The Somatic Responses have re-released their "Passages EP", which originally appeared as a vinyl on Underground Futuristic Organisation (London), in a digital way. So... let us review it...!
Somatic Responses - Passages EP
this record had a huge impact on the scene. it received praise from everywhere. it marks a shift in the transition of the sound of somatic responses, from the 4/4 driven, industrial-acidish relentless tracks they did on the likes of their first CFET EP or on Shockwave, to the experimental, dreamy music with arhythmic beats, limitless sonic exploration and deep space sounds they became rightfully famous for.
A1 - Sickwave Sickwave starts with slow, spacey synth stabs, sounding dark and futuristic. a friend of mine told me that he thinks the synths in this track are full of despair. maybe the most defining track of this record. then distorted and hard beats come in, with a rhythm that makes one want to dance to (is it offensive to describe a somatic responses track as "dancable"?) and get the track going. in the middle part the melody changes and we get a different variation of space travel sounds. i remember the PCD catalogue described this record as "sounds like lory d meets the mover" (or a similar wording), this might be an accurate description for this track (without taking anything away from the individual, unique style of somatic responses).
A2 - Freezing Point incredible. this can't be made on earth, it must've been created on a planet far far away. i don't know how somatics created these sounds and melody, but i don't think i've heard something similar in other artists' tracks yet. this is just the far away future feel that seemingly only they can do. the track starts with ice cold cascading sounds - "Freezing Point" is correctly named so - then very hard distorted drums kick in, with a 4/4 rhythm this time. more elements get added in and the melody changes, the track progresses in a good way. the drones at the end of the track give me an extra chill.
B1 - Milk Jugs this is more of a traditional somatics affair here. faster, distorted 4/4 kicks and lots of sound exploration, and spacey synths too. a very great composition again.
B2 - Passage Sickwave and this track are my favorite ones on this record. it starts with electronic sounds, then kicks off into relentless hardcore drums. it has a strong build up, first it is drums and effects only, and slowly synths are added which build up the tension and one starts to expect what might come. we arrive at it then; the kick drops off and the synths unfold to a huge composition of sound, like a space symphony, as i said, only somatics really manages to do melodies as this. after this breakdown, the drums come back in and synth and kicks move alongside. if dropped in a set, i am sure this track would give the crowd a total adrenaline rush from the start to the end of it.
this is a groundbreaking record, and one of the first big records of somatics in their own, special style. if you are interested in the sound of the duo, this is likely something you would love.
It's here - the first remix album of the hardcore overdogs, by the hardcore overdogs, for the hardcore overdogs! released by Dutch label Gabbaret Records.
"The Hardcore Overdogs" is an... "E-Zine for great and / or underrated Hardcore Techno past and present!"
And this release happens to come just in time for its 3 year anniversary (wow, what wild times we had since 2022, right?).
We called for a remix contest, and you responded, and this release is a selection of the best remixes you sent in!
And yeah, when we say "by.. for.. " the overdogs, then with the word "hardcore overdogs" we mean *you*, the crazy gabber hardcore rave whatever fans and supporters! because you rock!
and this is what our mag is about as well. to support the hc scene and its madness.
and maybe this release can play a minor part in this bigger plan...?
on it you will find a lot of styles in the hc spectrum... the focus is on early hardcore and oldschool gabber. but there is also industrial hardcore, doomcore, modern hardcore... millenium, happy hc and speedcore. something for every dog... am i right?
Woof!
Tracklisting:
1. Topp Dogg (Rodox Trading cover) 04:55 2. Topp Dogg (Librarium & Bohemian rework) 05:34 3. Hardcore like the Wolf (Jek's remix) 05:36 4. Topp Dogg (Der Cherep remix) 03:23 5. Hardcore like the Wolf (GabberGirl ReBarx) 03:19 6. T.o.p.p. D.o.g.g. (J.f.k. r.m.x.) 02:16 7. We are the Hardcore Overdogs (original) 04:36 8. Hakken with Wolves (original) 08:48 9. Hardcore like the Wolf (original) 05:55 10. Topp Dogg (original) 03:28 11. Drum Test (120 - 2000 bpm) 08:16 12. Hamburg Hardcore Anthem (Part 2) *Bonus track* 04:25
Hello Friends,
2025 sets and 2026 dawns (or looms!).
So it's time to look a bit back, and especially at the releases of this year.
And I must say, 2025 had some of the best output for techno and electronic music - ever!
But no more words - let's get right into it!
Note: No AI has been used when writing this feature (or the reviews).
Second note: This list is neither meant to be "objective" nor complete. I am sure a lot of good releases are still missing.
#1. Various Artists - Happy Gabber Sounds #3 (Mokum 326)
The early hardcore and techno sounds of the 90s are making a comeback.
But what about the happy sounds?
Well, they are here too - finally!
Mokum, of course, was at the center of the "happy hardcore" and rave/dance shockwave in the 90s. with their smash hits like "i wanna be a hippy" or "have you ever been mellow" (by technohead / the party animals, respectively).
so it seems right that they should ride the new wave of retro sounds - the wave that they originally started, many years ago.
especially if the sounds are so sweet and spicey like on this release.
#2. Bloody Mary & Human Rebellion x HR101 - Acid Avengers 034
Tripalium has become one of the best labels for underground techno music, even though I'm sure these sounds entertain massive amounts of people in the club at the same time.
This is a new volume in the Acid Avengers sub-series.
And it's marvelous. it's a wide ranging construction of sound. oldschool, newschool, acid, breaks, core...
this is what you want - this is what you get!
Some artists mellow as they got older, but no no, not the Technohead! (And have you ever been... mellow?)
His hardcore actually pre-dates the proper advent of Techno (and Hardcore) and this one is food for the party animals and ravers as well.
The title is "Acid Head" and, yeah, that's the theme, but it's more like... totally zany, crazy gabba-mayhem.
Just like in the 90s! Weird / strange sounds, lunatic vocals... the bass that goes boom!
But it's even more distorted now, and the sampled voices scream louder then before.
And finally, a drop of acid can be found in all of these tracks, too!
Braintrance is steadily becoming my favorite label for newer Ravecore/Hardtrance releases...
Well, is there any other label really, for this sound?
This EP is like the 90s never ended. All of them are still here: the stuttering, angelic "ahs", the mokum/ruffneck type ultra-frantic 303-soundalikes... the highspeed drums... arpeggios and sawtooth-riffing that would make any 80s rock star solo guitarist turn grey and to stone.
