Video Feature: Let's not forget how great Kotzaak Records was

At one of the first big Nordcore parties in the 90s, Kotzaak was announced as being "from the deepest swamp of PCP". And this is true. Verily a part of PCP, but with a dark edge, psychotic, homicidal. Tracks from the hells below, demon inspired compositions, it's all there. One of the most extreme Hardcore Techno outings in its time (and even today), but with that special PCP approach, deliberate production, slick, and, if I dare to say, emotional and lucid inbetween the all-out assaults of thundering drums, screams and distortion. Kotzaak gained a cult following quickly, and it's fans are beyond loyal, and their numbers are growing to this day.

So, take care, doom supporter!

This video is a look back at Kotzaak in 100 Seconds.

List of tracks we hear in the feature:

1. Jack Lucifer - 96 Knights (To the Death)
2. The Kotzaak Klan - Thrashed
3. Stickhead - get in gear remix
4. Leathernecks - at war remix
5. Leathernecks - speedf**k
6. Stickhead - Check This Mutha
7. Stickhead - Intro
8. Bold Bob - bold bass 2
9. Stickhead - ass kicka
10. FFM Shadow Orchestra - Comprehension of sweet sounds (stickhead remix)
11. Jack Lucifer - 96 Knights (Burn by Brain)
12. Stickhead & Don Demon - Conquer the World
13. The Kotzaak Klan - powerstation kotzaak
14. Stickhead - Sanctuary
15. Stickhead & Don Demon - Demonhead
16. Jack Lucifer - 96 Knights (Burn by Brain)

Review: Hanin Elias – In Flames (1995-1999) (DHR CD 30)

Digital Hardcore Recordings was set up to start a revolution, to bring about radical societal change.

This is what happened on the obvious, "intellectual" level, if you want.

But I always felt there is also something different attached to it, a common thread that runs through most releases, that might exist more on an emotional or intuitive level.

A certain feeling of hope, of longing; the heartbreaking epiphany that there is no true happiness or purpose of life possible within existing society; and the burning desire to break beyond these cultural and social bonds; to experience something true and real, an adventure and thrill, and there is even more, like a whole vector of undisclosed and limitless emotions, euphoria, experience...

And it is just within reach and we would only need to reach out our hand to grab it and keep it forever... but then it all disappeared again. Was it a dream? Why did it pass? And can we... go back, and have another try at it?

To me, this did not only exist in the releases of DHR, but also in the 90s as a whole, and other media... the movies, the music, the "confused rebellion" of grunge and alternative rock... the cosmic ecstasy of the rave movement... the early cyberpunk and cyberspace craze of the internet... like an unkept promise of a new world, of unbound satisfaction... a promise that was not kept... or did we forfeit it?

And I think this album by Hanin Elias is one the releases where this feeling can be felt most prominent.

Unlike other DHR releases, there is much more focus on ambiance, on beatless tracks, on introverted passages... of strange, peculiar, enigmatic sounds... spoken words on a background of drones and strings and noises... like an intergalactic lament, inexplicably received on your headphones at 3 am in the morning while the sky is still blackened outside...

this makes it one of the highlights of the DHR catalogue for me.

but make no mistake. despite this cornucopia of subliminal beauty, it's also one of the most aggressive, bold, blood-thirsty... who is screaming wilder and louder, the drums, the distortion, or Hanin?

a real gem within the already precious catalogue of DHR.

Note: No Ai was used in writing this text.

Review taken from "About Digital Hardcore Recordings - A fan-written guidebook" - https://dhrfanbook.blogspot.com/

Fritz Lang gets "Honorary Doom" award by Doomcore Records!

