The history of Techno had a lot of interesting places. Chicago House, Detroit Techno, Rotterdam Gabber, Berlin "Bunker" Hardcore... "Tunnel" Trance in Hamburg or the Junglist rude-boys-inna-London massive.
A lesser known spot might have been "The Sound of Rome". Rome? Yeah, the Romans were true Techno pioneers, too. The sound of rome was way different in many ways from the "mainland" of Techno... I'd say it was even farther apart than Dutch Hardcore was from Detroit.
Raiders of The Future
Early Doomcore?
And this time I want to talk about one of its artists, Leo Anibaldi. Especially his early releases.
In his music, there are, of course, the straight elements of Techno and House. Electronic 4/4 beats, frantic percussion, lotsa acid bleeps and blops... "hypnotic", repetitive, looped. Often even quite minimal at it!
But, and that's the big "but", there also is a lot of... "other stuff"... in his tracks. He did compositions that feel like Ennio Morricone on Ergot (for movie soundtracks that never came to be...?) Tracks that sound like maniac caveman beating on drums... in a huge cave. Even "weirder" stuff (most prominently on his albums).
Ritmicida
Early Speedcore?
My favorite, though, are tracks that are indeed closer to original Detroit, or past contemporaries such as Unit Moebius and Rude 66. Monotonous dirty little techno anthems. Droning on and on in their rhythm, but feeling like they got sent from Alpha Centauri. And being very Leo and being very Rome - simultaneously.
Beyond that, there are snippets of spooky, horror ost type sounds that make me think "goblin" or "suspiria"... well, how could it be elseways, in Rome?
The Story Become
sounds for movies that never were
Afterwards he was picked up by the likes of Rephlex; the sound changed more to IDM and other genres.
But, as we look at the early "sound of rome" here, this is beyond the scope of this feature.
"Umbrella" by Somatic Responses so far was only available on *the* legendary 11/98 demotape - and a short while later, on their Hymen release called "Circumflex". But not on vinyl, and that's a shame. An issue that has been fixed now, because the tracks are on the "Steel Collapse EP" on the good old label Traumahead society records.
What can I say about Umbrella? It's a dream... or poisoned nightmare... synths wash over you... that sound more like sirens... and then the drums demolish everything, raze whole cities to the ground... and you wake up in a sweat.
Even if you are only tangentially into dark, sick electronic music... listen to this track, please!
Now to the others.
The Untitled is skillfully at it again; he proves he is one of the best at doing "contemporary oldschool" Acid and Acidcore... makes you feel as if Senical or Cellblock X has somewhat come back... lovely!
Ics Xar is menacing terror.
DJ Raf is on the acid trip too... good food for your local squat!
And Rotello has the 2nd most interesting track on here (after Somatics). No insane speedcore, but almost like harder Techno... groovy and very destructive.
A while ago a producer reached out to me to inquire about a problem: He tried to create "oldschool Gabber" kicks, but couldn't get the sound right. He used a modern distortion plugin but the results sounded like pish. I told him to overdrive the drums, and the problem was solved.
So, this time, let's talk about basses. The famous Hardcore Techno and Gabber kick drum. Not the newer, more "twisted" ones. But the big ol' bass which was used in the famous productions by PCP, Industrial Strength, Rotterdam Records etc.
Critical Mass - Believe In The Future (DJ Weirdo & DJ Sim Future Remix)
A prime example of the gabber kick
Part 1
So let's go way back. Why and how was "distortion" in music created anyway? It started when technology was advanced enough to electrically amplify sounds. In the 19th century and before, there weren't any amps or loudspeaker rigs, of course. Music was done in concert halls or bars, on stringed instruments like the violin, cello, banjo, fiddle, and piano. Performed vocally. Or people played on the trumpet, flutes, harmonica. Maybe some even were skilled at the kazoo.
This meant that music was at it is, and could not get any louder. Concert halls tried to maximize this by having clever architecture and whole orchestras. But still. Bach or Mozart could never have played in front of 20.000 people (like modern rock bands do).
Robert Armani - Hit Hard
Robert Armani hits hard indeed.
Part 2
With the advent of advanced electronics, and particularly vacuum tubes (plus transistors), it was finally possible to amplify sound and music performances - to crank up the volume. This was first done in Jazz and Rock'n'Roll music (Elvis literally electrified his audience). And later in rock music.
As the popularity of the music grew, so did the audience. There was the need for bigger and louder amps, and rock musicians had the need for bigger and louder music (for songs on their records, too).
With high amplification, it's hard to maintain a clear sound. Beyond this, the rockers realized they could overload the electronics by "cranking" the levers and knobs up high enough.
To put it simply, the amplification is then too big for the system to handle while still sounding clean. It becomes overdriven.
It's like running too much power through a computer or electronic system, and you end up frying the transistors. Just that this time, the sound becomes "fried", not the electrics.
(At least ideally, because in reality there's always the chance you blow up your amp for good if you are not careful enough.)
This overdrive effect can be seen plainly in sound apps; when you keep boosting the volume, the sound waves hit a "ceiling" and hard clipping occurs.
With tubes and other analogue modes of distortion, it's not hard clipping but a more complex form of "saturation". Still, it's overdriven.
How to create a Gabber 909 Bassdrum - Video Tutorial
Part 3
Trivia: "Overdrive", together with ring modulation, was one of the few advanced electronic music effects that everyone was aware of in the 20th century. Even if they did not know what it was, everyone had heard it. As it is something that occurs "naturally" in cheaper transistor radios, TV sets, kid toys... walking down a street and hearing "awfully distorted" music blasting through a window, because someone listened to their radio, was a common occurrence. (And I guess it's still a common thing).
Phrenetic System - Fantasy
Belgian Hardcore on a 909
Part 4
So for a long time, overdrive was the main form of distortion that was used in music. Only much later did different distortion become commonplace.
Let's summarize it once more:
You amplify a sound or sample until it exceeds the "maximum volume level" and becomes overdriven - either by saturation, or clipping.
