jackhammer-fueled industrial Doomcore that will smash any anvil you can find.
Machine and iS:ΣNÐ present their EP Noise Code Vol. 12 on Dark Impact Records that puts every medieval blacksmith into shambles.
And besides, what better track to end our Summer Hits Playlist than with ‘Walking Hand In Hand Into Extinction”.
And if you make it through this summer, you will be glad to hear that there is a release waiting for you by no other than Starving Insect & Catscan on PRSPCT Recordings.
While it’s not out yet, we recommend everyone to pay attention to PRSPCT Recordings as they will release a new EP by Starving Insect & Catscan. We believe this will be a worthy release to include in the Summer Hits playlist 2023.
Low Entropy sent us this story, and we would like to share it.
I want to talk about the beginning of Speedcore, and I know what I'm talking about, because I was around then. Now, let's start.
I joined the Hardcore world in 1995 / 1996.
You can read the full story elsewhere (right here, to be exact), but to cut it short, like most kids my age then (I was a 13 year old), and in Europe, I first got into the then popular "Rave / Hardtrance" sound (which was similar to Happy Hardcore already). Then I discovered the world of "Hardcore and Gabber" through the CDs, compilations and stuff that were easily available at chain stores, supermarkets, video rental shops and so on - Thunderdome, Earthquake, the Ruffneck and Mokum compilations - you get the point.
RMB - Redemption
I loved that sound - but then I went deeper into the rabbit hole, and it came to my notice that there was a whole world of Hardcore Techno *below* the Hardcore that was featured on TV, Radio, fun fairs, burger joints (I remember going to fast food places in the 90s and suddenly Party Animals or Marshall Masters - "I like it loud" - was playing on their sound systems).
I'm talking about stuff like Fischkopf, Industrial Strength, Napalm, Bloody Fist. Unlike the "other" Gabber scene, this scene was almost invisible to the public and not featured in newspapers or magazines. I first got most information about it through the internet, but it quickly came to my notice there were plenty of parties going on with that sound, the scene had its own paper zines and other forms of communication, and there were record stores were you could pick up the newest sounds, or have a chat with like-minded Hardcore heads.
Chosen Few - Danica
At that point, in the mid 90s, the sound had already begun to split into several "subgenres", like Acidcore, Doomcore, Breakcore, Industrial Hardcore (different from the later "Industrial", mind you!), Digital Hardcore... (although most hardheads listened to all that stuff, and did not exclude certain subgenres).
And one of them was Speedcore.
Okay, so let's clear some things up here. Short intermission. All respect to DOA, Lenny Dee, all the others involved, I love them, I love what they did, I love their music, and, people, let them have their fame and fortune - but there's this myth going on on the internet, that "New York City Speedcore" was the 'first' Speedcore release and even coined the word "Speedcore", but, yeah, that's just one of these internet myths, "friend of a friend stories", like 'licking an electrical socket will turn you into a power ranger' (don't do it!), and similar "facts" that you can find and read on the internet.
The word "Speedcore" had been around for much longer, and even on the internet, I can point you to some easy sources that show that "Speedcore" was already in use back in 1994.
Now that this was made clear, let's get back to the point.
The term Speedcore was already around. What did it refer to? At first, to especially fast Hardcore and Gabber tracks. Think of the faster stuff by Speedfreak, or E-de Cologne, or other "fast" stuff.
I was totally hooked on that sound. Not only was it more frantic then the "Thunderdome Gabber" that I had listened to until then, it ditched the happy vocals and overused Juno melodies for vicious guitar samples, screams, horror movie samples, anger, nihilism and a general "fuck you, fuck the world, and fuck everything" attitude.
E-De Cologne - Kill 4 Jesus
There was just one problem. It still was not aggressive enough for me, and not fast enough yet. [1] That's how I felt it, and I'm sure others felt it the same back then.
From the mid 90s onwards (well, actually even before that), a race was going on. Who pushes the tempo even one bit higher? Who has the most brutal kicks? Who will one up the nihilism?
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fastest of them all.
Like a BPM-Trainspotter, I carefully checked each release for the fastest stuff I could find, and things were getting better.
One of the starting points for me was the "Industrial Fucking Strength" 2xCD compilation. And, unlike some other releases that followed, this was still actually part of the "Hardcore in public view" spectrum, as it was advertised on TV with its own commercial spots, could easily be bought at the music chains tores etc., thus, apparently, it was far from being a secret underground item. But the sound of it was.
There were tracks on it like Nasenbluten - Cunt Face, with the part at the end that speeds up. Or Manu Le Malin's "Paris Hardcore Mix", whose final track is a remix of "Extreme Terror" that goes up into several hundred bpms over a test-tone sound.
I was listening to these short sequences over and over again, and I was thinking - "why are these just short sequences? Why is there no track that runs 400-500 bpm from start to finish? and why is most hardcore and gabber not like that?".
