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Hardcore on the 90s Internet

Three examples of how it was to be a Hardcore fan / artist in the 90s and using the Internet when the World Wide Web still seemed a new thing and Facebook and Youtube didn’t exist.

Biophilia

In the 90s, there were not so many ways for artists to connect on the internet. One of these ways were mailing lists; you were added to a list, and then you could send emails to this list, and all other members too, and everyone would get forwarded anyone else’s mails. A quite rudimentary way of communication. One of these lists was the Biophilia list, run by Multipara. Before discogs.com, there were also not so many ways to find a discography of your favorite label online. Multipara catered to that need too. He had a website which listed records on such labels as Fischkopf, Mono Tone, Mille Plateaux… I got into contact with him to ask some questions about Fischkopf and later also supplied information myself, as I was “at the source” in Hamburg where the label was run. Eventually he invited me to the Biophilia list too. This mailing list orignally was intended as a list for people who liked the music of Martin Damm, also known as Speedfreak or Biochip C. and other aliases – hence the name of the list, but it then became more a list for “underground” electronic sounds, including Experimental Hardcore, Early Breakcore and similar outings. Members included Thaddi from the Sonic Subjunkies, Joel from kool.pop / ex-DHR, Andy from Irritant and I think DJ Entox and John from the Somatic Responses, was on there too, as well as many other artists or enthuasists of strange electronic music.
As so many artists were on the list, Multipara got the idea to do a compilation with the very artists of this list, and it happened.
The styles of this release are very varied and definitely show the varying interests of the members of this mailing list; from Chiptune and Ambient to Detroit type Techno to Breakcore and Speedcore everything is here.
My own contribution was the first thing that ever was released by me, Adrenaline Junkie, a 800 BPM Speedcore affair that was 1998 amongst the fastest tracks out there on vinyl.
It was really a special time and community, and this double vinyl was a special result out of it and it makes a nice memory to the mailing list, this rather “primitive” form of internet communicaton.

Ye olde vinyl back cover

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Biophilia-Allstars/release/47142

Gabber on EFnet IRC

Another trip down memory lane. In the 90s, there was no Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger. If you wanted to chat online, you would likely use Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. IRC was organized in chatroom channels that ran on servers, that then were connected in huge networks. One of these networks was EFnet, and it had a channel called #gabber, run by DJ Skinner of Black Monolith Recordings. We were a dozen and a half users on there, including Acid Enema, Eye-D from The Outside Agency, Maurice from Rotterdam Terminator Source and lots of others (Satronica, Knifehandchop, Interrupt Vector etc.). It was good times, lots of networking happened, and the beginning of Black Monolith Recordings was laid in that chatroom, and it was also how I got into contact with that label when I sent an early demo of “Urban Uprising” to Skinner – the rest is history. Memories!

BMR logo

C8.com and P2

Third trip down memory lane… we talked about chatrooms and mailing lists… but there was no social media to spread infos and sounds about Hardcore and related music in the 1990s. Instead there were websites and the biggest (for this type of music) was c8.com. It hosted PCP, an early incarnation of Bloody Fist, Somatic Responses and much, much more. The site hosted articles of various fanzines, preview music of plenty of releases, contact and background information and artists and more stuff. It was run by Stevvi who also started a mailing list for artists, fans and everyone else to communicate about what he called “dark, sick music”, and it was. While the list thrived for a few years, it ultimately decayed eventually, with lots of “shitposts” and other stuff, a taster of the Internet culture to come. So he set up a secret mailing list called P2, invite-only and only for the Hardcore elite… just kidding, mostly friends and people who had networked, and people around C8 who could hold a meaningful debate. It was host to many a great conversations, exchange of communication and connecting of artists, also some “scene fights” that almost 20 years later we can laugh about, and even some musical projects such as the c8 99 one (making tracks that last only 99 seconds, I think some of the Somatic Responses ones later got released). Artists on P2 were for example Boris Cavage, Noize Creator, and I think DJ Pure and Christoph Fringeli.
One of the CD-Rs I sent to Stevvi he advertised on P2 (and put it in the music section of c8.com) and this led to the release of my Kougai split with Cdatakill and my Widerstand album, and other stuff.

