The equinox is happening or has happened a few days ago, fall is here, or autumn... summer is ending or has ended... day and night are now equals again, there is light and dark, and neither one nor the other does overtake its opposite, they coexist in mutual alignment...
traditionally, the season to come was the one of the big fests, festivities, festivals... the age of harvest, the age of life, the age of love... the season of thunder and lightning and rainstorms... before winter and coldness approaches... where we reap what we have sown, in the past...
and this is what these off-charts are about!
1. legend b - end of season 2. disintegrator - dark black ominous clouds 3. syndicate - grim reaper 4. reign - light & dark 5. frozen - the forest
6. rmb - river's edge 7. visage - fade to grey 8. john foxx - the garden 9. bunkor beats - mental atmosphere 10. cocteau Twins - persephone
11. DJ gizmo - end of the beginning 12. mega'lo mania - time 13. visage - fade to grey 14. zenith - flowers of intelligence 15. sorcerer - autumn
16. mouse - helloween 17. apple juice - raving together (SYN-R-G Mix) 18. jean michel jarre - equinoxe part 4 19. the nightraver - so 20. angelo badalamenti - night life in twin peaks
21. the farm - all together now 22. enigma - the cross of changes 23. damage inc. - turn around 24. jones & stephenson - the third rebirth 25. alien factory - all night until daylight
We're running a new feature: "Off-lists"
Paper fanzines were filled with charts; some DJs turned their charts into lists such as "10 favorite Dutch Gabber tracks".
Features in zines often also have additional lists such as "9 anime related Hardcore tracks".
We wanna build on both these currents; but, with these "Off-Lists" we will focus on themes and motifs that are more out-there, abstract, off-the-center. Exploring aspects and ideas that are rarely highlighted when people talk, think, or write about Hardcore (or Techno and other music)
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!
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.
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.
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 :-)
Paper fanzines were filled with charts; some DJs turned their charts into lists such as "10 favorite Dutch Gabber tracks".
Features in zines often also have additional lists such as "9 anime related Hardcore tracks".
We wanna build on both these currents; but, with these "Off-Lists" we will focus on themes and motifs that are more out-there, abstract, off-the-center. Exploring aspects and ideas that are rarely highlighted when people talk, think, or write about Hardcore.
It's no secret that techno and hardcore producers have a sweet tooth for future sounds - see here. But also going to the past is possibility, or a fascination with time in general. Why is this so? Not sure.
Maybe time is just magic!
So here are 25 tunes related to the ticking of time. Not just hardcore, but electronic and other genres, too.
1. Temper Tantrum - Year 4010 2. Lory D - We are in the Future EP 3. The Mover - Time Traveler 4. Countdown FFM - V 5. Reign - Time Machine
6. E-de Cologne - 5 Years on Gabba 7. Base Force One - Phuturist 8. Meta Morph - Through the Darkness of Future Past 9. Future Shock - Let it hit on 10. Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - What Time is Love (original)
11. Nostrum - Immaculate (Time unlimited) 12. Angelo Badalamenti - Moving through Time 13. Syrius 23 - Dark Age Survivor 14. Tangerine Dream - Zeit 15. Infernos Bros - Slaves to the rave (first rave age mix)
16. Marc Acardipane - Remember the Phuture 17. DJ Rob - Love Time 18. Lenny Dee v DJ Edge - Silence of Eternity 19. Formic Acid - Eternia 20. Cyborg Unknown - Year 2001 (from the beginning)
21. Guru Josh - Infinity 22. Cosmic Baby - Loops of Infinity 23. Profound - 4 O clock 24. 8 am - The Fog Track 25. The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 O'Clock
Paper fanzines were filled with charts; some DJs turned their charts into lists such as "10 favorite Dutch Gabber tracks".
Features in zines often also have additional lists such as "9 anime related Hardcore tracks".
We wanna build on both these currents; but, with these "Off-Lists" we will focus on themes and motifs that are more out-there, abstract, off-the-center. Exploring aspects and ideas that are rarely highlighted when people talk, think, or write about Hardcore.