But, and that is a nice touch: each of these hit much harder and mental than in the past!
#5. Nekra Damage - Négation de L'Être (Culture of Violence 013)
Culture of Violence is a small but sweet label from France. How should I describe its sound?
Imagine Black Metal were a Techno genre. But not that ultra-aggressive, "loud" type of Black Metal, its more quiet, more dark kind.
It's like that. Slow, passive-aggressive tracks, dark, lurching, limping, haunting.
It has two tracks by Nekra Damage, who also runs the label. (The b-side track is called "This side", shouldn't it be the other way round?)
And a remix by The Man Unknown, who goes way, way back, in the world of techno, and in the world of darkness.
I love this release!
(And no, it isn't a Black Metal release. I was just making a comparison!)
#6. Tannoizer / No Name - The Icon of Sin E.P. (Rotten 02)
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 ago 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!
"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.
#8. Umwelt - Echoes of a Broken Future (New Flesh Records 33)
Umwelt is an enigmatic musician... as far as I am aware of his discography, he started as an electro and turn-of-the-millenium techno producer.
He picked up a lot of other styles along the way: Cinematic Soundtracks, Hardcore, Oldschool Rave, even some house and funky-business.
It's all combined on this release, and that is a good thing, and, if you think of it, a remarkable achievement.
Tracks that sound like they could make Ravers go into gabbering. But that also could be used as the backdrop to a movie where man-eating aliens just arrived from mars. *And* that still have the funk, and got soul.
This is it. The dark blend of the future. Rave or Die, you know?
Miro's been busy to get his analogue Hardcore / Doomcore catalogue onto digital for a while now.
This so far is my favorite of these anthology editions.
Of course the others were ten out of tens as well - how could it be elsewise with zombie rave mega smashers like "xtc express" or "purple moon"?
But this one has the hard to find, "lesser known" nuggets and, wow, there is some good and heavy stuff there.
Most importantly, for me, "Time Machine", a b-side he did is his Reign disguise - a long time ago.
And when I say "b-side" I mean it, yes, this "track" *is* the entire b-side, and no, it's a single track.
The b-side consists of three micro-tracks that are seamlessly mixed into a whole, already on the vinyl (read more about that here). A genius idea.
So it's nice non-vinyl-ears get to hear this thing too, now!
In other notes, "Face Down *** Up" get's its first "official" release with this one.
The Blue sun sees the light of day again - this track is kinda like a precursor to "Purple Moon" (in my opinion), just as brilliant. "Understand" is the flip side to Purple Moon - still gives me the chills.
And then... the final track... "Destination - Nowhere"...
A pure, beatless track, just doom-synths... the ost for nightmares... or dreams?
Just perfect!
I don't know much about this organization, but it seems to be quite big, and they are not just doing sounds and releases, but also parties etc.
There is not much information that can be gathered on the bandcamp page, but I assume it is already the 3rd entry in a series of compilation releases they do?
Either way, on to the review, and, yeah, this compilation is a dream, and it is a great thing to "end" the year with.
There is not just Hardcore on it, it's a vector, a spectral ray... there is oldschool, newschool, rave/hardtrance stuff... ambient, cinematic sounds... speed up / pitched up happy hardcore sounds...
even some stuff of more "mainstream" hardcore genres like uptempo or frenchcore.. and this time, surprisingly, they do not annoy but add nicely to it.
all these ingredients are blent together, but they do not clash or add a sour taste at all.
there are also some quite well known names amongst the artists list, and plenty of new ones.
good stuff - kicks hard. is industrial and claustrophobic like berlin hardcore always was.
but brings up a smile to the face.
#11. Minimum Syndicat - Magnetic Streets 01 (Self-Released)
I totally adore the concept of this release. The promo text promises us a return to the days of miami bass, pure fun and funk electro days.
And yeah, I could totally see an 80s TV show, or 80s revival show, playing these tracks, and the audience goes wild.
But hey, it's the syndicate. It's still very heady and intellectual techno. At the same time.
And that they pulled this merger is quite the feat.
Plus there is also a third layer here: an outer space, interstellar colony feel. As if aliens produced these tracks, instead of humans.
I like to think that in the 90s, hardtrance was the "german", or at least european, variant of dutch gabber.
think about it: it's all there. the frantic speed, the distorted drums, the snare rolls, the sudden cuts in track structures...
especially if you compare hardtrance with other genres - even trance! you will see it's quite close to early gabber.
And gabba was played at german trance-centered raves. lots and lots and lots. but the other way round, hardtrance was not that popular at the dutch gabber events... by all that i know. the dutch companies definitely were interested in the german (or european) markets, though...
given these circumstances, it's strange that true blue cross breeds between hard-trance and hard-core are rare, very rare. Most tracks either belong entirely to one camp. Or to the other camp.
Genuine "Ravecore" or "Trancecore" stuff does exist, though!
So let's look at a bunch of releases... in that vein!
RMB - This World Is Yours (Low Spirit Recordings - 527 978-2)
The tracks and music of this album are well-known and have been reviewed a lot. (At least in the retro-trance/core mini-sphere).
So I want to remark on a few other things that I find outstanding here.
This album starts with "Universe of Love" and ends in "The Place to be".
'Heavenly' ambient-trance at first. The tracks get harder and darker as the album goes on.
And that last one is "hellish" terror-gabba.
So it's almost like a conceptual album. A journey from light into darkness, and back again.
The second thing: RMB were the most varied and complex of the whole "german-style hardtrance" era.
This isn't just beats and sawtooth-arpeggios. There are elements of tribal dancing. There is "gregorian monk" type chanting.
Animal sounds; that sound like croaking birds of paradise.
All kinds of instruments that are used by native people around the world. But not in western music.
So this release goes way beyond the scope of hardtrance, techno, or even 99% of electronic music.
I could imagine that if RMB had kept exploring these venues, and maybe dropped the "strict 4/4" beats, the whole thing could have gone huge - with worldwide reach.
Speed Nova - Acid Instinct / Impulse (Industrial Strength Records - IS033)
Acid Instinct is better known track here.
I often wondered, was it done on amiga? despite the cutoff frequency slides?