Image of the old c8.com website

Nice memories again, of an era when communication was more limited but also more direct and the scene appeared smaller, before today’s version of the Internet.

Review: Ouwe Stijl is Botergeil (8 June 2019)

Ouwe Stijl is Botergeil Review

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I never really left the 90s. Whether its blasting cheesy euro dance in the shower, watching Friends, or seeing Detective Pikachu as soon as it came out, there’s something about the 90s that I just can’t seem to leave behind (and refuse to leave behind).

 

My most recent escapade into the best era of all time led me to an epic party, Ouwe Stijl is Botergeil. For those of you who don’t know Ouwe Stijl is a well-known early hardcore party series organized by Strength of Unity. The literal translation of Ouwe Stijl is Botergeil means “Old style is butter horny”. Although I got a variety of definitions from Dutch partygoers ranging from “Old style is slippery wet” to “Old style is horny” to “It has something to do with butter.” One of the organizers explained that the Dutch word “botergeil” is slang like the word ‘sexy’ that is used to describe something that you are excited about for example one might say “Man that is a sexy car!”

 

At any given hardcore party on any given weekend you’ll see men and women sporting Ouwe is Stijl shirts (I still gotta get me one of those!). This is due to the fact that Ouwe is Stijl has a huge following, one might even call it a cult following (in a similar way that the movie Pulp Fiction has). Before I even moved to the Netherlands in 2016 and when I was only here for brief periods of time, speaking with gabbers as to where the best parties are Ouwe is Stijl was always one of the top responses.

Now with all that being said and with very high expectations let’s get into my review of Ouwe is Stijl is Botergeil on June 8th 2019. My friends and I began our journey around 20:00 from The Hague then after a quick stop for some noodles and a drink in Amsterdam we headed to the party. The party took place at Paradiso Noord in the North of Amsterdam just a quick ferry ride from Amsterdam Central Station. A huge crowd was outside eagerly waiting for the gates to open and for the party to begin. Early hardcore blasted from portable speakers, party goers snapped some selfies with their friends, chugged their final drinks and then made a mad rush to the entrance.

Immediately upon entering into the venue I noticed a stand selling records and another stand representing Hard-Wear (a hardcore apparel store in Enkhuizen) selling merchandise, which was a nice touch. The venue was a bit of a maze but had plenty of spaces for people to sit, multiple bars, and even some board games for people to play (shout out to the random Smurf puzzle). The party consisted of one large main room of music with a viewing deck that provided a great view of the dance floor and the epic light shows. After the usual routine of lockers, bathroom, getting a drink (no need for tokens yay!), and saying hi to everyone it was time to see my friend Delirium!

Coming all the way from New Jersey, Delirium is one of the early pioneers of hardcore both in the United States and in the Netherlands. Known for his energetic onstage presence (picture a fire cracker exploding on New Years Eve) Delirium always puts on quite the show. Following his set we had a brief meet and greet for him where he signed records, took some photos, and met with fans. It always warms my heart to see my American hardcore comrades have such a loyal fan base here in the Netherlands. I had the opportunity to ask Delirium some questions about the party and here is what he had to say:

 

First off, what was going through your head when you were on stage tonight?

 

The vibe with the crowd was amazing and the venue was really great!

I was in a great mood and I was very focused. I made sure to give 1000% of my energy to the people for that hour.   I really wanted to give them a performance that they would remember.

 

The crowd really seemed to love your set, is there a specific process you go through concerning track selection or do you more feel the vibe of the crowd?

 

There are times where I just feel the vibe of the crowd and go with the flow and there are times when I prepare a set prior to the event. The crowd at OSIB likes the tempo a little faster so I did a lot of searching to find some fast Early Rave tracks for this event.

 

What sets Ouwe Stijl a part from other Dutch parties?

 

OSIB is different than other events because their style is horny like butter!