Apart from dedicated overdrive fx units or pedals for musicians, there are also some improvised, makeshift, or clever solutions to do this. After all professional music gear was / is expensive.
90s Gabber producers sometimes just ran the signal through the mixing desk, and cranked it up until it became overdriven. Some Acidcore producers jammed their sound directly onto a reel to reel tape until everything went into the reds. In theory, you could even use a regular tape deck for that (which I actually did, for fun, in the 90s).
More "digital" producers using a sampler or tracker could simply amplify the sound on their device / app until it clips.
Pilldriver - Pitch-Hiker
909 overdrive in full effect
Part 5
So that's the "secret" behind the oldschool Hardcore kicks. Overdrive. Push your sound into the reds. And push it further and further, keep pushing, until it becomes totally distorted.
It's quite simple at that, isn't it?
Of course, actual kick production could be more complex. Producers added EQ, compressors, flangers, reverb effects... used multiple layers of sounds... etc. But at the core it's overdriven waveforms.
And, a word of warning, not all bass sources are suitable for this. It works *really* well with the TR-909 by Roland and its soundalikes. But with other drum machines or samples it might sound just like mud.
Bold Bob - Bold Bass II
going into total overdrive
Hope this information was interesting and, if you are a musician, possibly useful!
The 90s were strange and bizarre, and one of its strangest parts was the Hardcore, Techno and Gabber subculture. It's still largely and invisible to the mainstream. So here we are taking a deep and scrutinizing look at it. The focus is, of course, not on the more known "Gabber hits and facts" of the decade but the true blue deep dark underground stuff. Maybe even some hardened "Gabber elders" might learn one or two tricks here?
The video is segmented into several "shorts" about a specific topic. To make things more interesting, it's not a dry documentary, but a very media-mix of sound bites, clips, texts...
Well, off you go!
The whole thing is brought to you by The Hardcore Overdogs, "E-Zine for great and / or underrated Hardcore Techno past and present!"
(I.e. by us)
Note: for some of the clips, we used a variety of sources. And we lost, erm, a bit track of them. So if an excerpt of one of your own clips is in here, and you want to be credited, or have the clip removed, please reach out to us!
List of the topics that are addressed here:
From Techno to Speedcore - A Timeline 21 Hardcore Techno related video clips from the 90s in under 100 seconds Horror Hardcore Techno Cover Artworks (Halloween Reel) Timeline of 1990s Hardcore Techno Style Evolution in 100 seconds Hardcore Techno Tracks used in TV and Movies Fischkopf Hamburg in 30 Seconds (1990s Hardcore and Techno Label) From Techno to Doomcore_ A Timeline Hardcore and Techno Music used in computer games 90s Underground Hardcore Techno in 40 Seconds The Industrial-Hardcore-Techno Connection Rare Footage from 90s Hardcore Techno and Gabber parties 90s Hard Acid and Acidcore in 100 seconds Hardcore Techno and Gabber at the 1990s German Mayday Raves 20 of the Hardest Tracks in any 90s Hardcore Techno Subgenre Japan's 90s Hardcore Techno scene was wild Creating an Oldschool Gabber 909 Bassdrum in the most simple way Let's not forget how great Kotzaak Records was! 20 Hardcore Techno Sub-Genres in 2 Minutes The intense world of 90s Hardcore and Techno parties Remarkable Hardcore Techno Vinyl Artworks
Hello, A message regarding our own projects, for a change. In case you want to support Doomcore Records (and The Hardcore Overdogs!) We created these three promo artworks. Would be cool if you could share them on social media, or elsewhere (print them out and drop the paper somewhere or give it to your friends 😉
All money will be fed back to the label and the artists. You can download the images right off here. Choose the one you like best!
Do you want to support the electronic underground?
You can now get the entire Doomcore Records discography for just 3.15 euro.
That's 300+ releases, Doomcore, Oldschool, Hardcore, Techno, Acid... and lots more. In various tempos and sizes, albums, EPs, compilations, anthologies...
Plenty of stuff to enjoy!
We will use all earnings to support our artists and to continue building the Doomcore underground.
It's my birthday today, so I feel like writing about things *I* want to tell (instead of catering to others).
I wrote a lot about hardcore techno, history, subcultures, in relation to politics, political ideas, political movements. And a lot of people got angry and yelled "Hardcore was not political in the 90s. People were against politics".
And it's not true. Outside the "big commercial" labels and events, the movement was very political, it was run by political people, anarchists communists, and so on, manifestos were written, leaflets were handed around. gabber basses hit home next to anarchist bookstores.
i know it, because i was there, because other people who were there confirmed this. but more than that; even the non-hardcore and / or mainstream press described the hardcore techno movement as radical, political, and anarchist.
but that is not what i want to talk about! because, yes. you are right. not everyone was political who listened to hardcore, gabber, and speedcore. not everyone owned a book by kropotkin or had a shirt with a socialist slogan. very true. some even despised the thought of politics, or could not care less.
but, and that's the big "but". the scene was accepting. it was tolerant. to all kind of weirdos and freaks and bizarre people. and no one was really judging each other. everyone had his / her / their own things. maybe someone never wore shoes and walked around in socks everywhere. or someone was into occultism and talked about rituals all the time. or someone had poor personal hygiene (well, a lot of us did, right?) we were all into this together, and we accepted that everyone is different and had their own strange things they were enthusiastic or hell-bent about.
so if someone was a card-carrying communist. and talked about politics all the time at parties or other music meetings. then even those who hated politics or thought that this guy or girl or they was completely off their minds. was accepting this and thinking "well yeah that's just how they are. we can't help it". no-one called for a removal of people like this, from social circles, from parties, or even from the scene (like it is done today!).
then, over the years, something happened. opposition to the "freaks" began to grow. people really tried to go against the political types. (and later, against others, too).
