The forgotten most important German Techno label: Force Inc. Music Works

I remember seeing a documentary on the 70s New York City punk scene, CBGBs that kind of thing, on TV.
One of the guys involved said: "those who do something first in music, the true pioneers, never get any fame, recognition, or money." (paraphrased)
And, yes, it seems this is true, more often than not.
And if we move from the New York City punk world to the Techno and Dance culture in the 90s, and to germany, more specifically, I know one project that fits the bill quite exactly.

I am talking about Force Inc Music Works here. The label was created by Achim Szepanski in the early 90s. I don't know much about him, but it seems the label was not so much seen as a commercial enterprise, but as a communist / socialist experiment. He was also influenced by Gilles Deleuze and post-modernism (More on this later).

This description might hint at the fact that the label occupied a place that was in the more intellectual / avantgarde territory of the Techno behemoth. It's maybe ironic (or post-ironic) that the label turned out to be hugely influential in creating some of the most "bodily", dancefloor-extremist genres of electronic music or techno in a wider sense: Hardcore-Gabber and Breakcore.
More on this later.

The alumni and maestro that found a host in this label, include Khan, who, amongst other things, did a collab project with Julee Cruise (from the twin peaks tv show!), or released a breakcore mash up album by alec empire and "elvis presley"... that also found its way into the museum of modern art.

khan is the brother of Cem Oral, who was well known as being one part of Air Liquides, these poster boys of "intelligent electronica" music in the 90s.
the other half happened to be ingmar koch. that guy also did some great acid and other stuff as Dr. Walker. and can claim to be the great grandnephew of the literal Friedrich Engels! (i guess the socialist connection runs deep?)

there is also Thomas Gerlach, who later hit the mainstream euro charts, and the worldwide dance charts. with his "DJ Tonka" project. also did some collabs with ian pooley: they had some real rave hits with their alias space cube. (and ian, of course, had excellent single releases).

i mentioned alec empire already. he also had the majority of his early releases on force inc and its sublabels.
a lot of the tracks he started digital hardcore recordings with, where tracks that, during inception, where still aimed at force inc.
(oh, if you don't know alec... front man of atari teenage riot. merzbow, trent reznor and bjork were his fanboys / girls).

and, because of this, the inception of the breakcore music genre, happened on force inc, too. with the release of "tötenposse rides out" by, can you guess it? alec empire in 1992.

now that we are finally in hardcore territory, the label had some really good early gabber tracks and releases... many times these were produced by martin damm aka the speed freak or biochip c. (damm himself later created labels with names like "napalm", "agent orange", or "speedcore records", so you might guess what to expect there. he also earned some gold certified record awards by the music industry, for his euro-house tunes.)

there was even a hardcore sublabel to force inc, called communism records (the connection runs deep, eh?).
some of the first ultra speedcore tracks of the 90s, with beats that went faster than 400 bpm, were (indirectly) connected to this label.

on a complete site note, do you know the famous "techoviking" meme? this was shot at an annual "techno" parade in berlin, called the ****parade, which still takes places in berlin, every year during summer.
and force inc was very substantial for getting this whole thing off the ground. by providing a float, DJs, and a very (very!) loud sound system at the first edition of this party parade. without the label, all this might never happened...

then, on the topic of subs... there was also "mille plateaux". which might be the one with the most lasting fame.
it's named after a concept by gilles deleuze apparently (see, thats one of the points where post modernism ties in).
how should i, how could i describe this label... ? there is not much techno about at all anymore... really experimental, strange / abstract stuff.

alec empire had his best ambient albums on there... yet there also idm, noize, industrial... well, listen for yourself!

i feel there is very little in the history books of techno and music on this label these days. those "who are in the know", might know it, but who else?
and if it is mentioned, this is more in the way of... "another label in the 90s that had some very very good releases". which is true to the point. but there is more to it, it's a label that changed entire genres and subgenres! that is interconnected in a huge network of artists and musicians, that went far beyond techno (or even electronics).

so, let us take a moment, to look back at it, and then keep it in mind.

The label on discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/label/269-Force-Inc-Music-Works
https://www.discogs.com/label/270-Mille-Plateaux
https://www.discogs.com/label/3844-Communism-Records
https://www.discogs.com/label/3845-Riot-Beats

Oh, and by the way: what are your favorite releases from the labels or the sublabels?

When Trance, House and Hardcore were still one thing... 11 reviews from Germany's obscure Techno past

People sometimes fail to realize that a lot of Techno genres that now seem to be very distinct and separate from each other, used to be part of one whole "Techno" movement, culture and scene.
I mean, yeah, there is not much crossover between styles like soulful house and terror-speedcore, or drum'n'bass and acid techno, right? Or IDM and the trance revival.

But, in the early 90s, DJs at a Techno party or rave, would start their set with house or downtempo maybe, then drop some acid and faster techno, maybe some breakbeat stuff from UK, one or two aphex twin tunes, only to end with 180+ bpm Hardcore and Gabber. Don't believe me? Check this set by DJ Marusha at the German Mayday 1994 rave, for example.

Of course, each Raver had their personal preference... some liked harder and darker some, some liked more light things... or maybe more funky tunes. Some probably detested 1-2 styles, totally.

But it was one big big youth movement in the end. We partied together, we danced together, we went into bliss, and then chilled out together. It was not like there were "trancers" on one side and "gabbers" on the other. or "housers" on one side and "acid heads". At least not yet!

And because of this, a lot of the early releases that came from the Techno movement, let's say 1988-1994 at least, were not really in one style, they had multiple styles on the vinyl. Maybe an ambient track as A1, then A2 and B1 is techno, and B2 is gabba. The same goes for artists and labels in that time.

And this means there are often releases, on labels that are more known for techno, trance, "dance", that are totally hardcore, or have 1 or 2 extreme hardcore track(s) on it, and noone would have expected that!

Something for the true diggers and train (track!) spotters.

Especially the early German scene is a true treasure trove for that.

And that's why I will now look at 11 releases... that are just like that!

Influid III - Ladyshaver Non-EP (Influence Recordings IR 023-12)

This release is quite the treat! It's on Influence Recordings, which was started by Talla 2XLC.
In the "music history" books, Talla is usually considered as one of the two original sources that came up with the term Techno. Detroit in USA on one hand, for their Underground Resistance etc type stuff. While a few years earlier, Talla invented the term Techno for dark, groovy electronic music (which at that time was still close to EBM, New Wave, etc).

Influid themselves were a duo that also released music using akas like Komakino and Final Fantasy. I think they even went into the charts with some of their hard trance stuff.

"We're Always Behind You" is a trancecore / ravecore classic. It is very, very, very good!
The flipside, "The Destroyer", might be even more interesting, though. The info says "1.2 Million BPM Mix". And thats what it is. Starts slow, then goes up to 1 million bpm and more.
It has been released in 1994 already, so i guess this one is one of the first true "ultra speedcore extratone" tracks.

Mutter, Es Geht Um Geschwindigkeit - Mutter, Es Geht Um Geschwindigkeit (IMR-Records - imr007cd)

Isn't this one of the best cover artworks for a release, ever?
I don't know a release date, but judging by the style, and as the label faltered in 1994, I guess it was somewhere in 1993-1994.

The style is very interesting, oldschool hardcore and gabber. very "german" in a sense, like c tank or mono tone a bit maybe... but also with elements of hardtrance and rave... really rough and groovy!

Distortion - Serious Things (Influence Recordings - IR 003-12)

Frantic Thigh is a contender for the first really fat gabber 909 kick in music history!
The other tracks are nice and evil techno.