Imagine this scene: a posh, upper-class club. The setting is Berlin in the 1920s. Luxury and wealth is all around in this place. Aristocrats dine here, wealthy business, maybe important politicians... and this was in the days when being part of the upper echelon was equal with traditional, perfect behavior, spotless clothes and culture...
Now, a man walks into this club, and stops in the middle of it. A waiter, equally spotless and cultivated, walks up to him, in order to seat this gentleman. But our man utters just one word: "Pineapple". The waiter, without waiting even a few seconds, and while keeping a straight face, responds: "Cocaine or gambling?".

This scene, as any cinematic aficionado probably knows, is from the movie "Doctor Mabuse" by Fritz Lang (based on the eponymous book, or rather series of books). It's a vivid clash between the clean, upper-class world of the depicted restaurant, and the trip to the seedy underworld, that lurks below, and that we are going to see in the next few scenes.
But, no, no, we were mistaken! There is no clash at all. The seeds of decay and disease, gambling, drugs, sensuality and crime do not lie "below" this world of luxury and sophisticated behavior. It's one and the same, it's the same coin, as it always has been, throughout all history. Morality and vice are always friends in bed, political power nurture the forces of rebellion that will eventually overturn it, and "property [and wealth, editor's note] is theft" indeed, just like dear old Proudhon stated.

But let's get back to our man, or to the man behind this whole scene, setting, and movie. Fritz Lang was a master of showing us fictional and not-so fictional worlds, where this clash, this rhizome, this labyrinth is unraveled before our very eyes. The rift between morality and evil, wealth and poverty, law and crime, high and low; and how maybe, just maybe, there is no such rift at all, and these things are very very close to each other...

So in Metropolis we not only have the rich and powerful that live in their own heaven "on top" of the city, there also is an elevator (and later, a "middle man") that connects this to the hadal and Moloch-like underworld of impoverished and underpowered workers...

While in "M", we see lengthy, haunting, but also respectful and beautiful scenes, of how it's the Berlin underground - criminals, mobsters, do-no-goods, beggars, cripples, the homeless - that team up, organize themselves, in order to hunt down a real devil of a man, apprehend him, and then have their very own trial about this case - when the forces of order, the lawmen, the cops, the good citizens, completely failed at this task so far.

Let's stop at Fritz' list of movies now.

He was a director, an artist, a person, that had an eye for the "underworld" which lies below everyday life and society. He depicted it more frequently than most of his peers, and he did so in all its gloom and glory. He never painted one side or the other as entirely evil - but as connected. The world was neither black or white for him, nor a shade of grey, but more as a chaotic pattern on a chess board.

We adore all of this, and hence we are giving him our honorary doom award.

Note: No AI has been used in writing this text
Doomcore Records: https://doomcorerecords.bandcamp.com/

In memory of François Prijt aka Chosen Few

I heard the sad news today that Chosen Few has passed away. One of the earliest Gabber and Techno producers in the 90s... and I want to say a few words about his legacy as a musician.
There was hardly any other producer that was so versatile and experimental regarding the original Gabber sound.

Chosen Few was straight-to-the-point Gabber and *still* bold and smart...

It's one of those missed chances and turning points in Techno music. When I listened to his music in the 90s, I felt this was the direction the scene should go, and maybe open up a few more doors on the way... but you know, it did not happen.

So here is a list of tracks that I think show some of this "experimentation", and skill in production.

To do a little bit, in the task of keeping his memory alive, and keeping his music alive!

1. Gabberdam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvAIrpW--18
2. Freedom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sygdk7HUz1o
3. Dynamic Fall Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RltuV-QdnUE
4. F**king Hardcore #4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAIxsB2NJ2o
5. Daniça https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOsnu8ITzBY
6. Hellfire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CFpXjOk6dw
7. Ad-Da https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c83xrC1cdF0
8. Party! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KdSi5a0SY
9. The Break https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xc0fMf3drA
10. R.N.O. Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh4waOPVlc8

https://www.discogs.com/artist/6172-Chosen-Few

The Hardcore Techno Overdogs Halloween Shenanigans for 2025

Can you feel... in the air... in the scent... and in the bass bin vibration caused by zany Gabber kicks...?It's spooky season again!
It's haunted October, and Halloween's just round the corner...
For this period of the year, some people dig pumpkin beverages and un-dust the cobwebs back into their attics...
And we dig Hardcore and Techno... we do!
So, this year, like last year, like next year, like every year... we do our own tiny Halloween special.
And here is a list of activities.

