The YouTube channel "Electric Byway" explores two interesting cases related to the (pre-) History of Hardcore Techno. Both deal with tracks / compositions that were created long before the 90s era.
Electric Byway is a channel to discuss electronic music related topics that are not covered much in the YouTube sphere. It is mostly about hardcore techno - a big universe of its own - though it's not limited to that. With the videos they "try to bring new perspectives" both on electronic music history and current underground scenes from around the world. While the bigger electronic music scenes give context, they especially like to cover smaller more unknown scenes and local players who do their own thing in their area. They address the viewers as "seekers", because the channel is aimed at people who search for more unknown music and information with an open mind.
And now, without further ado: go and check the vids themselves!
Part 1:
Hardcore techno's alternative history - Case: Dance of the Anthropoids - Electric Byway
"Was the first released prototype of hardcore techno actually released in 1968 in Finland? In this video, we take a look at the history of hardcore techno and speedcore, and a particular 1960's experiment of high tempo rhythmic electronic music and its creator."
Hardcore techno's alternative history - Case: Beta - Electric Byway
'Was the first beta version of "hardcore techno" made in 1963 Denmark after all? This video is a follow up to the 1968 Dance of the Anthropoids case and we take a look at another early electronic music pioneer. We are also going a bit into the future from where we left of last time, this time exploring the element of distorted bassdrums and "phreaking".'
Warped Visions: An Audiovisual Dive into the Reign of Belgian Techno (A Music Video Playlist from 1991–1992)
The early 1990s were a wild melting pot of creativity, giving birth to many iconic sounds and styles in electronic music. For fans of old-school rave, this era is often referred to as "the golden age of rave." With few established templates, artists had unparalleled freedom to experiment, leading to the foundations of many modern EDM genres, such as Hardcore, Drum and Bass, Hard Dance, and others. Between 1990 and 1992, the first forms of Hardcore Techno and Rave emerged, particularly in Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany.
One of the standout styles from this golden age was Belgian Techno. Known by several other names—Techno-Rave, Rave Techno, Hardcore Techno, Nosebleed Techno, or Hoover Techno—this style combined elements of New Beat with a futuristic edge. Characterized by heavy use of hoover sounds, choir stabs, buzzing synths, convulsive riffs, and pounding beats (occasionally with slow breakbeats), it was intense, deranged, and unmistakable. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the genre’s name, chances are you’ve heard its iconic hoover synth or classics by artists like T99, Joey Beltram, Channel X, LA Style, or Human Resource. If you’ve got that sound in mind, you’re already halfway there.
Despite its massive popularity during this period and its influence on modern electronic music, finding music videos and live performances from Belgian Techno can be quite challenging. This is partly due to the variety of names used for the genre and its frequent lumping with adjacent styles like Breakbeat Hardcore and New Beat. Its liminal nature as a precursor to Hardcore means it often falls through the cracks of genre categorization. As a result, algorithms and tagging systems fail to surface Belgian Techno content, leaving fans without a definitive audiovisual repository. But look no further! We’ve curated an extensive playlist of music videos and live performances that embody this seminal style. Whether you’re a nostalgic fan or a newcomer ready for a nosebleed-inducing crash course in Belgian Techno, this playlist has you covered!
(AI disclaimer: ChatGPT has been used on some parts of this text.)
Omnicore Records started almost 3 years ago - on Sunday, the 5th of December, in 2021. Time to look back at that label a bit.
Omnicore originally started as a sublabel of Doomcore Records. The releases on Doomcore Records were very "limited" in style: Doomcore, Industrial Hardcore, Techno, maybe a bit of dark acid and techno now and then. But as Doomcore Records grew in size and caught the attention of the international music press and beyond, artists started to send in demos that were outside these quite strict stylistic concepts. So, we could not release these. But some of them were very, very good, and it was painful to reject them.
As we had started a sub for Doomcore Records already a few months before - Slowcore Records for tracks under 130 bpm - the idea appeared that we could create another sub for these labels. So it was not Slowcore or Doomcore this time; but no other style either. We wanted to have a label with *a complete absence of style limits*. A label for any type of music. And despite the name - Omni-Core - to neither limit the artists to "hard core" releases. Thus, beatless ambient, chiptune, idm, krautrock releases can be found on Omnicore, too.
Yet, over the years, a few stylistic paths became visible anyway:
A lot of releases relate to the early Hardcore Techno sound of the 90s; but not the bouncy, cheerful Gabber kind, but the real tough, rough, proto-Speedcore, Acid / Underground / Noize shape of sounds. And another "main indication" are retro-rave hardtrance type of sounds - like the Hamburg or Frankfurt school of trancecore.
This does not mean we are stuck in the past - we got plenty of new sounds, too!
So, the Omnicore journey goes on, and we are open to all - *omni* - styles. We'd love to see more out-of-the-ordinary releases in the future - maybe spoken word, or post punk, ambient black metal, audiobook or or or...