DJ Skinhead - Extreme Terror (Strength Of Terror)
I bought "The Destroyer" album by Alec Empire, and these's this track "I don't care what happens" on it, which is already very noisy and abrasive, but it has a middle part that also goes into hyperspeed beats, over a metal guitar, and again, I went "oh my god" and listened to this part on repeat and repeat and repeat...
But things went ahead. Producers kept pushing the bpm. Fischkopf 21 was released, with "If the truth be known" on it, which not only had ~280 bpm throughout the track, but even doubled the speed at parts.
Before that, Amiga Shock Force did Fischkopf 20, which actually went over 300 bpm. I was shocked and awed by that, and I loved it. My vision of tracks that were "fucking fast" from beginning to end had come true.
Amiga Shock Force also released on Speedcore Records, a label by Martin Damm, that also sported some quite fast releases (more on that later).
Another label in this "race for speed" that needs to be mentioned was Brutal Chud, with it's releases by, for example DJ Tron and Noize Creator, that set new standards in tempo and sheer aggression. a straight kick to the head.
Burning Lazy Persons - If The Truth Be Known
And of course, Nasenbluten's own Bloody Fist, exhibiting similar advancements.
From Denmark, sounds by Lasse Steen aka Skullblower (and many more akas) were transmitted that eventually, too, went over the 300 bpm mark, and combined sonic terror with dark, moody melodies.
Fischkopf faltered, but not before releasing the "Otaku - Slick but not streamlined" compilation, that featured "Violent Geisha" by Amiga Shock Force and "Praxis Dr. Fischer" by Taciturne, which were some of the fastest tracks back then, and were cultishly listened by me again and again and again - once more...
There were many other tracks, projects and labels I could mention but I think you get the point.
Now lets get back to Speedcore Records. They put out "Inextricable Zenith" by The Berzerker and... yeah, I mean, that was *it*. The total apocalypse of sounds and disorder.
This was not just some "300 bpm thing" anymore. It was a mix of death, thrash, black metal, and beats then went up to 800 bpm and faster. All limits on speeds and tempos had been put away now.
Not just by this single release, of course. It was a simultaneous development. France had a very important role as a pioneer here, with labels like Sans Pitie, Hangars Liquides, or projects like Xkv8... again, projects that had ditched any connections to "dance" and "party" Gabber, followed no rules anymore, and just unleashed a blast of drums, noises, and experimentation... with no speed limit.
The Berzerker - Evil Worlds Beyond
This was by the end of the 90s, and around the turn of the millennium, and I will also end my story here.
This chaos and riot of drums, speed, noise and nihilism, was the foundation of the Speedcore scene, it shaped its sounds and structures, and lots of newer releases still reference these ancient sounds.
As I said, of course there were many more tracks, other producers, other stuff worth checking out... that paved the way for this very extreme sound. I could not list it all here.
But I hope I could clear some things up here, and that this information can be useful to new Speedcore heads.
Footnotes:
1: I mean, in my teenage mindset. I'm totally okay with the tracks I mentioned, and their tempos, these days.
With the first issue of this newsletter we want to address a topic that is still somewhat taboo; in society and culture at large, but also especially in the Hardcore scene.
We're talking about mental health issues, "mental illnesses", "disorders", that kind of thing.
Problems that relate to the mind, soul, psyche, subconsciousness.
While mental illness generally affects many people in our culture, the same is true for the hardcore scene, too.
This newsletter is aimed at people who are troubled by these maladies
Now let's get straight to the points:
#1. You are not alone
As mentioned above. There are many people in the HC scene who have mental problems and have to deal with these matters. The scene is full of people with problems like you. Sometimes it even seems as if the sounds attract people who are troubled by "mental disorders" (this "attraction" must not be a bad thing; see below). So, be sure. you are not the only one who has these problems.
#2. A lot of people have heavy problems
You might think: "Yeah, talking about mental health issues is less taboo these days. a lot of people talk about anxiety or depression or something like that. but most of them function reasonably well. Maybe they have panic attacks and feel down. but they pop a pill and are still able to go to work and live their lives. But for me it's different. I got 'mentally ill' as a teen, and it only got worse, I've been in and out of 'lunatic asylums', everytime I try go get a job and to live on my own it works for a while, then I get a full breakdown and relapse, I can't function at all, it's some very heavy stuff".
or "I can't escape my depression, I can't do anything at all, I live socially isolated, can't even leave the house anymore".
And similar examples.
But as we said before: You are not alone! There are many people like you in the scene. many of us have heavy, heavy problems.
For example: Why do you think the online scene is so much more lively and active than the hardcore actions that happen in real life?
A huge reason for this is that in order to do online stuff, you don't need to leave the house, don't need to meet people in real life; thus the producers / DJs / promoters etc. who can't do these things in real life channel all their energy into their online activities!