 

There were so many fans that had the original DJ Delirium T-shirts and the original ID&T Music T-shirts from the 90’s. It was like time traveling back to 1996. I even had some friends and fans come all the way from Italy and Spain.

 

This was my first booking with them and they treated me really great! It was an absolute pleasure to work with this crew and perform at their event.

 

 

Having been very active in the American hardcore scene for over twenty years what major differences have you noticed between the American scene and the Dutch scene?

 

The major differences are definitely the size of the events, the way that they dance and the style of clothing. We have a much smaller scene in America. The fans are very loyal and definitely have a passion for the music though. Some of them even travel all the way to Holland for the bigger events because we do not have anything like Dominator or Hard Shock in America yet.

 

Now back to the party!

 

After the meet and greet I had the opportunity to see Kaycie play for the first time. Kaycie is one of the organizers of the party, he laid down an epic set and I had the opportunity to speak with him to learn more about what Ouwe is Stijl is all about. What I liked the most about Ouwe is Stijl was the underground and family vibe. One major takeaway from my conversation with Kaycie was that the organization started among a group of friends, which I really love. This reminds me of my days in the US with East Coast Hard Dance, we were just a group of friends looking to hear the music we loved, support local artists and our friends, and of course to throw epic parties.

Unfortunately I only got to catch a bit of Omar Santana’s set although from what I heard he crushed it! With all good intentions to leave at 3:30am because I had to work the next day I was having so much fun that I stayed until the very end at 8:00am. One sign of a good night in my opinion is seeing how many people are there at the bitter end and the fact that it was still crowded on the same night as Harmony of Hardcore is definitely a good sign.

So my final thoughts, great music, good vibes, welcoming atmosphere, and overall a wonderful night! Next up…. International Hard Dance Meeting on 27 June 2019!

*Photos were taken by U-Model Party Pics and are not my own*

Mutant Core Resistance interview

The Argentinian band Mutant Core Resistance and their label Mutant Core Records are breathing some fresh air both into their local as well as the wider global *core underground. They are fusing subgenres like psycore, breakcore, speedcore and extratone into new experimental soundscapes and something called “atmo tone”. In this interview we talked about their music and the scene in Argentina.

Who are the crew behind the Mutant Core Records and how did it start?

Mutant Core Resistance

We have different types of members in the crew. Some of them are more freelance like our brother from Poland, Si.rAk-Sa, or brothers from our country like Morphoaega, Chamal, Fuel & Fire and Charlie. They all contribute in their own way and support this music we promote on our label. Then there are the core members of MCR: Solarkae, Unfriendly bit and Beatcrusher. MCR started in 2015 as a group of 3 DJs: Trip Cris, Low Noise and Beatcrusher. They met at free parties that were organized in different parts of Buenos Aires in the years of 2010-2012. After some years of playing on their own they decided to unite and form a crew dedicated to genres like breakcore, terrorcore, speedcore and extratone.

Tell us more about the Mutant Core Resistance band..

The main concept of the band is to experiment and deconstruct. We try to merge our 3 energies into the tracks we do. The main intention is to create soundscapes that take the listeners to different places, sensations and feelings, sometimes in a good musical “trip” and sometimes we try to take them out of the comfort zone. All the songs are created with computer and synths. We like the analog sound, but we also like to do the sound designs, the mix and mastering in the DAW.

What are your musical influences?

There are a wide variety of musical influences: Pierre Schaeffer and the concrete music, John Cage and the aleatory music, Fluxus, John Coltrane and his album Om, Alice Coltrane, rock of the 60’s and 70’s like 5th dimention, Guru Guru, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly, Focus and Pink Floyd. Also electronic music like Kraftwerk, hardcore jungle from the 90s, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, The Flashbulb and Richard Devine. We also like more traditional music like Chinese music, Indian Classical music, Tuvan singing and different mantras from Buddhism and Hinduism.

What is atmo tone?

We feel that atmo tone is somewhere in between soundscapes and extratone. Atmospheric extratone is a physical phenomena (the sum of the harmonics of deep kicks) it is also music that promotes introspection combined with altered states of consciousness induced by the music.