Martin Damm aka The Speed Freak is probably the only producer in the world who made tons of 250+ bpm nasty speedcore-gabba tracks in the underground scenes. And still owns a few music industry certified "golden record" awards. For his enormous amounts of sales for the dance productions he did "on the side".
By the mid 90s, his own label was called Shockwave Records. Which, again, sold pretty good, as a lot of that stuff ended up on compilation CDs that were sold... everywhere! This was already nasty hardcore techno, but a bit more accessible... and for the even more extreme stuff, that sometimes went above 280 bpm, and surely was devoid of melodies or singing, there was the sublabel, Napalm Records. "Strictly Limited to 500 copies", according to the vinyl print.
The only "problem" was that both labels had mostly productions by Martin Damm and his crew themselves. They were prolific producers!
And for this reason, another sublabel was forged - "the son of napalm", also called Agent Orange. Word was that only producers-who-were-not-them were allowed to release on here, but that rule was not always strictly enforced.
And now... let's look at 6 releases in this very piece of Hardcore history.
Somatic Responses - Agent Orange 2
The Somatic Responses were one of the most unique acts in the 90s world of electronica, and, even for them, this is a very distinct release. As you know, Somatix started with a more "straight" Hardcore / Techno sound, and then turned into that weird ambient / idm thing with "disjunct" beats, as they like to say. And this 2-tracker sits right square there. It aint broken idm yet, but it is not quite "hardcore tech" anymore. It has the best of both worlds, so to say.
B2 on here is actually one of my all time favorite tracks ever. The bassy sawtooth-lead-synth really brings it home for me. The "melody" reminds me of video game music, jean michel jarre, german 50s radio "tonstudios"... all rolled into one!
Doc Gringo - Agent Orange 3
Gringo aka Roger Cobernuss is a bit like the secret weapon or hidden dog of shockwave (and mono tone earlier on). There's the "gringo theme" on here, and this track blows all the gabber competition of its time out of the water. It just slams with its kicks and noise! but behold... the b-side is an early speedcore track, and this is, once again, harder than the rest!
Biochip C. - Agent Orange 5
The track to go on here is "black sunday". It transitions from one genre to another. I think speed freak / biochip c is one of the only producers who can pull off such a trick. There's industrial / techno, then it breaks down into noise, there is a breakbeat part... and it erupts into some type of low frequency gabba rhythm. oh and the trade mark martin damm fm synthesis sounds ring on.
Seveso - Agent Orange 1
The very first Agent Orange. ABC-Alarm is a German term for an "air raid" type of large scale civil defense warning siren about nuclear (atomic), biological, and chemical attacks or catastrophes. And the eponymous track is one of the hardest and most abrasive speedcore tracks of the entire 90s decade. I think this is done by abusing a lot of analog gear, and then cranking the levers up to 13 while jamming on the setup. And the b-side is a sweetheart as well.
Listening Suggestion:
Lasse Steen - Agent Orange 7
Just like Somatic Responses had one of their best eps on this label, so did lasse steen. And I am talking about the track "Phreak Show" which breaks down into a kind of descending synth line melodie which is... well it sounds as if the score to frankenstein - the movie was conducted by mc escher. if you catch my drift.
Steffen Kuschel kept 66.6% of the underground hardcore techno scene afloat and alive in the 90s, and the years after. He ran sound base music, out of leipzig, germany. Was host to a network of labels, sub- and side-labels. And distributed half the scene, from bloody fist artists in australia to the other side of the globe.
the main, "own" label of sound base was strike records. i'd say it was one of the pillars of the "german" variant of gabber. fast tracker type music, lots of metal guitars, lots of swear words. less melody and harmony in vocals, unlike the kissing cousins from the netherlands.
so... let us take a look at 7 outstanding records of strike records! (i refrained from saying "the 7 most striking..." ha!)