Either way, if you got something interesting in store, core or not, feel free to send us your demo!
List of some of the artists that have released on Omnicore:
James F Bohemian Librarium Brandon Spivey Taciturne DJ AI Pardonax Cement Tea DJ Asylum DJ Alphira Butcherbaby Low Entropy Raver Blaster Plinn 1518 pfp
Michael Wells has quite the legacy and is a legend in the world of hard, "danceable" electronic music. having his roots in the EBM, industrial, early techno and BDSM scene of the 1980s, he became a trailblazer during the techno boom of the 90s, only to be elevated to the state of a hardcore superstar.
and we truly mean the *super*-star designation here. He formed the Technohead project together with his wife Lee Newman, and the single release "i wanna be a hippy" (sampling a hippie cult movie from the late 80s for the chorus) is a contender for the best known, most played, and most danced to hardcore-adjacent track of the 1990s. was there any discotheque, city-fest or village party where this track was not played, in between songs by tina turner, backstreet boys, beck, and culture beat?
the heavy rotation of the attached music video on the major music television channels of europe also meant the first acquaintance with gabber styles & clothing for many viewers, including mokum records style hammers (dont ask, just watch the video, dude!).
but this part of his legacy should not overshadow his maybe even more important works. he is a versatile producer in a variety of styles, from slowcore to extra-speedcore. never just focusing on the "bang bang bang" of ecstasy inducing gabber tracks, but adding depth and an extra dose of darkness to his tracks - maybe not surprising, as his roots lie in the kinky electronic industrial world of the 90s, as mentioned above.
yet more than that, he was also an activist and agitator for a more sophisticated and experimental sound of hardcore - one of the few people at the top of the scene who realized the unexplored potential of this sound, and envisioned ways that the scene could have taken. one fall-out of this approach were his "technohead" compilations, which were one of the very few CD compilations featuring deep, deep underground tracks by labels like fischkopf, praxis, riot beats... that were available and exposed at chain stores and similar outlets, introducing a whole generation of hard heads to these soundwaves - for the first time.
but alas, hardcore did not take this route - all of this is history, by now. or isn't it? because maybe there is still hope - as this sound lives on!
thus let us look at 10 tracks by the very Technohead (and various akas) down below.
1. Church of E*tacy - The Passion
2. Technohead - I Wanna be a Hippy
3. Elvis Jackson - Ahh Soul
4. Signs of Chaos - Killout A2
5. Technohead - Stay Down with the Hardcore
6. Chosen Few - After Hourz (Technohead Remix)
7. Technohead - The Number One Contender
8. Technohead - Accelerator 2
9. Technohead - Heads*x (Nanotech Mix)
10. Signs of Chaos - Killout (One Step From Death)
1. What is the mission?
A lot of the people involved in our magazine existed in the last centuries of the last Millennium already. And thus we remember that media criticism, media analysis, often from an anarchist or at least anti-authoritarian point of view, was wide-spread. Especially in the various subcultures and the political underground, but it could also be found in mainstream culture.
They stressed the idea that media, and especially the mass media, does not just "represent reality" and mirror actual events, but that it distorts, changes, re-creates and re-assembles what people perceive as reality - often along ideological lines (from authority, capitalism and the right wing).
One random example: I remember the 80s, and I remember it was, to a very visible extend, a decade of anarchism, riots, street-fights, left-wing terrorism, eco terrorism, radical feminist movements, radical art, LGBTQIA+ movements, and and and...
But the media tries to portray the 80s as some cocaine fueled Disneyland caught between Rubik's cubes, E.T., rock stars with mullets, and Miami Vice style beaches with palm trees.
And the new generations readily believe this.
Tempest 2000 - Mind's Eye
But let's get back to the very point.
Somehow, around the turn of the Millennium, the media critical view disappeared and evaporated.
It founds its last refuge in academic social science classes for pseudo-intellectual upper class twits of the year, or simplified and castrated statement such as "social media creates social media bubbles" (no shit, it does!).
And there is good reason for that. Unlike the last decades of the 20th century, people living in the first decades of the 21th simply have no rational or meaningful concept of reality anymore.
Everyone's mind and mindset migrated to the internet and its (social) media.
The internet simply *is* the truth and no-one would ever deny that.
Half of Rio, Tokyo, New York could blow up overnight - but if no one on the internet would mention, report, or talk about it, then no one would ever know.
And no-one *could* ever know, as all data, information and facts of "reality" that go beyond one's direct local reality (i.e. the street you live in, the supermarket you attend...) is obtained directly from the internet.
Babylon Zoo - Confused Art
"Welcome to the desert of the real". No, Morpheus, I disagree - there is not even a desert anymore - there is only a pitch black void where reality used to live.