There seems to be lots of experimental psycore coming from South-America and you guys are also involved in events, such as La CAJA DEL ODIO, that combine experimental *core music and psytrance as well as other styles. Is there a lot of collaboration between experimental electronic music subcultures in your local scene?

There are just a few people dedicated to this particular spectrum of experimental music, so we are always in touch, we need to combine our forces in order to do events and gather some public. There are a few sporadic events like the one you mentioned, also we used to do one called Speedfest and raves with different names.

How are your local hardcore techno, breakcore and psycore party scenes in general?

The scene is very small and underground, the music you mentioned arrived in our country in the early 2000 and became more listened arround 2012. Nowadays the younger generations are paying more attention to this music and new dj’s and producers are starting to appear and we are glad for that.

What are the possibilities and challenges in organizing parties in Argentina?

Argentina is a big country, so it depends on where you are. Here in our province (Buenos Aires) there are a bunch of small places for this kind of events, but you have to take your soundsystem if you want to sound decent. The other option is to move away from the city and do the events outdoors if you know a place to occupy for the night or maybe if you know somebody who owns a place. The problem is the public transport, sometimes it’s not easy to reach certain places. The police is also a big problem, they are always trying to shut our raves, because we are “against the law”.

What are your plans for the future?

Mutant Core Resistance live session.

In terms of music, we are working on a couple of collaborations with different brothers from other countries and we are working on our second LP. There are a few EP’s from some artists from our country and from other countries that will be released soon. We are thinking about doing some gigs in a couple of places in Europe. Some crews are inviting us to play lately, but we have to raise the money for the plane tickets and they are pretty expensive!

 

 

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

Our scene is small, but it has a very colorful variety of artists. Here are some:

Trip’s Cris
https://soundcloud.com/dj-trips-cris

Fuel & Fire
https://soundcloud.com/naftafuel

Dj Dmøncøre
https://www.facebook.com/DjDmoncore
https://diegoseta.wixsite.com/dmoncore

Charlie
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieDMB

M0710n
https://www.facebook.com/k33p1nm0710n

Nymh4l
https://www.facebook.com/Nymh4ldj

Killer drumz
https://www.facebook.com/killerdrumz

KRAKTAX
https://soundcloud.com/kraktaxxxcore

SpeedB
https://soundcloud.com/augustin-kutralrecords

Rrayen
https://soundcloud.com/rrayen

Round Wave Crusher
https://www.facebook.com/roundwavecrusher

Thanks for the interview!

Thank you, thanks to The Hard Data and the readers!

Check out MCR here:

Bandcamp – https://mutantcorerecords.bandcamp.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/mutantcoreargentina

Hard Bass: The Last Formation 2019 Review

On Saturday 9 February 2019, 30,000 hard dance fans from all over the world gathered together in the Gelredome for Hard Bass: The Last Formation. For those who don’t know, Hard Bass was an annual party for the last ten years at the Gelredome organized by B2S (one of the major hard dance event organizers in the Netherlands). Last Saturday was the final edition of Hard Bass and the end of one of the largest most popular indoor hard dance events in the world.

What made Hard Bass unique is that, unlike other parties where DJs typically perform one-hour sets back to back (or in some instances longer sets versus other DJs), Hard Bass was notorious for its use of “teams”. The ten-hour long party (as always, not long enough in my opinion) this year was divided into five teams: Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, and Heroes (Ten Years of History). Each team consisted of multiple DJs who perform in a similar style. This edition was coined the “hardest” Hard Bass, which was evidenced by the predominance of rawstyle DJs on the line up – B-Front, Ran-D, Radical Redemption, and E-Force, to name a few.

 

Although my heart beats at 300 beats per minute, I was blown away by the production and music on Saturday night. This truly was a show rather than just a typical rave, so much that at times sitting out in the stands (the Gelredome is large stadium with tiered seating) I felt as though I was watching Hard Bass: The Musical. Each team was provided with a proper introduction and ending similar to the curtain call in play. Once they finished performing their epic last track, the lights would go off, everyone would applaud, and an introduction would start for the next team.