Regardless of that... it's a chameleon of a track, almost feels like 3-4 tracks in one... starts as techno-acid, gets more noisy, harder, then trancy, and then... gabba-terror!
but of course, the true hidden secret here is impulse... sweet sweet hardtrance synths, choirs, pads... with a fiery gabba drum. we are about to enter trance-core heaven.
Listening suggestion: Speed Nova - Impulse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LOJ1XjziIw
Re-Actor - Setup 1 (Uptide Records - UP 03)
Marusha played this one at Mayday, hey hey!
All tracks are a cross between rave/trance sounds, and hardcore.
Sounding a bit like "amiga" stuff actually.
Also some unusual sounds...
And especially Setup 1 is nice...
As the strings almost sound like an orchestra!
Kicking-cool release.
Raver's Nature - La Monza (The Return) (Fire Recordings - FIRE 203)
During the classic "Rave / Hardtrance" era, albums done by well-known producers and acts were usually of lesser interest.
Their focus was clearly on EP and 12" releases (probably to feed the DJs and the dancefloors), and albums releases were closer to compilations of previously released EPs, strange remixes, or sub-par material.
But not with this one! At least half of the tracks are brand spanking new here, and exclusive to the album.
And, in my opinion, the exclusive tracks are some of the best raver's nature ever did - such as "Illegal Pirate Radio" or "Here We Go Again".
Raver's Nature - Here We Go Again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Ehd3rscG8
Coax - Rave 'O' Lution (Zombie - ZOMBIE 2609)
Rave 'O' Lution (Main Lower Mix) is the track to go here... because it is kind of unique!
Reminds me almost of Cirillo / Mover type stuff... in the choice of sounds.
There is a minimalist feel to it, choirs, drums, the "revolution!" shout and not much else.
But very hardcore while it is at it!
The other track's very good too, very melodic...
But not as hardcore as the rave-o-lution!
Rodd Y-Ler Feat. Clinique-team II - Mission Fulfilled
Mission Fulfilled was on obscure compilation CD "Rave Collision" (anyone knew this?).
It's one of the releases where there is seemingly two different mixes of a track, but when you listen to it, it's more like there are two completely different tracks! (which is a plus).
The classique mix is very interesting to me, as the main-hook saw-riff sounds *close* to chiptune, video game music, demoscene, trackers... at least in my ear, i hope someone else sees this too!
and generally, it feels somewhat "off", as it would belong to at least one more, different genre (80s... disco...maybe? if disco was really fast and techno-y).
this "style"-mix is a plus for me too, of course.
And then there is the strawberry mix (maybe because it's released on a peppermint themed label?)
a more straight-forward trance-core-head-banger.
Apple Juice - Raving Together (Signal Records - Signal 001)
the prototype ravecore track. adorable in its almost-simplicity: unfiltered sawtooth-riff, gabba drum, cool sample: go!
heard this first on a d.trance Cd, and it has become a cult classic beyond that.
because it is true, if you want to show a friend (or foe) a record that shows what that mid 90s "harder" hardtrance CD was about... play this track.
It's also one of the projects that resisted the "plastification" of the trance-techno sound... no happy hardcore vox or rubber-y bassdrums here.
plus there are 2 nice remixes of said track included.
sweet.
Apple Juice - Raving Together (Original Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhYBQbeSbwU
Hardsequencer - Brain Crash (Fire Recordings - FIRE 201)
An important document in the history of Techno (or even Electronic) music. Because it gives us a glimpse into a period when "different" styles such as Trance, Acid, Breakbeat, Gabber, House, were not that far apart yet, and more or less sprouting from the same roots.
So this album by Hardsequencer has a little bit of everything, chilled strings, happy raving, gabber beats, massive breakbeats... and is fun all around, bound to make you fly towards ecstasy...
It contains some veritable Hardcore classics like "Braincrash" or "Feel so good" and, in my opinion, the sounds are amongst the most rough and frantic of its time.
Produced on an Amiga 500, we can even hear a bit of chiptune and demo-scene influence here. And the release shows how powerful an Amiga can get when used for music production.
this is one of the most remarkable releases on de 2001.
The "original rave mix" is a true "german style" rave / hardtrance anthem by marc, including uplifting / emotive melodies, and all. With the proper music video and marketing, i'm sure this could have made the german top 10 charts in the mid 90s.
The thai acid mix has a long, brooding build-up, then erupts into forceful acid mayhem.
Rave Creator - A New Mind (Rave Creator's Original DE 2001 Raveremix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WaLNdUZgT0
"Rejoinder" is a track that ended up on some compilations and sets (iirc) but the real go-to-gem is "warp 10" on here.
starts... slow, then speeds up, great melody comes on.... get's harder.
and well, then everything breaks down.. and gabber hell gets unleashed on the unexpecting listener. until the hardtrance "ohs and ahs" come in... and everything gets even one notch more crazy.
one of the few records that melt hardtrance and hardCORE. but even beyond "trancecore", warp 10 is one of the wildest and hardest electronic tracks ever, period.
RMB - Heaven & Hell EP (Le Petit Prince - Prince 93/05)
One of the earliest, and maybe one of the most important releases in the history of hardcore (and techno).
As the title indicates, it is a split EP, but not between two artists (well, two artists *are* involved in this EP...) but between two concepts - "heaven" and "hell".
I guess the picture side is supposed to be "hell", as it features "the place to be".
this is a very violent, almost disturbing gabber piece. the drums sounds more like steel tools; the claps sound like gunshots or grenades; there are terrifying animal / alien - like screams.
and there are vocal samples from a newscast on the waco stand-off. i never understood why or with what intent they were added... it remains a mystery.
once you escaped this sonic hell, there is the heaven side.
"These Sounds Just Do It Faster" is a bit or a paradox, as it is a rather "slow" hardtrance piece... but great nonetheless. an unusual piece for RMB, as it is a pure "german trance" sound, and no weird monk chantings or tribal singing is added this time.
and then there is "follow me", another hardtrance pearl. but with the distorted, bass punching drums, it almost feels as if it would link both sides, heaven and hell, darkness and light, hardcore-gabber and techno-trance.
RMB - The Place To Be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHhNnhlXZSk
Mindviper - Messiah EP (BOY Records - BOY 8870-12)
This one is a real treat (ain't I right?)
Mindviper is actually Oliver Kirwa, who started as video game coder, video game musician, and then "leveled up" to Techno, then to Hardcore producer.
This one belongs more to the techno period.