and not because they thought that left wing and radical politics would be "really dangerous". they argued that these humans were on the wrong track, deluded, out-of-their minds, talking bullshit, weaklings. and if they were allowed to "roam" the hardcore scene, they could weaken it, like a virus, like vermin.
it reminded me a bit of the "fascist" monologue towards the end of the movie videodrome... how "we" (as the scene) needed to be bold and clear and direct... and could no longer accept weakness and weaklings and "soft" people with "strange" ideas...
and yeah. i think all of this is an expression of a kind of "non-political" fascism. that one somehow needs to be strong-willed and "sane" in one's mind and behavior, and not be a "weirdo".
but, i ask you, what is so bad about that? seriously? why would you judge?
if you think such human beings are disgusting or worth despising... well then you have the completely wrong picture.
the HC sub-culture was always accepting of all kind of weirdos, freaks, outcasts, "as long as they harm no other". accepting of "softies" and "pseudo-intellectual wanna-be revolutionaries", too.
regardless of whether you feel "political" or not... let's keep it this way!
It's not fair that some releases stay hidden - stay under-appreciated. As this happened at the end of the 90s, around the same time that Chesler had his first giga-hits... still it did not take the world by storm, as it should have. After all, this is not yet another techno production. This is well-crafted, there is a lot of thought behind these tracks. They are embedded within mini-narratives, short spoken words, meandering storylines. I don't have confirmation, but I think all of these tracks add up to *one* big story.
A1 - Welcome Transmission I guess this must be the first track then? We are welcomed by a narrator named "A.G.N.E.S." who introduces themself as the "a.utomatic g.uide into the ne.bula s.ystem and to delta city".
It's ironic that, while they define themself as an AI, it's clearly voice acting by a real human being, wen today the situation might be in reverse!
As the track goes on, agnes gives us specific instructions on our way through the nebula system, for example on how to do a "manual check of the neutron power gauge" or "engaging the booster rocket".
each of these actions is accompanied by a certain sound or change in the structure / flow of the track. and i think that is just genius. storytelling by dance beats, acid bleeps, and trance-y synths.
A2. The Energy This is a much shorter story because - "you are the energy that is my soul". The track's located at the convergence of goa, trance, techno, ebm.
B1. Hyperspace Now we are entering hyperspace!
Instead of a normal narration, we are listening to the actual credits of the record itself ("...was recorded by oliver chesler"). It's embedded in fuzzy space synths and a computerized voice, though. Thus it fits into the world of the record, too. And that makes the whole thing... quite meta, if you think of it.
If you are a real music nerd, let me tell you that none other than Ennio Morricone once did the same thing: He narrated / sang the credits to a movie he scored, during the very movie, including his own credits!
B1. Speeding Through Time
We are told by the nameless protagonist of the record that while "traveling hyperspace", they came across a planet called earth.
what follows is a wicked techno / oldschool / hard house / hardcore mix of sounds. Guess things got more earthly and less celestial now, right?
B2. Vacuum
I don't know what happened, apparently we (and the protagonist) fell into a kind of (cosmic) vacuum. this is the most hardcore track off the record. there is no narration anymore, so i guess there is a kind of ambiguous ending to the story... did we get lost in the vacuum (forever), or is this more like some "magnetic force field" in star trek, where you can get trapped, but will eventually emerge?
you see, it's necessary to listen to all tracks in the right order to get this "whole story". (just in case it's *really* intended as a story!)
regardless: it's a quite fun and nasty little EP by mister chesler, worth listening in every way.
The world of Doomcore Techno is under the ground, labyrinthine, catacomb. The plain existence of doomed Techno is barely visible to the mainstream citizens. But some releases stay invisible, even to the Doomcore maniacs themselves. One of these releases is "Trinity Dance" by the Lords of Phutnture. And this lack of visibility is intentional. It was co-created by one of the biggest "anti-stars" in the 1990s Gabber realm. Yet hidden under an obscure alias, never released on physical media, buried as a "web-only" release by an opaque media collective.
No promotion, no live performances, nothingness.
It's not easy to exactly date the creation of these tracks, but an educated guess would be the mid or the too-late 90s.
Now on to the tracks. It is a remarkable release. Very different to the main flow of Doomcore. The tracks loop, drone on, repeat, hypnotize, mesmerize, for minutes and minutes (or hours and hours... in your mind?)
These are seemingly minimalist melos and synths, but done in a very complex, gargantuan way.
In fact, I'd argue this release channels minimal wave, 70s industrial, EBM, New Beat... just as much as it channels PCP and the Dance Ecstacy.
What did Robert Smith once say? "Sometimes I'm dreaming... while all the other people dance". Yes, dream on, or dance, dance like Captain Nemo, on the way to nightmarish Slumberland.
These 3 main tracks get supplemented by a cool intro and a hot gabber track.
While the release is still almost invisible to this day, some people indeed did do listen. It became a release that was whispered about, that got passed around, particularly in the early millennial Dutch Doomcore scene.
I'd assume it had an influence on artists that followed this way...
But, feel free to behold this precious opal, in your own ways, too.
This one's a true under / overdog. It's entirely inexplicable that this label from vienna / austria became so "obscure" now. After all, there was Panacea involved. There was Patric C. (Ec8or / E-de Cologne / Eradicator) involved. There were the Gangstar Toons involved. And, above all, the label was run by one half of Ilsa f**king Gold! It was set up by DJ Pure, who is still active under akas such as Current 909 in the more doomed Techno scenes of the current days - by the way.
As obscure as it seems, it was the center of attention in its glory days, and every good speedcore squat DJ dropped one of its tunes to the sweat drenched basement crowds - for sure.
Now let's look at the label's individual releases.