God's Groove - Prayer Three / Four (Black Flame - 44110)

What an obscure and precious gem! Prayer Three reminds me of UK Trance around that year..
but the real banger is "Prayer Four". How to describe it? A bit like pailhead style EBM, ultrasonic, there's a gabber drum, basslines, metal guitars...
Almost reminds me of KLF's vision for the 'black album' (and this one is released on a label called black flame, after all).

I don't know much about this project, but this release is a killer.

Pleasure - We Are Not Saved (Labworks Germany - LAB 47)

DJ ESP makes an appearance on labworks. bad acid? no such thing, on this record. the killer track for me here is "flying open". one of the toughest techno drums ever!

Plutone - Dream Sequence (White Label - WL 107)

Whoa, mate! this is from 1992? definitely ahead of its time. noise and industrial elements, more like later speedcore or "industrial hardcore" productions. or like musique concrete, even.
still, some rave-y and trance elements make an appearance. which is a most welcome touch.

Baphomet - The Force (Trigger - TR 010)

duuude... this one is big! very big production, there is acid, lines, techno drums, choirs are singing... also has a phuture / doomcore feel, also a bit of psytrance and ebm maybe... wonderful!
makes me feel like i am listening to a techno ritual in a giant cave underneath
earth.

Son Of A Bitch - Polio 800 E.P. (Hellrazor Records - HR 001-12)

Hellrazor was started by Andy Düx, who was also involved in Overdrive Records, which already had a lot of Hardcore releases. But Hellrazor seems to be even one notch... more insane & hard.
This release is by Thomas Elers, who was a true Hardcore and Acid powerhouse in the early 90s, or maybe we can call this style "acid gabber".
The style itself reminds me a bit of e-de cologne (who actually samples some of elers tracks!), like, it's completely chaotic, and deranged sounds are flying at you from every side really.
Elers has a more analogue feel, of course.

Even for today's standards in Hardcore, Speedcore and Noize... this record is still damn tough!

Sorcerer - My Four Seasons E.P. (Hellrazor Records - HR 001-12)

if there is one artist who had a really (really!) interesting trajectory, it's oliver kirwa. He was a coder on the commodore 64 computer. he won a reader's contest for the german "happy computer" mag - he wrote the "video game of the month" for them!
he also did video game music for other games. and then he turned into a techno and gabber producer.

"sorcerer - summer" is well known from a lot of 90s gabber compilations. one of the first tracks with really really, fast speedcore beats. and generally, some of the hardest stuffs ever.
but the other tracks are gabber-great as well.
i am especially into "winter", which also has some trancecore / rave pads and sounds.

Parrot Torture - Parrot Torture E.P. (Communism Records - COM 1)

Wow! I never would have thought that Thomas P. Heckmann could get that hard.
You probably know him from trax like Drax - Amphetamine or Phosphene.
These were big trance hits of the 90s.
but this one is gabba gabba all the way. not the cheesy post-1994 hardcore, of course.
minimal, brutalist, 909 kicks, percussion, and acid!

Alien Factory - Tell Death You Don't Wanna Die! (Generator Records - GEN 9112-12)

Do you know a style called "rave techno" ? which is an umbrella for the harder edge of rave, house, dance culture from the late 80s to early 90s... before the real gabber-craze took over, basically.
and this is the hardest edge of that spectrum, in my opinion. the basses are super deep and hard, we got screams, shouts, there are metal and guitar-like noises.
but still, one could imagine a dance club in nyc or antwerp to this. it is still "groovy" and has the funk, so to say.

Alien Factory later had some huge trance hits like "destiny" or "get the future started". but this is a great early release.

Do you have any own favorites in german hardcore 1990-1994? let me know!

When UK's free party Spiral Tribe went really, really Hardcore (Reviews of 11 releases)

There was a very funny skit on British TV, when Trigger Happy's Dom Joly pranked innocent english citizens and neighbours by dressing up like a freak, then announcing to them "I am from spiral tribe". Spoken in a very cockney type way, I assume. More like: "Ay uuum froom spooral traib".
And then indicating that the neighbour hood will be left in shambles after the upcoming free party reveling that is about to go down regularly, now that the Spiral Tribe has moved in.
Anyway, I am completely off the road, because I now want to get to something completely different.

I don't need to tell you what the Spiral Tribe is, and I am certain you know some of their releases. I don't think any other collective was so influential in inventing the free tekno / teknival sound (and thing).
But if you dive deep into their back catalogue and network, you will see that they also did some real Hardcore Techno type things.

And that is really, really interesting to me, because it's not just free party sounds, with a harder or even gabber type beat on top. No, no, it's a real original brand of Hardcore, it's like uhm... take the harder 90s hardcore and hard noize from cologne, or new york, or the london underground... and yeah, it's even more strange and psy-chotic in some way. Like a bizarre derivative of acid and core and gabber... uhm. You check it, and you will know it (I hope).

So here is a look at least 11 releases!
They are either on a label, or by a person related to the Spiral Tribe.

Note: No AI has been used when writing this text.

Automanic and Person Unknown - Criminal (Rabbit City Records - Cut 019)

I suppose this is one of the Spiral Tribe related releases that is closest to Dutch Gabber.
Pitched up rap type samples, manic hoovers. But also more insane, and with influences of acid and free tekno, of course.

Spiral Tribe / Person Unknown - Black Plastik (Network23 - Spiral 001)

I guess this is the first record I heard where I realized the Spiral Tribe makes bona fide Hardcore Techno, too!
The track to go for (at least for me) is A2. Very simplistic, just a drum and the same acid note repeated for minutes on and on. A bit similar to unit moebius - zipper maybe, but faster. And so hypnotic, in a dark and twisted way!

SP 23 / Unit Moebius - (Out Of The Blue Blue Attack Records - 123)

One of the "hardest sh*ts" both Spiral Tribe and Unit Moebius ever did.
A2 reminds me a bit of the Gabber-compilation classic "Network 23", but it's different.
Zipper by U.M. is also a true classic of a track (I mentioned it above already). Acidcore, very minimal. There is just a drum and an acidline and not much else going on, also very slow. But the track "slaps like a wolf", so to say.

Spiral Tribe Sound System - Sirius 23 (Butterfly Records - BFLT4)

"Going all the way" is the go-to track for me here (pun intended).
First heard it on the Technohead 3 compilation, which was a widely released Techno-Hardcore CD comp.
Has a gabber type beat, that "misses" every 3rd and 4th beat. Instead there is a low bass rumble, and it might not sound much on home speakers (even less on head phones or ear buds), but I assure you, if you hear these sub bass frequencies on a field in the countryside, ran through a sound system with a zegallion of watts, pop! goes your head.

69db / Person Unknown / Warlock - Unknown Source (Network23 - NTW-23-18)

track a1 like... what... what the fudge? i was completely blown away when i first heard it, and still am.
nasty, mental, insane... these frequencies kill! one of my all time fav "hard" electronic tracks.

Somatic Responses / Caustic Visions - Malignant Earth (Network23 - NTW 23-29)

One of the most interesting releases on Spiral Tribe's own label.
The tracks by Somatic Responses sound as if they were not made by a human, but by Klatuu from the movie "The day the earth stood still" (original black and white version, please, not the one with keanu reeves) while under the influence of strange fungi.
the caustic side hammers on, too. literally, as it has the sound of hammers hitting on metal.

Various - Pure Pirate (Network23 - Stormcore 666)

Cat number "Stormcore 666" might indicate what to expect, right?
This release is a bit like the turnstyle between the free tekno scene and the wider experimental hardcore underground and noisecore of the later part of the 1990s decade...
My fav will always be "pure pirate".
This track was up at the legendary internet forum / website "Circuit 8 com" (really legendary!) and I used to listen to it there, for ages, on repeat.