Review: Current 909 – Ghosts...Of The Civil Dead
Off-Charts: Cuckoo for Ufos - Techno music for Aliens
GabberGirl & Low Entropy - Monster Mash
Death's (mostly) safe passage playlist
Deadraver - In The Shade (Dub Plate)
Explorer of the Doomed Forest of Hamburg (Video)
Review: Christoph De Babalon – If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It
Low Entropy - Enter Dimension (Released on Demonic Records)

Also take a look at the 2024 Halloween specials
And 2023 (Scroll Down)
And the Summer of Doomcore

This list is bound to be amended as actual Halloween draws close.

Review: Christoph De Babalon – If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It (DHR CD 8 / DHR LP 8)

Picked this one up when seeing ATR live in Hamburg, then listened to it during the night, and I rarely slept so well.
A friend told me "very unusual release for DHR, very introvertive", and it's true, there is none of the riotous screaming, gabber guitars, and hardcore drums that DHR was known for on this record.
It's not exactly soft or calm either, though.
It's more like a reserved, introverted aggression, a dark and hidden brooding.
Snapping at ya from the subconsciousness.
Signified by the famous cover art, too:

Showing Christoph de Babalon in his plain living room, in a quite calm and intellectual pose, while in the background a poster informs us that he intends to "go out like a m***er f***er".

Stand-out tracks include:

"What you call a life" with its drones and peculiar melodies. The haunting vocals state "...all my life I have been used", underlining the theme of subdued anger.

"My Confession" an epic early breakcore track, running over 9 minutes, and including the sound of church bells(!).

And there's three beatless ambient tracks, and these are most remarkable, as they constitute a kind of "digital ambient" micro-genre of its own - sample based ambient music done on an amiga 500, sounding *very* different from all other ambient producers that I know.

Note: No Ai was used in writing this text.

Review taken from "About Digital Hardcore Recordings - A fan-written guidebook" - https://dhrfanbook.blogspot.com/

Timeline of Hardcore Techno style evolution during the 90s (Video)

This timeline is an attempt to show the evolution of Hardcore Techno, and some of its subgenres, in the 1990s decade.

I don't even want to make the pretense that this timeline would be complete or "perfect". HC Techno was such a wide field, a "vast ocean" in the 90s, so there is lots of stuff that is bound to be missing, and is not included here.

But I think the timeline gives a good "first picture" and initial overview.

I hope it inspires the "new blood" in the HC scene to dig further, and look up some of the labels / artists mentioned here, or even do some extra research.

Feel free to "fill in the gaps" by commenting, or messaging us.

List with examples:

1984 Hard Electronic Experiments

Dead Tech - Catalavox

1990 Early Hard Tracks

Mescalinum United - We Have Arrived
Dilemma - Erase Your Mind
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu – It's Grim Up North (Original Club Mix)

1991 First "Gabber" kicks

Trashman - Cosmotrash (Brooklyn Trash)
KAA - Emphasis (NRG Dub)

1991 First Doomcore Techno tracks

The Mover - In Deep Rage
The Mover - Gatecrusher

1992 Early Gabber Tracks

Euromasters - Alles Naar De Kl--te
Defcon - Blob

1992 First Breakcore

Alec Empire - Tötenposse Rides Out

1992 Early Acidcore / Hard Acid Tracks

Edge of Motion - Set Up 707
Disintegrator - In The Sun

1993 Golden Year of Oldschool Gabber

Hardsequencer - Feel so Good
C-Tank - Nightmares Are Reality

1993 400+ BPM Tracks

Lory D - Lochnar
Signs Of Chaos - AA Unitled (Killout 03)