DJ Pure + Hoschi – How Life Sucks! (TB 001)
I don't own this release! So please allow me to reference a review from the 90s alien underground magazine instead:
"First release from DJ Pure’s label Loop that promises to become a thing to watch out for and after Main Frame’s demise could quick be the #1 austrian hardcore label… Monotonous pure underground acid , slowly building up, on the How Life Sucks side and very cool super-monotone bassdrum plus noise cut on It’s OK that totally rules. Tiny noises drilling little holes into the membranes of your brain while the rest of your body is synchronised to the 4-4; no escape. CF" (source: https://datacide-magazine.com/alien-underground-01-record-reviews-1995/ )
Pure & Liza 'N' Eliaz - Killerbees On Acid (Loop 002)
The queen of terror meets up with one half of Ilsa Gold for an overdriven Hardcore production? What could possibly go wrong? Nothing, and nothing did go wrong!
Two caustic terror creations. The bee has a toxic sting.
Pure & Liza 'N' Eliaz - Killerbees On Acid
Steel - Bondage (Loop 003)
The third one on loop. Produced by DJ Pure and Berlin based producer Rok. Well, what should I say. Nomen est omen. "Kinky" Techno and Acidcore that's also hard as steel. Hypnotic, trance inducing rave waves.
Steel - Bondage 1.2
Violent Shit - Untitled (Loop 004)
Do you collect Catani's "Gabber" works? Do you own his stuff via the akas of Ec8or, E-De Cologne, Eradicator? Well, it's quite possible you still don't know this one! Because it's way obscure and rare.
Collab with DJ Pure, and each of them adds their own ingredients. So you have Catani's "Amiga" sound and Pure's distorted experimentalism. And both are good!
Violent Shit - Side A
Information:Overload Untitled (Loop »9701)
Very "interesting" Speedcore record. Because it is very experimental, intellectual, and complex. Still a straight blow to your nose.
Information:Overload - Unit B
Slab - Untitled (Loop 006)
The eloquent track titles indicate who or what you are going to meet here. Two speedcore demons that jumped out of disturbing and zany horror videos.
Slab - Anoint me...
Pure Vs. Gangstar Toons Industry - Speeed (Loop 010)
at first, initially, this release was a double disappointment for me. judging by the history of GTi's output, and the output of loop records, i was expecting some ultra fierce and noisy speedcore hammers that blast the flesh from your bones. but it felt closer to... "normal" amiga type hardcore of the 90s. now, if i listen to it with the ears i have now, my judgment seems a bit too early. it's actually very complex, lots of ideas, lots of elements... unusual stuff... some "video game" kind of loop in the middle (?) and yeah, sheer nasty hardcore gabba fun.
oh and the other "double" disappointment i had? because i was "shocked" that it's not a double-sided release, like a regular vinyl. but that is okay, too.
Pure Vs. Gangstar Toons Industry - Speeed
Kate Mosh - Untitled (Loop 011)
Was hard to get by in the old days, but it's probably the "best known" release of loop records by now - for those in the know. As it was done by none other than Panacea himself. As far as I know this is the only "fully" Speedcore release that he ever did - and not mixed with other styles like Hard Techno or Drum'n'Bass. And it's hardcore kicking shit, man! The Hellraiser choice of samples reminds me a bit of Nordcore; but apart from that, it's very industrial and bass-heavy. Highly recommended!
The following review originally appeared in "About Digital Hardcore Recordings - A fan-written guidebook" - https://dhrfanbook.blogspot.com/ Note: No AI has been used for writing the text.
This release was done when ATR started to become really big; MTV rotation, releases with the Beastie Boys label, movie soundtracks, TV specials, and everybody's noize darling in global music and glossy magazines. Thus, the underground put on a sour face, and thought this new, next album would be their big sell-out one. Like past punk, rock, or metal bands that suddenly turned pop, people expected ATR would cut their hardness and go all mellow and cheesy. But the contrary happened! This album was definitely much more blood-thirsty than its pre-decessor; and maybe the most feral and untamed release in all of their discography.
Did you like tracks such as "Into The Death" or "Start The Riot" on the first album? Well you are in for a treat, because this album is the logical step onwards from that. Distorted terrorist gabber drums at high speed, grindcore and deathmetal guitars (with some oldschool punk), overloaded hyperactive samples, and alec, hanin, carl screaming at the top of their lungs. Riot from start to finish. A release that bursts right through your skull.
Particularly noteworthy are the tracks that are indeed a bit slower and calmer than the rest. "Redefine The Enemy", "Death Star", "You Can't Hold Us Back" (and more) combine hyper-aggression with an almost doom metal, death dub feel, and are reminiscent of a bleak and haunting scifi flick turned soundwave.
I get a lot of questions such as: "Your magazine / blog is very nice. I've been recently getting into Techno and Hardcore, and want to explore its history. Where should I start?"
Well, here is the good news: most major players in the Techno world are still around - they are alive and kicking. So if you want to learn more about:
-An old 90s label -A compilation series -Legendary events that used to happen in your town -Or elsewhere -Famous DJs, producers, key figures -Background stories to a release -Rare releases -Unreleased releases -How the scene was "back then" -If HC existed in your country, too -Sleazy stories about the things that happened in the green room (no, wait, let's skip that one!)
Then the best way is to look up an artist/producer/DJ And just send them a message, and ask them about the topic you research!
Think about it. If a real journalist. Is doing a documentary about the rolling stones, or oasis, or madonna, or anyone else. First thing the journalist would do is to reach out to them, and talk to them! The journalist for sure wouldn't just sit at home and browse the internet.
(Assuming the rolling stones are still alive when you read this text).
Many Techno and HC producers are active on the internet, even taking part in fan communities. Of course you shouldn't kick the door down, hassle or annoy them!
Be friendly, polite, have some courtesy and taste.
Remember: *you* are the fan. These are your kings and queens. So have some respect, will ya?
And if an artist doesn't reply or doesn't want to talk to you. Then shut the fudge up.
But if you reach out to people in a "journalistically sane" way. Then a lot of people might be interested to work with you on your research.
Part 2
I already talked about some things in part 1. Now here are things you should try to avoid:
To base your research on online sites or databases like Wikipedia or Discogs. These are highly unreliable and incomplete. Anyone can add or delete information there. Such sites can be a starting point for research - sometimes. But then you need to move on.
