Tag Archives: hard electronic

Ontal Pre-HE Interview

Frankly, we knew about as much about these guys as you do right now. But after we got done with interviewing them, we realized why ISR and Kontaminated made sure they were on the bill. Read to be intrigued…

Who is Ontal?

Ontal consists of Darko Kolar and myself, Boris Brenecki. We are both from Subotica, a city in the north of Serbia. I came to New York City one year ago and I plan to stay here.  Our music has never been influenced by our location. We draw our influences from many different eras and different countries.

Ontal will be performing at Hard Electronic September 8, 2017
Ontal will be performing at Hard Electronic September 8, 2017

What does Ontal mean?

When we started making music together in 2011, we thought a lot about what our name should be. We wanted the name to convey a certain message about our project. We came across the word “ontal”. It’s a word that can only be found in the dictionary of the old English language. It means “real; comprising reality as opposed to mere phenomena”. It is a perfect name because we wanted to create original sounding music with elements of the earliest forms of the genres that we perform. Also, one of the concepts which we adopted as Ontal and which we want this name to convey is “musique concrete,” a form of earliest electronic music made by manipulating various recordings.

Where does your sound come from?

The shaping of the sound of Ontal happened in the very beginning of this project. We used to meet at Darko’s apartment in Novi Sad to try out different ideas and eventually made the first Ontal tracks. The workplace was perfect for us because Darko’s apartment was located in a building where most residents were elderly half-deaf or completely deaf persons.

Why do you make music?

We are trying to help our listeners get rid of their negative energy by dancing to mechanical and dynamic rhythms.

What’s been your favorite set to date?

Playing live last year in a secret Paris warehouse to a few thousand people who knew what they came for. The sound, blood-red lights and the energetic crowd made us change our mind and improvise by speeding up the tempo to 200 BPM during the last ten minutes of our live act.

What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?

Hard-hitting distorted goodness.

What is something you really want to tell the public that we might not have asked about?

Hear and enjoy as much different music as you can. Diversity of sound is the key to better understanding and enjoyment of music. See you all on Friday!Ontal Logo
https://soundcloud.com/ontal
https://www.facebook.com/ontalmusic/
https://twitter.com/Ontal1
https://www.discogs.com/artist/3248292-Ontal

DJ Delirium Pre-HE Interview

He was stage-diving at raves before it was cool. Or safe. He’s blasted tracks around the globe and September 8 straight to your dome! Ladies and gents, let’s give it up for DJ Delirium! Here’s a little more from the man to make sure you’re in Brooklyn September 8th to hear him throw down…

Are you from Jersey?

I’m from Jersey. I am soooo influenced by my geographical location that I wrote a track about it.

How’d you get your name?

I was looking through the dictionary one day and I stumbled across the word Delirium. I was not quite sure of the meaning and after reading it I immediately felt that this was the perfect artist name for me and my Hardcore productions.

Delirium appears at Hard Electronic Sept. 8 and 9, 2017
Delirium appears at Hard Electronic Sept. 8, 2017

What are you giving the crowd?

I am trying to get the dance floor in a frenzy! The more energy. the better!!  =] I like to play tracks that are hard but still have a party vibe. I play many different styles of Hardcore & Hard Dance Music: Old School Techno, Early Rave, Happy Hardcore, Hardcore, Dutch Freestyle, Subgroud. My tempo ranges between 130 BPM – 200 BPM. I like to scratch a lot and do tricks to give the crowd a little more energy. I really spend a lot of time trying to find tracks that I think are going to really get the dance floor going!

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career?

I have been producing and releasing underground music for 26 years and already performed on some major events like Dominator, Thunderdome, Mysteryland, Defqon.1, EDC – Vegas, Ground Zero, played all over the USA, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Canada, and even Hungary.

BUT, one of my biggest moments of my career was performing at my first Thunderdome event in Leeuwarden, Holland on April 20th, 1996.This was my first performance to a crowd of 20,000 people and I really rocked the house! People still talk about my set and my performance that night! It went so well that I decided to do a stage drive at the end of my performance. Unfortunately, the stage dive did not turn out too good and the people were in shock and did not even try to catch me!