1993 "Industrial" Hardcore Precursors

Caustic Window - The Garden Of Linmiri
Gringo - Slayer

1994 Early "Extratone" Track

Influid - The Destroyer (1.2 Million BPM Mix)

1994 Gabber Gets Harder

Scarface - Death is the Future
Mental Hardcore Associates - Let's Get Wappie (Rob Gee & Delirium Remix)

1994 Extreme Hardcore Tracks (on the road to "Speedcore")

DOA - Ya Mutha
DJ Skinhead - Extreme Terror

1994 More Doomcore Tricks

Freez-E-Style - Enter The Gates Of Darkness

1994 More Breakcore Tricks

Steve Shit - Power of Breakcore
Christoph de Babalon - Pleased with being alive

1994 Ravecore / Trancecore Productions

NIP-Collective - Warp 10
Razor - Rave Nation

1995 Amiga Hardcore

Nasenbluten - Intellectual Killer
Nasenbluten - Blows t the nose

1995 "Artcore" (or Ruffneck-Style) gets bigger

Phoenix - Dominate
Predator - Roots and Culture

1995 US Hardcore gets really wild

Delta 9 - The Hate Tank (Buckwild Mix)
Temper Tantrum - Destroy the World

1996 Gabber gets "bouncy"

DJ Weirdo & Dr. Phil Omanski - Young Birds
Critical Mass - Believe in the future (Dj Weirdo & Dj Sim Mix)

1996 Even More Doomcore Tricks

Arrivers - Things to Come
Miro - Purple Moon

1996 Happy Hardcore is (still) popular

Happymen - Love Is You (Stunned Guys Hardcore Mix)
Creasemaster & Slamdog - Bumb the Bass

1996 experimental hardcore

Taciturne - Mourning
Somatic Responses - Incubation

1997 French Hardcore at its (first) peak

Auto-Psy - Oxyde
Erase-Head - Dome

1997 Acidcore is hard as nails

Somatic Responses - Source of Disturbance
F.I.C. - Assessements

1997 Japanese Hardcore is crazy too

Burning Lazy Persons - If The Truth Be Known

1997-1999 dutch hardcore scene combusts, gets slower again

BSE - Hard Attack

1998 "Golden age of breakcore" ends

Society Suckers – Shizofrenic
DJ Scud & Christoph Fringeli - Bodysnatcher

1998 Rise of Extreme Speedcore

The Berzerker - Freedom
Low Entropy - Adrenaline Junkie

1999 ?

You might also be interested in These Features:

https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/01/20-of-hardest-tracks-in-any-1990s.html
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/p/the-90s-gabberpedia-underground.html
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/05/how-speedcore-evolved-out-of-techno.html

Review: Current 909 – Ghosts...Of The Civil Dead (Atmosfear 002)

One of the most interesting records of the late 90s.
It sits right at the crossroads, so to say.
It was released at a time when Techno got darker again (after the happy rave / trance days), so that crowd dug this record.
But it's also an early (electronic) Doomcore classic.
The "intelligent" and experimental electronica community, that was loosely tied to "the Techno thing", was not yet replaced by the hyper-ironic, hyper-poppy, retro-80s-inspired sounds of the post-millennium, so this was a release for that pack, too.
And it was produced by DJ Pure, who was / is ½ of Ilsa Gold... a bona fide Rave and Gabber legend!
That means the core-heads dug this one too.

The whole release is based on the Australian cult movie of the same name.
If you haven't seen it yet, watch it! It's one of the most horrifying "sci-fi" movies ever. Plays wholly inside a near-future prison.
Members of Einstürzende Neubauten were involved in its soundtrack, and Nick Cave plays a role in it. As a completely off the rails psycho.

In my opinion, the darkness and madness of this cult movie have been successfully channeled into this very good and excellent record.