But let's not lament it too much (it's worth lamenting, though). We are artists, and artists were never too keen on (or connected to) reality anyway. And, at its core, we love the internet!
The problem is that media (and the internet) distorts everything else as well. Culture, art, other media, philosophy, music, the history of music.
Killing Joke - Democracy
And this is where it clashes with our intentions, as we are interested in music, the history of music, especially related to harder electronics.
The media is constantly trying to change and re-write the history of techno, the history of acid, the history of hardcore, the history of gabber, and so on. And we are frankly fed up with this shit.
No, they don't do this purely because they want to specifically target Hardcore Techno, or because there is a conspiracy behind this (both are true to some extend, though).
The media does this - as the majority of media analysts in the 20th century knew - because that's how mass media works, and they likely could not help it even if they wanted to - media just is not a good mirror of reality, and cannot escape it's political connection to various authorities and ideologies (like capitalism, conservatism, consumerism...).
But still, *we* can fight against this. And that's what we are gonna do.
We will fight against it. And have a good time.
Wendy Milan - TV Madness
Of course, this magazine should not be the "solitary hero" in this epic struggle.
We call on everyone else who sees through these medial lies to start their own magazines, blogs, whatever, too!
End of part 1
Part 2
So... how does "the media" and the internet interfere with the reality and history of music?
A random example: a blog ran by a type of 'music industry trainspotter' once claimed - after a huge load of analyzing sales charts and similar items - that Pink Floyd actually sold more albums (not singles, mind you) than the Beatles.
Ec8or - Plastic Creatures
So were Pink Floyd actually more popular than the Beatles (and the Beatles already said they were more popular than Jesus - so what does this turn Pink Floyd into then?).
But even if they merely were 'equally' popular or slightly less popular, this for sure does not find an echo in the media perceptions.
Sure, there is plenty of media coverage on Pink Floyd - but that's tiny compared to that of the Beatles - which are portrayed as the most popular band of the whole 20th century.
Ministry - TV II
Note: This is not pro Pink Floyd or anti-Beatles btw. "My" generation disliked Pink Floyd just as much as some punk pioneers did.
But it shows that the popular idea of music history ("the Beatles were the most popular!") might be misaligned with actual reality and actually be complete bullshit.
SP23 - Network 23
And a thing that hits "closer to home".
"Hardcore Techno and Gabber" history gets constantly twisted, with the wildest of claims getting thrown around - claims that gabber did not exist before 2006, that ID&T, or Scooter, did "invent Hardcore" or "made Hardcore popular", and worse.
The existence of labels, artist, projects, and styles outside the "90s mass media gabber spectacle" is denied, erased, or pushed to the fringe. The 90s speedcore, acidcore, doomcore, experimental underground - is deemed to not be worth mentioning! Etc etc.
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
This is what we want to fight against.
But we do not claim that we know the exact history or reality - of hardcore, or of other things.
We just want to point out that the "media image" of hardcore, of hard electronic music, and music in general - might not be the truth.
That the "media history" of hardcore and techno - might be a lie.
That the information and knowledge that is thrown around about hardcore, the 90s, the actors and mindset involved - might often be false or complete bullshit.
Einstürzende Neubauten - Headcleaner
So, if you are interested in this task - not "our" task, but a collective task, a very important task - feel free to set up your own blogs, fanzines, contribute to ours, or at least write it down and shout about it.
We like to cross boundaries, right? So in this issue of jumping beyond border fences, we will take a look at EBM style tracks - done by ferocious Hardcore artists!
1. Cyborg Unknown - Year 2001 (Transcendental 12" mix)
Done by Marc Acardipane.
2. Superpower - Molecule Man
Done by The Horrorist and Miro / Stickhead.
3. Acrosome - Wake Up America
done by oliver chesler / the horrorist's brother, who also did some hardcore releases.
4. The Horrorist - Power Is Force
The Horrorist solo.
5. Scaremonger - Soon We All Will Have Special Names
Acid-newbeat proto-techno.
6. T.S.A.R - Treu Sind Wir (Infinity Mix)
"Arranged by Acardipane".
7. O - Das Spiel
Kinky new beat-techno by Martin Damm aka The Speedfreak.
The scene in Germany - just like in the Netherlands - was not monolith. It was varied, fragmented, with multiple tendencies, styles, groups, players, movers, shakers. Some were into more Acidic or Technoid stuff. Others into fun party Gabber. Maybe even into Rave- Trancecore music. And Speedcore, Breakcore, all-out terror. But regardless of that - there are some common descriptions and motions we can attribute to this scene - even if it is not a "one size fits all" thing.
Because compared to the Dutch scene, there was much less focus on a cheerful, "happy", or dance sound. Instead - an affection towards brutality, violence, mayhem and things bleak, nihilist, and depressive.