"Messiah 2000" found its way to some compilations.
The vidgamemusic are very much audible in the track. The sawtooth-buzzy synth hook could fit well to a commodore 64 game as well... but there is of course the techno drums and percussion.
There is a huge buildup throughout the track. And even though distortion levels are low - for techno standards at least - it packs quite the punch it feels ultra-brutal at parts. Kudos, Mr. Kirwa!
Sine is more of a hard-trance track, good, but the other tracks are better imho (btw the sinewaves are another cue to video game sounds).
And then there is Salvation... and this track is on the same level of epicness as the messiah... or even more.
Not really techno-trance tune at all... more like bred across demo-scene tunes, tracker music, techno-trance (yes, partly), new age and krautrock... woah, dude!
The premier release by Lunatic Asylum, who later found fame with "The Meltdown" and then as a haunted Gabba producer with his "Poltergeist".
I guess "Eternal" is the go-to track for DJs here. Word is that when the dub plate was played for the first time, the bass frequencies blew out a tube in the club's system of speakers - the party was over then.
And yes, these are bass frequencies to overwhelm everyone. It's still simultaneously a sweet early trance tune.
Then we got gobots, and to this day, I look for similar tracks, as I feel its unique in the timeline of techno. UR? Unit Moebius? maybe did stuff that went into this direction... but not quite! (or "quiet")
jordy killer is my secret pick. iirc it was more made as joke / parody, as it features infants laughing on a marching beat, for example. still it's a great tune, like a more serious, or kicking form of "happy hc"... ah, can't describe it, check it yourself!
Ravers' Nature - Hands Up Ravers (Fire Recordings - FIRE 110)
I assume we all know Hands up Ravers by now, right?
So let's talk about the b-sides instead.
N-sonic dreams used to be a teenage favorite of mine (and I guess I was not the only one).
It has pitched up "squeaky" vocals yet does not sound like happy-dance-trash at all... maybe it's just dream-y.
And then let's look at "La Monza strikes back"... an all-time-top-3 favorite by the ravers for me.
Simple, but effective: angelic choirs start to rhyme, then the bassdrum kicks in with full effect.
Rave on!
Ravers Nature - La Monza Strikes Back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7gsvfNFmDM
Masters Of Rave - Pump It (Like A Master) (Polydor - 851 903-1)
Indeed one of the master-pieces by pcp... too bad it's hidden so deep and so far away in the catalogue!
Even though one would assume it's a remix / edit of it, it's quite unlike the better known "She likes to pump it" (which is included as a b-side).
I don't know if it's the exact origin, but the track is one of the first to have the "on the first day..." style segments, which were later used in a number of tracks by other artists, too.
In a long build-up, each new sound gets introduced by an epic speech, until the rave beats finally hit full force.
The sounds from the intro come in again, frantic rapping joins the craze... and then angelic choirs appear on top of the beats, and we lift off into the heaven of ecstasy!
If there is one track that is the pure incarnation of rave music, the movement, the parties, the madness, heaven and hell... it's this one!
100/100 (a perfect track!)
Masters Of Rave - Pump It (Like A Master) (12" Rave Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeFMZXPKVuA
I don't know much about this organization, but it seems to be quite big, and they are not just doing sounds and releases, but also parties etc.
There is not much information that can be gathered on the bandcamp page, but I assume it is already the 3rd entry in a series of compilation releases they do?
Either way, on to the review, and, yeah, this compilation is a dream, and it is a great thing to "end" the year with.
There is not just Hardcore on it, it's a vector, a spectral ray... there is oldschool, newschool, rave/hardtrance stuff... ambient, cinematic sounds... speed up / pitched up happy hardcore sounds... even some stuff of more "mainstream" hardcore genres like uptempo or frenchcore.. and this time, surprisingly, they do not annoy but add nicely to it.
all these ingredients are blent together, but they do not clash or add a sour taste at all.
there are also some quite well known names amongst the artists list, and plenty of new ones.
good stuff - kicks hard. is industrial and claustrophobic like berlin hardcore always was. but brings up a smile to the face.
Hey! Hello! Can you feel it in the air? It's that time of the year again. New Years Eve and New Years Day are coming up... and because of this, a special event is upon us! Like last year, like every year.
"The Gabber Elders' Old Kuntz New Years Retirement home mixmarathon hootenanny"
Brought to you by the Gabber Elders and it's a straight continuation of this year's summer mixmarathon (and the one before).
For the last mixmarathons, we went back to the oldschool, and brought you the best sounds of the electronic 90s, from ambient to speedcore. From aphex twin and biosphere to euromasters and disciples of annihilation.
This time around, we wanted to focus on post-2000 music that sounds similar to the sweet sounds of the 90s. But then we scrapped this concept mid-way. So everything goes now. Wee!
But more specifically: electronic music from recent years, starting with dark techno and doomcore, and then we got acid, trancecore, gabba... industrial core, and finally speedcore + extrablast. we steered away from happy / mainstream sounds, though!
Details:
The mixmarathon is an online festival that is hosted on Youtube. It will run for 7-8 hours. There will also be a lively chatroom, and "VJ-style" visuals throughout the marathon. The visuals are inspired by oldschool VJs at 90s hardcore techno parties like the mayday parties in germany, and by arthouse cinema.
The DJs of the night, and other hardcore/techno celebs will be present in the chatroom, and the whole thing is set out to become a huge party.
And here is the personnel of the Gabber Elders:
Low Entropy (Hamburg, Germany. Age: 147 Years old)
Retired surf-punk from the northern shores of Germany. Was bitten by a zombie in 1981 and has recently turned into a gampire (a gabber-vampire).
GabberGirl (Minnesota, USA. Age: 83 Years old)
Runs a successful business industry for movable trailer parks. The trailers are installed on astroturf-on-wheels, so the entire park can drive around the country with 0.5 miles per hour.
N.i.k.a.j. (The Netherlands) Age 158 Years
Was already a Gabber when you were not. In his old age, he started a successful business for steel-reinforced wooden clogs. For heavy duty work in the dutch cheese factories.
DJ Asylum (Bathgate, Scotland, Age 126)
In his young age, he attended the wedding ceremony of queen victoria and her husband. He now runs an archeology business where they excavate petrified kilts and haggis remains in the Scottish highlands.