Les Boucles Etranges - Untitled (Network23 - Isotop 1)

Uhm yeah... I guess this is a good example of the whole "free party" spin on Techno and Hardcore, or at least the early free party scene that was likely more dangerous and savage. Especially the low frequencies on here, that demand a loud sound system, or you will not really feel the effect, my friend!

There seems to be a warning on here, in french, that says the frequencies might be hazardous for the "radioactive" people... i dont have a dictionary nearby, but i guess you can catch the meaning... and my drift!

SP 23 - Untitled (Rabbit City Records - 011)

The "Network 23" track, who doesn't know it? Even the dutch gabbers knew (or know), because it was on the famous compilations (as mentioned above, btw).
This bass has been sampled in many later tracks, and, oddly enough, the "spiral tribe" vocoder type voice found it's way to the "void sector" release on ruffneck records... which became another classic!
The "this is network 23" spoken piece itself is famously nicked from the british "Max Headroom" TV show (... or was it in the movie...?)

Various - Hidden Resistance (Network23 - Stormcore 5)

I assume most people would go for the micropoint side, and i must agree, that stuff is really good.
but please also listen to christoph fringeli's share of the thing.
this was released when he and praxis were about to go "full breakcore", but it's still with repetitive hardcore beats and all, and i guess these are some of the last tracks he did in that style... or anyone else did, really, as it's quite unique!

Listening suggestion: Outland

Base Mobile & SP 23 - Expekt The Unxpekted (Network23 - Explore Toi 08)

another classic free techno release that is more on the hardcore side of things.
if memory serves me right, i listened to the "respect to the hardcore" tune in quite some mix sets.
a1 is spiffy as well, with the "slower" drums, that give off a bit of a deeper bass punch.

Person Unknown - Potential Hazard (Network23 - PH 1)

a real, true hardcore one. actually brings up e-de cologne or ec8or in my mind. with the cuts between jungle breaks, sounds, gabba drums... but with a more "analogue" sound!

Another noteworthy track to check out is the track "Berlin HC Nite" on the Capital Noise compilation.

What are your favorite Spiral Tribe releases? And which ones are the most "Hardcore"?
Let me know :-)

Our Bandcamp Friday coverage for September

Sometimes, for bandcamp fridays, we do a kind of "live coverage", and review some of the ongoing releases, that pour out that day. Here is our coverage for the september bandcamp friday in 2026. it's not just hardcore and techno, but also other genres, even those that go beyond "electronics".

Note: No AI in any form has been used for writing these reviews!

Update: 5 more reviews:

Hellcreator - Beyond The Gates (Mokum 348)
https://mokumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mok348-hellcreator-beyond-the-gates

When it comes to the early hardcore / 90s gabber revival, I always considered Hellcreator to be one of the better artists in that field.
He is a little bit less cheesy, the stuff is closer to old underground gabber (think nordcore, lenny dee), or even speedcore
Mokum is one of the few survivors of the original gabber house scene of the 90s. And it's cool and nice, that they now host a few of the (brand new) artists that were inspired by them and the original era, too.

Void Sorcerer - Autumn EP (self-released)
https://voidsorcerer909.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-ep

It's autumn (or close to autumn), and here is an EP for that season, too.
According to void sorcerer himself, he aims to combine dungeon synth with... gabber, speedcore, hardcore techno!
And that's a really unique combination, and I have not seen anything like that yet...
Nice to see there is still some creativity around. And the tracks themselves are quite cool, too!

Ductape - Faded Flowers (self-released)
https://ductape.bandcamp.com/album/faded-flowers

This is a card-carrying goth rock / pop album. There is nothing wrong with that!
Think cure, siouxsie, bauhaus... more modern of course, and more dance centered. and maybe less "rock-y".
the descending melodies and the vocals, that sound quite "haunted", do it for me, on here.
If you want to lament a lost love, or one you never met, i guess this is the right album.

Lord Nap - Alien Dreams (self-released)
https://naprecords.bandcamp.com/album/alien-dreams

i must admit that i am a fan of some lord nap tunes, but barely know anything about them.
maybe it's because the releases are very varied, there are even some hip hop ones, others are closer to synthwave.. even chiptune?
i sense there is also a vapor wave influence somewhere, and the tunes sometimes spell the online world of 2010 (think myspace, post-myspace, ICQ, frutiger aero... that aesthetic), which is not entirely my thing.
this release is top, though. it's a bit like lofi hip hop, but also very interesting, and there are many things that actually made me think of the glam rock / power pop era of the mid 70s!

liars' conspiracy - switches (self-released)
https://liarsconspiracy.bandcamp.com/album/switches

this was actually a reader's submission, a band by one of the readers that read the coverage.
and it's brilliant! it really is!
the music is related to drone and drone rock, i suppose. but the sound itself feels very logical, mathematic, but also very reduced, quite minimal, with lots of tiny modulations. and it's really mesmerizing.
dunno, is this a trend, a genre in music, that evaded my gaze over the years, or maybe is something new that they came up with?
either way, there are two tracks on the release, 8 minute and 14 minute long, and i just kept them running, like i was hypnotized by the sound.

Update: 2 more reviews:

Hellboii - Humanicide (Bunker Records)
https://bunker-panzerkreuz.bandcamp.com/album/humanicide-bunker-4028

The Bunker label from The Hague in the Netherlands seems to appear everytime in my bandcamp friday lists... weird!

"Hellboii" is really old school, I remember first seeing their music, when I browsed soundcloud, like 10 years ago (if i remember correctly).

This was a time when there was a new wave of techno and dance music everywhere (well at least on the internet). It was not as minimal or "detroit-ish" as the years before, but colder and harder again, also with hints of acid and acidcore in many tracks. But not as distorted yet as todays "industrial techno"!
Hellboii somehow did fit in there, and also did not. Because they also sound like 80s ebm, pre-techno detroit releases (hah!)... and, yes, Bunker is known exactly for these type of releases, where you can't really describe what's going on.
Either way, it's quite nice!

Fischer-Z - X-Ray Serenade (Self-Released)
https://fischer-z.bandcamp.com/album/x-ray-serenade

tt seems that some high profile artists want to join Bandcamp Friday! First John Carpenter, now Fischer-Z.
(If you don't know them. They were a charting UK new wave band from the 80s that had top 10 hits around Europe).

Their newer songs are less wave-y or synth pop. More like a guitar centered indie band now... even a bit of folk on here, imho. Especially in the song "suburban cowboy".
There is a bonus, and that's (re-imagined?) re-recordings of their old hits, like "so long" or "marliese".

Future Nobodies - Kiss Me Like You Used To (Self-Released)
https://futurenobodies.bandcamp.com/album/kiss-me-like-you-used-to

If I remember correctly, I became aware of the band "Future Nobodies" because Youtube suggested it to me, which might not be the most professional or classy way to do music research. But, truth is, I learned about some very interesting projects and good music in this way, and multiple times.
As far as I can see, there is a whole bunch of artists (and bands) now that are not exactly within one genre... they're not 100% synthwave, or 100% goth, but they somehow mix up everything that is dark, and also danceable.

Future Nobodies is one of the best bands in that "area", in my opinion.
This album uses a snippet from the original French version of the movie "Alphaville" by Jean Luc Godard, from 1965, and this instantly made it a winner for me.
Something that is also notable for me is that the synths, melody, and even rhythm seems to slightly slide out of tune or sync, but only very slightly, not completely detuned, which feels kinda... cool!