What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?

I will be filled with positive energy and many new tracks! One special surprise is a brand new remix from Tommyknocker of DJ Delirium & Buzz Fuzz – Immortality! I also plan to play some new stuff from my label with Satronica & John Bas, Kontaminated Recordings. Which, by the way, please help support our brand and label!

Socials…

DJ Delirium New LogoFacebook

Soundcloud
Websites
Twitter
Instagram

Gxnnxr Pre-HE interview!

Gxnnxr’s has helped keep the hard dance vibe alive on the East Coast for a few years now. But how many of you know anything about him other than standing in the middle of one of his ripping sets? We got his head out of range of the near-field monitors for a second to get a little background for the THD faithful!

Where are you from?

Gxnnxr is playing at Hard Electronic Spetember 8, 2017.I’m from Harrisburg, PA, but you can usually find me at events in Philly, DC, and Baltimore because there isn’t a scene in Harrisburg. I think the biggest way that those areas have influenced me is to be more open minded about all genres. The scenes are pretty eclectic and the parties will have a huge variety of music. I think that reflects in my music because I sometimes include different styles and samples that wouldn’t be considered techno by some traditional techno lovers.

What’s the story behind your DJ Name?

My real name is Gunnar. When I started my solo project, I wanted a name which was more similar to my own name. X’s looked better than vowels, so I just ran with it.

Gxnnxr is playing at Hard Electronic Spetember 8, 2017.
Gxnnxr is playing at Hard Electronic Spetember 8, 2017.

Who or what events in your life are responsible for you being the artist you are today?

I think the biggest influence on me has been my experience running East Coast Hard Dance and Audio Havok with Eugene and the rest of the crew. All the traveling, meeting new people, and exchanging ideas have help shape me as a person, not just an artist.

There’s a theory that says experiencing new things helps connect neurons in the brain, which unleashes creativity because you see the world in a slightly different way. My experience in ECHD has for sure made me a believer. I’ve seen my musical creativity explode since we’ve been having all these new experiences traveling and running events.

What moment so far in your career do you cherish the most?

The best moment for me was the first big party that I ever played. Epic Adventure 2 in DC back in 2012. That was back when I was playing Hardstyle with my DJ partner Derick as The Qontrollers.

I remember the max capacity of the club was about 1,500 people, but 3,000 showed up. Most of the people crammed in to the room that we were playing in never heard Hardstyle before. It must’ve been over 120 degrees, you couldn’t breathe, and everyone was dressed in Adventure Time costumes, but the place was just bouncing. Anyone who was there still talks about that party. We went on to play bigger and crazier parties, but no party has been able to match the incredible vibe.

What’s the idea behind your music?

My music is meant to be fun for the crowd. I see a lot of artists who make music that is super technical and is hard to appreciate if you’re not a producer. That kind of stuff is great to listen to at home, but doesn’t always translate to a crowd. I just try to create something that is dancefloor ready and makes people want to move. That’s what dance music is all about for me.

What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?

I’m going to be warming up the techno stage, so I’ll be bringing some darker and some harder techno.  Come out to Hard Electronic this weekend and have a good time with us!

https://www.gxnnxr.com

https://www.facebook.com/gxnnxr

https://www.instagram.com/gxnnxr

Satronica Pre-HE Interview

The hardcore poet is back again gracing the interwebs of THD. About to jump the stage at Hard Electronic this weekend, we figured we’d get a little more info about what’s driving the man behind the mic…

So for new readers, let’s cover the basics…

I live in NYC, which influenced my music as I was able to get a lot of help from artists like Lenny Dee and The Horrorist early in my career. I think in NYC you have the ability to be very experimental in your approach – and this is probably also an influence.

What’s the story behind your DJ Name?

It was just my original Instant Messenger name 🙂 I think I thought it sounded like a combination of satan and electronica. I have no idea why I chose that but could never think of anything that sounded better when I decided to focus on an electronic music project.