Being from the New York area and having attended multiple Broadway performances, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to attend this as a play where you sit down and watch the performance as if you were watching Phantom of the Opera or Fiddler on the Roof, for instance. All of the elements were there. The stage was a giant space ship, which fit perfectly with the theme, the lasers were out of this world, and of course there was fire, fireworks, and even some theatrics.

The evening truly was a tribute to ten years of hard dance, and to the artists and fans who made it all possible. The music was a quintessential mix of the classics we all know the words to, such as “Imaginary”, “Castles in the Sky”, “You’ve Got the Love”, and “Eternalize”, as well as some new tracks including my one of my personal favorites of the evening, “The Last Resort”.

 

This night was particularly memorable for me because I learned what “kick rolling” was for the first time. As previously mentioned, although I do enjoy rawstyle, I have not had much exposure to it, as it is a stage I don’t typically frequent at festivals. Usually passing by the rawstyle stage at Defqon, Dominator, or Masters of Hardcore, I would always see a large crowd of very tall, buff Dutch guys all moving their hands in a chopping motion to the beat. I figured this was just a dance that everyone did both collectively and individually, for example as gabbers hakken.

 

However, now I know that it is in fact a style of dancing (which is often pre-rehearsed) so that the chopping motion hits right on the beat. The more you know! I found this particularly fascinating because with speedcore/terror we have something similar (albeit less rehearsed and fluid) where when the beat drops you see everyone with one hand to the sky basically having a seizure (don’t judge it until you try it!) 

My favorite team of the evening was definitely Red, and those last few minutes were the perfect ending to the night. I particularly enjoy when rawstyle tracks are sped up, although I guess this would make kick rolling more difficult for some. Rawstyle is known for its brutal kicks, complex layers, and screeches, therefore just kicking it up a bit to 200 beats per minute makes it even better (in my humble opinion).

 

The evening concluded flawlessly with the GPF remix of Killshot-Beastmode, which of course kept me wanting more. The finale of the show consisted of the space ship taking off, closing off a chapter in history of ten years of Hard Bass. What will B2S have for us next?

*Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the companies and organizations I am affiliated with. Furthermore the pictures water marked “Hard Bass” are not my own pictures but rather B2S.

The Hard Data Update January 2019

Dear Readers of The Hard Data,

You have probably noticed a lack of any new print issues after our Winter 2018 edition. Yes, we have had some great web articles since then and some nice updates here and there in our various social media. But let’s face it, the most fun part of The Hard Data is our print issues.

Basically, it is my fault, so I want to -upfront- apologize for the lack of issues in 2018. My personal life impeded my focus on the operation. Though there are many contributors to THD, finding a second-in-command to replace me hadn’t happened before life-issues monopolized my time. Having said that, our last issue (but hopefully not the last) was arguably our best with the biggest distribution and impact. Now that my life is somewhat stabilizing, I vow this new year to finalize the first era of The Hard Data, and hopefully, set up its next by explaining much of what happened so far. After which interested readers may or may not find themselves inspired to get involved. If so, the original idea of The Hard Data will be fulfilled. If not, well… hey folks, it was fun while it lasted.

Immediate First Aid:

Before I tell the story, I must directly address our paying subscribers: You will be refunded your last subscription payment. Your current subscription will be cancelled. However, I hope to edit and publish one more issue of “The Hard Data Volume One” with a tentative publishing date of April 18, 2019. This will most likely be an oversized issue. It will be sent to you for free. If The Hard Data continues after this issue, your subscription will be re-instated should you desire, and the promise of a $6 or $12 yearly subscription forevermore will be a honored and explicitly non-negotiable term when and if I hand control of the magazine and The Hard Data brand over.

For those on our industry mailing list, I will send out an email detailing how much postage will be if you would like the new issue sent to you.

The last issue will be free and distributed to our usual spots in Los Angeles and elsewhere, but it will be a much lower circulation.

Ok, now that’s out of the way, here’s what happened…

How it Started.