Discogs is a database that lists releases of labels, and even that info is often wrong, full of errors, or missing. Beyond that, it does tell you nothing about the history or background of music scenes or genres.
I stress that, because I had people who told me "the first release tagged with 'speedcore' on discogs was x by y in the year z, and that means..." - no, it doesn't mean shit.
Anyone could have added that tag, or could remove it again. It gives you zero real information about the history of speedcore.
So, avoid these sites, or at least be aware that everything you read on there *could* be true, but equally it could be false.
No Name! What can you say about her? One half of the Michelson sisters. French legends. Producers of the *smartest* Hardcore in the 90s. And No Name still gets going. One of the few veterans of the underground that's not Missing-in-Action... (or got killed in action!)
Now, most other former legends, who still churn out releases, either turned to Mainstream Hits'n'Shits, or keep calculating on their old formula.
No Name on the other hand, is amongst the only ones who *advanced* the sound and dare to do something different, something creative.
So it's nice to see a return to vinyl once more.
Now to Tannoizer's side. Another veteran, this time of the dangerous Italian underground - remember Exitus? And if the german 90s hc scene was made up of intellectual punks, and the french scene was hippies-turned-dark, then Italy was about unleashing the brutality. Don't believe me? Look up some "number one" videos on the 'net.
And that's what his tracks are. Remember when someone 20 years rammed his elbow into your teeth during gabber pogo and you started to spit blood in the discotheque? This is the sonic equivalent. Straight HC into your face!
There is an interview from the earliest days of the Planet Core label, where the ones involved state that, when a new artist wants to work with them, they take their material to the studio and enhance it, to push it really into the "Phuture" sound that this very label is known for - with the exception of the tracks by the 303 Nation, because they were able to reach this level on their own.
This should be enough to show that the 303 Nation was a singular project, unique, peculiar, stellar, not just within the wider cosmos of the Planet Core Production, but the whole of Techno, and the whole world of music.
303 Nation - Seis
You don't yet believe it? Let me take you to a single track, simply called "seis" on a release simply called "Six Tracker" EP, released on the label of Dance Ecstasy 2001.
I don't exaggerate; this track is simply made up of one filtered bassdrum, and one filtered acid line out of Roland's 303. There is no percussion. There are no vocals. There is no FX. No synths, no choirs, no samples, no breakbeats, no hoovers... both variants of "bass" pulse on in nothingness. For several minutes... (or forever?)
303 Nation - Damnation
And it's one of the greatest tracks I ever heard at the same time.
Any artists who manage to do this, who "pull off this trick" - to get the maximum out of the most minimal - are deserving whatever award is available.
This is one of the things, maybe even one of the kinks of the 303 Nation. Minimalist in design.
Drum, bassline, percussion, sparse and spacey synths, go!
Yet these minimum means create massive mayhem.
303 Nation - Dos
You will have a hard time finding any more elements, or even samples. There is something that resembles the sound of piledriver in the distance on "dos" amongst the tracks of the aforementioned six tracker EP... yes... but what else, really?
That's the line of sound they were known for, and it's brilliant.
100% Acidiferous - Worldisorder
But... if you go beyond these tracks, centered on the Dance Ecstasy label, there is something else, there is more.
Donning the "100% Acidiferous" alias they deliver some straight Acidcore blows to rot your teeth.
It's still the 303 Nation "mode" - mostly bass, bleeps and drums - but this time distorted, fried, crispy, and hard as fudge. Nu Horizons, indeed.
100% Acidiferous - Nu Horizons
So you see... these were some of the most versatile and mysterious producers of the 90s Techno scene.
It's hard to trace them or their productions post-1994, and post-PCP. A shame that such creative minds had not more output on vinyl or other media.
But at least we still have these tracks to listen to. And bath in the acid mystery of the 303 nation.
Compilation by Praxis Records, the pioneer label for experimental Hardcore and, later, Breakcore. We are told that these are the "paraphysical" and "cybertronic" experiments of Bloor Schleppy. An undisclosed character, and neither on this, or later releases, we do learn who he actually is or was.
I think Umwelt caught my attention ca. 2008. He has been around for much longer, though, and this is one of his earliest works. But it feels positively out of time and space, because it is not quite withing the ordinary, any style, or scene. Some might call these tracks "electro" ; but it is far different from the retro-electro sound that happened at the same time, or even the original electro-funk of the 80s. Maybe some sounds by Somatic Responses, Lory D, or The Mover find their mirror here.
But above all, it emits a vibe of pure future, like all your favorite dystopias have come alive, and you are walking inside Blade Runner, Fahrenheit 451, or do Logan's Run.
Next in our reviews for Halloween is, of course, none other than The Horrorist. And we are gonna take a scrutinizing look at "One Night In NYC". This is a definitive 11/10 release, every one of the six tracks on this EP is a legit banger, epic, titanic. There is the title track, One night in NYC, and of course we all know that one.
There is Mission Extacy... was already super popular in its day. Completely novel concept, and I never heard something quite like it again. It's a narration of two raver kids on the road to oblivion in the cultural underworld of New York... And under the narrative, there is a brilliant, minimal, somber Techno track. And it's hard to say if the speech serves to enhance the track, or whether it's the other way round, and the beats only exist to give credibility to the narrative.
Up comes "The Real World". A very grim, nihilist, but also ultimate liberating in its darkness monologue. I never figured out whether the speech samples were taking from a televangelist, noam chomsky, or a drunken patron.
And the B side delivers is to "Flesh is the fever". The apocalyptic anthem for the doomed gabber generation. And those of us that have (partly) survived... can still listen to these wonderful and feverish tunes.