On the internet, you don't know how people "truly" are. A DJ or producer name is a persona, and a DJ and producer might come off as fierce, hard, bold, famous, confident, when in real life he has schizophrenia, is psychotic, manic-depressive, or similar things.
Don't judge books by their "covers"
Believe us, there are a lot of people with very serious and terrible conditions in the hardcore scene. You shouldn't feel like an outsider because of this.
#3. There is no need to be ashamed
There is still a stigma attached to mental disorders, which makes them so taboo, and prevents a lot of people to talk openly about their problems or about this topic in general.
But there should be no shame.
There is little shame to physical diseases, right? People don't get shamed or stigmatized because they have heart diseases or chronic illnesses or liver conditions or stuff like that (or at least to a much lesser degree).
If it's okay to talk about your physical diseases, it should be just as okay to talk about mental diseases.
You are not wrong or bad or broken or need to be despised, just because you happen to have a mental disorder.
#4. Music (and especially hardcore) is the cure
Here is a good message we want to get across, maybe one of hope. We mentioned that people with "disorders" are seemingly attracted to hardcore techno and its subgenres. and, we've heard of many people who said that hardcore music had a kind of "healing" effect on them. That it soothed their moods when they were depressed or anxious. or, even stronger, that it "saved their lives"; and that a track, event, party, whatever, reached them when they were "in the deepest pit" and ended up pulling them out of it.
Just as art and creativity in general can have a proven positive effect on mental illness, we think that hardcore techno has an especially strong and positive effect in that vein - and even more.
So, "stay down with the hardcore". It might do you good (and save your soul).
#5. It's good to talk about it
Mental health problems should not be a taboo. Yes, it's hard to talk about it, we know, but try to muster the strength and reach out to your friends and others, and talk about it. This can make you feel better. By a lot.
Of course you might get "asshole reactions" by some of them, but, yeah, try to stay away from these people then.
Regardless, mental health topics should be addressed more openly.
#6. Reach out for help
It's not a sign of weakness if you realize that you could need some help by others regarding your problems.
We don't have a list with resources here, but if you think you need help, try to contact to a friend or find some help resources online.
And we hope you get the help you need.
#7. You rule!
To end this newsletter. Let us tell you that you rule! Because everyone deserves to live fully and happily, regardless of problems with health or other concerns.
If you have been struggling with mental health issues you probably needed to win some very tough battles in your life, and this shows you got strength, perseverance and persistence.
Also, people with these so-called "disorders" provided a lot of creative efforts and powerful ideas, activity and achievements to the hardcore scene (after all, which producer does not have some kind of "disorder"?).
There are more reasons, but let us tell you: you are a great person!
So, we are happy that you are here, and are with us, in this scene of hardcore techno, with all its energies, dreams, hopes, and possibilities of fulfillment.
This concludes the mental hardcore health newsletter.
We hope this message could help you in some kind of way, and that together we can break down the "taboo" of "mental illness" a bit.
We looked at Hardcore influenced by / made with computer game technology here.
Now we do the opposite: a look at computer games that incorporate and feature hardcore techno music.
The history of video games and hardcore is very entwined indeed, already beginning with the soundscape of the 80s arcades (an onslaught of bass heavy explosions and other fx sounds, synthesized music, and general high-speed chaos) pre-shadowing the hardcore raves of the next decade, and continuing with the role that equipment and software that was primarily used for computer game music (such as amigas, trackers, etc.) played in the development of the hardcore techno sound.
So here we take a peek at 11 hardcore tracks that have been featured in computer games past and present.
1. Ridge Racer - Rotterdam Nation
Probably the best known track from this list, and a true classic.
Oldschool, dutch-flavored Hardcore with crazy, over-the-top vocal manipulation.
2. Ridge Racer - Beat the Devil Car
And another track from Ridge Racer. This time, totally insane psycho-Hardcore / Gabber.
3. Ridge Racer Revolution (PS1 OST) - Level Complete Music
and we get acquainted with ridge racer once more! this splendid track feels like a mix between dutch and uk hardcore.
4. Beatmania Gottamix - Hell Scraper
well-produced and authentic oldschool gabber, with breakbeats and plenty of frantic rave stabs.
5. Doom (PSX) - Club Doom
Doom was of the most brutal and violent games of its time, and, fitting very well, this PSX port includes a very brutal and violent gabber track.
6. Taiko no Tatsujin Soundtrack - Saitama 2000
crazy japanese style hardcore!
7. Stardust - Boss Fight
Amiga power right here. Hard beats and t99 synths, and a chaotic onslaught of rave sounds.
8. Damage: The Sadistic Butchering Of Humanity - Club Track
great ingame tune, even if its barely more than a loop. the intro of the game also features some guitar-fueled hardcore techno sounds.
9. Capcom vs SNK - Bison's Theme
Bison apparently goes hardcore, in this theme from capcom vs snk.