Various Artists - Straight Out Of Newcastle (Strike 008) https://www.discogs.com/release/47687-Various-Straight-Out-Of-Newcastle
Oddly enough, most of these tracks are outstanding pieces, even when compared to the rest of their output. Like Grim Reaper, Shitbeater, or No Significance, which are amongst the hardest and wildest by the respective artist. Quite the feat for a compilation release. But I guess my own favorite is "no sex", which is an oddly "calm" breakbeat track by Nasenbluten (well, it's not the breakcore you would expect with bloody fist) which fades into super melancholic pcp-like sounds.
AXL - Hardcore (Strike 006) https://www.discogs.com/release/120982-AXL-Hardcore
i always had a thing for these tracks. it's not ultra hard or brutal or anything. but it has these weird, amiga type pads throughout the tracks. almost like ambient trance gabba!
Various Artists - Strike Records Vs. Bloody Fist (Strike 015) https://www.discogs.com/release/56796-Various-Strike-Records-Vs-Bloody-Fist
clash of the 16 bit core titans! fav by far is "patchcore" by sandkorn for me. not because the other tracks are bad. but because this track has some super insane sounds that i never heard elsewhere.
Nasenbluten - Cheapcore EP (Strike 020) https://www.discogs.com/release/90154-Nasenbluten-Cheapcore-EP
my 2 cents: not as good as not as good as 100% no soul guaranteed. no wait, let me reverse this opinion: there are some brilliant tracks on this one, like the early breakcore track "check the sound".
S37 - En Ordentlig Omgang Røvsutning. Uden Ost - Tak! (Strike 019)
Together with folk like Noize Creator, S37 was one of the german artists that stripped the gabba sound to its bare necessities. No need for a groove, melodies or happy singing. Drums, screams, death metal samples, go! After the stuff he did on Juncalor and Brutal Chud, this is the one where that concept is fleshed out the most.
Rage Reset - Sydney Core EP (Strike 012) https://www.discogs.com/release/121029-Rage-Reset-Sydney-Core-EP
good quality gabba as usual with rage reset. "Fortex" has been played at quite some parties and DJ mixes. "subconscious" is my pick, though. almost completely minimal, some horror flick strings, plus a nasty reverberated kickdrum. but that is enough. the track rocks.
S*icide Squad And Max Death (Strike 018) https://www.discogs.com/release/3702300-Suicide-Squad-And-Max-Death-Untitled
666 might be the number of the beast, but 13 is the number of death... am i right? maybe it's only logical that max death is on here then. S*icide Squad was one of the projects by simon underground, as you probably know. and they are still one of my fav "amiga style" hc projects (even though, i guess, strictly technically speaking, this was not done purely on amiga). and the "death side"... this is strike records at it's best. take no quarters. just brutal, brutal hardcore. "go insane!"
In the Hardcore Techno Overdogs magazine we usually focus on the underdogs... well, maybe that term is not entirely correct. Let's say we focus on the under-appreciated labels, that still duly deserve their spotlight. Because of this, we neglected the "motherland of gabber" a bit so far - The Netherlands. After all, every boy and his dog was raving to the wicked hardcore beats of gabber madness in the 90s - right? So gabber from holland is hardly hardcore of "underdog" quality... and everyone already knows it, right?
well, while that was true for the 90s, it might not be so true anymore. We maybe could define a kind of "temporal overdog". Stuff that indeed everyone knew in the 90s, but in today's media culture, is shadowed and under-appreciated because everyone else focuses on the "big" labels mostly.
So let us look at the various interesting dutch gabber label from the 90s.
And this time, we want to tell you about 7 very interesting releases on the label Brrr Records.
Scarface - Blow Your Head Off (BR-260)
I remember late 90s terror-speedcore heads looked a bit down on the older gabber scene, because it felt too cheesy and mellow in comparison. well, not this record, for sure. this is very very extreme. like some deranged mental killer got behind the 909.
also watch out for the cool trance-ambient strings in one of the tracks!
D & F - Buzz Click (B-170)
A novelty gabber record with strange / mental samples and voices. A bit like the trashmen cover records, that sample the "the bird is the word" tune. The Hard Buzz mix is my favorite, because, yeah, the bass on there is really ultra hardcore.