There was always something very enigmatic about Minimum Syndicat. For once, despite their name, they never were "minimalistic" - to the contrary. During their first years of wider success ( ~2010 ), almost the entire club scene was dominated by the most reduced, most boring, and most minimal sounds. But the Syndicat took a rebel stance there. Their sound is huge, epic, complex, complicated, maximalist in every sense. It makes you feel like you are not in some run down urban sprawl area, clubbing with your friends. But on Planet X, in a large amphitheatre, and a massive ceremony is going down, while thousands of aliens move their feet.
We are looking at one of these early gems today - the Killing Forcefield EP (MS04) - because Halloween draws near, and the tracks are topically related.
We become informed about a Phantasm, (dark?) Forces, Bizarre Brainwaves are an occurance, and an Acid Assassin is on the loose.
And all of these tracks are the most wonderful Techno, House (in the original sense), Acid compositions...
Drenched in the bittersweet darkness that is hinted at by those track titles.
A friend recently told me that, nowadays, ravers worry about things like: how to avoid getting "sweaty" at a rave, how to avoid "smells", etc...
I was quite perplexed to hear this.
Apparently, some views and attitudes have changed over time after all... or maybe they didn't.
So let us do a flashback to the earlier days of techno and, more specifically, to its most loathed and extreme niche - underground hardcore, gabber and speedcore raves in the 90s and early 2000s.
Temper Tantrum - The Underground
And this sound, this scene, these parties, these crowds, were a quite *physical* experience. Very different from listening to all this at home.
You went to the squat - which, of course, was always in the "bad" neighbourhoods. The terrain was often patrolled by coppers and crackheads looking for an easy fix, so one needed to be a bit careful.
Q-Tex - Get on the Floor
Once you got there, sometimes one needed to get through a literal labyrinth of worn down or broken down doors, stairways, or a hole in the wall.
And when you finally got to the dancefloor, there were bass drums hammering at 120 decibel and 240 bpm. There was darkness, you could barely breathe because of all the smoke from the fog machine, the pitch black scenery was only interrupted by the frantic flashes of the strobes...
Omar Santana - Kick Some Shit (Remix)
And everyone was screaming, shouting, jumping around, letting their arms, legs, hands and feet fly off in every direction...
Everyone was pushed on caffeine, energy drinks, worse things, or an old fashioned coca cola...
Often there was zero ventilation, zero heating, or the walls were dripping with liquid, the floor was covered in mud...
DJ Dano & Liza 'N' Eliaz - Energy Boost
So, let us put it this way. A little dose of deodorant would not be of much help here.
Of course everyone was sweating as fudge and getting smelly. All the boys and girls and all the other genders.
The Speed Freak - Body Hammer
Sweat, of course, was not the only bodily liquid that got spilled at Hardcore raves.
The extreme form of dancing, the disorientation and confusion caused by the light and sound and physical action, the state of too many people cramped in too small rooms; all this meant you could bruise easily.
The sight of someone with blood all over his face and on his clothes was not an uncommon one. Because, you know, minor face wounds still bleed excessively, even if it is just a burst eye-brow. Nothing that could not be fixed with a quick trip to the hospital and a few stitches, though!
Nasenbluten - Blows T' The Nose
There is an anecdote once told by Tanith, a true German industrial and techno pioneer. He was there when PCP played the Mayday rave. Which was actually a more cleaner, "official" type of raving. But after PCP had finished their sets, Tanith noted that a lot of the ravers left the dancefloor with black eyes, bruises everywhere...
Let's get back to the underground. Pogo / Slamdancing / Moshing was a common thing.
In most instances, they followed the "Slamdance etiquette", i.e. no intentional hurting of others, helping others up again if they have fallen down in the circle, and so on.
Still. If everyone rushes into the pit when the 300 bpm set in, this means there is a lot of elbows, kneecaps, skullbones flying around. And an accidental blow to the nose can happen.
Rude Boy - Skinhead (I Said Pogo)
So, this was a little trip down memory lane. But, I think not much has changed over the years.
I haven't being to too many international parties lately, but I think the "dangerous" speedcore, acidcore, whatever scenes are still around. And these parties are still like this.
Even today, not all ravers would use a deodorant, right?
U.V.C. & DJ Narotic - Step Into The Pit
And one more thing. For those who are not accustomed with extreme music and subcultures.
None of this was evil. Or negative, or intended to harm someone.
It's just an extreme form of activity, to the most extreme form of techno, with some of the most extreme people in society.
Done in the pursuit of pleasure, fun, friendship, maybe even a bit of serenity and enlightenment...
I mean if someone is doing extreme sports, there is usually sweat and bruises involved, too, right? And no-one would say "Oh, that's weird."
Titanium Steel Screws - Dance The Night Away
Oh, and it should be obvious, but I feel the need to state it either way: this is in no way intended to be a diss, or a burn, against people who *do* mind getting sweaty at a rave, or who prefer to listen to gabber at home, etc.
Everyone is entitled to enjoy music (and techno) in the way they seem fit, and no-one should be put down because of this.
And this time, the entire focus is on horror, dark fantasy, negative sci-fi...
Evil aliens, zombies, mutations of the body, violence, and the doors to heaven and hell...
It's fascinating that both the horror movie genre, and the hardcore genre of electronic music, share these same tropes, motifs, or should we say, dark passions.
It's like the mood and feelings of horror movies got engraved into pitch black vinyl grooves... by the help of spirited hardcore producers, DJs, and sound engineers.
The only thing that would be better is if more horror flicks featured frantic hardcore and gabba tracks within their soundtracks too... but this still has not happened yet.
Alas! Now let's get on with the reel, grab your popcorn, sit down in front of the silver screen, and get ready for our little horror show.