10. Xtreme Racing - Soundtrack
The amiga strikes again. High quality sound, and a devastating attack of kickdrums and samples
People outside Australia always yell "Bloody Fist" when you mention Australian hardcore to them. Fair enough. It is the most well known and respected Australian hardcore label and with good reason.
But for me, the best ever hardcore track made in Australian history was made by Deadlock (later known as Negative Network and formerly as Dave Riot).
Deadlock was a Sydney hardcore producer who began making tracker hardcore sometime in the late 90s. He later had his, almost entire discography, re-released by influential Sydney hardcore label "Powerviolence" (later changing it's name to Com-Baton Records). He has had a few vinyl appearances on comps and labels and made one vinyl EP that I had to own.
After 15 seconds of uncomfortable static noise. You are hit right in the fucking face by the word "Cancer" then a kickroll which changes to a kick drum at about 200bpm or so. One that sounds like a steel machine piston and knowing Deadlock - probably was sampled from one. The thing about that kick is it is perfectly tracked and flawlessly fast and heavy and absolutely unrelentingly brutal.
I've cleared goths, running in fear from the room at a show in Melbourne with this track at about 110db.
There's no crashes, no synths, no bassline. Just snares and hits and industrial factory sounding noises and screams of horror. Your only respite from his speedcore head bashing is a bridge with more squealing and squirming static noise, then "Cancer" and then BANG! more kicks….right in your stupid face.
Negative Network should have been bigger than he was. Live, he calmly stood on stage and obliterated you with his precision, tracker made, industrial speedcore. But it was not to be. Seeing him live was one of the best hardcore shows I ever saw.
When it finishes, like a good industrial hardcore track. It gives you no warning it's going to stop. For all you know it could start again.
That's one of the things that makes it the most perfect hardcore track I've ever heard.
2. Dekoder - Knife
I always thought this was not just one of the best hardcore tracks ever made but the best electronic track ever made.
Dekoder (formerly known as Pendulum before the West Australian DNB supergroup came along) is one of the most prolific producers on the label, having been involved in dozens of bands and projects outside of it and is still a well known purveyor of sounds via his radio shows in Newcastle.
Knife produced in 1995 but not released on vinyl until 2003 was a favourite of mine from 2000 after Max Veritech of Hardline Rekordings gave me an advance copy on a CDR full of Australian hardcore.
Kinfe's perfection comes in it's use of a simple sample "I'm gonna walk through your street at night with the knife" made more ominous and terrifying by splitting the sample into two "I'm gonna walk…..through your streets... .at night...with the knife” so it sounds more threatening. The result is a track that sounds like a theme song for a deranged murderer - straight out of a 70s slasher film.
The hi q kick drums are heavy as fuck. The track itself, driven along like a cinematic theme for a film that should have been made. The bones of it are a pretty basic mid tempo hardcore track, but the production and the use of heavy synths, stabs and ethereal pads and synthetic voices is where it shines as a truly incredible piece of music.
"Knife" is one of the few tracks you hear live and couldn't care less about dancing. You can drown in those pads and you'll be frozen by it in awe. .
Perth hardcore producer Paulblackout remixed it in 2003 while he lived in Newcastle and his remix gave it another side altogether, He knew which parts of the track to accentuate.
Both are the perfect compliment of each other making the 10" they were released on Bloody Fist a must own in Australian hardcore vinyl.
Dekoder's musical ability in creating those melodies that get stuck in your head makes "Knife" a true classic in Australian hardcore. There's nothing you can even pick wrong in it. It's perfect in every way.
3. Animal Intelligence - Now You Know
Growing up in Perth Western Australia and getting into industrial hardcore and gabber in the late 90s - it was inevitable that I would discover Animal Intelligence aka Max Veritech.
"Now You Know" the opener from the EP Eardrum Torture on Hardline Rekordings released in 1998 is probably his best track and was the first Hardline record I ever bought. A scratch master, devotee and prodigy of Bloody Fist (he learned via Mark N through correspondence how to produce hardcore with turntables and a tracker). Max learned from Mark N how to combine his scratching skills with his vinyl sampling.
The result here is a well known Tim Dog scene diss, cut and faded to time and being converted into Max's diss at the Perth rave scene (yeah we've all had problems with them).
The pace of the kicks and the samples match perfectly. You can tell the volume fader cuts, to cut the breaks in the intro, were made live on a turntable mixer.
A lot of hardcore artists sampled Tim Dog. But Max's intro, into the kick pattern of a reversed 909 over "fuck what you heard" gives you the perfect "down to business let's do this" type beginning to the track, with the hats coming in perfectly on "fuck that shit I'm the real motherfucker" making the rap samples sound even meaner. The whole track backed by synth vocals and casio sounding chiptune tones.
In the beginning the line "hardcore rap will never die" is cut into "hardcore... will never die" and "running to the light….running to the light" echoed.