A transformer blew up and subsequently destroyed everything I owned in 2014. New readers and hard dance fans might not know that I had a fair amount of history in the “hardcore” techno and rave scene going back to its earliest days. The physical evidence of that past was now gone in my life, and I guess psychologically I figured I was going to have to remake the history I lost. Rebooting my rave career, I looked around and noticed a lack of fanzines dedicated to the culture and remembered how important they were. I wrote for many, published one previously, and those odd mags were some of my prized possessions that got incinerated. So I thought, “Hey, I’ll start a new ‘zine.”

The Hard Data reached many of its goals: It became well known in the hard electronic/dance community, it got advertising from some of the top clients in its field, and it published some truly great articles.

But I had other ambitions for The Hard Data. I wanted it to help the hardcore/hardstyle scene in Los Angeles operate as a fully “sustainable” self-supporting economic sub-culture. The people who read it, who had businesses or such, would have ads in it. People in the scene could buy and trade and be informed about their peers. Local artists would be profiled and encouraged. Shows in LA would be promoted to a bigger and larger degree.

Please read the above paragraph again at some point, because that was the original idea. it hasn’t been fulfilled. Why? And why would that be important anyway?

The Reason it Exists

Since being involved with the rave scene since its earliest days, one thing became abundantly clear: The American mainstream music industry hates hardcore techno. The mainstream American rave industry hates hardcore techno. They hate the sound. They hate the noise. They hate the speed. They hate the attitude. They often hate the people involved.

Even though hardcore techno has shaped aspects of the commercial EDM scene we know today, no one wants to admit it. Why? Because in my opinion, it really, truly is a scene that ultimately cares about new sounds, new music, and as such, really does appeal to non-conforming people from all walks of life. The simple fact of the matter is that since day one, there has never been an ongoing, reliable social profile for hardcore techno in America other than the actual music being listened to. As such, the music truly, strangely, subconsciously delivers the goods that so many Utopian visionaries advertise but chump out on when they realize they can’t control such a situation. “They” hate it because they don’t feel they can control it.

This attitude translates to most large corporate advertisers. If you are reading this, I suspect the average marketing person feels you aren’t worth the trouble (at least in this niche). Yeah, you’ll buy the beer, the vapes, the games, the energy drink, whatever… but the very fact you will listen to the type of music covered in The Hard Data is a red-flashing warning sign you have a freaking brain that you still have some control over. It hasn’t been completely overtaken by media and peer brainwashing. You are a bad risk not worth banking on. What’s more, you’re potentially contagious. Sure, you were listening to Metallica or Ariana Grande a few years ago, and now look where you are at. You didn’t stick with the plan. What if you convince others of the same?

Time and again I had beaten my head against this brick wall I describe above, vainly hoping that some needed commercial cash would grease the wheels of my and others endeavors in the scene. But it always turned out the same way. Sometimes the answer was immediate, sometimes we got teased for a while before the invariable let-down.

So this is why The Hard Data as a communication instrument between like-minded individuals is so needed. Listening to the type of music we do is part of a bigger overall picture of leading a good life where creativity, honesty and individual freedom is honored and supported. Even though we moan about our peers in this scene, worldwide, I have yet to meet anyone in it that comes close to the psycho and sociopaths I’ve met in other corners of the post-rave world. No self-respecting sociopath would go near a scene whose numbers can’t be quantified like ours.

Hindsight 2017?

Looking back, I wish I would have made a better effort to insert smaller, lower costing ads in the magazine garnered from small businesses. Instead, I took the bigger ad money from the event companies. Don’t get me wrong, I, and The Hard Data are eternally grateful to Insomniac/Basscon and Trauma, but more effort should have been spent patiently explaining to the readers the importance of advertising their own scene and their own initiatives. Fast forward to today and I might have had a second-in-command to take over more readily, and more advertisers with my back.

But, for convenience, mostly because I was doing so many jobs on the magazine myself, once I got the money from the big ads I relaxed and concentrated on the coming issue’s content. I could only spread myself so thin and it was a choice of making the new issue or interfacing with people trying to coordinate their voice and payments.

