Germany Scene Report (1995)

The resistance against Trance for bores a la MFS and Superstition and commercial techno by Marusha and Westbam keeps growing: The Mover (PCP) told us about Parties at the anti-fascist centre in Karlsruhe with 300 people, the first two events by DJ Raid and Christoph de Babalon at the Rote Flora in Hamburg attracted 500/600 people and in Berlin despite of Mayday happening the same night, 1000 hardcore maniacs came to “RETURN OF THE HARDCORE” with E-De-Cologne (Napalm), Xol-Dog 400, DJ Raid (Battletech Termination Source), Tetsuo Heroin (Bass Terror Sound System) and the resident DJ- team the Gabbanauts.

Also 800 people found their way to the Bunker on New Years Eve for “RETURN OF THE SON OF HARDCORE” with Ec8or (a.k.a. E-De-Cologne, Carl Crack (Atari Teenage Riot), Moonraker (Bass Terror Sound System), SDI and the Gabbanauts. The Bass Terror Sound System (Alec Empire, Carl Crack, Moonraker,…) also tell us about Free Parties organised at short notice with 250-300 people, even though the whole promotion only consisted in giving out between 50-100 flyers! Therefore E-De-Cologne is planning to move to Berlin in the near future, as Jammin Unit (Force Inc.) has done recently, because Cologne is still only reacting to trance and mellow tranquilizer acid.

That the Hardcore scene is getting stronger is also reflected by the label- and production side of things:

Raid (formerly A&R for Fischkopf) and Christoph de Babalon (Fischkopf artist) split from the label to release even more extreme material on their own Cross Fade Enter Tainment. The first 12″ will be released in january and is by Somatic Responses from Wales. There is a new label from Berlin called Acid Orange, whose first 3 releases (Parsec, Robotnik, Toktok) could be described as “depressive acid by people who have nothing to eat”. On a sublabel called V they care about harder stufffrom dark monotone hc to gabber-acid, the first 2 releases are by Parsec and Toktok & Moonraker.

With 7-Inch-Riots DHR founded a 7″-speedcore label: The first release due early february is by Killout Trash, the band of Nick Trout (guitarist of noisecore band Trout) and Tetsuo Heroin. As guest vocalists Signe (from Danish noisecore-girl band Murmur on Cloudland Records) and German-Indonesian Chelsea Burgess screamed the voice-samples directly to tape.

Another new hardcore label from Berlin is Capital Noise that’s aiming to make the scene more ideologically aware. First release is a CD compilation titled “Chapter 1: Noise and Politics” to be released mid january). The 20-track clubmix by Alec Empire contains nearly all the highlights of the past months from labels and acts like PCP, DHR, Drop Bass Network, Fishkopf, Analog, SP23, Atari Teenage Riot, Ilsa Gold and Christoph de Babalon. Shortly there should be 2 12″s by SP23 feat. Gabba Nation with remixes by Xol-Dog 400 and Sonic Subjunkies and an EP by Somatic Responses on Capital Noise.

DHR and Cross Fade Enter Tainment are planning a 20-track double 12″/single CD (working title: “United Underground Forces”) with all the acts of both labels and their subsidiaries. As both formats will be limited to 500 (vinyl)/ 1000 (acryle) copies and there will be exclusive tracks only, it’s clever to pre-order from MIDI WAR a new mail order service (address below).

Already before that (end of january) the Speedfreak’s label Napalm and Cross Fade joint-release a CD compilation with part new, part already released material of both labels.

More news briefly: After Xol-Dog 400 now both DHR producers Alec Empire and DJ Bleed have been invited by BBC 1 to record a John Peel session. Already pressed up and only waiting to be unleashed are the full length albums by Atari Teenage Riot (“1995”) on DHR as well as the intelligent techno works by Walker and Khan as Global Electronic Network (recorded in the hallway of a New York Hotel) and the follow up to Alec Empire’s “Limited Editions 1990-1994”, “Generation Star Wars”, both on Mille Plateaux.

For the track “We All Die” from the “Death EP” on DHR Alec Empire filmed an ironic vampire-horror-trash video on a Berlin cemetary which got turned down by all TV channels for being too “psychologically brutal”. VHS copies are made available by MIDI WAR DISTRIBUTION, Senheimer Str. 1, D-12465 Berlin, Germany. Send 1 IRC you receive their catalogue which besides the video also offers releases, shirts, rarities and DJ tapes of the labels DHR, Cross Fade, Capital Noise, Napalm, Praxis, V, as well as some of the Force Inc. and Riot Beats releases. A special offer for the UK: for a fiver (cash or cheque) you’ll get the catalogue, a Bass Terror mix tape and a tape with highlights from the catalogue, so no one has to order records you don’t know or like…

> Joel Amaretto (Frontpage freelancer, but still PC)

Published in Alien Underground 0.1 (Spring 1995)

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