DJ Alex - Say What ? (BR - 480)
I guess some people might know "In Control" from DJ Dano's Cyberdrome mix. I think this release has a kind of "belgian" sound to it, think Bonzai and all that stuff... very good, deep bass, reverb, hoover-heavy, like music made for rave arenas. One of the upper releases on Brrr records.
Speedloader - Guilty As Hell (BR - 440)
"Kick Some Ass" is one of my favorite Ravecore / Trancecore tracks. Sweet "german style" hardtrance with angelic choirs and a cutie melody (i guess taken from an annie lennox song?) and then - woo! - the gabba noise commando kicks down the door.
Scarface - Let The Dope Get In Your Soul (BR-370)
Very interesting EP for Brrr Records. This is definitely more Hard Trance / Techno than Gabba mania. The eponymous is almost like eurodance, actually. If it were more polished, and with a nice flickering music video, I could imagine it being music television in the 90s. And I always have a sweet tooth for releases that "cross the line", and the line is trance to gabba in this case. and there is one total gabber track included too: the "shock intro".
D & F - Hard Attack (BR-300)
I always loved hard attack because of the rap sample, and its use. It's not some overly hectic or aggressive sample this time. It's very monotonous, robotic, fitting very well to a techno track.
Scarface - E.P. - Death Is The Future (BR-310)
"Death is the future" might be the hardest "classic" gabber track ever. Hands down. What I like about Brrr is that some of their releases incorporate rave / trance or "german hardtrance" sounds, without sounding too cheesy. The intro "F**king A**hole" fits the bill imho. There is another (good) chucky sample track, apparently this movie was super popular amongst gabba producers. And the "funny" You Stink track, which is a bit slower.
I'm a 90s kid, and yeah, we had some fun. Especially related to music. Grindcore, Death Metal, Gabber, Hard Acid, Rave... music that really knocked you out and went from 0 to 60 in 3.5. The decades that followed were a bit more boring. Or maybe, not boring. There was cool stuff, indie rock, pop, dance pop. But everything felt less extreme and... hardcore. Of course the above mentioned scenes still existed, too, in the underground. But they kept repeating themselves, loop after loop after loop...
So I am very happy to see (or hear) that there are now lots and lots and lots of new artists and bands, that are really tough, extreme, wild, anarchist again...
Things obviously happen on many fronts. First, a lot look back at the 90s, take some stuff from there, and try to continue the thread. New talented hardcore bands, new punk rockers, and so on... Then there are new "genres" that get really tough now... And, most importantly, a lot of people combine the old with the new, old rage with new anger... and throw many genres into one pot. So there musicians with metal guitars and rave beats and hardcore screaming... or rap artists that break down into gabber and death metal... or jungle punks. And the common dominator (sic) seem to be the very loud and harsh screams by the vocalist.
Oh and these bands often do not shy away from political and cultural statements, too. Which is another breath of fresh air after a decade of "unpolitical" music.
So, I wanna recommend 17 artists or bands that are worth checking out. (Yeah, I know not all of them are brand new. But all of them recently released hot new stuff.)
(and one more time: these are songs from lots and lots of different genres).
In the Hardcore Techno Overdogs magazine we usually focus on the underdogs... well, maybe that term is not entirely correct. Let's say we focus on the under-appreciated labels, that still duly deserve their spotlight. Because of this, we neglected the "motherland of gabber" a bit so far - The Netherlands. After all, every boy and his dog was raving to the wicked hardcore beats of gabber madness in the 90s - right? So gabber from holland is hardly hardcore of "underdog" quality... and everyone already knows it, right?
well, while that was true for the 90s, it might not be so true anymore. We maybe could define a kind of "temporal overdog". Stuff that indeed everyone knew in the 90s, but in today's media culture, is shadowed and under-appreciated because everyone else focuses on the "big" labels mostly.
So let us look at the various interesting dutch gabber label from the 90s.
And this time, we want to tell you about 7 very interesting releases on the label Rave Records from ’s-Gravenhage (aka The Hague).