If I could do it again, I would basically start out giving free ads to everyone in the scene that wanted one until they got their business feet firmly grounded and could comfortably pay for their ads.

Also, I believe that if we had a full-time ad salesman, even those big corporations I complain about would have thrown money our way as well. But, I never found anyone that wanted to risk doing that full time. Which is a shame, because I never had a very hard time selling ads when I put my mind to it. Unfortunately, a lot of sales-type people want to sell the tried and true and not take a chance on something new. The magazine needs a “true-believer” salesman besides me.

I’m Not Really a Businessman

Another problem is that when it gets right down to it, I’m not really a businessman. Sometimes I can give the appearance of one… but I’m really an artist that occasionally sees a need and rushes to fill it, mostly from some creative urgency. Many of you only know me from The Hard Data, but honestly, I’ve had a habit over my life of instigating and catalyzing various underground movements. Rave promoter, producer, DJ, record label, graffiti artist, publisher, just to name a few. Yep. I’ve done a lot of this stuff in the early days of many a scene. But it’s only a side-product of a creative life. After getting my hands dirty building the foundation, another type of personality really is needed to take over.

In fact, traditionally I step off just as the money comes in. So, maybe for everyone’s sake that pattern will continue here. Looking back, my only constant is pursuing my artwork however it manifests, such as with graffiti art or music production, and when I go too long ignoring that I get frustrated and frankly ignore the reasons why anyone ever paid attention to what I had to say in the first place. So, The Hard Data is made because it was needed, now it needs new hands to continue.

What the heck happened with Musicoin?

Some of you will understand this next part… If you read my desires for the magazine above, the attraction to a music-based cryptocurrency might seem pretty obvious. Basically, by tapping into a new economic stream of activity, The Hard Data and its contributors and readers could fashion their own economy. Anyone who was involved in that time will remember The Hard Data’s Musicoin initiative was firing on all cylinders.

Unfortunately, I had a major falling out with the main developer of Musicoin. Why? I don’t 100% know. I can only speculate. Despite what may be said from that individual, most people involved know that The Hard Data and myself promoted the project vigorously with much belief, effort and positive effect. And, I truly think that may be why we were shown the door.

What I didn’t know at the time was how easy it is for large investors to sway the price of smaller cryptocurrencies, and for some, that fact is very important. The Hard Data and I were becoming influential enough that casual investors started to pay attention to us. The fact that we had a positive effect on the project’s utility might ultimately have been what let to our ouster!

To explain a little better: A small cryptocurrency can be manipulated by an investor or investors initiating fake buys and sells. With automatic trading, this process becomes somewhat predictable. By attracting the hopeful investor and then selling off at a time the initial investors only know, fortunes can be made. So, when an actual real-world use case influences the price, it takes some of their control away. Like I said though, this is only my speculation on what happened.

It should be pointed out: After Musicoin severed its relationship with The Hard Data it has taken a precipitous none-dive in value. Mainly this was because of Bitcoin’s price plunge, but its worth considering that The Hard Data continuing to stress and demonstrate the project’s utility might have lessened or even reversed its precipitous recent decline.

Despite the Musicoin experience, I would still like to see The Hard Data involved with a robust cryptocurrency project. There are truly good merits to blockchain technology that can make life better for those involved. If I find another good project, I’ll let you know.

Why Print?

In this age of social media and declining print ad budgets, many ask, “Why Print?”. The easy answer: It’s cooler. No one cares about your Facebook post a week later. People save their magazines their whole life sometimes. Ultimately, the printed word carries more weight to its readers and is more trusted. It’s as simple as that. Yeah, you can’t quantify it easily with Google Analytics, but maybe relying on data driven statistics just leads to crappy imitative products. Have you ever thought that if you like something, someone else will? All the data in the world can’t really replace something made from the heart. That sounds corny I know, but ten years from now maybe check out what old issues of The Hard Data are selling for on eBay. The web is great for ephemeral data. The printed page is great for long term memory.