Because the theme of the day is "Hardcore Techno Horror Movie Samples"
Here is a list of movies that fit the bill, and the tracks that sample them:
The Shining - DOA - You're Dead From Dusk Til Dawn - Hammer Damage - The Demons Evil Dead: Army Of Darkness - Mutoid - Necronomicon The Fly - Two Terrorists - The Fly Children of The Corn 2 - Strychnine - Sacrifice The Exorcist - Tellurian - Cocksuckers Twilight Zone - A Matter Of Minutes - Myrmidon No Choice The Outer Limits - DJ Freak - Off Planetary Interference The Devil Rides Out - DOB - Goat of Mendes Leprechaun - DJ Yves - Leprechaun Lord of Illusions - Static Tremor - Mt 3.2 A Nightmare on Elm Street - Holy Noise - The Nightmare Evil Dead - C-Tank - Nightmares are reality Videodrome - Somatic Responses - Cyclotron Hellraiser - Leviathan - We'll Tear Your Soul Apart Legend - Zekt - The Last Dawn Nightbreed - Headware - Nightbreed vs Cenobites Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 - Zodiac - Leben Und Tod
Review taken from "An unofficial guidebook to Fischkopf Records, a label associated with the Hardcore Techno scene in the 1990s, based in Hamburg, Germany." Read more about it here: https://fischkopfrecordsguidebook.blogspot.com/
Legendary drone-speedcore track. Doctor Fischer has the cure for you! Just go to his praxis.
1-03 E.P.C. - Persistance 5:12
Oh what a beatiful noise!
1-04 Amiga Shock Force - Violent Geisha 3:14
mix between breakcore and early speedcore with an amiga feel.
1-05 Auto Psy - If 6:09
when i played this track, a guy once asked me "what kind of terrorist music is this?". good description!
1-06 Burning Lazy Persons - Catastro 4:15
The overdose of noise and drums.
1-07 Trash Enemy H. Q. - Braintraining 1:06
noise and distortion with a painful sound without drums or anything else.
1-08 Burning Lazy Persons - Poisoned Radio Wave 4:34
ooh, painful audio signals and overly distorted hardcore drums. i'm luving it.
1-09 P. Server - Ratings (Terror Unit H.Q.) 4:36
cool monotonous acidcore track.
1-10 Shangoe - Army Of Darkness 6:58
interesting breakcore out of hamburg.
1-11 R.A.W - Sudden Death 7:37
the other r.a.w. track from the otaku compilation. impressive as well!
1-12 Monoloop - Chill Out 7:55
breakcore madness in between being chilled (as indicated by the piano) and being killed (as indicated by the screams).
1-13 Amiga Shook Force - Sex, Mord & Kunst 4:17
one of the fastest tracks of its era. hyperfast beats next to crazy rap samples.
1-14 No Name - Y-droid 6:35
Slick and without mercy.
1-15 Orderly Chaos - 45m 4:23
The so real dark ambient experience.
2-01 Jean Bach - Tausend Stimmen 3:19
very crazy and over the top track by jean bach. heavy distortion.
2-02 Taciturne - Avarie De Machine 4:49
made up of sounds of heavy machinery? great!
2-03 E.P.C. & A.N.T.I. - Sharpomatic 6:06
noisy hardcore with a total "piss off!" attitude.
2-04 No Name - Control 4:18
one of the most classic and most fierce hardcore tracks. if you haven't heard this one, you are missing out!
2-05 Taciturne - Der Toten 4:24
the one and only fischkopf track that became a real "hit". was in high demand in the dutch gabber scene and ended up on countless compilations. as you probably already know this track, I don't need to describe it here :-)
2-06 Fields Of Defacement - Bang-Bang (Live In Hamburg 96) 7:05
Live recording. Brutal. Acidcore. With gabber and general hardcore elements. Entrancing. Exalted. Shows the power of a hardcore techno live performance.
2-07 Amiga Shock Force - Shoot 'em Breax 4:20
A perfect early breakcore track. Hip hop and guitars.
2-08 Johnny Ego - Untitled 5:25
again an interesting hamburg breakbeat track.
2-09 R.A.W - Cold War Memory Nightmare 6:56
great, great early breakcore. interesting use of sounds and "melody". also a good but haunting cold-war feel.
2-10 Burning Lazy Persons - "R" 4:09
vicious nice and nasty track by nawoto suzuki.
2-11 Taciturne - In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi 6:01
samples the chuch of satan. non 4/4 beats. slow, distorted, noisy. dark and scary.
2-12 Orderly Chaos - Pine 5:20
painful sounds and pure ambient.
2-13 Trash Enemy H. Q. - Pestilence 6:15
truly interesting track. acid sounds. very dark and epic melody. no real hardcore beats and rhythm. close to industrial.
2-14 Orderly Chaos - Melt Away Love 5:21
pure ambient track. interesting, repeated melody. wonderful track.
"Techno" has plenty of roots. Two well-known ones are the "Detroit" sound of the 80s, and the funky House sound that eventually turned into full-blown Acid House via Ibiza and the Brits.
The "Industrial" roots are sometimes acknowledged, often overlooked.
The truth is that a lot of "Techno" pioneers were very active in the earlier Industrial and EBM movements, and the darker parts of the Synth Pop culture. It was a very straight evolution - being an Industrial musician in the 80s, then the "switch" to Techno when the 90s began.
Yet there is a reason that there is not as much attention on this Industrial influence than on the other "roots". These musicians usually stayed attached to the darker, harsher, more brutal forms of Techno, and when Hardcore and Gabber got into full swing, they went there, too. And to even more extreme sounds like Speedcore and Breakcore as the 90s went on.
So let us look at some of these. Given the topic, the view is mostly on artists from the earlier days of Techno, in the 90s.
Industrial Strength Records
One of the earliest American Techno and Hardcore labels - based in New York City And the name gives it away - there is a huge Industrial influence. By the mid 90s, and onwards, it gained a huge surge of popularity within the "Gabber" scene. But its eggs found their way into many baskets - the sound fueled the US warehouse rave scene, the European squat underground, or its compilation CDs were released on the prime extreme Metal label of the 90s - Earache Records. While Techno / Rave / Dance elements are a-plenty on this label, this is not some cheese / good-time music for sure! We hear the sound of hammering pistols, screaming metal, and howling machines on this one.
