All posts by Tuomas Kinnunen

I'm a musician and live act (Teknoaidi), dj (Avaruusveli), event organizer and netlabel manager (Kovaydin.NET) residing in Tampere, Finland. I have been contributing to the underground core scene and network both locally and globally since 2003. My articles, interviews and track and event reviews on THD are about the diverse hardcore techno underground, my special interests being in the psychedelic and experimental sounds and I hope to expose more people to these sounds and vibes with my articles. I also try to raise awareness of the global core underground by writing about local scenes in places that have smaller, yet interesting, scenes going on. These texts come from my own experiences playing and travelling in various countries as well as the experiences by the scene actives I interview. Before starting to contribute to THD, I used to run a webzine called Bass Distortion Zine, which is now defunct. I'm also working on my own website http://shamancore.info , which is to be opened later. Shamancore is about merging old wisdom of high tempo music, used in healing shaking/dancing, with the possibilities that new technologies and music like hardcore techno and speedcore bring us.

Acidcorecrew Interview

Acidcorecrew are a Russian underground hardcore and breakcore crew organizing parties in St. Petersburg and most recently in Moscow. After visiting Acidcorefest.Moscowedition I decided to interview Igor (Shotgun Orchestra) to ask more about the crew and the local scene.

Who are the Acidcorecrew and how did Acidcorefest start?

Acidcorefest 10
Party people @ Acidcorefest 10 in St. Peterburg

ACIDCOREFEST and ACIDCORECREW appeared in 2007-2008 and the idea and was implemented in late 2008 as a festival of heavy electronic music. In fact, at the time we first focused on breakcore and gabba styles, but over time other styles were added as well. During the period of 2008-2016 we have organized 10 Acidcorefests in Saint-Petersburg, 1 in Moscow this year, as well as some other parties. Acidcorefest was on hiatus from 2011 until this year.
First members of ACIDCORECREW were me and Anton DistoNN. When we revived the festival in 2016 few people also joined us to help with the organization. Now ACIDCORECREW are Anton DistoNN, Mila, Slava, me and other guys who took photos, made promos and video.

The name does not seem to refer to the hardcore techno subgenre acidcore. Is there a story behind the name?

The name of the festival is not associated with the name of the style of music, it was more likely due to the fact that in the breakcore and gabba music there were a lot of acid riffs at that time.

How did the Acidcorefest.Moscowedition go in your opinion?

I think it was not quite bad. Perhaps one of the biggest festivals in recent years. However, there were some negative aspects, but these errors are considered in the future.

What has been the most memorable Acidcorefest event for you?

All. Literally. I remember every one of them, they were all unique and unforgettable.

Which international artists have visited your parties?

Techdiff (UK), Rotator (FR), Klitorix (FR/ES), M1dlet (LT), Xäcksecks (SE), Belladonnakillz (CA), C64 (CA), Kodek (LV), Gabba Front Berlin (DE), Bonehead (NL), Jensen (DE), Passenger of Shit (AU), Ars Dada (NO), Zutsuu / Teknoaidi (FI), Zeuge (BY), Gexider (BY), CJClip (BY) and Airborne Drumz (RU/DE).

How was the Russian scene before Acidcorefest started? And how did Acidcorefest influence the scene?

Acidcorefest 9
Party people enjoying speedcore @ Acidcorefest 9

Before Acidcorefest there were many other organizers in Russia like Breakcore.ru, IDM-group, Soundclash, Gromov and his parties. Almost all of these promoters either do not exist anymore or are not active. I think we can assume that ACIDCOREFEST is the biggest regular breakcore/hardcore festival in Saint P from 00’s that returned today.

What plans do you have for the future?

We always have plans, unfortunately more than opportunities, but I think in the near future we are waiting to do the next ACIDCOREFESTs in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Europe.

Tell us a bit about your hardcore/breakcore projects Shotgun Orchestra, Action Agenda and the label SickBrokenBrothers.