Social Media Meltdowns

Looking back, I wish I had spent less time on Facebook.

The hardcore/hardstyle scene in America revolves quite a bit around Facebook and Instagram and ultimately, I think both are dead ends. Yes, the eyeballs seem to be there. But through the last couple years I noticed how Facebook would throttle posts, overcharge for ads, not allow sharing, banning people for things they say, and generally becoming a dead end of energy. Most alarming to me is that many of my friends and peers in the scene started to buy the corporate line and promote that there is a such thing as “hate” speech.

The promotion and acceptance of the “hate speech” concept is one of the possibly biggest obstacles to our scene, and perhaps our overall society’s unity. I know people mean well when they think they are defending some maligned person or group, calling for what-for-all-intents-and-purposes amounts to censorship. But the number one thing that made our society more accepting, more tolerant, more open… was letting people say whatever they wanted no matter how horrible it sounded! That’s why we have many of the liberties today: because unpopular ideas, opinions and facts were given voice and consideration. Now, sadly, those that claimed they were abused, maligned, and bullied, after finally being accepted… want to viciously shut down the avenues that led to their acceptance. Friends, this will only end in heartbreak. The weapon you think you are wielding in defense, you are actually only helping to  construct, and there is a high probability it will be turned on you once it is complete.

This concept of “hate” speech (almost always spelled in all caps by its adherents for some reason) would practically ban over half the catalog of hardcore techno available since the early nineties, made by every freaking screwball and weirdo the globe had to offer! Have we not been accused of being “offensive” in some way all along? I’m exaggerating for comedic effect, but the general idea I’m sure many of you would know to be valid!

People! Please, please, please, the real fight is against the international corporations that wish to subdivide and control us. They are the ones who gain by us bickering over mere words that they tell us are bad one day, fine the next, and bad then again. When we follow the agenda they set for us, through all their fake alternative media, we become easier to identify, influence and control. If you break down the monied influences on the various media outlets many think are “diverse”, you will find many of them are all funded from the same basic sources. People think they are reading opposing voices. Most of the time, they aren’t.

Please, let people vent their crazy, angry junk and get it out of their system, bottling it up just makes it worse. You can argue with them, you can ignore them, you can debate them, but don’t try to censor them. Everyone has a perspective and a reason for their beliefs. We all grow in capacity when we better understand and debate unpopular opinions, and it is the synthesis of perspectives wherein we better understand the truth. Is that not why you are here in the first place? The mainstream’s push to make everyone think in pre-packaged boxes and compartmentalized social groups at odds with one another sucks energy from our scene, our music, and our relationships with one another. Don’t fall for it!

Should the next version of The Hard Data manifest, there will be at least two paths it will be faced with that are inexorably tied to the mainstream corporate pressures mentioned above and the fake alternative worlds of the social media giants:

  1. Despite its “wild” nature, just like Rock and Roll and Rap… Hardcore/Hardstyle, etc. can be commodified by outside sources and further reduced to a recognizable marketable genre of pre-packaged adolescent rebellion. In this scenario, it interfaces as expected with the corporate world.
  2. It follows its own path and eschews the data-driven world of statistics. It comes from the publishers’ guts and builds its own self-reliant system.

Honestly, I tried to blend both these approaches, but based on my experiences the last couple years I have come to champion option 2. However, we never know what will happen with our creations once we let them loose, so…

The Future Unknown

So The Hard Data exists, people like it, but I have to move on. Trust me, more and more capable hands are needed now. So, over the next few months, I will be doing my best to tie up loose ends and package the existing brand and assets of The Hard Data so that others may take it further. It needs full time sales people, web developers, print editors as well as the continuing stable of contributors. It needs a person in charge of distribution, as well as many other jobs many of you have gone to college or trade school for. So, if you are interested in becoming involved or investing in the brand, contact me as I am trying to coordinate the end of this era and beginning of the next.

I want to thank all of you for reading and contributing to version one of The Hard Data. And just remember,

The rhythm is life and death!

DJ Deadly Buda