T.O.P.D.R.O.P. - Achtung! (RAVE 13th)
"hey meine gabber freunde". who doesn't know "achtung!"? and in case you really do not know it... this track takes the early hardcore classic "b.o.t.t.r.o.p" by dj hooligan (see the similarity in name? a clever trick!), well at least it's acid sample, speeds it up and boom boom adds more gabba basses to it. a track that either smashes or clears the dancefloor, depending on whether the crowd is hard enuff.
Noisegate - Goddamn' Mind (RAVE 028)
"goddamn mind" is one of these releases that goes from 0 to 60 in 3.5. the track starts, boom! the bass hits and there is slaughter. take no prisoners! other tracks are cool as well. generally, this is one of the "gabber" releases that do not focus so much on melodies or nice harmonies, but are just lovely NOIZE.
Square Dimensione - A Brand New Dance (RAVE 35th)
You might know this one from a mayday rave recording, or other sets... Almost trancy intro, beats come in, then some cool rapping, everything get's harder... word! A track on the b-side, "brand new bassdrums", in an early pill-driver style bass-drum only track. One of the more complex simple gabber tracks (hah!)
DJ Isaac - Bad Dreams (RAVE 45TH)
"Bad Dreams" later became a Thunderdome classic. But this early draft on here is even bigger, bolder, rougher and tougher!
Various - The Erotic Kingdom E.P. (Rave 8th)
One of the more sleazy hardcore / techno releases. The main track is some house / funk affair, that also feels like early rave-hardcore, if you catch my drift. Most interesting to me is the "happy hardcore" edit, because this is neither the breakbeat happy hardcore that was typical for 92, nor the "happy gabber" of 1996. It's legit oldschool gabber, with some mellow / happy sounds, and that combination is very rare, my friends!
Ech Heftag! - Uit Je Dakkie (RAVE 18TH)
Has this ep been pre-mastered to a cassette tape? There is definitely something odd (i.e. lo-fi) about the levels and sound... Either way, it kicks more hard this way, I suppose. Brutalist Hardcore for 1993.
The Falcon - Tear You Apart (RAVE 23)
Do you remember when gabber (or "rave") labels released acidcore EPs too? Like this one. Very cool. There is some weird rhythm stuff going on, as it feels like some elements run at different or "broken" speed (somehow). and that bass is extra large.
I guess everyone who is into Gabber heard the name Euromasters being mentioned, one time or another. After all, a lot of people consider them to be the creators of the first true Gabber track ever - Alles naar de klote. That's the origin of Gabber right there. That track really rocked the scene, was also widely known beyond the Hardcore moshpits. I remember a few german music mags crowning the track as one of the best releases of that year.
And it even lent its name to a wicked dutch movie ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117142/ ) - about rave, crime, and gabber house, of course.
What might be lesser known is that they also were involved in lots of other cool tracks and releases. They also did side projects or solo stuff.
"Amsterdam waar leech dat dan" is probably the other well-known tracks by Euromasters. This b-side to the record release sounds actually quite similar... but i prefer this one even one notch more!
a dutch guy once told me this one is about soccer, and rivalry between teams (of other nations?) regardless of the message, this is one of the most bad ass rough gabba tracks ever!
as far as i know, euromasters established the "loud scream, bass drum, go!" formula long before other labels did... this track is a good example of that!
teun hoihouse used an aka to create the intro to the terrordrome iv compilation. it's much more than an intro, it's a complete tracks, yet a very unusual track, because at the same time...it's still an intro!
Hardcore Techno and Gabber House bring out the animal in you! Because: You stomp like a bull on the dancefloor, howl like a dog, roar like a lion... and paddle your arms around like a penguin or other walking, earth-bound, non-flight bird thingy.
No wonder there are many animal themed tracks and releases within this style, too.
Here are some of them (also includes tracks of other genres, as usual)
1. Animal Intelligence - The Object of Rave 2. Kotzaak - Like a Raging Bull (compilation) 3. Erase Head - Pussy Cat 4. Cannibal DJ - Dog will Hunt 5. The Prodigy - Run with the Wolves
6. Biochip C - Cranefly Warriors - Massive Toad Activity 7. Whaleekomittee - Save The Whales 8. Hecate - Hate Cats EP 9. The Outside Agency - ...ants 10. Phoenix - Who's In Control ?!