Who or what events were responsible for making the Satronica we know today?

Mom making me take piano lessons. Being in junior high and high school band. Being in a high school punk band. Being in a college math rock band. Meeting Alex Chesler in college – the brother of the Horrorist and starting to work on electronic music with him in a project called Acrosome.

Satronica Logo

 What’s the crux of your musical message now?

Obviously politics but more and more these days the ability to escape from the never ending barrage of hate and stupidity we see on the news every day.

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career?

First time playing at Dominator. Putting out my first vinyl release on Industrial Strength. Playing at the legendary CBGB’s where I was on same stage as Ramones, Dictators, Wayne County, Blondie, and countless other legendary and not so legendary acts that had played there before.

Satronica appears at Hard Electronic Sept. 8 and 9, 2017
Satronica appears at Hard Electronic Sept. 8 and 9, 2017

What specifically are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?

Lots of new hard tracks from my label with Delirium – Kontaminated Recordings. Tracks from new project called Doom Mekanik coming out soon on Hard Electronic. Lots of my vocal tracks! 😊

What is something you really want to tell the public that we might not have asked about?

The Hard Data rocks – so happy someone is taking an interest in and writing about this scene.

Thanks Matt, we’ll bribe you with some Musicoin for saying nice things about us after the party this week! 😀

http://www.facebook.com/satronica

http://www.discogs.com/artist/satronica

http://www.industrialstrengthrecords.com/artists/satronica.html

http://www.twitter.com/satronica

DJ Lenny Dee Pre-HE Interview

Lenny Dee, the man who’s been coordinating the Hard Electronic madness and many would say the first hardcore techno DJ, took the time to give us a few tidbits and hints on what we’re going to be hearing at the Hard Electronic parties coming up September 8 and 9. In true THD fashion we managed to get a little extra info for you to chew on too. Here’s what went down:

You’re from Brooklyn, NY, how did growing up in New York City influence your music?

A great deal, in fact. There was great DJ scene in New York back in the day, loads of record shops. So,finding music was quite easy and exciting when I started and going to Manhattan shops was essential for me. As time went on and I start to produce it gave me more freedom to create new things. There was nothing other than House music kicking off at that time, so it gave me a creative boost to do something different.

 What’s the story behind your DJ Name?

My last name is very long, so my teachers and friends called me ‘Lenny D’.

Who or what events in your life are responsible for you being the artist you are today?

I guess I can go back to Mayday 2 in Germany. There were many prior, but Mayday 2 was the pivot point where I pushed the hard electronic music all over the world and dropped IS 001 – We Have Arrived’ : Mescalinium United. I was a leading international DJ at that point, not many guys were playing in different countries at that time. So, it all went through the roof after that party.

What are you trying to convey with your music?

Just an exciting performance. When I play – I hope to take the listener on a journey through sounds and styles.

What are you giving to the crowd that listens to you?

A headache.

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ?

When I played on the Guru Josh Tour. I was down to my underwear and started playing like a mad man that was a moment I won’t forget. The Janes’ Addiction Reunion gig in NY was pretty awesome, too.

Industrial Strength LogoWhat are you planning to give to the audience at Hard Electronic?

The message for the party is a diverse selection of DJ’s and music and to give the USA a new way to listen to harder music. We do lean more towards hardcore and techno, though, which was the way it was when I started playing raves. I want to bring back some of that feeling.

What is something you really want to tell the public that we might not have asked about?

My favorite color.

Hmmm… well, don’t tell ‘em until Saturday night!

VIDEOS:

A-Kriv & Lenny Dee- Party Animal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIXxsYayhwY&t=10s

Lenny Dee-  Forgotten Moments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1StqlzzfYQ

SOCIALS:

http://www.facebook.com/DjLennyDee

https://twitter.com/DJLennyDee

http://www.industrialstrengthrecords.com

http://www.youtube.com/IndustrialStrengthNY

https://soundcloud.com/industrialstrength

https://www.instagram.com/lennydeeisr/

https://www.facebook.com/HardElectronicSounds