So instead of dance-y hoovers you had trash metal samples; instead of pitched up female pop singers you had monologues by robert de niro or sergeant paula about death and war; instead of MCs calling you to get down and join the dancefloor you had the most heart-rending screams by people of all genders sampled straight out of "video nasties" and similar media; and instead of a "bouncy drum", the bass kick more often resembled the sound of a pile driver or other heavy duty machinery.
Oh, despite of all this darkness and obliteration, these producers, fans, and underground "party" people were not violent maniacs "in real life". Those that I met were often amongst the most friendly, elated, optimistic people I know. It's just that they were seriously messed up in their heads. In the most positive way! Like we all are. Likable freaks.
Ah, and on the topic of parties: the Dutch had big stadiums, arenas, small or large-size clubs and discos... And in Germany the parties were often in squats, abandoned buildings, under a bridge, in a hole, in the mud.... No ventilation, no lights, just ~150 people cramped in a pitch black room with fog, strobes, and 120+ decibel of killer bass frequencies.
Like one of the Hateparade / F**kparade creators once said: "You know it's a good party when your clothes are covered in mud afterwards".
There are certainly similarities to the scenes of other countries - like USA, UK, France, Australia... but we will look at that at another time.
Instead we will look at 11 tracks of the 90s German Hardcore scene - right here, and right now!
Do you like Psytrance? Goa? yes? (Although I've been told these are actually two *different* genres). It's so-so for me. Yeah there are some "hits". Really good stuff. Also among the oldschool. LSD, Hallucinogen, Astral Projection, Trust In Trance, that kind of stuff. But let's face it. There are too many "fillers"; endless clones with perpetual "woob woon woob" bass drums and eternally rising and descending cut off frequencies. Yet, there is one thing that is very interesting to me - that I love a lot. Psycore. A pocket genre, a miniature style. That, I think, so far managed to elude and evade the gaze of the "mainstream eye".
It's a combination of Psytrance and Hardcore... no wait... this dry description that does not do this genre judgement at all. It's amongst the most deranged, nihilistic, and sanity-shattering music I ever heard. You take some sounds of psytrance, maybe goa - and speed them up, until 200 bpm, 300 bpm, even 1000 and beyond. everything becomes psycho, the basslines become the walls of a lunatic institute, the sonic structures just rush by, you fall into an endless chasm of fluctuating sounds, until your mind goes into vertigo (and starts to scream).
I'm not certain how popular / attached to the general psytrance scene this psycore pocket genre actually is. Is it just some freaks who do it? is it played at a lot of psytrance parties? is it like some obscured black metal or synthwave genre that noone really knows - except a few insiders?
I don't know - but i know the scene and sound is vital and alive, has its dedicated fans and followers, and is going strong since years.
Oh yeah, it's also interesting how psycore gives the "psytrance" tropes and topics the hardcore treatment. these tracks no longer talk about 'being one with the universe', or hoping for a happy future of humanity, or attaining a state of calm, mindfulness, and serenity - the plates on their menu are the end of the cosmos, the destruction of logic, chaos, disorder - just sheer cosmic horror, basically.
so better take care!
now here is a selection of 10 notable psycore tracks:
1. Dravna inxtibhiothic - aokigaravna - 280BPM
2. Dravna - Dimension at C - 137 (220-240 BPM)
3. Paranoise - We Are Freaks
4. Black Phillip - Triunfo de Venus
5. Infra - Series No. 1 {260bpm}
6. Arcek vs HyperActive 25 - Wicked 210bpm
7. Intraception - Occult Frequencies (250)
8. Omnipresent Miscreants - The Warped Quantum Holes
Fresh developments in the world of music are within sight - and in the world of Hardcore Techno, too!
The meager years of "Mainstyle" and "Uptempo" seem to be finally over, the "Millennium" bullsh*t is finally being laid to rest. There is a wholly new generation on the block that is embracing hardcore, gabber, acid, doom, and all that comes with it - and this is very, very welcome, as there was a dire need for fresh sonic blood. But these new artists and DJs do not merely copy the old - no no! - they twist it around and smash it apart and throw everything in the faces of old.
This is a very boundary-crossing activity, as hardcore now bleeds into former taboo territories such as pop, rap, punk... (i.e. beyond mere 'hardcore with pop samples')
And on the other side of the realm, artists and musicians from pop, rap, and all the other genres have begun using sounds and concept from hardcore, too.
Purists will say these hybrids are far from "pure hardcore", but who cares about purists anyway?
Embracing pop aesthetics and the capitalism that comes with it is not something that makes me very comfortable either, but I hope it's just one step on the way to real cultural subversion.
So, time to take a closer look at this and a few sonic examples, too.
Note: of course, not all these are gen z musicians - other people with fresh ideas are very welcome, too!
some of the things that are occurring are...
1) that new emerging scene of producers from a variety of backgrounds (techno, rap, punk, non-western music...) that is encompassing hardcore beats and sounds in their productions.