Btw their band info read "we make sad happy music to dance to." which kinda fits to the idea I described above.

John Carpenter - Lost Themes II 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Sacred Bones)
https://johncarpentermusic.bandcamp.com/album/lost-themes-ii-10th-anniversary-expanded-edition

Hey, I already had John Carpenter in my list for the last time it was Bandcamp Friday! Now he puts out a new release again. Dunno, is this some kind of... magic thing?

Either way, to make it clear: this is *the* John Carpenter. The director of Halloween, of The Thing, of Escape from New York. And he does not suddenly do music on the side, he has always been a music producer too, next to his Hollywood career, and for fans of electronic music, John Carpenter has been revered as much as Vangelis or Moroder.

According to the text this is a new extended version of a previous release, of "John Carpenter's acclaimed second album of non-soundtrack compositions".

And I will stop right here, because this is really perfect, it describes the music on here so well. A "non-soundtrack composition"... yes, it sounds like you were hearing the score to a typical John Carpenter movie, just that this time, the movie does not exist!
(Okay I know that is a weird way to say it... but listen to it, it makes more sense then... I hope!).

Betty X - Skoochies (Self-Released)
https://bettyx.bandcamp.com/track/skoochies

New single by Betty X. If we trust the info (and lyrics), she did this one for an all-ages dance club that existed in the past. She met her first love at that club, and dedicates this song to them.
The style of the single reminds me of the "rockier" side of synthwave, or maybe the more synth heavy and retro side of indie rock. So maybe it's up to you to decide!

But it's really good, and, yeah, I could imagine dancing at a club while this song plays.

I-f - Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass (Viewlexx V-002)
https://viewlexx.bandcamp.com/album/viewlexx-v-002-space-invaders-are-smoking-grass

According to their own accord, the "bunker" crew were some kind of nerd-squatters in the netherlands, that did those hardcore / acid parties in... well, bunkers and warehouses, with a bunch of weirdos freaks... from all walks of life.
and wouldn't you guess it, one of the DJs and producers associated with that scene, was electro-rocking it on the MTV(*) only a few years later. Because "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" was on heavy rotation on the various dance programs of TV and other channels, and I guess a lot of people who came home or came down from hardcore raving and other nastiness on a friday or saturday night, sank down on their couch and turned on the TV... will remember chilling to this track when the very video of it came up.

so, yes, it's a literal underground "hit", and i love it, too. very good electro, cool futuristic lyrics... cool concept... completely the correct thing for cool cats!

CVSY - Writhe (Self-Released)
https://glaring.bandcamp.com/album/writhe

Glaring / Anna Nin is one of the most interesting Dark Ambient producers right now. Or is it really "just" Dark Ambient?
Apart from Industrial and Harsh Noise elements, there has been more and more rhythmic sequences in her music lately... I dare to say "dance" elements!
And it might be a coincidence, but I feel a throwback to the earliest days of Techno, Hardcore, Hard Acid, Doomcore Techno... when I listen to these tracks.

It's released using the aka CVSY. According to the info these were "Recorded live in summer 2026". Quite a feat, because it is still Summer, and it's a 17 track strong album after all, that she apparently finished in a very short amount of time!

I love these tunes very much, there is hardly any filler inbetween, the tracks, the concept are top... even if you are only remotely interested in the mentioned genres, please take a listen!

5 Neo-Electro Techno reviews and a heads-up

Electro or Electro-Funk... well, it was a genre in the 80s, often lumped together with Hip Hop, the Rap scene, free style... the "difference" to regular Hip Hop is that it's made up to 99% of synthetic and digital sounds. Even the voices get "vocodorized". The genre was quite underground, best known tracks are probably "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)" by Hashim or Planet Rock. And maybe the stuff by Egyptian Lover.

So, this genre got more or less replaced by the even more computerized dance, acid and rave craze of the 90s...
But when that madness did fade away again, towards the end of the 90s, some producers suddenly gazed back upon the 80s... and did some electro stuff again!

What followed was a looong evolution, that took several years and lasts till today. And now electro sounds are almost everywhere, and we got famous artists like Miss Kittin or Vitalic that are influenced by it... well, I guess, there are even *newer* artists around by now.

To cut a long story (or evolution) short, Pop / Dance electro type music is on one end of the spectrum... and then there is more obscure, refined, "sophisticated" stuff. And I want to talk about, and review, 5 of these releases right here. I (really) think these are essential for everyone who wants to go deeper into the... electro revival!

I-f - Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass (Viewlexx V-002)

According to their own accord, the bunker crew were some kind of nerd-squatters in the netherlands, that did those hardcore / acid parties in... well, bunkers and warehouses, with a bunch of weirdos freaks... from all walks of life.
and wouldn't you guess it, one of the DJs and producers associated with that scene, was electro-rocking it on the MTV(*) only a few years later. Because "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" was on heavy rotation on the various dance programs of TV and other channels, and I guess a lot of people who came home or came down from hardcore raving and other nastiness on a friday or saturday night, sank down on their couch and turned on the TV... will remember chilling to this track when the very video of it came up.

so, yes, it's a literal underground "hit", and i love it, too. very good electro, cool futuristic lyrics... cool concept... completely the correct thing for cool cats!

(*yeah you are right I sneaked a "sk8er boi" reference into this review, i am sorry!)

https://viewlexx.bandcamp.com/album/viewlexx-v-002-space-invaders-are-smoking-grass

Umwelt - ... & The Day Came Part 1 (New Flesh - NF01)

That's the release that really put Umwelt on the radar for me... as a very cool electro producer.
I'm all about "Future Darkness". It has a very cool sample, or sequence of samples out of a speech from the Cronenberg classic Scanners.
The way it is used, it feels more like the broadcast of military commands than the dialogue between... two chemical mutants, as in the movie.
which fits to the beats, imho, as they are more like marching beats than electro.
and yeah, the whole release gives the feel that we are marching into a dark future!

https://newfleshrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-day-came-part-1-nf01

I-f / Jungian Archetype - Test Pilot Volume 1 (Viewlexx - V12 / 2A)

Hello?
"Shadow of the clown" is on here.
You don't know it?
It's this very weird acid / electro tune that seems to have a loop of 808 percussion. And 15-16 tones that get repeated for 7 minutes straight. and it is one of the best electronic productions ever. shows how far you can get with minimalism, aight?
also has become very popular in the doomcore techno scene now.

https://viewlexx.bandcamp.com/album/viewlexx-v12-2x-test-pilot-volume-1-2025-digi-release

Univac - Radiation (Bunker Records - 3092)

Apparently an electro / bunker classic, but i ve been a bit late to the (bunker) party, as i heard it for the first time only recently.
it's deservingly a classic. the killer track is a1. i don't know much about univac, but unlike some electro contemporaries, this project does not seem to aim that much at continuing the sound of egyptian lover or planet rock, but rather seems to find inspiration in kraftwerk. and maybe they are the only electro act that can claim they *really* sound like kraftwerk. and maybe... even a bit better.
oh and going back to a1. there is this "weird" thing with the main synth melody, as that it constantly seems to slide out of "pitch"... don't know what they did here or how they did it, but this gives the whole thing a very convincing "outer space" edge!

I-f - Portrait Of A Dead Girl 1: The Cause (Viewlexx - V12/ 1)

Supercool release by I-F.
Electro, as a genre, often feels as if it's music that was done by aliens.
But this is the type of music that makes you feel as if *you*, the one in the crowd, is the alien, while the DJ is human. if that makes sense!
I Do Because I Couldn't Care Less is such a tune. and a nice ironic stab at aphex twin the same.
And there is Envy. Not envy of other producers, but a track called "Envy".
It's one of the dirtiest nastiest "minimal" dance tunes ever.

