Everyone knows the famous compilation series of the 90s - the various domes and dromes, the nights in or of something, the quakes and collections...
So how about some more rare and exclusive content for you, my dear reader?
Without further ado, here is a list of 11 compilations from the hardcore 90s.
Compilations that pack quite a punch and / or focus on more underground releases, are more experimental, centered on a substyle, or are faster and harder...
but shine in every way!
1. Traumatismo Y Terror Vol. 1
Don't you love that gorilla? Looks like he has come to give you cuddles... or to break your neck.
And the sound will break your neck, too.
"Dutch" style gabber stuff, and really obscure and extreme at that.
2. Razor Shock
Also termed "The Shockraving Hardcore Collection", so brace yourselves.
Tough, brutal, shocking early Gabber style with many well-known artists from the Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere.
3. Techno Trash Car
Right at the beginning of their career, Somatic Responses appeared on a major label! And other underground veterans like Disciples of Belial, DJ Pure, and Christoph Fringeli, too.
Made possible by this very "Techno Trash Car" compilation CD.
And it sports a novel aspect in another way as well:
Almost all tracks on here are "oversize" tracks with a runtime of more than 10 minutes.
My fav pick on is Zekt's "Barracuda". Because acidcore has never been so dreamy!
4. Capital Noise (Chapter 1: Noise And Politics)
Associated with the early Berlin breakcore / hardcore underground.
Was supposed to be the first of a series of CDs, but as with many projects of the 90s - it did not happen.
The focus is on experimental / left wing hardcore techno and breaks, with tracks such as "realistic riot ritual routine" or "raver bashing". The compilation is notable for 2 things: it sports the very first track by the Somatic Responses. And the track "Berlin HC Nite" is one of the very few gabber things that the Spiral Tribe did in their own history.
5. Otaku - Slick But Not Streamlined
Fischkopf was one of the best labels in the 90s, and this is their own private compilation.
Has tracks by legends-to-become such as Taciturne, the Michelson sisters, Lasse Steen, EPC, and and and...
What is notable is that even though it is a label's compilation, almost all tracks on here are exclusive to this release, i.e. it's all new music.
After Fischkopf faltered, this label's person-in-control set up a new label, and it was called "Otaku" as well - isn't that ironic (don't you think?).
6. Mururoa Test 1
Only 90s kids will remember that the French blew up a few nukes on an archipelago of islands called "Moruroa". This led to quite the political and cultural fallout, and this plastic disc was part of it.
A showcase of the dangerous (and very radioactive) French hardcore and global underground, including Eradicator, Liza n Eliaz or Laurent hô.
7. Shocker - The Total Inferno (100% Hardcore Techno)
This little gem sports one of the best designs by Frank Miller as the cover art, taken from his "Hard Boiled" series of comics (long before he rose to total fame after Hollywood picked up "300" and "sin city").
The sound is mostly centered around that "liminal" style when acid, techno, hardcore, and gabber were not that far apart yet, and a lot of artists, most notably on German labels, did both (or more).
8. Wakin' Up A Dead Planet Vol. III
Mono Tone was one of the first labels for "pure" and extreme hardcore, a breeding ground for many debut projects by producers like The Speed Freak or Patric Catani.
This compilation is built upon the label's roster, with additional stuff by artists like Atom Heart or Walker.
Part in a series of multiple releases, and in many ways an "unofficial" precursor to the "Braindead" brand of compilations.
9. Explicit Bass Drum
Do you like the early French hardcore style? noizecore, industrial stuff?
Then get this one!
Has tracks by infernal maestros such as Test Tube Kid, Napalm, or XMF.
10. Bunker Beats One
Berlin's "bunker" termed itself to be "the hardest club" on earth, and it might have been true.
This compilation is centered on the German speedcore scene, and the tracklisting reads like a "who is who" of that era: Nordcore, Bakalla, Kotzaak, E-De Cologne...
11. Biomechanik
Okay, contrary to what I wrote in the intro, you probably know this one already.
but it needs to be included, because it is such a fabulous showcase of what the 90s underground was about.
True underground classics like before the breakdown, surfing on a sea of blood, home of the sick...
in a lovely mix by Manu le Malin.
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