And our guest DJ:
Bohemian (121 years old)
DJ Bohemian's artist career started when he became the royal painter to the King of Denmark, at the time the King of Denmark ruled large parts of Europe. As his name says, he is living the bohemian lifestyle now, rowing a decommissioned fisherboat through the fjords of scandinavia, and only entering dry land in order to create music.
When and where?
The mix marathon will be streamed at the HCBX youtube channel. you will also see further announcements there. https://www.youtube.com/@hcbx666
1. Twin Peaks - Through The Darkness of Future Past 2. Twin Peaks: The Return - Listen To The Sounds 3. Muse - Take A Bow 4. is3 - Elevator 5. Marc Acardipane vs. The Horrorist - Human Machine 6. Minimum Syndicat - Deep Space Expedition 7. Danx - The Afterlife 8. The Hacker - Waves Of Darkness 9. Hypnotizer - The Light Is Leaving 10. Verminous Skumm - I'm a Rotten Rat 11. Low Entropy - Fourth Uprising (Syrius 23 Remix) 12. Minimum Syndicat - Signal from Vertrem-4 13. The Mover - Fire Cloud 14. The Man Unknown - Eternity Is Patient 15. The Hacker - Reactor 16. Cera Khin - Do You Believe in Evil 17. Nkisi - Python & Prophecy
dj bohemian
Tracklisting:
18. Heilung - Urbani 19. 10 CLS - Hologram 20. Ghost In The Machine - King Dead 21. Librarium - Piano Riff 22. Librarium - Opium Smell 23. Librarium & Bohemian - Murdered Me (Murmuur Remix) 24. Sacerdos Vigilia - INDZ_RVLTN 25. The Outside Agency - The Spooks 26. Sei2ure - Chainsaw 27. The Relic - Between Light & Shadow (into the Dark Lands 2013 OST) 28. Ophidian - Insects 29. Stormtrooper - Fucking Monsters 30. RVLT - MASHED UP vol.1 31. Holy Noise - James Brown is Still Alive (Librarium & Bohemian Holy bootleg) 32. Tripped - Cuming 33. Project Omeaga - Miss Parkinson 34. Mindustries - Mindustrial 35. Densha Crisis - Mind In Distress 36. Ophidian - Lynched (Tymon Remix) 37. Tymon & Waldhaus - Purgatory 38. Librarium & Bohemian - Destiny 39. Heilung - Traust (Librarium & Bohemian's Industrial Hard Techno Viking Bootleg) 40. ANGEL - Dirty Thirty 41. Librarium - Cherry Tree 42. Murmuur - No Survivors
gabbergirl
Tracklisting:
43. E-Noid—Rhythm Life 44. Baroness Jennylee & Di Cristino—Get Outta My Seat Diva 45. Ad Nauseam—Alpha System 46. Baroness Jennylee—Out of Control 47. Schvartz Man—Toma Pete (Clipper Stealer Remix) 48. Miss Hysteria (Just 4 U E-Noid Rmx)—Lunatic 49. Bdacid—Darkness 50. MF Machinist & Low Entropy—Collabacid 1 51. Dani C—Acid Heaven (303 Hz Remix) 52. Ad Nauseam—Always Acid (2004 Bonus Track) 53. Time Kanzler Green—Planet P*rnos 54. Low Entropy—Second Uprising (Rough Mix) 55. DJ Darkside—Hydro Acid 56. Nihilist Sounds—Dead Souls 57. MF Machinist—East New York 58. The Untitled—Bromo Dragonfly 59. RAF—Tracker 60. Primitik—Nautilus 61. Abnormalities—Dark Waves 62. Low Entropy—Hamburg Acid City 63. RAF—Getoutahere 64. Ohrdohrbohrer—Full Metal Acid 65. Primitik—Deep Fuzz 66. DJ Gylend—Primitive Accumulation
nikaj
Tracklisting:
67. *Vacorps-My life it's only a nightmare. 68. *Vitalic-Ghost train remix. 69. *Project Omega-Valium attack. 70. *Stormtrooper-Todesvögel. 71. *E Noid-Take this brother. 72. *Mute-Mision in motion. 73. *The Enticer-Systematized. 74. *Moleculez-Wave Collapse. 75. *Delta 9-Alucarda(Einstein remix). 76. *The Outside Agency and D'Spyre-Fire and blood. 77. *BSE-Cocaïnesmokkel. 78. *Raw010-Perron 0-. 79. *Dj Redbass-All I Gave To You. 80. *Keytown Connection-Hate Techno. 81. *The Son Of Hellrazor-Dreams Of Terror-*King Cog-Catch You By Your-Omnicore. 82. *Bryan Fury and Hellfish-Alkaline Lake. 83. *Angerfist-Towards isolation. 84. *The Dj Producer-Suffering. 85. *Frazzbass ft The Horrorist-Zerslagen. 86. *Skeeta-Delerium tremor( the final overdose). 87. *Speedfreak-Zerslagen remix. 88. *Doormouse-Doormanymouse. 89. *Dolphin vs The Teknoist-Disco shit. 90. *]Celsius-An1 657. 91. *Detest-Ultraviolent. 92. *Doormouse-Full frontal face fire.