At the 4 minute mark. Max just lets it all rip. No sample cutting, just letting the record and the samples run out and the track cane for another few seconds or so.
To me that always sounded like Max just getting into it so much he was just watching it smash out without worrying about the finer details of the sample cutting. I've never asked him if that was the case though.
4. The Last Ninja - One Way Ticket
The Last Ninja only played a handful of times in Australia before he finished in 2007. Starting in the original Perth breakcore scene in 2000 as one of the founders of not just it but 8-Bit Recordings, that itself followed on from the Hardline Rekordingz industrial hardcore scene of the mid to late 90s.
Released on his sold out debut CDR "The Rushed EP" One Way Ticket is just over two minutes of amens, sped up and distorted in punishing ways with murderous kick drums.
After the first break pattern, you get a manga sample that announces the track's intention "cheer up your misery isn't gonna last much longer, when I press this button you're gonna get a one way ticket to oblivion" and then smashed with distorted kick drums.
The synths are basic FLstudio 3 presets and live sounded fuckin painfully trebly. There's a brief halftime amen bridge, which is played out a second time before it finishes.
The Last Ninja is at heart (and still is) an indie pop/alternative rock fan. As a result his production for hardcore and breakcore always came with a verse chorus verse element, which made his tracks really stand out. Before he was The Last Ninja. He was just Adam Clarke. Another floppy haircut in corduroy pants, standing at Perth indie rock and alternative shows, clapping politely and shuffling in the front room of The Grosvenor. But really, he was sort of a sleeper agent in a quiet and unassuming scene not realising he needed a way to channel anger. He had an anger seething in him, which upon discovering breakcore and hardcore. He found a perfect outlet for.
During the second pause where the 303 winds down. He would scream "Go!" into a mike at early Perth breakcore shows like "VOID" which was at a large and echoey pub (which was then a punk shitbox with a giant pole in the centre of the stage and then later became a megavenue) and he'd drop those kicks and THE ROOM WOULD GO JUST FUC...no not really. It was Perth. They'd mostly stand there staring at him. We'd go mental though. His sound in that room would be loud and uncompromising.
"One Way Ticket" will always remind me of the announcement in 2000 that breakcore had arrived in Perth Western Australia. Which it more or less was. It's a simple, straight down the line hardcore track made on FLstudio 3 which does what it needs to and then stops suddenly.
I doubt it will be remembered by more than those of us who knew him or played with him but that shouldn't determine how good a hardcore track is and I have always believed that.
5. Sokuseki Men - Strait To Hell
Tasmania's Sokuseki Men were a duo of producers only in the Australian breakcore and hardcore scene for about 5 years or so. But they left a mark that is indisputable. Known as Maus (later Idiot Lust) and Wheelsfalloff. They were two guys who loved breakcore and hardcore and had some of the best production it ever saw and some of the most unique tracks.
Both of them after releasing the one album went on to solo projects that had equally vital contributions to the Australian scene. Wheelsfalloff's "Wreckless" is the closest thing to perfect breakcore I ever heard made in Australia, for it's break production and sample use.
"Strait To Hell" is samples from Alex Cox's movie of the same name combined with cuts from a Slayer song. All arranged into a nightmarish hardcore armageddon of a track and all in just over 3 minutes.
Placing both hardcore kick drums and snare rolls over the Slayer loop and making a fast and heavy and headbangable anthem for the foetal Australian breakcore scene in the early 2000s.
The bridge which jumps out suddenly with a playful synth loop and a speech sampled from the film, builds until it screams at you about bludgeoning and mutilating - before the Slayer/Lombardo drum roll, reintroduces that loop and we're back to a hardcore bashing.
Typical of Australian hardcore, they end the heaviness with sarcasm and cynicism using a comical sample of someone shooting a dog (but not in a realistic or mean way) and a sinister giggle ends the track.
The Sokuseki Men album "Sosueus" was released by System Corrupt in 2003 but was archived digitally in 2015 by ENDE Records which remains the only way to hear it online.
"Strait To Hell" is not the only Aussie hardcore track with Slayer loops or gabber kicks but the construction of it and it's quick dart from hardcore tension to lulling calm in that bridge - makes it the one that will always stand out the most to me.
As one of the pioneers of both industrial hardcore and breakcore in Australia as a member of Nasenbluten but also one of the most prolific of the Bloody Fist family - still to this day. You'd be hard pressed to find an Aussie hardcore fan here who doesn't start grinning like an idiot at the mention of his name and most probably quote you their favourite sample from one of his tracks.
Often they look at you and say "punishing punishing punishing" from Titration which is one of his finest moments for sure.