2) these new young angry artists that drop a hardcore bass in their tracks now and then, but are usually closer to a weird mixture of metal, punk, or, gasp, hyperpop (date: from a few years ago-until the future)
ebm, aggro-tech, horror rap? but going very hardcore, too!
3) new artists using various sounds i associate with hardcore and its sub-genres in their music (for example artists who use very oldschool - doomcore-like synths in some of their tracks), even though they are closer associated to genres such as witch house, dark ambient, synthwave, or gothtronica (date: from a few years ago-until the future)
about the above music... others might say "but this... this is not hardcore anymore at all!"
Yeah, maybe it isn't, maybe it is. the whole point here is to show that hardcore is not an enclosed area. it is fluid, divergent, and spills out into the world, into other genres, and vice versa.
maybe some of these artists never heard a hardcore record in their life. and came up with these sounds by other sources, or on their "own".
that's what parallel evolution is about. it was the same in the 90s. some people started doing tracks without even knowing about the rave / techno evolution, and it still sounded the same.
in the end, this does not need to be termed "hardcore" if you don't like this term. because the power of this music should speak for itself.
Even though Breakcore came from Hardcore Techno and was entwined in it, it eventually split off and grew into a scene of its own (a bit similar to other former "Hardcore" genres like Gabber, Speedcore, Doomcore...).
It could be argued that the global world of Breakcore was at one point even *bigger* then Gabber or Tech-Hardcore...
And for sure it evolved into something more varied and multiplied than its roots...
But lets stay at these very roots for a while (and maybe let an apple fall on our heads)...
Because the earliest output that was considered to be breakcore was often not *that* rough or extreme yet... still very much tied to pre-existing breakbeat, jungle, drumnbass, even techno sound... It one upped the brutality, yes, but still..
"Is The Prodigy related to Breakcore?" was an ongoing discussion in 90s internet forums; an example of this perceived ambiguity.
So because of this, we are gonna take look at a few early compositions that really stood apart in experimentalism, extremity, surrealism and kick-you-in-the-butt-ism.
Tracks that would have scared the mainstream drumnbass or "*-step" crowd away off any 90s dancefloor...
Christoph Fringeli & DJ Scud - Body Snatcher https://youtu.be/96ArxhH3SYITakingsome techstep methods used for an own track... but turning them totally insane. "There is no need for hate now."
Hanin - Nizza It's nice that one of the hardest early breakcore tracks was released by a girl.https://youtu.be/Vop0OUFU77I
Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy Richard D james contribution to the emerging breakcore scene. Pogo-dancing to this track at the Widerstand Records truck on the ****parade in berlin 1998 - were you there?https://youtu.be/TZ827lkktYs
Patric Catani - Still Wanna Win (I Can't Lose) Giving your mind the full on treatment https://youtu.be/ysRs1E_-25c
The French Maestro in the history of hardcore techno: meet Guillaume Leroux - aka Lunatic Asylum, aka Dr Macabre, aka Renegade Legion... well, the list is endless!
Very influential in the development of techno music, and a creative powerhouse right from the start. His first releases were still tied to the emerging techno, acid, and trance scenes - released on legendary french label FNAC in 1993. Eventually, the PCP crew discovered his core-y talent, put their mental grip on him, and added Monsieur Leroux to their artist rooster. And as far as I know, beyond Marc, Miro, and Thorsten, he has the most releases in the PCP catalogue - so I guess he could be considered to be a type of core member of PCP.
The 90s have faded, but Guillaume is still around - creating wonderful music, and wonderful AI art!
Check these links if you are interested in a few of his new projects:
But for now, let's take a look at some of his past marvels:
1. Lunatic Asylum - The Meltdown
Released under the Lunatic Asylum moniker, this was his break-out hit, and became a worldwide success. Adjacent to the techno-trance-rave sound of the 90s (especially it's german variant), it's actually quite hardcore already. Mr. Leroux once told me the sales of this release still "fills his fridge" to this day.
one of his earliest outputs, and i never heard a track like this elsewhere. it's techno, yes, but it also reminds me of french surrealist / fantastic art - think jean giraud or rené laloux turned into soundscapes.
reminiscent of a star wars walker moving ahead on the battle fields, each step creating a thunderous sound, while the fight goes on. but then, again... "we are not alone. someone out there likes us!"
if the term "bittersweet" ever made sense, it's on this track. heavenly, redeeming, lush ambient and trance pads meet kicking drums - and everything drowns in the most wonderful melancholy. "i haven't been human for 200 years", indeed.
a gabber stomper of the highest degree! when did the bass ever hit so hard (and low?). the psychotronic love commandos have come and are here to stay - because "anything is possible!".
ouch! leaving the four to the floor pattern for a while, this track is sure to land a straight blow on your face with its sheer distortion and aggression. we love it, and the dark synth melody adds to the doomed adrenaline.
the first, but surely not the last wave? this track is defined by alien, extraterrestrial sounds... almost like "outer space trance" - until the hardcore bass comes in after all. (A collaboration effort with Manu le Malin).
his biggest hit! it actually turned the gabber scene around. released at a time when 180-200 bpm core was the norm, it helped start a move towards slower sounds again. it's also a track that focuses on atmosphere and mood for once - and not just sped-up rap samples, guitars, and hoovers, like a lot of other producers did.