Freak Electrique - Mr. Psycho (Top Secret/Test Series - TS-009)

There was something I always liked, and even adored, about viewlexx, bunker, i-f, well, the whole the hague electro / acid thing. And that is that they got releases where you don't know if it's a parody of ironic, or intentionally silly, or if they are serious. But even when they are, they still feel sincere at the same time, through and through.

This is true for this release too, a "top secret" release going by the name of the label, by the way.
There is that strange, vocoder-ized intro "speech", and it's kinda cheesy. Telling a tale about a "mr. psycho", who seems to be some kind of interplanetary, or even interdimensional villain. It's as corny as it gets, even ending with a spoken warning of "bang bang there goes your brain". But somehow it fits right into the mood of the track and everything is alright.
There is also a cool ambient intro at the same time, the track is "oversized" with it's 7 minutes... and yeah, if I need to describe it, I would say, personally, it feels like the intro track to a forgotten 80s space TV show from a parallel dimension.

The day I bought and listened to the "Industrial F**king Strength" CD in the 90s

Industrial Strength just put this behemoth back up, on bandcamp!

How about... instead of a review, a story? Or, a review, told as a story?
Okay, so let us rewind, right back, into the deep past.
I was thirteen years of age, it was 1994, and the techno/rave wave was sweeping across Europe.
*Everyone* talked about Techno, Trance, House music, all night parties, the drugs, the crimes, old folks and news anchors lamented the "misled" teenagers and the perceived threat by this "criminal" form of music towards German youth.. while the youth on the other hand, enjoyed this style of music and style of living, very much.
In connection to this, another thing got constantly mentioned, and that was Hardcore & Gabber. At the same time, unlike for the Trance, Dance, "Rave" stuff, there was an almost 100% media curfew and blackout for this form of music (only in Germany, eh?). And, without the widespread internet and video web sites and all that modern convenience, it was very hard for a person to dig deeper there.

Yet as I slowly advanced in age, I grew more and more curious about this "Hardcore" sound, that was mentioned by everyone & their dog. I asked my rave friends and acquaintances about Hardcore & Gabber, most of them told me "It sucks when you listen to it at home, but it's great music when you are at a party and on the dancefloor!". Because they apparently only enjoyed Gabber when out & raving, they did not have any EPs and albums I could listen to.
And frankly, back then, I was too much of a p**sy to sneak out at night, defy home rule, find a way to get beyond the door, and go to these 18+ all night rave parties (like a lot of teenagers actually did).

(fast forward two years, to 1996)

But there was also german television, with very long advertising breaks in between programs and movies, advertising hair care products, or new car models, or home appliances. and they also showed advertising clips for CD compilations like Thunderdome, Terrordrome, Braindead... and one ad that stood out for me was for a new CD called "Industrial F**cking Strength". Oddly enough, even though it was on german TV, it was all-english, while the Thunderdome Ads were dubbed, and the terrordrome braindead etc stuff was from germany anyway.

The TV slogan "the nastiest hardcore gabber compilation ever" had an immediate appeal to me, so I went out, to the next shopping mall, and bought the "f**cking" CD.

back at home, listening to the Cd in one go from start to finish, and ouch, I was really, really, blown away.
it does not start that hard actually, even felt a bit mild... but once I passed tracks like "mad as hell" or "gabber up your a**" i knew i was truly heading towards something good.

once i came to "c*** face" and "extreme terror", i actually had to take the CD out and take a break! i was seriously shocked by this amount of terror & violence in the tracks.
Guess i really was a p**sy back then.

but, over the time, I grew very, very fond of this compilation, and I guess it was the first *really hardcore* release i bought & owned. (and yeah, it's really, really hardcore!)

Get it here: https://industrialstrengthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/industrial-f-king-strength

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/841780-Lenny-Dee-Industrial-Fking-Strength

Cosmic anarchists create conceptual 5-hour long "Ambient Hardcore" Techno track

Yup, it is exactly what is said in the title. One, whole track, and it runs seamlessly for 5 hours from start to finish.
How did someone or something arrive at such a - please allow the pun - "titan of work" ?

Let's hear it by the artists themselves.

"One of the topical inspirations for this release is that we were surprised to learn that, within Greek mythology and religion, not all Titans were killed or imprisoned after the 'heavenly' uprising by Zeus & his boys. Some Titans became aligned with the new Gods of Mount Olympus, and were risen to heaven, so to say.

This makes us ponder on these "Titan deities". And a picture appeared within our minds. What if, when we gaze into the night sky, the heavens, at the celestial clockworks, there is not a black void between the stars, nor evil aliens, but what if the cosmos actually had a Titan patchwork woven within?

So, in this track, there are the "sound of the spheres", cosmic space sounds, but they sound metallic, "titanic". While on the other side, there is a sound close to giant hammers in a stellar steel forge. Maybe shaping the primordial structure of the universe. Heavy duty cosmic construction work.
And one always fades into the other, and vice versa.

As for the more direct musical inspirations, there is the Mascletà, a well-known Valencian "rhythmic firework". which is extremely loud, sounds quite hardcore on its own. if you listen to a recording of it, you will see similarities to this very release.

then there obviously is movie scores as an influence, especially horror or scifi, by the likes of angelo badalamenti.

and, obviously, as cosmic anarchists, a main influence is krautrock. the whole electronic "prog rock" experience from berlin and germany during the 1970s. they liked to do long-winding, over-sized albums too, after all.

in fact, we set ourselves the task to produce a track that could pass as krautrock, techno, and hardcore at the same time.

as for the name? we like to honor threefold goddesses of various kinds. especially those with a "dark" or titanic side, too.
and the "rave on titan" refers to... well, we imagined this track to be the sounds that could possibly be played at a long, long rave party on another planet or one of its moons. raving in a giant amphitheatre, on the surreal landscape of another planet, while you look up at a crystal clear but changed night sky...

there is a special twist with the release. it's broken down into 3 and a half chapters, and we arranged them so that you could listen to the chapters in every possible order that you like, and it will still make a whole track!

but, yes, when it comes to it. it is one giant track that really runs for a complete length of 5 hours."

well said, cosmic anarchists, and i dont think there is anything i'd like to, or would need to add.

oh, maybe there is still one thing we should add: the audience should bring patience to this record. because there are literally beatless ambient passages that might last for an hour. before the action begins again.

https://doomcorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-threefold-goddess

Before the Street Trash Alliance: A few rare German Early Hardcore releases

Mono Tone was not the first German "Hardcore only" label, but maybe one could say it was the first really big one. Besides the Planet Core crew, of course, and at that point they were into a mixed bag of genres.

The Mono Tone releases were featured on Thunderdome and everywhere else. But, alas, the label went away as quickly as it came. You can read (part of) the story about it elsewhere 
The Mono Tone roster partly re-grouped on the new Shock Wave label by The Speed Freak.
Shockwave gave rise to other labels like Anodyne or Speedcore Records, which became part of the Street Trash Alliance... the rest is Hardcore History.

But the entirety of this thing is not what we want to talk about. Rather, we want to look at the time *before* all that happened. There were some kicking Hardcore releases on German labels before that, too. Often on labels that usually were more into hard trance or intelligent ("armchair") Techno. And often by the same artists that later went to Mono Tone and the Street Trash family of labels.