Going in unprepared: 11 Techno and Hardcore Tracks that are Sonic Jumpscares

"Right now... it's time to kick out the jams!". That was the iconic catch phrase by Detroit band Motor City Five (aka MC5). A split second later, the onslaught of distorted guitars and frantic percussion hit the audience.
They paved the way to rock'n'roll fame and notoriety this way.
I mean, yeah, that's the rock thing, right? "three to get ready, now go cat go".
They don't screw around. They go right for the kill.

If we leave the more sophisticated sounds of prog rock or psychedelic aside for awhile...

On the other hand...
Techno is almost the complete opposite. Even in its earliest incarnations. "Acid Tracks" by Phuture was not only a wholly new sound, but it was also a track that ran for over 12 minutes.
And, I checked it just for this text, the drums "drone on" for over a minute, before even the slightest hint of 303 squelch appears (this gave rise to the "acid house" genre, btw).

Or if you want to talk Detroit, let's talk Detroit.
"Nightdrive Through Babylon" by Model 500 / Juan Atkins takes quite a while until the ride gets going. Same could be said about No Ufos... or even "Enter" and "Clear" (if you want to go way back).

It's what I always liked about Techno. It's complex, complicated, convoluted, takes time... it's quite the experience that way. And the punters on the dancefloor think the same.

Still... the rock thing was true as well. And that's no contradiction! Just two different approaches. Each one works well in its own subtle or not-so subtle ways...

And because of that, we want to look at a few Techno and Hardcore tracks that don the mask of a manic punk rocker or crazed head banger, give you no 2 minute warning, and jump right at ya, sharp knife clenched tight between teeth.

(Starting from "mild" to "triple cooked". Or in other words: ranging from Techno and Acid to Gabber.)

I'll also include tracks that technically have a long, maybe even dreamy or proggy intro, but then bash right through the wall. Because these go from zero to sixty in three point five, too.
And therefore are true sonic jump scares.
Woah!

1. Disintegrator - In The Sun (Oliver Chesler & John Selway) 



2. Space Trax - Deduction (String Mix)



3.Aphex Twin - Quoth



4. Titanium Steel - Titanium Steel Screws (Original)



5. J.Y. Factory - James Brown Is Dead Or Alive



6. Gangsta Trax - Goodfellas



7. 100% Acidiferous - Droid Sector



8. Zekt - Explorers



9. Terror Arnold - Gabba Mission



10. Euromasters - Alles Naar De Klote (250 Bpm Remix By Dimitri)



11. UVC & Narotic - Industrial Strength

Bandcamp Friday coverage for October - New releases, and some reviews

Hello Friends,

It's Bandcamp Friday again, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of good stuff being poured out,
and we are taking a look at that and doing some short reviews.
Material from any genre, any style, techno, non-techno, pop, not-pop, electronic, non-electronic, overground, underground... well, more of the underground variety, you know!

So let's go!

Note: No AI was used in writing this text.

2nd Note: Some artists / labels release their albums a few days earlier to get a head-start to Bandcamp Friday, and a few of them have been reviewed here as well (tee-hee!)

Xerxes The Dark - Abandoned Station https://xerxesthedark.bandcamp.com/album/abandoned-station

Did you know? Iran has a great underground scene for strange, experimental, mostly ambient electronic music. In fact, it is one of the best scenes in the world for this type of music, often much better than its "western" counterparts.
I didn't know, but I know now. (Or rather, I know it for a few years now).
Xerxes The Dark is connected to this, and, oh my god, this release is so good, it makes me wanna drool and drift to a relaxing meditative sleep where I face my inner fears, and then conquer them (or, even better, become friends with them).
The press blurb itself states that "Once aboard, you’ll discover an otherworldly sanctuary—abandoned yet alive with echoes of past travelers." and yes, this is a very fitting description of this album.
All thumbs up for this one!