Producing hardcore in Australia, there's a lot who have their formulas and methods and tropes. Xylocaine literally has no formulas, no tropes and no defining methods. He sits at a tracker and his mind opens up and creates the most unique and memorable hardcore in the country. He both has the ability to, with nothing more than a handful of sounds, create something with patterns, sounds and noises - you'll have never heard before but is skilled enough to always create something that you can easily recognise is his.
His 30 year career has produced hardcore so strikingly unique, astonishing and influential, that many consider him one of the country's finest producers of electronic music in general - not just hardcore. His music is the best example to show non-electronic music fiends. Many of his best tracks come off like their own mini sci-fi, dystopian audio films. His dry sense of humour and cynical view of Australia helping to define one of Bloody Fist's most endearing traits.
Influenced by everything and anything from Australia's historical, pioneering contributions to noise and experimental music such as Severed Heads and SPK to the mundanity of television and consumerism which he amplifies into a more terrifying dystopian sci-fi like vision that even Snog can't match. Ita Buttrose's infomercial for a treadmill was one of the most annoying and stupid ads ever in the 90s on Aussie TV but now thanks to Xylocaine will permanently be associated worldwide with brutally heavy and uncompromising industrial hardcore.
But...
"Rural Area" is for me his best ever track. A little known contribution (unless you're an obsessive Fist fan) to the Strike Records vs Bloody Fist collaboration from 1996.
It's one of the most creative and atypical hardcore tracks for only a few reasons. It's hard as fuck as you'd expect and it canes along at a perfect pace but it has a few identifying aspects that make it more unsettling than most hardcore tracks.
The Fist brand of "smartass sampling" humour comes through with a JJJ? recorded radio sample of someone asking a DJ to "play something that's cheerful and happy for everybody" which is his shit eating grin behind his Amiga that you can't see - that he's about to fuck you up.
One thing Xylocaine and then housemates Syndicate pioneered in Australia in the 90s was how to strip hardcore down to it's bare bones and create an intensity by making kick patterns that were low on crashes and hats and brought the kick and snapping snare forward into the mix. I used to call it "bare bone hardcore" and definitely took A LOT of influence from it.
Around the 35 second mark. The kick pattern changes for a brief fill which the snare doesn't follow. Giving it a human drummer type mismatch that stops you in your tracks. It's incredible and sounds like something most modern hardcore producers would consider "something to fix" but in Xylocaine's hands becomes something that stands out and accentuates the tempo - in even a brief pause.
It's the highlight of the entire track.
Point blank refusing to give you anything that could be considered musical and therefore palatable to most people like some bass and synth and nut….no fuckin way. You get the odd hat acting as a crash here and there and a squealing feedback hit.
Sounds slide and shift back and forth around the track like an exploded beer can in the back of a ute. The kick pattern driving along with a bouncing distorted hit, driven by those kicks until 1:13 when it stops suddenly and what sounds like Charles "Bud" Tingwell tells you "sometimes suicide seems quite attractive" and an 80s computer/android voice asks "you wish to spend some time beside a sewer?"
A line which delivered right could be hilarious but in the film it's sampling and in Xylocaine's hands it becomes just monstrously unsettling.
Once the voice explains what suicide is to the android/computer voice. The sample ends at "please explain further" and you go back to the dryfucked, crashless pounding of Xylocaine's kick/snare pattern now joined by more distorted claps and snares. No bass no synth. This is abrasive and bare bone hardcore, completely devoid of glitz and glam that was a thing in a lot of hardcore overseas at the time.
The track smashes along like a broken factory machine, threatening to explode and catch fire on the factory floor. As it thumps along, you can imagine factory workers in 80s old school dark blue overalls, scattering in fear as "Rural Area" doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon without breaking something...or everything.
After reintroducing us to the two sample voices again. Xylocaine throws us off guard with a high pitch machine error type tone, which makes the track sound even more like a factory machine failing in front of us.
From 2:53 onward it's a brilliant skipping collection of short, sharp sounds that once added to the kicks and snares - creates a perfect Xylocaine bounce. There's some more samples about pain and Charles? saying "no" in his blunt Aussie accent as an addition to the rest of the pattern.
By the time it's finished punching you with added kicks and slices of weird, mutated samples. You're left in shock with the only option to comprehend what just happened being to just play it again.
7. Cytosyne - Fact
The first mention of a track not available on vinyl or CD or even CDR but only digitally and the first I've mentioned that was made after 2010.
[nstblt] as it's known is No Sleep Til Bedtime. A Melbourne hardcore label which has grown to become one of the major players in Australia's hardcore scene.
A completely digital 21st century label that introduced to the world producers like 6head_slug, Tyrant X, N3OCORT3X and a range of other hardcore fiends. All of whom have crossed paths with every aspect of Australia's hardcore and breakcore scene in the last 15 years.
One was a young producer from Sydney called Cytosyne.
Cytosyne had appearances here and there and only released a digital EP with my label ENDE Records in 2015 and then it appears never again, except for a collection of remixes for The Harder View.