"Otherworldly, wailing synths drown the mid-ranges while reverberated drums puncture the sub-bass."
a sort of an anecdote as an intro: a friend was on a business trip from germany to los angeles, related to a computer game exposition event. while in LA, he noted that a gabber party was going down, so he paid it a visit. when talking with the local gabber maniacs, he mentioned that he was originally from hamburg; apparently, this sent everyone into awe:
"You come from the city of Hamburg Hardcore? Nordcore? Fischkopf?".
Nordcore Gmbh - Hartcore City
So, it seems hamburg actually has a reputation in the globally connected world of hardcore and gabber. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, are known "hot spots" in the geography of hard(est) electronic music - but hamburg?
So, let's take a closer look at this city in northern germany.
I was born in hamburg and grew up in it, and joined the "hamburg hardcore scene" in my early teenage years. I always had the expression that this city was special and some of its almost magical ambiance sipped into its hardcore sound.
low entropy - hamburg hardcore anthem
But I initially shrugged this off - leaning more extremely towards the left wing, i felt hostile to any form of nationwide or more "local" patriotism. But even beyond politics, I felt that being overly proud of your city / hometown was more fitting for soccer fans and their rivalries, than for the 'real world'.
Yet the left, and especially its more anarchist and / or surreal contingent had its own history of being fascinated by cities, towns, and other places, too. Just think of the (post) situationists and their various psycho-geographies of urban agglomerations.
So, I came to the conclusion that one could see it this way: Certain cities are not "better" than others, but special in their own way.
metatron - new urbanist
Thus, what makes hamburg special?
One point to note is the liminality which is ingrained into the city's history.
Maybe a bit similar to berlin in the cold war era, hamburg was a city which was torn apart in its geography and occupied places in, and in between, different nations and political structures.
Part of it belonged to denmark, part of it belonged to the various, often hostile mini-nations that were eventually united into "germany" in the 19th century.
Allfix - Sound of hamburg
There was the story that in those days, criminals and robbers that were pursued by the police could just run towards the hamburg district of altona, as this part was under danish administration - and the "german law" had no power over there. Maybe this story was more of a joke; but the truth is that you could literally "walk between worlds" in hamburg, with different nations and different (political) realities being separated by merely a few footsteps.
This is barely known, but Hamburg, in its modern, current form, is a creation of the nazis which was never reversed after the war.
Even though the danish and the intra-national split had been long gone, the nazis tried to "fix" and "clean up" any remaining rifts and fractures in the geography of hamburg.
So this was the purely political and municipal liminality of hamburg.
Abwärtz - Affentanz Hamburg industrial punk pioneer band from the 80s
But wait, there is more Only topped by rotterdam (another important hardcore city) hamburg is host to the second most important commercial port of europe. Which means that a large quantity of goods that pop up in other european places, like france, vienna, or prague, have passed through hamburg at some point of their "delivery route" - food, tech, furniture, medicine, everything, even drugs.
This is quite a feat, as hamburg is actually a few hundred kilometers away from the atlantic ocean. Which actually is another quirk of hamburg; even though it's an inland city, it somehow feels like a seaport, too. With seagulls, the constant blowing of marine horns, the occasional sounding of flood sirens. One can almost feel the taste of saltwater on ones lips. Or is this another illusion of hamburg? Because there has been some "scientific" debate whether hamburg's port is made up of a larger quantity of saltwater, or a larger quantity of freshwater.
The Mover - Over land and sea
And hamburg is a watery town indeed; host to "more bridges and channels than venice" (a popular claim), the presence of water and waterways is ubiquitous in hamburg.
Add to that the regular and seasonal "flooding" which makes the sight of marketplaces, streets and cars totally submerged in water a known occurrence.
This actually inspired the band Sisters of Mercy to write and title it's album Floodland.
Sisters of Mercy - This Corrosion
Andrew Eldritch, the band's leader and singer, stayed in hamburg for the production of the album. The sighting of this water-submerged city somehow led to a feverish vision on his part; the imaginal mirage of a city that exists both on dry land and amongst the far away ocean at the same time; perpetually floating on the seven seas. And this, it seems, was a well enough inspiration to create a wonderful album.
These are two of the many examples for the "liminal" nature of hamburg.
marc acardipane - chaos a.d. Marc Acardipane lives in Hamburg now.
It's a city that's "neither here nor there", a heisenberg field perpetually on the verge of collapsing (but it won't... or will it?), with uncertain and uncanny boundaries, geographically and informally fractured, split apart, contra-dictionary, and also united at the same time.