dj asylum
Tracklisting:
93. Loftgroover I am the Devil (DJ Asylum Remake) 94. Low Entropy - Quick Contact (The Speed Of Love) 95. DJ Asylum - Aggression 96. Distorted waves of Ohm - De Wallen 97. Total Output - Absolute 98. TOTA vs Sandy White - Sorry... Go Out 99. Biodome - Pump Up The Volume 100. The Keytown Connection - Suicide 101. Biodome - Watch Your Eardrums Pop 102. Fletch303 - The Strain 103. Hammer Damage - They're All Cunts 104. Moleculez - Odd Space 105. Total Output - I'm Going To Eat My 303 106. Fletch303 - Scorn 107. Biodome - How Many People Like Hardcore (DJ Arjuna Remix) 108. Agro - Dark Bleeps 109. Habitual Offenders - Cabbage 110. DJ Asylum - Out Like A Light 111. Darkside HF - Tap Into You Anger (Pardonax Remix) 112. Low Entropy - Your Suffering (Quick Suffering) 113. Angel Flo - Rock Lodge 114. OiraD - Rocket Launcher 115. Cut-X - Kreig (Pardonax) 116. Low Entropy - Psychotic Break 117. DJ Tense - Illuminated 118. Hammer Damage - No More (Feat Tyrant and Nevermind) 119. The Speed Freak - The Solution (Pardonax Remix) 120. Angel Flo - Distoboss 121. LSA - No Escape (Pardonax Remix 2) 122. DJ Asylum - Swine 123. Pardonax - MKC230 124. DJ Asylum - Debased 125. DJ Raf - Hardnoise 126. Habitual Offenders - Severe Brain Damage 127. Heretik - Lyrically Detonating 128. Pardonax - Parting Ways 129. DeadSector - Atari Teenage Cum Dumpster 130. Heretik - Blows To A Broken Nose 131. Ics Xar - Reveil Charismatique 132. Low Entropy - Hamburg Hardcore Anthem (DJ Asylum Remix) 133. DJ Asylum - Pish 2 134. Pardonax - Abundance Of Anger (DJ Asylum Take 2 Remix) 135. Pardonax - Trapped 136. Low Entropy - Berghain Mayhem 137. Bodylotion - Fuck Martina (DJ Asylum Remix) 138. Hedonist - True Nature 139. Frazzbass - Destrology (Pardonax Remix) 140. Epilon - Fad Bather 141. Deadnoise - King of The Witches
low entropy
142. Intro: Doctor Who - Time Speech 143. Marc Acardipane feat. Miro - Burning Sky 144. FFM Shadow Orchestra - Canto XXI 145. Habitual Offenders - Cutting Edge 146. Stickhead - Doom Adventure 147. Mouse - Nart 148. The Named - Civilization Extermination 149. Amiga Shock Force - S*x, Mord Und Kunst (Burning Lazy Persons 97 Flava Remix) 150. Low Entropy - Angels Speedcore
Here is some additional, in-depth information to our recent feature on the Amiga Shock Force - which you can read here. It was sent to us by none other than Bazooka - the legend of Shockwave Recordings and many other labels.
So let's go:
"First of all let me thank you for recognizing ASF and for realizing how geniusly and insanely awesome they are.
I know them from the beginning, even before I released my first vinyl in 1995 on Shockwave Recordings. ASF are (or were) Dirk Konze, Ralf Kühn, and Dirk Obst (aka Obsti). Obsti was the Voice which connected the ASF to the outside World !!
He even connected them to me back in 1995. Since then we were really close friends and still are. Compared to my music (which was always hard) their music was an earthquake. ASF made 300BPM before DOA even Breakcore since ATR but they also did 1200BPM Tracks before people tried to get into the Guinness books for SH!T. I just wanna say, they are beyond comparison and I still love their old tracks as they are timeless.
OK back to the gang. As Obsti acted assholinessly, they kicked him out really early. I think he managed them to release their first vinyl ever (on Fischkopf recordings) but then he got kicked out. Dirk and Ralf are the creatives, they make the tracks.
Dirk is 10 times more creative than Ed Sheeran getting intimate with Johnathan Davis screamin’ in a new song for KoRn. He has no limits on anything or shame in taking stuff, crap tracks (like Sash) (actually like what I did with Scooter) and show them how it should have been done without being commercial.
Ralf is more Breakbeat focused and more into UK Hardcore but always pitched up +40. Therefore the Breakcore / Speedcore separation on the ASF Tracks as they are obviously different Genres. However, they merged them together and that was already in 1995/1996.
I managed to get them to their release on Speedcore Recs. as it was a Sublabel of Shockwave (aka run by the Speed Freak and as said before i was on Shockwave). He didn’t like the Amiga Sound for obvious reasons. Low Memory aka low Sample rates aka on long tunes, with many samples in RAM they still sounded Bitcrushed. Bassdrums for example were often on 5khz to 6khz not on 44khz actually never on 44khz, not even 22khz ;) Also Amiga sounded quite compressed and he also didn’t like that. Nevertheless, I talked him into it and im sure he wasnt disappointed with the sales of the Vinyls.
All my records had Graffitis on my Covers and my old Mate "Kore27/ÜbeL" did all the graffitis so I asked him to do a Graffiti Logo for them which you also see on the videos you posted. I also told Dirk, as he wanted to release some of his own, different Tracks to call himself “Narrator” as this was a Sound Library, associated with the “Robot Voices” on the Amiga. The Graffiti Logo Artwork was for this Album which I then released as a CD release for him. You can see my name on the lower right. I also did their newer logo which you also see on the video screenshots. (Guru Meditation)
The latest I did was a Remix, aka collab with ASF which I released on my latest Mokum Release MOK#248 (2022) as “Aggroman” called “Life in Hell” which obviously has better Quality than the Amiga Tracks. However, I used the old Amiga Module as base and did this new Track for Mokum out of it. I also started making music on the Amiga and thats why I really appreaciate what ASF did in their track arrangement and aural wise. They both are geniussesss… ;)
ASF sadly releases too less tracks these days as they are too hard for the world and people don’t get that so who would pay for them ? I see them as the H.R. Giger of Hardcore music. You can not teach creativity. Its born into you. You can try to imitate them but you never get done what they did. I really still love the guys and what they do and did. So once again, thanks for the feature here. I hope I shared some light into the dark side of the ASF.
They Are ACE ! Cheers mate, Bazooka/AGGROMAN !"
Thanks very much for these infos and facts, Bazooka!
Dear Readers and Dogs, For those interested, here is another entry in our series of features on the topic of music production. This one was supplied to us by Low Entropy. It is about a "Doomcore" tracks with a rather strange production technique... but read about it for yourselves...
Hello, A new vinyl by me has been released by a label out of the UK (right in time for x-mas) and, continuing with my producer's diary, I want to talk a bit about the production process.
It's two tracks (one for each side ;-) and track A - "Enter Dimension" - uses a production technique I call "strange loops". I didn't invent this one, far from it. It goes back to a segment I saw on TV, a feature about Jean Michel Jarre on the french-german "arte" program.
Jarre made a very interesting statement, and used a metaphor:
People like to sit at the beach, and watch the ocean waves roll by, and they can do this for hours. Yet if you put a human in a room, record one wave and one wave only with a camera, and then loop this recording back for hours, this human for sure would not enjoy this experience at all.
So why is it unbearable to watch a recorded video of an ocean wave on a loop - but pleasurable to watch ocean waves at the beach for a long time? In both cases, you are looking at waves roll by, for hours. Where is the difference?