11. The Outside Agency - Metal Slug 12. Rat of Doom - Before The Breakdown 13. Rolando - Knights of the Jaguar 14. Darius G - ... like an Animal 15. Fischkopf compilation - Otaku: Slick but not Streamlined
16. Gangstar Toons Industries - Camel 17. Cobra Killers - Cobra Z 18. Dominion - Unicorn evils 19. Scorpion - Second Bite 20. Thomas Ehlers - Elephant Junk Attack
21. Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo - The Bird 22. The Falcon - Tear you apart 23. Party Animals - Hou Op 24. Mouse - T4 25. Raver's Nature - Monkey
26. DJ Mongoose - Rip Shit Up 27. DJ Waxweazle - Hardcore Power 28. E-de Cologne - No Dolphins Allowed 29. GTO - The Bullfrog 30. Ramirez - El Gallinero
31. Pink Potassium - Radioactive Goldfish
We're running a new feature: "Off-lists"
Paper fanzines were filled with charts; some DJs turned there charts into lists such "10 favorite Dutch Gabber tracks".
Features in zines often also have additional lists such as "9 anime related Hardcore tracks".
We wanna build on both these currents; but, with these "Off-Lists" we will focus on themes and motifs that are more out-there, abstract, off-the-center. Exploring aspects and ideas that are rarely highlighted when people talk, think, or write about Hardcore.
we are doing various features to honor 13 years of doomcore records... and for this one, the label guy sent us a description of the first 11 releases... !
Emerald Planet was a "hit" on Black Monolith. This one exchange the more "trance" like drums of the original with industrial-doomcore stuff. there are also more mellow, and more hardcore remixes.
aliocha from france popped out this release, then seemingly disappeared. very emotional, heart-felt sounds... almost like a gothic ep instead of doomcore. i am very happy we put this one out.
this was done by one of the owners of the "planet core productions" website, forum, and discography database. using not one, but multiple akas. obviously inspired by pcp, but he made it his own. there are kotzaak, de 2001, no mercy type tracks... one of the best release on the label, in my opinion.
Gabber is good, gabber is great. Hardcore is an ambiguous term that was also used for Breakbeat Hardcore in UK, for example. Some producers were fond of both genres with the same name, though. So there are Gabber tracks that make heavy use of such sounds as breakbeats, jungle amens, drumnbass rhythms etc... and let's take a listen at 11 of them!
I guess amiga producers were more willing to use breakbeat samples. Maybe because it's a good way to circumvent the 16 bit computers 4 channel limit. Either way, this one's a classic. Also features the "machine gun of god", billy graham, on the vocals!
Ec8or turned more into the digital hardcore / breakcore sound later. this one is still gabbering as hell, though. and has some nice breakbeats. and military type shouting, plus some opera sounds. huh?
Biochip aka Martin Damm was one of the earliest german breakcore producers. also a hardcore producer. and 1000 of other styles. this one combines several of them. and it is more in his later agent orange / napalm path.
I remember tuning into a TV show called "Viva Trance" on a weekends' night, feeling completely wasted (but not being it). It was hosted by German Techno pioneer Mate Galic, who later found a job at Native Instruments. He used the show to play his favorite tunes. And I could swear I saw a music vid that featured a "zhark dagger" logo. I never found this tune or video by the label again, so maybe I just imagined it. When I stayed at the Zhark International headquarters in Berlin a few years later, I was shown a lot of video material (amongst other things), so maybe it was something like that.
But yeah, I guess that shows that Zhark is indeed a weird "glitch" in music history. Hard to pinpoint, hard to define. Dislocated, disregarded. Split into two separated labels early on. Penetrated far wider cultural circles than your usual "electronica indie". Still not as famous as deserved.
Maybe quantum-entangled. And we are still waiting for the wave function collapsing...