And I think it's not too far-fetched to draw some connection to the hardcore and techno scene of the 90s here. As this music scene thrived on the crossing of boundaries too, going beyond limits, ventures into the uncertain, trespassing into undefined territories - and back again. Smashing things up, fracturing them, only to finally mend these fragments into a new whole. Moving between structures and (sonic) architecture.
fm einheit, john caffery - riots FM Einheit was a member of hamburg band abwärts - and of einstürzende neubauten
I think if you look at other cities that were important in the history of hardcore (and other) music, such as rotterdam, berlin, new york... you will find similar issues, rifts, and fractures.
We will further explore these ideas and connections in the next part in this series of articles.
10. e-man - entering the unknown E-Man aka Miro Pajic lived in Hamburg for some years.
Our sister organization / label Doomcore Records has this to say:
Right in time for November's supermoon: Dave Doom with a music video to their track "The First Moon". Reminiscent of a walk through a forest during a doomed night in late Hamburg Autumn, this video easily accompanies the mood to this cold and freezing track. "Doombient" is a style in music that utilizes the synths, sounds, and sensations of Doomcore Techno - but without the drums and percussion! Doomed Ambient through and through - and that's what you gonna get!
Voila, here is a new video feature by us. As the title implies, this is all about Hard Acid, Acidcore, Acid Gabber... and related music from the 90s era. To give you a lil introduction to these styles, or to refresh your memories a bit. Either way: Enjoy!
Acidcore takes Acid music to a Hardcore level. 303-like bassline modulation and thundering bassdrums are the foundation for this genre. While actual acid music was already seen as somewhat atonal and abrasive upon its advent (todays listeners might perceive it differently), with Acidcore, the prominent basslines frequently get distorted, manipulated, EQd, and burnt beyond recognition. The tracks often have a hypnotic, monotonous, entrancing, repetitive quality; there are tracks that literally drone on for 10 minutes and more, with nothing but manipulation of the same loops of bass sounds, percussion, and a drum. This makes them ideal for long sets in festivals or underground settings. Despite the generally minimalistic setting of most tracks (303+drums+maybe one or two synths), there is a lot of variety in the genre. Ranging from ~150 BPM "Dancefloor" smashers to 200+ BPM aural assaults, or slow and calm tracks on the other side of the filtered spectrum. Indeed, together with Doomcore, Acidcore is one of the few Hardcore genres that often uses non-distorted, Techno-like drums. Some Acidcore artists push the distortion so hard that their tracks bleed into the genre of Noisecore; the results are then some of the most extreme and blood-thirsty Tracks of the whole Hardcore circuit.
Hard Acid
The more savage side of Acid
A bit softer than full-blown Acidcore, and more on a Techno tip. Connected to the wider underground Acid scene.
Another issue in our series on emotions and how they are used as tropes in hardcore music.
Sentiments, moods and sensation that are often considered "taboo" within mainstream society are very prominent and visible within the hardcore scene.
Amongst other "moods" such as anger and lust, one of these is fear - in all its varieties. Anxiety, nightmares, terror, panic, mortal fright... all these are expressed and can be felt within hardcore tracks.
This is further enhanced by the wide-spread use of samples taken from "scary" horror, sci-fi, war, or noir movies (hellraiser, taxi driver, full metal jacket...). So the hardened, head-strong gabber community seemingly is a frightful lot - at least partly.
But, as always, let us be aware that the healthy expression of such "sickened" emotions can be quite healing and beneficial.
And now, let's turn to some hardcore tracks that are related to "fear" in intent, track title, feel of the composition, or other and similar ways.
In the last years (or decades?) it felt as if no new groundbreaking innovation in (electronic) music was possible anymore; as if everything "had been done before". But now there is a wholly new genre on the block: Slowcore Techno. Usually defined as Hardcore, Doomcore, Techno, Acid etc. music that is slower than 130 bpm. And as much research as we did, it seems there really was no movement or genre that fit these criteria, until recently. There were maybe a handful of tracks (from 1990 until now!), but beyond this - nothing; the pure void.
It is astonishing (and unexplainable and irrational really) that techno and hardcore producers thoroughly explored the world of 130-230 bpm (and even much faster ventures - with genres like ultra-speedcore) but left the realm below this tempo almost completely unexplored.
And Slowcore Techno can get *really* slow - 60 bpm tracks are not unheard of, and some have a meager tempo of 30, 15, or even 1 bpm.
So, in terms of sheer tempo, Slowcore is the opposite of styles like Gabber or Speedcore.
The scene originally was mostly centered around the internet label Slowcore Records (and yeah, we admit that we have personal ties to this label) but eventually many other artists and labels started to pick up this sound and make it their own - and slowcore tracks can even be found on vinyl and other physical releases nowadays.