BC Kid - Wild And Wonderful E.P. (Generator Records 9120-12)

BC Kid later became one of the main artists on Shock Wave, of course.
An early release with early hardcore, and, man, these hoovers are brutal. When you hear them loud & live it is like your skull gets melted from your head.
The BPM might not be as high as later brutal recordings, but in my opinion, this is harder than most "Speedcore" stuff.
Best track is Wild & Wonderful (eponymous!), with cool Akira samples, and some happy hardcore stabs that do not feel misplaced.
Followed by "go boom!"

Various - Destroy Deutschland ! (Force Inc. Music Works - 034)

Ooooh baby. Has there ever been anything better?
Techno label Force Inc had the guts to drop some political Hardcore.
The EP is split, not only in 2 sides, but there are also two styles.
Side A is early breakcore by Alec Empire (very rough!), and the b side is hardcore & gabber.
Mike Ink's "Lovely Ugly Brutal World" is probably known from Thunderdome.
The other tracks are more like acidic hardcore.

Shadowrun - SNES-E.P. Vol.1 (Force Inc. Music Works - 052)

Early collab by the Hardcore gamers Speedfreak & BC Kid.
All track names are references to some of the best Super Nintendo games (except for b1 maybe).
Style is already similar to the releases they later did on shock wave or mokum etc.
the winner track for me is "base you", with that very cool super parodius melody right in the middle of it.

Biochip C. - C8 E.P. ( Force Inc. Music Works - 045)

Very interesting early release by Martin Damm!
Because it already has the recipe for the later Speed Freak / Shock Wave stuff.
Including some very corny and fun samples.
But it's also still in a row with his earlier acid / hardcore releases.

Necromancer - Spacecakes EP (Generator Records 9116-12)

And here is a super early solo release by an aka of BC Kid / Psyche Out, too.
Quite similar to his later "Street Trash" releases, but also... close to rave / breakbeat, even trance, of that era (1993).
Not as extreme yet. But quite fun none the less!

The blue sun of Afghanistan and how to shoot a "techno-hardcore music video" (or any other genre) on a zero budget

An excerpt from Low Entropy's Producer Diary: How to shoot a "techno-hardcore music video" (or any other genre) on a zero budget

When you are an artist, and do music, and been around for a while, and you (or others) think the music is, cool, then, it might be cool to have a music video for one or two of the tracks, too. Not (just) for promotion, but because it's fun, can be creative and... yeah, it can be an extension of the music. because the mood or atmosphere of the video can align with that of the track. or, if you are really bold, you could even create a video that somehow "explains" what we hear in the track.

the problem is that artists are always low on money, especially little underground rats like ourselves. that do not live in the spotlight of glamour and the... big bucks!

but let me tell you that there is a way out. let's roll right back for this one.

Part 1.

Note: No AI has been used when writing this text

let's start at zero (budget). since the history of music videos, since the early beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s, broadly speaking, there have been 3 main categories of music videos:

a) videos that "just" show the band performing the song, nowadays these videos are usually shot in big stadiums, but in the early years, the "music video" often really just was the band playing in a studio room. early videos by Queen or other rock bands were like that.

b) narrative videos that tell a story. have a plot, something that happens from the beginning of the video right to the end. these became much more expensive and complicated over time. stations like MTV loved them, and a lot of them have become cult classics.

c) "weird", montage, fx, "art house", strange videos. oh, baby, now we are talking! this is the really really good stuff. it can be everything and nothing. they follow no story, neither are they a performance video. it could just be flashing images, or weird claymotion, or any of what i mentioned above (like art house stuff...).
they were often very close to surreal or dadaist art... but, oh wonder, despite of this, some of the most famous music videos fall right into this category!
for example, "sledge hammer" by peter gabriel.

Part 2

so, let's get back to our "budget" problem. if you have zero bucks, which option of these three... looks most appetizing? what is the easy choice?
the multi million dollar narrative movie type of music video...?

no no! it's the surrealist montage, of course.

and if you look back at the roots, the 70s and 80s, even back then, low budget artists did this type of music videos. especially in new wave, or industrial, or goth...

you don't need to buy an expensive camera, you don't need to hire a crew of 100 actors, make up artists, practical effect designers... you don't need to fly to Jordan, nor do you need to have 2 dozen unclothed models pedaling on a sports track, nor do you need to ride on a dolphin while playing your electronic guitar.
(in case you don't get it: the last three were references to three of the most famous music videos. by sisters of mercy, queen, and guns n roses, respectively).

the video could be created out of video footage, it could be created out of electronic fx, it could be created out of... anything and everything.

but how do you do it *right*?
so that people don't laugh at you, wave their sticks at you, and tell you your precious video is nothing but an art waste!

that's a very good question, and i will give you one answer out of many: it still has to have a good idea. you have to come up with an idea that feels good and, at best, is grande and cool and everything.

Part 3

so, i will give an example of one of my own "music videos" that did not cost me a thing.
"Tierra del Fuego". it's a track of mine, in the style of techno-hardcore, 160 bpm.
it's inspired by old videos of the 90s, that had no narrative too. maybe one could term them "rave montage" videos.
inspiration includes video like Drax - Amphetam1ne, Quench - Dreams, Biosphere - The Shield, Aphex Twin - Westworld

so, here are some ideas for it, that i have used in the video.
the idea for the entire video actually came to me when i was looking at the TV program schedule. there was a movie or documentary, i think it was called "under the blue sun of afghanistan".
i went like "what the heck?". since when did afghanistan have a blue sun? is the sun different there, then in the rest of the world or what?
is there something in the air that creates the impression of the blue sun? or some weird reflections off the mountains?


no, the answer was more simple. it was about the shooting of the 3rd rambo movie, which took place in afghanistan. and the effect the hollywood production had on the people.
now what about the blue sun? the movie was not shot in afghanistan... and the production team did not like the gleaming, burning, orange-red sun of the place they were at. so they decided to put a blue filter on it. they explained that it created the effect that the entire movie takes place on a different planet. with that weird blue light in the sky.

i thought "this is very interesting". it is a simple, but very powerful effect. that changed the entire movie. by just using a filter!
everyone could do that. and, i could do that, too, of course.

so, i searched for free, public, domain footage, of suns and landscapes on the internet. i downloaded something, added a blue filter, boom, off we fly to another planet!

(btw if you "copy" my ideas, place make sure that everything is public domain etc)

a rave montage video should also have a recurrent element in it (in my opinion), and that's this weird, glowing, round, flickering ... "thing". looks a bit like a spring on a mental trip (in my opinion). it's orange-red, so this is a bit like a counterpoint to the blue sunlight.

now that i had these 2 elements, i kept adding more and more, dancers, road trips, computer fx, ravers, cyberspace... you got it!
and kept cutting back and forth, which created quite the flickering and crash of colors (intentionally).

so, voila, the video was finished. just took 3 days, 0 bucks, you might not like these ideas (but i do), it might not win a price in cannes or in hollywood, it might not be the best thing ever, but it's a video, and it does the trick.

and, if interested, i am sure you could do something similar, too.

ain't that a cool end to our story?

here's the video:

you can also watch it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkzC4_PSh6c

or check the track itself: https://lowentropy.bandcamp.com/album/tierra-del-fuego-the-nucleus-project-august

or read this text again, on my blog (soon!) https://lowentropyproducer.blogspot.com/

GabberGirl interviews The Tyrant about Skumkore Muzik

We are proud to present a new feature by GabberGirl for The Hardcore Overdogs.
This time, she interviews The Tyrant about Skumkore Muzik and other topics related to his music.

GG: When did Skumkore Muzik begin, and what was the concept for it?

Skumkore was supposed to be initially a publishing company but sort of forgotten about. When Bobby Tense, Axys-Deza & I first started FUHD I had gone to an audio engineering school in NYC and had a music business class but when we signed a master purchase agreement deal with Industrial Strength it was sorta unnecessary. Once we signed with Crapshoot Hardcore I brought it back. That contract was just a license agreement for the 1st maybe 3 or 5 years. I can't recall exactly. I feel like I'm on trial.

GG: It is hard to find info on Skumkore’s history, as a truly underground label this makes sense to me. I can see a vinyl release by Hellz Army on Discogs listed under Skumkore and is so rare that it costs collectors between $150 and $200 for a used copy. But it also seems this same album is being offered on Apocalypse Records. What other releases was Skumkore known for? Is Skumkore related to Apocalypse Records? Did Skumkore release the Team Bring It CD compilation from 2005?

Thank you for the question. (Have you noticed all politicians say that now? ) Hellz Army is of course related to Skumkore, we're all skum. In a good way though. Hellz Army is The Tyrant, Nevermind & Tense. I can't believe people are asking for a crazy price. I may be posting for sale vinyl mint condition not opened for sale at the skumkore bandcamp site. ( http://skumkore.bandcamp.com ) Not sure how many left but it'll be cheaper than $200. Nevermind has the digital files on the apocalypse site so that's pretty cool. I'm glad he's still keeping the label alive. I appreciate him very much. The Team Bring It Comp was just a collaboration while I was living on the west coast. It's a collaboration from East to West artists from the US. People can pick up the compilation at https://tbi25.bandcamp.com/

GG: Has this always been your label or have you had partners in the past?

Skumkore was sorta my idea. Of course you can't do it on your own but the support and artist contribution from Nevermind and Tense was the beginning. Any artist I have worked with is always a contributor you can really include Madame Chao, Fiend, Deadnoise.



GG: What is your connection to Madame Chao and can you give any background on the newest Skumkore release?

My connection with Chao started in around 2000. We met at a basement spot we all used to hang out at. He was playing some of his VHS tapes of his visual art. I was blown away. We always crossed paths between the west and east coast. When I moved back from the west we formed a real good friendship. Even did a small tour in canada with duran duran duran. you can listen to my set here https://teambringit.bandcamp.com/album/the-tyrant .... The 1st release was actually inspired by my wife. She asked me if there's one thing I can do that made me a little bit more happy and the 1st thing I thought was to start a new label of my own. Apocalypse started with Tyrant and Tense. But like Larry Nevermind said in his interview with DJ Asylum, managerial positions have changed and I couldn't be more happy then to have Larry still doing it. Skumkore is meant to be sort of free for all Music genres. Apocalypse has that signature speedkore. I just want to give a different avenue to expose more.

GG: The artwork on the vinyl release is fabulous and memorable. Who designed the album art?

The artwork was all Madame Chao. Let's not forget though Jared Knight gave the concept of course Adam knows his visual art but Knight was the inspiration and especially on the Side A track "Compulsion of the device". I met Knight through Chao. He used to go by the name the headless rapist. It's unfortunate he passed away, but Chao always gives props when props are due. You can even see it on his website of whatever he samples. madamechao.com



GG: Is the Madame Chao digital and vinyl release a reboot for Skumkore Muzik, or a one-off reminder of Skumkore’s existence?

Well it's not really a reminder. It just came up with an idea of how to start something new not really associated with anything from the past. It was sitting there for years for me to rediscover. Skumkore 25-2 Is coming with most likely a 7" with Duran Duran Duran and Fury 8. Steve Fiend mastered the 1st 7" and the 2nd one once it's ready to go. Also in the works is a digital online world peace compilation my wife is working on. artists to include Madame Chao, Nevermind, Midnight Sonny, Fiend, myself (the tyrant), Fury 8. A 2 part digi release to focus on how the conflicts of political powers that don't really reflect the will of the people. Especially in Gaza and Israel. Not everyone agrees with their government of law.

Thank You for all your questions and movement for the scene.

Bandcamp Friday coverage - August 2026

Here at the Overdogs, we often do a kind of "live coverage" on Bandcamp Fridays.
Trying to find+review the goods.

This is not just about Hardcore and Techno, but all kinds of styles... so watch out!

Note: No AI was used when writing these texts / reviews.

(Edit 2: One more update)

P.S.W. 2022 - Brutalism (Order Doesn't Matter) (Bunker Records)

Is this the summer of brutalism, or what? Kim Petras just had a single out called "Brutalist" (very good, btw!), the Hypertechno band "Brutalism 2000" was just featured on European TV channel "Arte", and now, our dirty electro rockers from The Hague come out with this.

This pesky little style of cold war architecture is high in demand, right now, isn't?

But let's get down to business, or rather, music.

Dutch label Bunker is legendary for its minimal / early Techno (Unit Moebius, Rude 66, I-F). Then they did a U-turn at the turn of the Millennium and did all those retro 80s electro-funk releases (Legowelt, Rude 66 and I-F again). Which even put them on heavy rotation with the MTV (I kid you not!).

And this new EP is something I was hoping for, but I did not expect it. It seems like an unlikely, "schizophrenic" fusion of 80s electronic b-boy funk, and early 90s minimal / harsh acid.

Bon Appetit!

https://bunker-panzerkreuz.bandcamp.com/album/brutalism-order-doesnt-matter-panzerkreuz-space-war-2022

(Edit: Three More Reviews)

John Carpenter - Cathedral (Self-Released)

Yes, *the* John Carpenter. Director of Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, In The Mouth of Madness...
Is he some eccentric rich guy that now wants to do music, too?
Very far from it! Carpenter has always been a musician; more specifically, he did the score and soundtracks for a lot of his own movies. He is one of the true electronic music pioneers, in a group with people like Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre...
One of his compositions even was adopted by Bomb The Bass (a UK techno group), and became an early rave hit in the 90s.

This album seems heavily synth-wave inspired. But, well, it's actually the other way round. Synthwave is a genre that was co-created by our director here. Not intentionally, but synth-wave as a genre is to a very large part inspired by Carpenter's early movie soundtracks (well, and also the aesthetics of the movies itself... like "Escape from New York").

So it must feel a bit like a god coming home to his own creation... right?
But, yeah, this album is grand! Or, as the info text reads:

"An abandoned cathedral. A gruesome murder. A powerful supernatural entity living in the catacombs. It all comes to a head in downtown Los Angeles."

https://johncarpentermusic.bandcamp.com/album/cathedral



Wavelan Vs. Disintegrator - B2B / Your Power (Industrial Strength Records)

A release by Oliver Chesler, who is a legend in Techno / Hardcore music (author of tracks like "Flesh is the Fever" or "One night in NYC", also John Selway, another Techno Legend, and Carl Carinci, a Gabber legend (author of tracks like "Brookly Mob" or "NYC Speedcore").

With this line up, you might expect something super hardcore, but it's more like acid techno. With a touch of early Goa. Or rather, that typical "american" psytrance / goa vibe, that often is in their 90s techno production, for some reason.
it's still quite hardcore, and mental.
spiffy + cool!

https://industrialstrengthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wavelan-vs-disintegrator

Cave Castle - Ancient Ones (Clan Destine Records)

I know Clan Destine Records from Glasgow (great pun in their name, btw!) as a label for the toughest of the tough. Speedcore, Noize, Industrial, EBM... Breakcore.
So I was a bit astonished to hear this release. Definitely won't give you nosebleed while listening, this time!
It's more like gloomy, chilling breaks, electro stuff.... also in the vein of lo-fi hiphop... but more "fierce", if you catch my drift. Good beats to relax / study, too!

The label itself de-classifies it as "New album ov Dungeon Rap". Which is a good term, too!

https://clandestinerecords.bandcamp.com/album/anicent-ones

Alien Skin - Black Flowers Remember (self-released)

Alien Skin was a surprising discovery for me this year. The "band" / project quickly turned into one of my favorite things. TBH, I first feared it was AI or an otherwise "artificial" project. It all seemed too perfect!
But no, it's a project by George Pappas, who played in the band Real Life (the band that wrote "Send me an angel" in the 80s).
It's not about angels, it's about aliens. And if you know Real Life... you might expect what kind of sound to hear here. 80s Synth Pop, Wave, New Romantics... all over again.
In my opinion, it shows that a veteran is at work here because... it doesn't feel too overloaded, or changed. Does not really mix Synth Pop with "newer" styles.
What it does though, is to add a layer of emotion, longing...

I mean, yeah, Synth Pop always had this dark romantic thing, and I think Alien Skin extended it even a few notches farther.

https://alienskin.bandcamp.com/album/black-flowers-remember

Various Artists - Overlook. Music inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (Unexplained Sounds Group)

Is there anything more awesome than the Unexplained Sounds Group on Bandcamp?
They do these great anthology releases, for example about Dark Ambient artists out of Iran (!) or Experimental Electronic music out of China (!)...

According to the info text, this one here, "Overlook is a music compilation inspired by The Shining, the 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick".

I also want to share the "genre" description from the info text:
"The artists involved explore a wide spectrum that spans ambient music, experimental electronic composition, Berlin school, hauntology and works situated between drone music and contemporary classical practices,"

Everything clear?

It says it is inspired, but I think it could also work as a kind of "second OST" to some of the scenes in the movie.
This is very experimental stuff, at a high level, *but*, and that's the big plus for me, it also has a really powerful mood and atmosphere in the tracks.

https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/overlook-music-inspired-by-stanley-kubrick-s-the-shining

Prince Istari - Escape From The Tomb Of The Synth Lich

I wanted to skip this one, but then I noticed it is called a "Dungeon Dub" release, and I got curious.
I guess the idea is to combine "Dungeon Synth" with Dubstep / Dub-breaks...
According to the blurb, it is the soundtrack to a table top / dungeon crawl, that can be ordered along-side the record.
Not sure which part of the project is real, fake, or a parody...
The tracks themselves sound like a re-run of Stranger Things (the intro!) and electronic dub reggae beats layered on top... also sound quite whimsical.
But yeah. It's good stuff!

https://spb-hamburg.bandcamp.com/album/escape-from-the-tomb-of-the-synth-lich

Storytime: I played my first gig at the Techno Viking Parade (over 25 years ago)

Hey Hey,
You Dogs!
Here is a piece by one of our authors, Low Entropy.
About a gig and event that happened in their music past.

Recently I saw an image that was a throwback to one of the most popular memes ever: the very famous "Techno Viking" video. I hadn't thought about that for a long time, but it made me instantly nostalgic.
Because the same party that the Techno Viking video was shot at, was also the place where I performed my first electronic live performance ever.

But let's roll right back first. Of course this party was not really called "the Techno Viking Parade". It was called the ****parade (the first word is a profanity). This party existed because... well do you remember the Loveparade in Berlin? Biggest Techno party ever. 2-3 million ravers each year. Endless partying.
The loveparades began in the early 90s, but as the years went on, "commercialization" set in or, like people would say today, "ensh*ttification". It was no longer a parade that was set up by the freaks and ravers themselves, where everyone was welcome. "Pay to play" became an issue. Business interests, and even political parties tried to grab a share of the cake.

A lot of the OG Techno and Rave guys were no longer "welcome" at the Loveparade. So, they set up their own parade, that happened at the same time as the Loveparade. First called the Hateparade, then it was called the ****parade (because the slogan was "**** the loveparade!".

Everyone who was not "mainstream techno" was welcome there, so gabbers, punks, skinheads, freaks, squatters, goth, old hippies... well, everyone! started to flock there. Literally from all over the world. I met people from Japan there, Peru, Canada... you got it.

I of course needed to be there too and I knew I needed to play my music there! When I was 15 year old, I had begun producing weird experimental noise music... gabba, and harder techno stuff. On strange MS-DOS based "tracker" programs (before I switched to windows 98).

Now I was 19, I just had my first record out (500 copies on 12" vinyl... quite meagre, eh? but you gotta take what you can take) and heading to berlin.

my first gig was actually supposed to happen 2 nights before, during the extended "****parade" weekend. I guess it involved 12-13 separate parties... at least!

but the promoter overbooked the venue! so my gig fell flat.
my gig at the ****parade nearly fell flat, too. Our float was boxed in by two other floats, and I had technical problems setting up my equipment, which involved me playing my tracks from CD-R and shouting into a mic (quite meagre, eh? but you gotta do what you can do).

Thankfully, a few DJs from the Spiral Tribe helped out and played their vinyl sets first, so I had my gig re-scheduled to a later hour, which also meant more people had arrived at our parade, which started to get super crowded.

Now let's get back to Techno Viking. To be honest, I never assumed the video would blow up that much!

The whole meme / viral video thing was still in its infancy, so how could I have known. The "all your base are belong to us" craze already felt surprising in those years.
Plus, Techno Viking was far from the only "surreal" and strange occurrence at these parades.
I remember when I went to the first parade, in 1997, the first sight I saw was a nude woman, completely covered in golden bodypaint, dancing on a float to dub/techno/reggae. And there was some "against commercial love" related sign fixed to the float.
Or nerds from tokyo, dressed in full "candy goth raver" style. They filmed everything and everyone, I wonder what happened to that video.
I also have vague memories of some old, ragged man, standing in the middle of the parade, long beard, and slowly waving a huge wooden staff around. Street magician, i suppose.

So yeah, the parades were a festival of freaks, freaks like me and you and everyone who liked weird stuff.

Which might explain why the "techno viking" incident happened in the first place.
I actually - scrutinizingly - watched the techno viking vid over and over again, to check if my own music / performance is audible in the video (blame my ego). But no, i cant hear anything of it.

There is also a short vid that is running for just a few seconds, which shows me playing at the parade. But in that video, Techno Viking is not visible. Ah well.

My own gig was a lot of fun, though.
And it's nice to think back to that party now and then, or these days in berlin. and to the techno viking meme, of course.

And all this happened, on almost exactly the same date, as i am writing this text.

Note: No AI was used when writing this text.

News Flash: The return of the Shock Wave

Shock Wave Recordings was one of the biggest Hardcore Techno labels of the 90s in Germany, and one of the biggest in general. One of the few labels that managed to break through the dominance of the "bouncy hardcore" sound that was coming out of labels like ID&T at that time.

The label had its own sound more or less. Other Gabber labels at that date were quite close to Dance music, Happy Hardcore, and all Jazz.
Shockwave was into horror / trash movie samples, lots of hip hop and rapping vocals, acid, noize, death metal guitars, and really, really fast BPMs.

But always served with the tongue in cheek.
So if you happened to be into Morbid Angel and Sepultura, the Evil Dead and Re-Animator movies, or were into Manga, Akira, Ghost in the shell *and* happened to be into Techno at the same time - this was the perfect label.

So it's quite nice to see a return of the legends.
The first release is already out (see tracklist below).
More info, and more releases to come!



Various Artists - The Saga Continues (SH-3434)

1. The Speed Freak - Hit You Like A Shockwave 03:58
2. Chryzis - One Step Further 05:00
3. Stormtrooper - Psycho-Pets 05:08

https://refusion.bandcamp.com/album/the-saga-continues-sh-3434

https://www.discogs.com/label/1383-Shockwave-Recordings