Jarre explained that, obviously, with the ocean waves, there is always a slight variation in the wave, and in what you see. So, it is possible, even enjoyable, for a human to watch 100s (or 1000s) of waves pass by - as long as there is a variation, slight changes in what you see and behold.
Jarre then explained that's what made the sound of his early recordings special - good sequencers were not around for him to use in the 70s, so he played all loops by hand. The same notes, over and over (and over) again. And because he is a human, and not a machine, and the synths probably were not as advanced either, these loops were not perfect, or even "faulty" in the eye (or rather ear) of today's engineers. He never hit the same notes exactly right and like those of the loop that preceded the one he was playing.
But to him, these "imperfect loops" are better than the technical perfection of today.
So let's leave Jarre for now (good-bye!) and let's get back to "my" strange loops. The statement inspired me, and I thought if this technique could be used for more things than "imperfect timings".
I tried to build on the following concept:
To have a looped melody, sound, rhythm, whatever... And to let it loop for a long time. But using ways to slightly modulate, change, morph, twist that loop. So that no loop ever sounds *quite* like the one before, or the one after, or any other loop in this... loop of loops.
And I did not want to use "technical imperfection" for this.
So in the first track, the main melody is a loop. And it runs for a long time. But. It constantly changes throughout the track. And not just the cut-off frequency. The waveform itself changes from a sawtooth to... other things. The melody gets modulated, too. And lots of other changes. These changes are subtle, most of the time. But also harsh.
So, yeah. That is the "strange loop" technique. I did not invent this, that's for sure, I don't want to claim it. I just want to talk about it because I think.... it's a *quite* interesting technique.
Applying it to melodies is one thing. But it could also be applied to drum loops, vocals, any other sounds.
And remember: the special ingredience is to not just modulate *one* thing (like the frequency). But to apply several modulations on the same loop. And that the loop is never quite the same.
Culture of Violence is a small but sweet label from France. How should I describe its sound? Imagine Black Metal were a Techno genre. But not that ultra-aggressive, "loud" type of Black Metal, its more quiet, more dark kind. It's like that. Slow, passive-aggressive tracks, dark, lurching, limping, haunting.
It has two tracks by Nekra Damage, who also runs the label. (The b-side track is called "This side", shouldn't it be the other way round?) And a remix by The Man Unknown, who goes way, way back, in the world of techno, and in the world of darkness.
I love this release!
(And no, it isn't a Black Metal release. I was just making a comparison!)
Miro's been busy to get his analogue Hardcore / Doomcore catalogue onto digital for a while now. This so far is my favorite of these anthology editions. Of course the others were ten out of tens as well - how could it be elsewise with zombie rave mega smashers like "xtc express" or "purple moon"?
But this one has the hard to find, "lesser known" nuggets and, wow, there is some good and heavy stuff there. Most importantly, for me, "Time Machine", a b-side he did is his Reign disguise - a long time ago. And when I say "b-side" I mean it, yes, this "track" *is* the entire b-side, and no, it's a single track. The b-side consists of three micro-tracks that are seamlessly mixed into a whole, already on the vinyl (read more about that here). A genius idea. So it's nice non-vinyl-ears get to hear this thing too, now!
In other notes, "Face Down *** Up" get's its first "official" release with this one. The Blue sun sees the light of day again - this track is kinda like a precursor to "Purple Moon" (in my opinion), just as brilliant. "Understand" is the flip side to Purple Moon - still gives me the chills.
And then... the final track... "Destination - Nowhere"... A pure, beatless track, just doom-synths... the ost for nightmares... or dreams? Just perfect!
Hello Wolves and Dogs, It's time to unveil a new project. The "FusionCore Techno" concept. It was born out of a brainstorming session by The Gabber Elders (a Gabber Elder brainchild!). Partly inspired by Nikaj's "Mainstream Pollution".
The idea is to fuse Hardcore and Techno with one other style. In a mix set, but also possibly in other ways (tracks? visuals? albums? global tours? - "hello New Zealand!").
In the past, some DJs did multi-genre or sound-clash mixes (for example in the earliest days of "dance music"...)
The FusionCore idea is kinda the opposite idea of that.
Because in multi-genre mixes, you would for example spin a gabber track, then opera, then synth pop... and these sounds... do *clash*! And that's good, because this is abrasive, abrupt, adrenaline... But the opposite is good as well. Instead of doing a "clash", of going as far apart as possible... you can also try to fuse, mend, blend, smoothen genres.
Let me explain what I mean. Say, someone would mix a set with gabber and rap. Then the DJ might choose tracks that fit to the rap theme. For example, gabber tracks with hip hop samples. Or that "fit" in another way. Yet... the more far apart the different tracks are, the more of a challenge it'd be to fuse them... and this could be interesting as well.
It will be a deliberate and difficult act of balance, that's for sure.
Some examples for fusions would be:
Making a mix with Speedcore tracks and Death Metal songs. Making a mix with Hip Hop and Gabber (I already mentioned that). Making a mix with Video Game Music and Hardcore Techno. And and and...
Another option is that it is not two discrete styles, but a vector. For example making a mix with Gabber, Acid, Trance, Techno (cuz they all are a part of the same "style arrow").
The sky is limited! [sic!]
So let's get ready for some interesting fusions in (and of) the future.
Here is a rare insight: a glimpse into the production of an Industrial Speedcore Black Metal album.
This text is taken from a chapter in Low Entropy's Producer Diary.
Start of the chapter:
I produced industrial black metal and "blackened speedcore" before - often in collaboration with vocalists, such as Nullentropy, Countess M, or - gasp - my own voice. reception was pretty swell, some people lamented the use of "guitar synths" instead of real guitars, though.
but i don't think this was the main problem. to me, the songs felt more like "speedcore" with a black metal fusion to it. like digital, sampler based stuff, that just happened to have elements of black metal too.
of course, a few other ibm bands are like that, and it can still be kickin' sounds.
but i yearned for a more organic, gritty, natural, chaotic sound, instead of clean digitalism.
i also noted that a lot of industrial black metal bands have a very straight-in-your-face, frantic, direct sound. closer to "blackened death", in my opinion, with lots of technical and speed changes in very short intervals. while black metal, as a genre, has many songs that are monotonous, droning, that "rest" on a loop for a long while. for example in depressive or ambient bm.
i wanted to put this into my own tracks, too.
part 2
so, on to the production of the album. its "backbone" are the first three tracks. these tracks have a runtime of over 33 minutes together. so they are "one half" of the entire album.