While this movement has its dedicated producers and fanfolk, it mostly stays invisible and underground, like other "obscure" genres such as lofi black metal or some strains of synthwave music.
But what better way to introduce this label than by its own special movie?
This is essentially a showcase of slowcore music with some intricate videos enhancing the audio/video experience. The whole thing sees itself in the tradition of similar 90s rave/techno audio-visual conglomerations, or even 80s experiments like the "state of the art" (later continued as the more well known "the mind's eye") VHS tapes. So don't expect too much narration or rational coherence - because "this was designed to open your mind" (sorry, oldschool hardcore quote ;-)
As a bonus, there are even some faster tracks at the end.
But now, enjoy this wholly new Slowcore Experience!
It's widely established that acid house gave rise to the techno explosion of the 90s, and all that followed - trance, breakbeat, gabber, jungle.... Yet, acid never really went away. Acid or Acid Techno were major subgenres of the whole techno thing throughout the 90s and had their loyal fanbase and dedicated "floors" on parties and raves.
It's interesting to see that there was always a crossover between acid and hardcore; acid gave rise to a lot of the first really rough techno tracks; many hardcore producers did acid on the side or vice versa. This was especially the case in Germany with mono tone records, the "hard noize from cologne" thing, Hamburg, Berlin, overdrive, and so on. but even a lot of the early "Dutch Gabber" releases are close to acid.
and when "the man" tried to get all traces of rebellion, rough- and dirtiness out of "techno" - the meager decades of minimalist techno or retro-disco influenced house - acid parties were often the only place where you could still get a grip on a good, distorted 909.
Thus, there is acid - there is harder acid - there is hardcore acidcore even (we talked about that in the past).
But, some of the artists within the acid / acidcore circus really took it to the extreme. there is little trace left of the funky acid house boom from the 80s in their productions. the drums get distorted to mere squarewaves - the 303s get manipulated until they sound closer to an exploding jet engine; the percussion and cymbals become walls of noise; and often an insane amount of reverberation "drowns" the whole track until you wonder whether this is still a techno production, or a secret supergroup composed of members of einstürzende neubauten, ken kesey, and albert hofmann.
now, let me not waste any more words. check these tunes yourself. and heed our disclaimer: these sounds might corrode your mind.
1. Agro - Bullen Raus
2. Agro - Undisputed Truth
3. Brandon Spivey - Acid 1998
4. Brandon Spivey - Reality Asylum
5. Tank Source - Freq. Out
6. Distorted Waves Of Ohm - Beneath The Subconcious Lies A Distorted Mind
What's the most aggressive type of music? I think noizecore techno is a contender, or some of the more deranged forms of acidcore. Yet there is another genre on the block that is definitely deserving of this title. A fusion of Black Metal and Extreme Techno, that runs by the term Industrial Black Metal or Blackened Speedcore.
Let's rewind a bit. Even the first outings of Hardcore Techno and Gabber House were eager to sample guitar riffs out of Metal songs - usually the thrash or speed metal variety of the 80s. When Speedcore emerged, these samples became an obligation. And soon, a fusion of Death Metal and Speedcore spawned, exemplified by bands like The Berzerker (which actually started as a solo Gabber / Speedcore producer project before they got signed to Earache).
In the world of metal, there were experiments with Techno drums and rhythm, too, usually filed under the "industrial metal" folder. And, of course, the first sightings of "Industrial Black Metal" were seen, but not quite as brutal yet.
In recent years, this evolution shifted around. Death Metal - Gabber fusions have become more rare. Instead, Hardcore producers have begun to fully embrace Black Metal - and Black Metal bands have begun to experiment with Hardcore, Gabber and Speedcore.
While the former often use the term "Blackened Speedcore" for their music, the latter usually run under "Industrial Black Metal". But sound-wise, these terms are more or less interchangeable.
This new genre is much more varied than the former "Deathcore" variety. We find bands that have the usual tinny, lofi sound quality of Black Metal - like it's recorded on a tape recorder in a band member's basement. or bands blasting away with huge production values and heavy basses. we got simplistic monotonous audio nasties. or complex, symphonic compositions. some add intricate synth and ambient parts to their songs / track. some screech, some growl, some keep silent. some sound like british prog rock on acid.
so, there is a lot to discover here!
similar to other subgenres of hardcore techno (and black metal), this strain remained niche and quite unknown to the masses. yet its producers, fans and supporters are dedicated to it none the less, and there is a steady flow of releases.
the themes, lyrics and titles are amongst the most nihilist, sickened and disturbing in the contemporary world of music. indeed, there are even some bands leaning towards nazi ideology - maybe for "shock effect", maybe for real - so its better to stay clear of these.
but, apart from these - it's all a truly ecstatic and wholly infernal experience, soothing and nurturing our dark minds and souls.
let's look at 10 tracks of the industrial black metal and blackened speedcore kind:
