Friday, December 19, 2025

Review: Gabber Industries Berlin - VA 03 [GiB011]


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.

so let's end the year with this banger!

https://gabberindustriesberlin.bandcamp.com/album/va-03-gib011

Thursday, December 18, 2025

Major announcement: New Years Day Huge online Techno-Hardcore festival on Youtube

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).

What to expect?

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

Playorder + Tracklists:

-Low Entropy Slowcore/Doomcore/Industrial (max 140 BPM)
-Bohemian Industrial/Dark Techno/Darkcore(140 / 160 BPM).
-Gabbergirl Hardcore Techno,Hard techno and Acidcore(150/170 BPM).
-Nikaj Industrial,Uk Hardcore,Millenium Hardcore and Breakcore(170/200 BPM)
-Dj Asylum Hardcore,Gabber,Terror.190/280 BPM.
-Low Entropy:Speedcore. 250 BPM and above.

low entropy

Tracklisting:

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 Opium Smell
22. Librarium & Bohemian - Murdered Me (Murmuur Remix)
23. Sacerdos Vigilia INDZ_RVLTN
24. Strange Arrival A Nameless Fear
25. The Outside Agency The Spooks
26. Sei2ure Chainsaw
27. Huntargor F*ck The Problems
28. The Relic Between Light & Shadow (into the Dark Lands 2013 OST)
29. Ophidian Insects
30. The 7th Genocide Voodoo Machines
31. GBLV62034896 Fucking Monsters
32. Tripped Cuming
33. Project Omeaga Miss Parkinson
34. Meagashira Shapeshifter
35. Mindustries Mindustrial
36. Densha Crisis Mind In Distress
37. Enzyme X Rauwkost
38. Ophidian Lynched (Tymon Remix)
39. Tymon & Waldhaus Purgatory
40. Librarium & Bohemian - Destiny
41. ANGEL Dirty Thirty
42. Holy Noise - James Brown is Still Alive (Librarium & Bohemian Holy bootleg)

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

Please also check the earlier mix marathons:

Summer 90s Mixmarathon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_orVOnk4cME
New Year 90s Madness Mixmarathon (2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ys2zAwe2kM

Hoping to see you there!

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

The 1000 Commodores of the Amiga Shock Force - Additional Information

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!

Monday, December 15, 2025

Production Diary - "Strange Loops" on a "Doom Techno" vinyl

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.

Enjoy, and bon appétit!



You can listen to the tracks here: https://demonicwavs.bandcamp.com/album/low-entropy-enter-dimension
Or read my other "producer's diary" entries here

We will try to bring you more production diary entries by various producers in the future.

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Review: 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!)

https://cultureofviolence.bandcamp.com/album/n-gation-de-l-tre

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Review: Miro - Unforgotten Seasons S3 (Self-Released)


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!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

FusionCore Techno Project

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.

If you are interested to join in with a mix or two, contact us at: tapeductseven@gmail.com

Here are three earlier mixes that already come close to the idea of FusionCore Techno. (Even if they were not made with this term as the banner)

Αναρχία Αραχνοειδείς - LightIntoDarkness (Ambient to Gabber Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUYLVtay0V8

DJ Rites - End of Summer (mixes EBM with Hardcore Techno)
https://hearthis.at/omnicore-records/doomcore-records-pod-cast-096-dj-rites-end-of-summer/

Clakbastard - From Chill to Hell 2
https://hearthis.at/omnicore-records/doomcore-records-pod-cast-088-clakbastard-from-chill-to-hell-2/

Monday, December 8, 2025

The Hardcore Overdogs Recap 2025

Hello Wolves and Dogs,
Here is a list of 31. features we ran in 2025 that, according to our very subjective opinion, might be worth noting.
  1. Japan's 90s Hardcore Techno scene was wild https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/09/japans-90s-hardcore-techno-scene-was.html
  2. 20 of the Hardest Tracks in any 1990s Hardcore Techno Subgenre (Video Feature) https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/01/20-of-hardest-tracks-in-any-1990s.html
  3. The Short Bios: GabberGirl https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-short-bios-gabbergirl.html
  4. Liminal Territory and the Occupation of an Undefined Space: The Rise of Techno and Hardcore in Berlin in the Early 90s https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/01/liminal-territory-and-occupation-of.html
  5. The Secret LGBTQIA+ History of Hardcore Techno https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-secret-lgbtiqa-history-of-hardcore.html
  6. What you can do to Help in the Fight Against Fascism https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/02/what-you-can-do-to-help-in-fight.html
  7. A Review of the Complete Digital Hardcore Recordings Catalogue - Part 1 https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-review-of-complete-digital-hardcore.html
  8. Slices of Fischkopf - Reviewing Phantom Releases That Never Happened on the Label https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/02/slices-of-fischkopf-reviewing-phantom.html
  9. Origins of the Rave Vamp/Riff https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-origins-of-rave-vamp-riff.html
  10. On the Multiple Roots of Hardcore Techno, Part 1 - Mono Tone Records from Cologne https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/03/on-multiple-roots-of-hardcore-techno.html
  11. Looking back at the first enigmatic PCP compilation: Frankfurt Trax Vol. 1 - House Of Techno https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/03/looking-back-at-first-enigmatic-pcp.html
  12. Dancing into Trance: The Very Bodily Sensations of Hardcore and Techno https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/dancing-into-trance-very-bodily.html
  13. A Tale of Two Cities: Tracing the Sound of Rotterdam - and its Hamburg Counterpart https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-tale-of-two-cities-tracing-sound-of.html
  14. How Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and Snoop Dogg ended up using Hardcore and Techno samples in their hit songs https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/how-lady-gaga-nicki-minaj-and-snoop.html
  15. Throwback to the Mayday raves - One of the hardest Techno events in the 90s https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/throwback-to-mayday-raves-one-of.html
  16. Introduction to 90s Underground Hardcore Techno https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/introduction-to-90s-underground.html
  17. Everyone Likes a Big Bass - A Look at the Lower Ends of the Frequency Spectrum https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/05/everyone-likes-big-bass-look-at-lower.html
  18. 1 1/2 Years of Sonic Itinerancy - A Project for Audio Travelers https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/05/1-12-years-of-sonic-itinerancy-project.html
  19. Tracing the Bleep: The History of the "Rave Signal" in Techno music https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/05/tracing-bleep-history-of-rave-signal-in.html
  20. A Fool's Errand: Trying to Trace the "Joker" Archetype in Hardcore Techno Culture https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/06/a-fools-errand-trying-to-trace-joker.html
  21. History of Doomcore Techno - The 1st Generation: PCP https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/06/history-of-doomcore-techno-1st.html
  22. Raving Under the Nuclear Threat: Acid, Techno, and New Beat in 1987-1992 https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/06/raving-under-nuclear-threat-acid-techno.html
  23. Summer of Doomcore 2025 https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/07/summer-of-doomcore-2025.html
  24. Movie Compendium for Hardcore Heads (Video Feature) https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/07/movie-compendium-for-hardcore-heads.html
  25. Turn on, tune in, drop bass: How the American Midwest shaped the global Hardcore Techno scene, and how Daft Punk ended up playing a gig in the sticks https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/08/turn-on-tune-in-drop-bass-how-american.html
  26. Extreme rock, rap, and electronic crossovers in the 90s: From "Judgment Night" to the "Spawn" OST https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/08/extreme-rock-rap-and-electronic.html
  27. Hardcore & Techno against Misogyny & Queerphobia https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/09/hardcore-techno-against-misogyny.html
  28. Timeline of Hardcore Techno style evolution during the 90s (Video) https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/10/timeline-of-hardcore-techno-style.html
  29. Acid Vision: About the Techno mysteries of the 303 Nation https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/11/acid-vision-about-techno-mysteries-of.html
  30. Production 101: The audio science behind Hardcore Techno bass drums https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/11/production-101-audio-science-behind.html
  31. Techno History: Leo Anibaldi and "The sound of Rome" https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/11/techno-history-leo-anibaldi-and-sound.html

Producer's diary: Creating an album that combines Black Metal, Industrial, and Speedcore


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.

https://doomcorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/emerald-chants-in-the-hall-of-moebius

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

We are The Hardcore Overdogs - Remix Competition


Come out of ye covers, ya wolves and dogs!
We are calling (howling) for a remix competition of The Hardcore Overdog anthem(s).

The Hardcore Overdogs are an E-Zine for great and / or underrated Hardcore Techno past and present!

https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/

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 can download the stems here: https://lowentropy.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-the-hardcore-overdogs-remix-competition

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.

7. The finished tracks should be sent to:

low.entropy.80@gmail.com

with subject "Remix Competition" (best as a download link to file hoster).

Further questions, inquiries, comments, can be sent to that e-mail address, too.

Strict deadline - if your track is not finished, we can't include it.

You can choose between these 5 anthems:

1. Hardcore Like The Wolf
2. Topp Dogg
3. Hakken With Wolves
4. We Are The Hardcore Overdogs
5. Drum Test (120-2000 bpm)

And now, ya Hardcore Overdogs, have fun with the remixes.

Woof!

Monday, December 1, 2025

Review: Industrial Terror Squad – Da Basdardz Are Back (Industrial Strength Records – IS043)



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.

https://www.junodownload.com/products/industrial-terror-squad-da-bxxtards-are-back/1361323-02/

Review: 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.

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

Bandcamp: https://minimumsyndicat.bandcamp.com/album/magnetic-streets-01

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/1109941-Minimum-Syndicat