Shotgun Orchestra is probably my longest project and perhaps the most important to date, when viewed in the context of time. The project was started in 2003, when I made a few tracks, which became the basis of the first albums published later. Then had quite a long break until 2007, related to my service in the Russian army, and in 2007 I started to perfom with this project. At the moment I don’t give much time to this project anymore, mainly due to the activities with Action Agenda, but I promise to create a full-length album in 2017 and noisily celebrate the 10 years of the project.

Action Agenda
Action Agenda in action @ Acidcorefest.Moscowedition

Action Agenda is a new page in my music life. We are doing this project with Vyacheslav Vincent Nine. We started it in 2015, but I have great hopes for it.
SickBrokenBrothers Records is a young Russian independent record label focusing on hardcore, breakcore and crossbreed stuff. We try to publish the highest quality materials from the area of the former Soviet Union and neighboring countries, but the history of the label has only just begun.

What do you think about the Russian core scene?

Unfortunately the Russian scene is not as great as we would like it to be, but it is now in the stage of regeneration, and what it will be in a few years is difficult to predict.

What are the challenges in organizing parties in Russia?

The low attendance and low ticket prices. There are of course also really small parties for friends where you know all the visitors. We’ve done similar parties for many years and wanted some progress, so we wanted to make Acidcorefest something bigger and more interesting. The main challenge right now, with music in general, is that people are more interested in the image, the brands and the atmosphere. There is a real revival going on in the flourishing Russian gabba, but young gabbers are more interested in how they are dressed than what they listen to. This used to be secondary. Earlier people went to parties for the music (like to listen to good foreign visitors).

What subgenres are popular in the Russian core underground now? Are there any specific influences from abroad or interesting local developments?

As a whole I think I will not be mistaken if I say that the Russian scene is developing in parallel with the European, but with some delay. It doesn’t have some distinct differences. Only the style of dress that has appeared in recent years – many dress up as at parties in Holland in the 90’s.

Which Russian core artists would you recommend for the readers to check out?

Would not want to leave anyone out, many musicians in Russia are worthy of paying attention to, many you already know now. Those of you who are paying attention, let me draw your attention to the duo (RI) and Doc and DJ QuintaEssentia.

Thanks for the interview!

As a bonus here’s an aftermovie from Acidcorefest.Moscowedition made by Hardcore Russia TV:

Acidcorefest.Moscowedition – Report by Teknoaidi

qpkkw8clc4qLiving in Finland, on the north-east edge of the EU, I have the chance to travel to my eastern neighbour Russia easily and I have been doing so since 2010 playing gigs there in various places. Acidcorefest.Moscowedition was held between 23rd and 24th of September and it was my second gig in Moscow. Acidcorefest has its roots in Russia’s culture capital St. Petersburg and the concept was now visiting in the country’s business capital.

Contrary to what the name suggests, these fests have very little to do with the acidcore subgenre itself. The fests are more like a celebration of the diverse underground hardcore techno styles and breakcore and speedcore representing both local talents as well as interesting international artists. The mainstream hardcore scene hasn’t been completely excluded from the equation either, but what became clear to me from the very beginning was that this party was not going to limit itself in terms of speed and intensity.

Acid Blood dancefloor
Acid Blood dancefloor

The party venue was Aglomerat Club, a building that used to be a cinema in the Soviet times and had been recently refurbished into a techno club. The interior was like an abandoned warehouse, so the event definitely had the feel of a proper underground rave. I initially thought that the event would be split between 2 nights, but it was actually a 15 hour party from 9PM till 1PM! 46 artists and dj’s were on the lineup for 2 dancefloors: Acid Blood, which was the main stage, and Acid Jam, the “chillout”.

Since my first visits in the country I have noticed that Russians like their core music fast and this night was no exception as people went totally mad from the chaotic distorted breaks and bassdrums starting to run around the dancefloor. Mashup style hardcore and breakcore seemed to be especially popular, but many dj’s also played more darker tones of crossbreed, dnb as well as more minimal, but very effective oldschool sounding hardcore. So I said that the Acid Jam dancefloor was the chillout, and it kind of was when jungle and hardtek dj’s were playing, but many times I would enter there and intense as fuck breakcore and hardcore comparable to the main stage was blasted there as well.

KlitoriX playing at Acid Blood stage

Definite crowd favorites of the evening were the hardcore/breakcore artists Klitorix from Spain and M1dlet from Lithuania, whom I especially remember of his speedcore releases in the past. Local favorites were especially the Action Agenda duo and the metal, core and dnb fusing Sa†an, who has received wider international fame in recent years for his music and shows. A more bizarre local speciality and exception of the night was XS Project, a duo producing pumping house and hard bass – styles popular among squatting Slavs in tracksuits. For me personally, the most interesting set of the night was by Quinta Essentia who delivered straightforward, relentless and at times quite hypnotic hardcore beats. After her Extremest, a touring artist from Scotland, played some mashupcore madness of varying tempos. There were still survivors left when it was my turn to play my shamancore music as Teknoaidi before 8 in the morning. The shamancore shaking rituals went down very well and the crowd demanded me to play some extra.

It was a pleasure meeting many old and new people, fellow international artists from Europe and I was also surprised to meet Jüps from as far away as Seattle who was travelling and visiting parties in Europe and Russia. It was unfortunate that the party could have had more visitors.. Gotta give the organizers lots of respect for taking the risk to put this party together! In a time where the powers that be are creating apparent divisions between people, music is a great way to step out of the geopolitical games and bond us together.

Finnish *core scene report

Brainbashers - Visions of the Post-Clubbing Era-1
Brainbashers – Visions of the Post-Clubbing Era

by Teknoaidi

I’m Teknoaidi aka Zutsuu, a musician, live-act, dj and promoter from Tampere, Finland. I have been active in the Finnish underground *core scene for nearly 10 years. In this article I will write about the local music and party scene, focusing mostly on the underground, as well as on what is unique about Finnish hardcore techno of today.

1990’s-early 2000’s
Finland has a small, yet relatively passionate hardcore techno scene, taking into account that the population of the country is only 5 million. Hardcore has been present in the rave scene at least since the early 1990’s. One of the first, if not the first, local live-artists being The Mighty Rubber Boots and one of the first crews organizing hardcore-only parties was Trance Source i3. In the early days the sound was also pushed by Amiga demoscene crews such as dA JoRMaS. Tres is a hardcore/speedcore artist who is still more and less active to this day. He was the founder of crews such as Inkvisitio (it means ”the inquisition”) and Antenniosasto (”the antenna department”), which organized bigger and smaller uncompromised underground and club parties from 1997 till 2007. They left a big impact on the scene before the torch was passed on to the next generation. The music at these events ranged from hardcore to speedcore and from breakcore to noise. Two other notable artists at the end of scene’s first decade were Disruptikk aka xybo and H8!Machine aka Vihakone who had a speedcore label called Fleshwound Records and also released on various German labels.

Present Day Party Crews
The organizers throwing parties today are of the third and fourth generation. Mindcore (founded in 2004) organizes mainstream hardcore and gabber parties with popular international headliners, typically attracting 200-400 or more attendees in the capital city Helsinki. Other prominent cities with occasional shows of international mainstream hardcore artists are Turku (House of Hard Music) and Vaasa (Finnish Gabber Promotions Oy) on the western coast. Semi-legal underground and smaller club parties, which focus in underground hardcore and breakcore, or a mix of both mainstream and underground sounds, are organized in various cities and usually attract around 50-150 people. The most notable crews doing such events are: Kovaydin.NET (literally ”Hardcore Network”), founded by yours truly (based in Tampere), the fairly new crew Club Syndrome from Joensuu (Eastern Finland), and the latest player in the scene, X-Treme, which started throwing monthly parties in Helsinki this year. Another major, but currently inactive, 21st century underground organizer was Valovoima, who organized Earthcore squat parties in Helsinki and Lavantautitanssit (”typhoid dance”) parties in Turku, as well as the ambient/industrial/noise/core club event Syntesia-klubi in Tampere among other events. He is now a part of the Kovaydin.NET crew. International artists and dj’s are also often visiting the Finnish underground parties, however in contrast to the bigger club parties where fame is often the first priority when choosing international headliners, in order to try to meet the budgets, the international artists visiting underground parties are invited primarily based on the originality of their music, regardless if their name is known or not. Global grassroots networking and artist exchange has also been encouraged, especially to the neighbouring countries Russia and Sweden.