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies - Halloween: The Complete Expanded Collection
https://johncarpentermusic.bandcamp.com/album/halloween-the-complete-expanded-collection

From Xerxes The Dark we slide to John Carpenter, and this makes sense, because both mark two points on a trajectory in music. Xerxes The Dark might represent the new generation, the present day, and John Carpenter might be considered to be a pioneer, right at the beginning of dark ambient music.
Yes, he was / is not only a director of wonderful movies like "they live" and "mouth of madness" (and also acclaimed classics like Halloween and the thing (1982)), he is a great musician, too.
And yes, there was ambient and electronic music before him.
But let's face it. These were all hippies. All of them, no exception.
And this is not a bad thing, I nurture my inner hippie as well.

But because of this, early ambient electronic music was all about being fluffy, good vibrations, (free) love (okay, there were *some* exceptions to this).

But Carpenter was one of the first to fuse real, gritty, visceral horror and panic into "ambient" music - the stuff he did for his film scores.

People like me still live on this legacy.

The press blurb informs us that:

"John Carpenter’s soundtracks for the most recent Halloween trilogy, made alongside his frequent collaborators Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, marked the legendary director and composer’s return to film scoring after nearly two decades away."

Night in Athens - Withr https://nightinathens.bandcamp.com/track/withr-feat-skelesys

Night in Athens is one of my favorite new synth pop / wave bands, or rather, one that I newly discovered.
Despite their name, they are not from Greece, but hailing from East London.

there is a lot of synth wave and indie pop these days, but their music is special to me, because it makes me really feel as if I would be walking through the city of Metropolis from the eponymous movie, traversing the stairway in a painting by M.C. Escher, or being pulled into the continuum-come-alive by author and editor Hugo Gernsbeck.

According to the blurb, this single release tells the story of a withred love (sic!). and I believe them.

Nox Arcana - Darkfall https://noxarcana.bandcamp.com/album/darkfall-vol-4

Nox used to be super prolific, releasing one album after the next, within mere months.
They became more "silent", so it's good to get an audible life sign by the band.

Fans of the band know what to expect: dark ambient / dungeon wave, that feels more cinematic than most of their peers, and is built on complicated, semi-detuned melodies.

L0sss - Hour Tree https://deadwitchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hour-tree

On Australian label "Dead Witch Recordings".
We get told that these are tracks "from the bones of scattered and ashen sound".
Black Metal that is so distorted, lofi, repetitive and sparse, that it already begins to sound like dark ambient and noise. Meditative and soothing - in an unsettling way (or in a soothing way, if you like to get unsettled).

(i mean all of the above in a positive sense, btw)

Snooper - Worldwide
https://snooper7.bandcamp.com/album/worldwide

Can you not love Snooper? Their music has been described as "egg punk", a genre term I never heard before actually.
In the end it is adorable, lo-fi produced rock/pop with drum machines and guitar sounds. Giving off a vibe as if a bunch of friends just happened to be in a room together, and jamming with their instruments, and then accidentally releasing an album out of this. Which might very much be close to the truth!
Also check Snooper's videos on their Youtube and other channel, which definitely give off 90s early internet vibes,

Josie - A Life On Sweets Alone https://josieband.bandcamp.com/album/a-life-on-sweets-alone

"My boy takes flight, sha la la la, meet me in the sky, sha la la la". I've been humming these lines for weeks now, in anticipation of this release. Because that chorus is so damn catchy! (It's in the song "My Boy and I").
Youtube had thrown the video by the band in my face, and I was insta-hooked. It's apparently on an important label out of the 90s.
I think what is going down is this: three or four people met, in one beautiful Scandinavian evening. They chilled and talked and said: "Hey, do you know what the world dearly needs? A resurrection of the lighter side of that whole 1990s alternative rock, grunge, indie punk thing". And they all agreed. And this is what you see here. And this is what you get.

