Review: "Strictly Early" and the return of Hakken-Style Hardcore

When Techno began to appear in glossy magazines by the mid 90s, and DJs started to look like super models (or rather, 90s supermodels started to look like Techno DJs), a large part of the Techno scene said "nice" and quickly forgot its Hardcore roots.
But it cannot rest what does eternal lie, and within these strange aeons, hardcore will never die.

Or, to put it less poetically, if you try to bury something very hard, at one point people will start digging, and dig it out again.
And, this way, 1992-1995 style hardcore techno, gabber house, "nosebleed" techno is back again, and more kids dance to it now then they danced to daft punk.

And now I am going to look at a bunch of releases that are part of this revival.

By its name, "Strictly Early" is a series of compilations that, well, are strictly defined for Early Hardcore music.
Mostly by new producers. It's a nice touch that some "old dogs" join in, and sometimes even submit new material.

From the information I could gather online, it seems the compilations were put out digitally, on CD, and even on vinyl.
The inclusion of CD releases is quite spiffy. It feels like a throwback to the 90s "Hardcore-Gabba" CD compilation craze, and famous numbers such as Thunderdome, Terrordrome, and the various other -domes and -domes.

And, if you look at the tracklisting, it seems a lot of original Terrordrome artists appear on these compilations, too.

What to expect? The entire shebang of Early Hardcore and Techno. Even a bit of Industrial or "Frenchcore" sounds.

So, put on your tracksuits, shave your head, and then everybody do the hakken!

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