Either way, apparently the label found a new, digital home, and has begun to happily re-release some of its earlier releases, and also showing spanking new stuff.
CdB appears on the Zhark label. His sound has always been more of a trip than a genre. This shows him at a time when his lofi trash fischkopf brutality began to fade, and things get more introverted... intellectual. still packs a mighty punch, i tell ya!
Zhark branched off a sub label called the Homewrecker Foundation. The idea was to have a label for females in the breakcore, harshcore, dark electronic genres. This was quite the revolutionary idea back then, and i guess it is quite the revolutionary idea for today, too! and the sounds are just as renegade.
I remember some south london scenester slagged this one off on an email list forum for being "completely conventionalist". which is funny, because most breakcore poster boys these days would disagree. and they are right. this is the good stuff.
that one come out when my interest in "breakcore" already faded to black, so, while i enjoyed it, i was not too plussed by it. listening back to it once more, i notice that it is indeed some wickedly good stuff. but that's the point of re-releases, innit? to get a second glance!
but there is one track i adored back then already: Liberty And Justice For Us, ghastly (ghostly) ambient noise
This ain't a re-release of an old album or ep, but instead its tracks from all over the map (and dimensions, i guess). These are either collabs between hecate and other artists, or remixes. Mmm where do I start, where do I end...? There is breakcore, post-industrial, blackened death, a hint of gabber in the form of overly compressed kicks. and these are amongst the best tracks i ever heard in these genres!
Rachel Kozak turns into Raquel de Grimstone, and this is one of the best things she ever did. Oh, you want to know how it sounds, too? breakcore and black metal... become one and merge into one of the meanest freak creatures ever.
Slamdancing went out of control in a berlin backyard club hipster party, and me and my friends nearly buried ourselves under the falling turntables. and the tune that got dropped that night was... "caught up" from this one. i have loved it ever since!
oh yeah, get this one. if you get one release off this label, get this one. it's like a secret vault hidden inside a secret vault. the best tracks by well-known and not so well-known artists that the world has never heard. like kerosene's cover of the velvet's "heroin" (by a guy who actually did real world collabs with julee cruise - and others).
There are few, few releases, in all of the world of music, that can be considered solitary, unique, and i mean *really* unique. Because, let's face it, there is usually always some other gal or dude at the (other) end of the world, doing the same sh*t that you do. but this is one of the few releases that fit to the term. there is no other release that really sounds like this, or is even close. it is brilliant, an anthem, and sheer genius.
so how to describe it then? let's say it occupies a liminal place at the crossroads of the emerging breakcore scene, the then-fading industrial / ambient scene, spoken word poetry, and... millions of other places and connections.
I admit, this "best" list is highly subjective. so I would be interested to hear your own, personal best of list from this label's release.
Hardcore is a style that emerged at the turn of the 1980s into the 1990s within the dance and electronic underground. The entire evolution of the sound is not tied to one location. It was an international, global effort. In essence, the early hardcore techno scene already was a model of the "global village" concept, a few years before the real advent of wide-spread internet use. (And it sometimes amazes me how everyone could have stayed connected around earth, with just fax, phone, and early dial-up stuff in some cases).
So... let's take a look at the various locations of the this music scene, at a time when hardcore techno and gabber house was still young!
Note: No AI has been used when writing this text.
do you know more and obscure cities of hardcore? let us know!
Tracks used in this video (and the cities they represent) :
1. New York Doa - Nyc Speedcore
2. Paris Ingler - Trek
3. Hamburg (Germany) Nordcore GMBH - Hartcore City
4. Rotterdam Underground Nation of Rotterdam - X-911
5. The Hague The Illegal Alien - Frankfurt, this is the hague
6. Los Angeles Deadly Buda - esto es los angeles
7. Sydney Rage Reset - Resistance
8. Newcastle (Australia) Nasenbluten - Blows to the nose
Hello folks, Like most bandcamp fridays, I am gonna do a little coverage of the ongoing events again. Because, just like last time, releases were poured out en masse by the labels!