i wanted to keep these songs very, very simple and straight-forward, but also epic and complex at the same time. each one has just a few chord progressions as the initial seed, but they undergo a lot of modulations, transformations, mutations, and metamorphoses as the tracks go on. there was also another idea i had: i wanted to break the genre limits of music, including those of black metal a bit. remember what i said about the complaint of using "guitar synths"?
and indeed, digital / synthesized guitars have always been the great "sacrilege" in the world of metal. so i desired to defy and play with this convention a bit.
first, I didn't use pre-build guitar synth apps, i tried to synthesize my own "guitar" sound using a modular software synth.
second, I think I came close to an "organic" guitar sound at times, but i deliberately used sounds that feel very synthetic, artificial, non-human, too. and often this switched within the track.
and i wanted to counterpoint the aggression of blackened speedcore with extremely calm, ambient, almost "heavenly" parts.
so there are many choirs and chants - the "emerald chants".
part 3
apart from these 3 main tracks, there are also 4 more tracks. these are closer to "traditional" speedcore, hardcore, techno... but also with a bm feel. and more than that, i tried to break up any regular structure with these tracks. to introduce them to chaos.
now, the album was finished. i still had to choose a name for it. i decided on "Emerald Chants in the Hall of Moebius".
part 4
so what are the "emerald chants"? it's a "play" on words, or rather the attempt to hide various concealed meanings in this... title.
in french, "chants" sounds similar to the word "champs", which means fields, even in the context of science and physics (such as magnetic fields)...
hall, in german language, is a kind of echo, delay, reverb... and the heavy use of "hall" (reverb) effects is a defining thing for black metal, and also for my own electronic music production...
moebius is a kind of twisted loop - it made me think of a temporal loop. and i'm low entropy, and "entropy" is a concept of time in physics ("entropy is the arrow of time"). but entropy is a kind of strange, twisted concept in time. so i see a relation there.
and moebius was also the pen name of a french artist, mostly known for his comics and hollywood collabs, for example on the first, aborted movie adaption of "dune". a lot of his work was published in a comic mag called "heavy metal", but despite this name, his art often *feels* very black metal. and virtually every "space-themed" black metal cover art (or any space metal cover, really) feels like it was inspired by moebius.
part 5
so we have emerald screams, forces, fields in the delays and echoes inside the bizarre loops and twists of strange times and the mind of a weird artist... and any other variation of what i said above. and this is what this album is really about.
We released several anthems to promote the magazine and the ideas it stands for, and are looking for artists that want to embody this hardcore spirit, too.
"Rules:"
1. There are five anthems (so far) and you can choose which one you want to remix - or remix several.
You don't need to use all of the samples - in fact, it would be interesting if you recreated some of the melodies and sounds, or even vocals, "on your own" and use that instead.
(yes, there is only 1 stem for the 5th track)
2. You can send in three remixes in total.
3. The deadline is 20.12.2025 (short deadline)
4. Your remix can be any style or sound, Oldschool, Gabber, Acid, Doom, Techno, even other electronic or non-electronic genres (vgm? black metal? funk?) We'd prefer it if it wasn't Uptempo, Mainstyle, etc - though :-)
5. If it's possible, it should somehow embody The Hardcore Overdogs spirit. Tracks should be bold, underdoggy, crazy, out-of-the-usual... be your "freak" self when producing them!
6. We don't do mastering - if you want your track to be mastered, you need to do that yourself. But we assume that the tracks that get sent in are good enough to be released without mastering, so your track does not need to be mastered if you want to submit one.
I never understood why this record did not get quite big... Should have topped everyone's DJ charts, really. Production is spiffy and well, and I don't mean mere "sound quality". It's full of little ideas and cuts, there is structure and build-up to the tracks... it's not just some looped noise on a drum, if ya catch my drift.
There are 8 tracks on 4 sides of the 2 vinyls... and each "side" has a theme, which I think is a nice touch, makes it almost like a conceptual album. We got the "gangsta, war, death, terror" sides, and like these titles suggest, each one is harder and more underground than the one before. So it starts with oldschool gabber (of the speedy kind) and ends in early speedcore.
A fanzine once remarked that the "gabber" sides are the better one, as a terror teen I was mostly into the speedcore stuff, but nowadaysI think that each side has its qualities.
I totally adore the concept of this release. The promo text promises us a return to the days of miami bass, pure fun and funk electro days. And yeah, I could totally see an 80s TV show, or 80s revival show, playing these tracks, and the audience goes wild.
But hey, it's the syndicate. It's still very heady and intellectual techno. At the same time. And that they pulled this merger is quite the feat.
Plus there is also a third layer here: an outer space, interstellar colony feel. As if aliens produced these tracks, instead of humans.
Love it!
Info:
Minimum Syndicat - Magnetic Streets 01
Released: November 28, 2025
Location: Paris
Styles: electronic, acid, electro, rave, techno
Tracklist:
1. Belleville Street 04:34 2. Bleach Street 04:04 3. Mercury Street 04:50
We wrote about a lot of topics so far. And one topic we are certain to return to is: Extreme Hardcore Techno of the 90s. Some might call it "Terrorcore". Or early Speedcore. But it doesn't matter. What is meant is music that is a few notches harder than the gabber mainstream of the 90s. We decided to list our excursions into this troubled territory.
A listing of what we consider to be the "Pantheon of Terror" in 90s Hardcore. And a few other tricks.
What other labels (and artists) deserve to have a place in this pantheon? let us know in the comments!
Stranger Things Season 5 just dropped and I am sure you noticed. I hope you are as excited to return to Hawkins as I am. So how about a little Stranger Things playlist... to get you in the mood? The obvious thing would be to list tracks that are like the Stranger Things theme and / or horror-scifi ost related. But I am certain everyone is doing this already, and doing it fine...
So here is a little twist. A full list of Techno, Acid, Hardcore, electronic tracks that are *thematically* related to the tropes of the show... not necessarily in sound! So lot's of stuff about strangeness, upside downs, nasty monsters...
I hope you can dig it!
1. Biochip C - Strange Invaders
2. Infarct - On Another Level
3. The Mover - Changing Platforms
4. Stickhead & Don Demon - Conquer the world
5. New Balance - Up and Down
6. Lorenz Attractor – Strange Attractor EP - Complexity Crisis