(MurderCapital M-016) - Challenging Music For Challenged Minds https://viewlexx.bandcamp.com/album/murdercapital-m-016-challenging-music-for-challenged-minds

Attributed to a spurious "The Chloroform Bingo Band", which I guess is either Interr-Ferrence or any of the other The Hague dirty electroheads in disguise.
The Hague's dirty electro scene (a scene which I mentioned in the sentence that preceded this one) somehow managed to survive the self-irony / self-parody hipster hype of the early Millennium that elevated them to world wide (in)fame, and which they helped to fuel with their often very cheesy and and over the top retro 80s aesthetics and sounds, and which crashed shortly afterwards.
I have a feeling that this release should not be taken too serious either, but it's also quite mature. Dance / Club Techno type beats (or maybe there is a more specific micro-genre term involved that evades my knowledge) that still channel some of the psychiatric mania of the early Bunker Acidcore days in The Hague with Unit Moebius and all their friends.

(In small doses)

The Geezer / Dabih303 / DJ Mente / Bubbless & Nesbit - Now's The Time (Acid Techno) https://flatlifeultra.bandcamp.com/album/nows-the-time-amrw001-acid-techno

That the words "acid techno" are literally included in the title of the release should be a big indicator.
This is what you hear, this is what you get.
Well-produced, kickin, drivin, slidin, acid and techno sounds that make you either rave around the dancefloor, or your living room.

Umwelt - Echoes of a Broken Future EP - NF33 - New Flesh / Rave or Die Records
https://newfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-of-a-broken-future-ep-nf33-preorder

Do you hail the new flesh?

Umwelt has always been one of my favorite Electro-Funk producers, and on his journey, he cooked up other styles, ate them up, and digested them as well, for example Techno, Oldschool Rave, and most recently, Hardcore+Gabber.
So there is really a type of new flesh that had been formed, and I like this release very much!

Tantra Noir - Rupture https://zarathustraxxi.bandcamp.com/album/rupture

A side project by Zarathustra XXI, which is an experimental music collective in Munich, Germany, according to bandcamp info.
Germans always had a taste for the more sleazy side of life, but, surprisingly, these are very mature ambient and industrial / electronic sounds. Makes me think of both Tangerine Dream and Bohren & der Club of Gore - in small slices.

But as the sounds drone on, I indeed began to sense the build-up of a dark Tantra. Nomen est Omen, after all!

Hubrid - Cosmic Gens https://hubrid54.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-gems

It is in my opinion that at least in terms of electro / synth wave, the production skill and values of "smaller" artists are on par with heavyweights like Vitalic or Messier 83.
And I don't think it's Hubris to state that (pun intended).

The blurb says that "COSMIC GEMS est une odyssée sonore interstellaire qui mêle mélodies éthérées, synthétiseurs spatiaux et atmosphères contemplatives" and yes, yes, I readily go d'accord with that one!

A fan-written "guidebook" about Digital Hardcore Recordings -

Books or E-books about Electronic Music, Hardcore, or Experimental stuff are still very hard to come by. So we are happy to announce a new one, this time dedicated to DHR out of Berlin!

All the infos about the book:

It was due time that Digital Hardcore Recordings aka DHR got its own, unofficial guidebook. It was an important part of music history, of 90s culture, and of history.

This book lists and reviews all Digital Hardcore releases; all albums, EPs, and single releases, CDs, Vinyls, including those that got put out on sublabels.

It's not just a dry, music-centered look at the tracks alone. But also mentions the cultural context, the philosophical context, the political context. And goes way off on various ways sometimes - by looking for connections to other media, movies, movements...

The book is for the dreamers, the restless minds, that were looking for a true alternative in the 90s, or are (still) looking for it in today's times.

Chapters:

About Digital Hardcore Recordings
All Digital Hardcore Recordings Albums listed, rated, and reviewed
All Digital Hardcore Recordings single and EP releases reviewed and rated
All DHR Limited releases listed, rated, and short-reviewed
A look at DHR Video releases
All Geist releases reviewed
Credits