His best track "Fact" was released by [nstbt] in 2011 on the compilation EP "Suffer Age" This was the track I wanted when I contacted him but label head Greg 6_headslug wouldn't part with it and I was not in the least bit surprised because if I was him - I would have done the same.
Fact is possibly schranz but I never pay attention to hardcore genre labels anymore. I still don't know what frenchcore is.
What Fact is really is one of Australia's best and most catchy hardcore tracks.
With a killer breaky sounding intro that fuses effortlessly into a kick snare hardcore intro and an appealing synth melody to introduce you to it and samples like "gimme" and "wake up" dropped in. It suddenly drops the melody and announces "trying to trade over the faith that's a fact" before you're pounded with the first pattern of kicks.
That's probably not the sample and I'm sure Jake Cytosyne could tell you what it really is but for the purpose of this review. Let's just stick with that for now.
Even sitting here typing this. I have to keep fucking stopping to headbang. It's what kids now call a "banger"
"Fact" is a real modern, computer produced sounding hardcore stomper but uses that chip melody to throw you off that it might calm down.
the fuck it will.
At 2:48 it stops the melody slowly to introduce a slow fade in noise before half a second of dead silence and then "WAKE UP" before a hat count in slowly added by some snares and then back to a kick pattern before the "trade over the faith" sample comes back and you're back to the main track pattern. It's catchy bounce is hard to ignore or resist nodding to. Try it.
An absolute belter of a track and one of the best ever produced in Australia. One I've dropped into a few mixes over the years.
8. Epsilon - Fad Bather
The youngest and last to drink from Bloody Fist's success in the Newcastle hardcore scene before Bloody Fist closed operations in 2004. Epsilon will probably go down in whatever history of this music is remembered as one of the best breakcore producers in Australia.
Which he isn't. He isn't one of the best - he is the best.
But aside from his mindblowing breakcore is his unique and noisy contributions to industrial hardcore and without any doubt the finest moment for his hardcore is...
Fad Bather.
Released in a short collection of hardcore on a 12" comp on FCK Records in Denmark in 2004 alongside fellow fister Hedonist - just after Bloody Fist closed shop.
I once asked Epsilon about the sample that acts as the theme for the track. Where did he get it from?
An angry Aussie man yelling..
"What are you doing to me? what are you fucking doing to me? you're fucking killing me...fucking kid"
a sample so terrifying and reminiscent of a neglectful and contemptuous Father in this country, that you swear if you look up you'd see the cunt standing there with a longneck in his hand. The way he manipulated the sample - adds to the terror of the hardcore track where the ominous figure is not "Satan" or "Pinhead" or some mythical figure of fear but one of the most realistic - an abusive and drunk Dad.
He told me he recorded it himself. But I can't remember if he recorded it at his home or someone else's. Throughout his early releases and tracks there was a recurring theme of parental or spousal abuse (such as with his side project Patricider). Nothing he ever explained or felt the need to and why anyway - his music explained more than enough.
The dark and disturbing legacy of Australia's working class suburbs that most of us who grew up in them, either experienced firsthand or through someone close.
It makes "Fad Bather" more than just a hardcore track to bang your head and fist punch the air to. It shows how Australian hardcore and breakcore was one of the most misunderstood and maligned syles of electronic music - yet was capable of saying something fucking real. I've seen people high as kites stop dancing long enough to realise what the track is about when dropped in a set.
It's the only track that gives me baaaaaad flashbacks to childhood where through friends parents I witnessed some shocking violence towards children as a guest of the kid I knew all before I was even 12.
yet that is what makes it important and one of the best tracks he made.
Aside from it's theme. As a hardcore track it has a perfect borderline kick roll as it's main pattern, which pumps along machine-like, with some rattling noises and chiptune style electronic squarks.
Typical of Epsilon, it veers from glitchy breakcore drums to the 909 gabber death randomly and without warning. Clocking in around 5 minutes in total, it continues scaring you with a few more cuts from the Fad Bather of "fucking kid" which after some sound muddling by Epsilon sounds like it's more under the breath than direct.
With the extra "you fucking animal" thrown in only once and snare rolls, clicky hats and noises and beeps bouncing around all over the place it eventually runs out of breath, stops beating you and just seems to fall over and stop - leaving you with jaw dropped at how he made a catchy and fast hardcore track out of the pain of being around a contemptuous and abusive parent.
It would be easy to make a track about parental abuse that's just edgy or "hardcore" for shock factor but in Epsilon's hands it just shows how scarring and horrifying it really is.
9. Maladroit - Simply Irresistable (JRHNBR mix)
After the suburban horror that Epsilon showed us it's time to introduce or remind you of an Australian breakcore and hardcore producer who knew how to push the levels of good taste and create dancefloor anthems that got roars of laughter coming from the dancefloor instead of just cheers and fistpunches.