FREE∞BPM Party
FREE∞BPM Party

Kovaydin.NET – The Finnish Hardcore Techno Underground
After the illegal warehouse parties of the 90’s moved to clubs, the underground parties never really died out in Finland. They continued to exist alongside the clubbing scene, although in smaller size. These parties are typically held at abandoned buildings, squats, rented venues or out in nature. Of course, even the underground parties and crowds transformed, but a lot of the original spirit still remains. This is especially true for the underground hardcore scene in Tampere – something the Kovaydin.NET crew and other local underground crews such as Tenkale are proud of. We are also trying to promote the free party movement together in Finland. Kovaydin.NET was founded in 2005 and it first served as an online platform where artists and enthusiasts alike could network. Later it became a party crew and a netlabel. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s there were maybe a handful of hardcore live-artists and dj’s in Finland, but partly thanks to online networking and people supporting each other, the quality of the music and the amount of live-artists as well as dj’s significantly increased. It can also be said that the musical climate became more encouraging towards individual experimentations, as opposed to direct copy and paste of popularized genre standards. The Kovaydin.NET parties typically offer many varieties of underground hardcore, speedcore and breakcore, as well as hardtek and rhythmic noise. The crowds in Tampere are very diverse and you can find everything from goths to hippies and otakus to metalheads, all enjoying spasmodic beats together under the same roof. This goes to show the richness and limitless potential of what is going on in the *core underground.

SuomiHC – Peculiarities of Finnish hardcore
Finland is probably most known for the success of the Finnish freeform genre in the hard dance scene and the suomisaundi subgenre in the psytrance scene. Less known, but equally unique, is the phenomena called suomihc aka Finnish hardcore techno or just suomicore. It is usually used as an umbrella term for all Finnish hardcore, but there are also some common features to be found that capture the local spirit. One such feature are melancholic melodies and this is the kind of music that many Finns in general appreciate. The short and dark winter days provide a mindset for introspection and composing deep, abrasive, atmospheric and abstract core tunes. In the summer the sun almost doesn’t set at all making people go manic and party in a cave in the forest or near a lake – the perfect environment for contemporary shamancore rituals.

Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat Live
Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat Live

A few original Finnish artists to check out:
Shatterling – An aspiring young artist who makes melodic down and uptempo hardcore and crossbreed. He has released on international labels such as Noisj.nl and Battle Audio Records.
Skelic – Formerly known as Hell Factory, this musical-genious-shrouded-in-mystery takes the experimentalism in darkstep, hardcore and crossbreed, among other styles, even further creating some truly original atmospheric bangers.
Teknoaidi – This is my shamancore project. I try to connect the dots between shamanic music and hardcore and explore the healing properties of speedcore. Other influences include Finnish folk music and world music.
Valovoima – A musician of various styles from ambient to experimental and atmospheric speedcore, often with a twist of acid sounds. His music is inspired by nature and natural sciences and is like a celebration of the intense energies of natural phenomena.
Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat – An electroacoustic collaboration between me and Stak Etop (the founder of Tenkale). HVV music is born live at shamancore jams where we play drum machines, noiseboxes, DIY synths and various acoustic instruments such as flutes, rattles, a mouth harp or a frame drum. The best bits of the improvisation sessions are cut and sometimes additional sounds are added with software. Sometimes these jams take place at parties in the form of workshops where anyone can participate in the process.

The only thing that is constant is change
People in the scene are coming and going, sometimes taking a break, sometimes not returning. There are many interesting artists who make some kind of hardcore and breakcore music, but are scattered in various music scenes and groups, only making random appearances in the actual *core scene. The only thing that is constant is that the scene is always tranforming. Thus this was not a comprehensive list of all the artists and crews, but an effort to mention some of the major players in the scene’s history, the current situation, as well as the more original musical developments in the present. For more Finnish *core music, check out the Youtube channel called Suomicore Tube or the recent free online compilation 10 Years of Suomicore on Kovaydin.NET.