Listening suggestions:
DX 13 - Mother F**ker New York Temper Tantrum - Industrial Strength Nasenbluten - Concrete Compressor
Planet Core Productions
"Phuture - An Industrial Project" is written in big black letters on the pages of the booklet, when you open up the eponymous 1994 compilation by this Frankfurt label. Marc Acardipane - "head honcho" of the label - once stated his mission was to combine the dark sounds by the likes of Front 242 with the more funky sounds coming from Detroit and Chicago at the same time.
And while the label later found fame within the stark raving Dutch Gabber scene, the industrial roots are undeniable.
Listening suggestions:
Mescalinium United - We Have Arrived Cold Blooded Split - Invaders Reincarnated Regulator - Mindeater
The Horrorist
The Horrorist was so industrial that Depeche Mode actually invited him and a few other hand-picked fans to join him in their bus of the 101 tour and video! But all silliness aside, Oliver Chesler was deeply ingrained in New York's industrial electronic underground. He later picked up the Techno beats, too, and joined above-mentioned Industrial Strength Records, and other labels. He spawned several worldwide hits ("Flesh is the fever" became a Dutch Gabber hit, "DJ Skinhead" became a terror-speedcore hit, and "One night in NYC" went #1 on the German dance charts). But there was always a fling with industrial music as the backdrop, now and then.
Listening suggestions: The Horrorist - Can You Hear the sound? The Horrorist - Flesh is the Fever The Horrorist & Marc Acardipane - Metal Man
Praxis Records
The Praxis crew was deeply embedded within the Swiss industrial and electronic underworld of the 80s. In fact, Praxis has an industrial avant-garde precursor, Vision Records. But then they went to the UK, got entangled in the dangerous London anarchist / squat / traveler / rave culture. How many successful electronic labels of the 90s can rightfully claim that they were run by itinerants who did not even have a residential address (let alone a shower) ? Before finally settling in Berlin, and becoming part of the new Breakcore "thing".
Listening suggestions:
Bourbonese Qualk - Logic Bomb Base Force One - Phuturist Society of unknowns - Dead by Dawn (The Endless Mix)
Fischkopf
From Berlin we move to another German city, Hamburg. The home of Fischkopf was a record store on the second floor of a clothes outlet selling subcultural fashion within the city's red light district. So a trip to Fischkopf always became a rite of passage, passing by bondage gear stores, blue movie cinemas, pimps with brass knuckles, and cracked heads with jackknives. The label's roster was international and the influences were wide-spread. You had more Gabber or Techno types doing releases, but also a lot of artists who were active or fans in the original industrial scene before they sailed to these new horizons.
Listening suggestions:
Auto-Psy - Ovoide Taciturne - In Nomine Dei Nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi Eradicator - Worringen
Digital Hardcore Recordings
We are back in Berlin again! DHR was not only a label with industrial influences (input), but also one that made it quite big within the industrial community itself (output). Which 90s industrial-goth teen did not have a crush on Alec or Hanin? (I know I did!) There is also breakcore, metal-gabber, hard acid on this label, but, yup, it's industrial too!
Listening suggestions: Ec8or - Discriminate the next Fashionsucker Sonic Subjunkies - Central Industrial Atari Teenage Riot - Redefine the Enemy
Biochip C / Street Trash Alliance
German producer Martin Damm became involved in the projects of music publishing company ZYX and the labels Boy / Generator Records. These helped to spread Industrial music to the masses in Germany and across the borders via some of their compilations and releases. Martin Damm later became a Hardcore, Speedcore, and "Frenchcore" legend. But his early releases were ingrained in the Industrial, EBM, and New Beat sound. And maybe he is the one with the most "immediate" Industrial influence. A lot of tracks contain plainly visible nods to early bands and projects.
O - Das Spiel Cyberchrist - Information Revolution Part 2 Napalm - Napalm !!!
There is more out there. But we will talk about that when "The Stars Turn and a Time Presents Itself".
Part 3
So, how did Industrial culture cross over into Techno and, later, Hardcore?
On a technological level (pun intended), it's the production methods, synths, ideas... Industrial artists sampled movies, speeches, other records... and put these vocal snippets into their songs / tracks. Often these were otherwise "instrumental" tracks where, on a conceptual level, the sampled narration of a horror movie or a political speech "replaced" the singer that would be there if it was a conventional pop / rock song.
This was done in early Techno, too. With the addition that these short voices or truncated parts of a speech got looped - or got re-triggered at machine-gun speed. When Techno producers dropped this habit as the 90s went on, the industrial sampling heritage found its new home in the Hardcore and Gabber scene. Where the choices of sources were oddly similar to that of the Industrial community: horror flicks, alien movies, interviews from the mental asylum...
The hippies had their electronic Krautrock / Ambient, playing 11+ minute long synthesizer "solos" that went everywhere and nowhere while being stoned out of their mind while eager european businessmen and journalists watched by in the 70s. But it took the advent of Industrial to finally get some sequencer-based, "tight" electronic form of music - that was not done by a funky Moroder in a Beverly Hills sound studio (no diss against Giorgio at all - but you know what I mean!).
Like some German New Wave legend remarked on TV once: "I would never have considered 'Hot on the Heels of Love' to be part of disco music. Even though everyone danced to it." [paraphrased]
And the choice of sounds. Peter Gabriel might have spent 4 weeks finding a way to record a metal pipe hitting a metal object (or was that Phil?). Yet the artists of Industrial music took this way farther. Machinery, drills, jackhammers (hello, Neubauten!), pile drivers were now a welcome addition to an artist's music. Recorded, used for improvisation, during live shows, or for drilling a hole through a wall, into the green room, during a live show (hello again, Neubauten!).
Noise was now a type of music too, you know. I must admit that early Techno and House had not much of that. But later Hardcore and Gabber had a similar sweet tooth for sheer loudness and abrasive hissing+screeching mayhem.
Just three examples - and this just covers the technical side of things so far.
And with these words, dear reader, we leave you for the night.
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