I think it was "Animal Passions" that Maladroit sampled for this track. A documentary that interviewed people with genuine love for practising bestiality that landed Channel 4 in the UK with record complaints on being screened.
So if you were going to sample the funnier and grosser elements of the documentary into a plunderphonic breakcore and hardcore stomper....
..what would be the best...pop song....maybe... to mix them into I GOT IT!! he probably yelled...
Robert Palmer's “Simply Irresistible” we all remember it from childhood. We all remember the clip, the pink mini skirted models and the bright red lipstick.
Now it appears what is "simply irresistible" is…..fucking animals. Thanks to Maladroit I can only think of lines like "people pussy pony pussy - pussy" when "simply Irresistible" comes on the radio at work.
So along with the obligatory Scooter references he dropped a lot in the 2000s and brutally heavy kickdrums. There's the line "she used to look good to me but now I find her - I've been with people I've been with animals - simply irresistible.
And you're in.
You're in with the accompanying saw waves to match the guitars after a kick battering as a pause introduces you to a man who married a pony.
The samples get grosser and Maladroit perfectly weaves them into Robert Palmer's best loved song.
By the time popmash came along. It was probably pointless to turn it into a subgenre of breakcore because I mean ...what's left that Maladroit hasn't sampled?
He was never a popmasher himself. He sampled fucking everything. No style of music was safe.
As much as he was one of the most prolific (rumoured to create up to 5 tracks a day in the 2000s) producers of breakcore. His approach to hardcore was no fucking around and straight for the throat. Underpinned by his manic breakwork, penchant for resampling a halftime amen into a fully heavy and fast one without respeeding up the pitch aaaaaaand....
...his love of internet and conspiracy paranoia and his dark sense of humour.
Humour will always be the most important factor in separating Australian hardcore from the rest of the world. It's something we do well but Maladroit was probably the best....after Nasenbluten.
Someone tried to tell me once there was "nothing political" in his music but they were idiots. Literally every track he made was saying something about something about this crazy fuckin world. Some just weren't smart enough to see it.
I would give you the link to this but it appears to be according to discogs - unreleased. It's not even on Youtube.
10. 556a - I KIll Ds
Originally released via the Powerviolence/Com-Baton website as an mp3 in 2005. 556a aka John D produced what he thought was a hardcore statement against Sydney's shocking police corruption and a hardcore anti-cop stomper that screamed "fuck the police" But he actually created something much more than that - by accident.
If memory serves me well it came hot on the heels of the riot in Macquarie Fields Sydney after a high police car chase killed a teenager in a stolen car they were chasing - that crashed into a wall. A riot that lasted a few days.
Whatever it was. The anti-cop theme, the NYPD blue theme slopped in with some sound warping, the Aussie samples about cops being corrupt and the repeating threat "I Kill Ds... as in detectives" the track became an instant Aussie hardcore classic more than his other 556a stuff or even work with The Pilfernators.
Less than a week after it was released. The track was downloaded that many times that John was begging people on the site and various hardcore forums, not to kill his website's bandwidth. This is in the early days of broadband and internet music hosting. Most other producers at the time were on Myspace only.
The bounce and the tempo and the machine sounds and computer beeps and the sample voice dropping in as a fill from time to time to remind you that it "kills Ds…..as in detectives" just to explain a common Aussie slang for detectives to an international audience or just remind Aussies he is in fact talking about cops.
So with the samples looping and bouncing in time to the monotone thump of a booming low end gabber kick drum at almost a doomcore pace and the occasional NYPD Blue drum roll. "I Kill Ds" cements itself into Australian hardcore history as John D has not just by co-running one of Australia's best hardcore labels with Fraughman on and off since 1999 and I think one was at one stage part of Nightvisions Promotions but introducing the world to The 556a, The Pilfernators, Morbus, Kenozla, Maladroit among others or even being recognised as one of Australian hardcore's most important and tireless promoters. Even if it came down to his last dollar as I was once told. Few I met were as passionate and as dedicated as he was to Australian hardcore.
But he will more than likely be remembered by those of us of who were contributors to the early days of the 2000s hardcore scene as the creator of "I KIll Ds" so fucking catchy, bouncy, cold industrial and bluntly threatening that it's been remixed by a few artists since.
There's two versions of it. But for my money the version pressed to vinyl on "Sydney Scags" EP is the absolute best.
As I write this after 5 hours of writing this article for Low Entropy. I'm playing it for a 5th time on Youtube. Tomorrow morning I'll have to get up and blast it on vinyl.
There are dozens and dozens of incredible Australian hardcore tracks I don't have time to mention from artists like Hedonist, Syndicate, Overcast, Rybacker, Dislasystem, Manifestevil, Matt Bleak, Deadcode, Cuntag, Aston, Farmercyst, Mirvcore, Spinecode, Wolf Head, Surrealizt, Angry Teenager, Killjoy...
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