A reason to rejoice and to smile, and I want to take a deeper look at all that cool stuff (and the *hot* stuff too!)
Like last time, my focal point is mostly on electronic, techno, hardcore etc kind of... stuffz. Note: No AI has been used when writing these texts.
DrMacabre - The Macabre Excavation (Haunted House Records)
Holy Cow! What a release (one track on the release is literally called "Apocalypse Cow", btw). I'm certain most electronic fans know the label PCP and the head honchos Marc Acardipane, Miro, Slam Burt... and Dr Macabre was the sneaky french guy who was part of the main crew, too. So this is some legit music history here, as - nomen est omen - our lunatic from france dug up a lot of his past tracks and put it on this compilation. There are some sacred, sacred gems here. Like "Dimension of the doomed", his collab with Miro from PCP. Or "Boomstick" with the hilarious Evil Dead quotes ("and this is my.... boomstick"). But the creaming on top is that some bona fide *unreleased* tracks were put on this comp, too, by the french maestro!
Vilde Tuv is a norwegian artist that speaks with stones, sings like an angel, plays the flute, and drops some gabber beats. what could possibly go wrong? nothing went wrong. and these are some remixes by v.a. of her tracks. (sorry if the description is misleading. the gabba beats are mostly absent from this release and instead... it's a super cool mixture to be heard!)
Hecate - More Tales From The Crypt (Zhark International)
Hecate has been on a huge spree of re-releases lately. She named herself after the Greek Goddess of liminality, the underworld, witchcraft and long journeys (amongst other things) And I guess this describes the mood of these tracks very well. And "from death dub to breakcore and black metal" describes the style of these tracks very well.
Surprise release by the welsh brothers. "The unobserved observer..." oh sorry, my mind slipped into another topic of thought. But, well, no, it's actually a good take on the music here. music that has to be observed, music that has not been observed yet, sounds never seen... trippy, psychedelic, lush soundscapes. a piano plays in the distance and aliens escape through the Cardiff space-time rift nearby.
Mokum was an amsterdam label that filled the european dancefloors in the 90s. With dance and rave smashers like "techno head - i wanna be a hippy" or "party animals - hava naquila". And, unlike most of the 90s dance craze remnants, mokum is very much active, and not in a zombie state at all. Like the title says, this is a new compilation of happy dance gabba rave smashers, and that, according to the promo blurb, is "filled with brandnew blasters and a few remixed or remastered Mokum classixxx"
New flesh is slowly becoming my new favorite label. I guess it was named after the video drome quote, btw! This release is... techno? but very industrial, with electro. and, most importantly, some bad ass french rapping (yes, such things exist!)
Remember when Underground Resistance and Detroit was on a huge "Sun Ra" type trip? With all the references to alien communication, star trek, the rings of saturn, and such? This release reminds me a lot of that! but it does not copy, it just floats in the same river. Let's... call it space-techno!
Various Artists - Origo LP (Zodiak Commune / Same Size Soul)
Zodiak Commune Records is one of these labels that do not tie themselves up in one style. There is acid, techno, maybe even house... i guess this follows the "commune" idea, so to say. the common thread seems to be danceable, hard, dark, and high quality music in these releases. another style they dedicate themselves to is electro, and, oh boy, this new release is so good!
this is no cheese funk, really crunchy, cold, dark steel electro beats. also mixed with other styles, industrial sounds, minimalism, krautrock... a commune of sounds! good one.
Noice is a project by the crazy gabba-germans surrounding "the speed freak". It's a throwback, to their 90s output on labels with cutie names like "napalm records", "agent orange" or even "street trash alliance". Let's... call it nosebleed techno! for the total maniacs.
Harry Harrison was an author who gifted the world with stories like "soylent green", "bill the galactic hero", and one that was called "the final incoherent adventure!". and this would have been a fitting description of this track (or is it multiple "tracks" ? ) on this release, and a fitting end to our coverage.
because there is no coherence or linearity in this track. seemingly just a collection of noises, beats, and sounds. out of sync, for 16 minutes. and so do we end. the final.
