The Hard Data recently asked me to share my current top 10 tracks with hardcore fans in the USA. These are the tracks I can’t wait to play and have been getting the best response on the dance floors. Most of these are available now or will be soon, so “track” them down as soon as you can! 🙂
10 – Tears of Fury feat. Tawar – Mechanical
Dogfight Hardcore Volume 1
A mix of catchy melody, epic vocal and deep sentiment straight out of this new Italian artist. A typical mainstream sound, which is really missing nowadays. This track is available on the album Dogfight Hardcore Volume 1. It’s available on iTunes.
9 – Broken Minds feat. Diesel – We control your minds
This is the sound of 2 new talented producers from Spain with the voice of Diesel! A ’black’ piano riff followed by a fitting manner of cool Broken Minds’ kickdrum! A must have. Get it on Amazon or iTunes.
8 – Dogfight Clan – Dogfight Hardcore
The first collaboration between me, Mad Dog, Noize Suppressor and Unexist! Huge kick drum, obscure melody, you can hear all our different music personalities in this track. Dogfight Clan is ready to attack! It’s available on iTunes.
7 – AniMe – Fear the Dogfight
Melodic and aggressive at the same time, the track I play to boost my dj sets, everyone loves it! Check it out on Amazon, or on iTunes.
6 – Unexist – Kings never dies
A solid tune! Love the contrast between the strong kick drums and the mystic female vocal. Don’t miss the release, this week on Dogfight Records.
5 – AniMe – Liar
Out soon on Dogfight Records. Bringing back the rude sound of A-Bomb and Hardcore Machine. Already played by many big artists, this track works very well on the dance floor.
4 – Ignite – Sulfure
Ignite is the great duo revelation of 2016! Their style is dark and potent! Can’t wait to hear more from these 2 guys. Here’s the iTunes link, and this is the Amazon.
3 – Noize Suppressor – Bouncing in the ghetto
Something unexpected from Noize Suppressor. Fresh sounds and a beautiful vocal, this track fits perfectly in every dj set! Get it on iTunes or at Amazon.
2 – DJ Mad Dog – Dogfight
Huge track, emotional and powerful at the same time. Definitely a big hit! Get it on iTunes, or Amazon.
1 – AniMe feat. Nolz – Superior Hardcore (Exodus 2017 Official Anthem)
It represents the result of months of preparation. With the massive voice of Nolz, it is an energetic sequence of aggressive kick drum, kick rolls and mind-blowing melody, all dressed with badass lyrics.
I met Lenny Dee about 24 years ago on a flight from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee. We were going to play at Drop Bass Network’s “Genesis” party. I told Lenny it was the first time I’d ever been flown to play at a rave, and I remember him telling me, “And you know the best thing about it? After that, it never stops.” Decades later, I’ve chalked that up as yet another example of Lenny’s ability to glimpse into the future. I’m still flying to play raves in Milwaukee, and we’re all celebrating a quarter century of Industrial Strength Record’s commitment to hard electronic dance music.
The funny thing about it though, is that to me, it still feels like a beginning. When Lenny started Industrial Strength back in 1991, it was ahead of its time, and even today, with the release of this 64 track monster compilation, ISR is still introducing the world to new talent at a frenetic clip. “No Tears For The Dead” pretty much sums up the last 25 years because there hasn’t been time to even pause for much reflection as maximal effort has always been needed to push forward and simply survive.
So, other labels would generally repackage their “hits” after 25 years, but the closest we get to that here is the latest and greatest darlings of the hardcore techno world re-mixing classic tunes. For example, The Sickest Squad remixed “Extreme Terror” and Outside Agency got to remix “Fucking Hostile.”
I’m reminded of a conversation I butted into at the 1994 Winter Music Conference. I overheard a few people remarking about Lenny and his label, marveling about how he could release such hard music. I told them that Lenny was ahead of his time and that one day they would understand what he did… that almost everyone else at the conference was recycling the same stuff and Lenny was a visionary. And you know, my feeling about that hasn’t changed two and a half decades later, and this compilation just pushes the vision and sound even further into the future.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
For those of us bound to the sound of the hard electronic, there is still no time for tears. There is still so much work to be done for the future. There might be a few great, shiny compilations of repackaged hits cobbled together by the big festivals this year, but I doubt if any of them will match the intensity and cohesive vision of Industrial Strength Record’s No Tears for the Dead.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
In two weeks time three colossal talents of the international breakcore scene will begin winding their way across the United States on a whirlwind tour that’s somehow been crammed into the shortest month of the year.
The HARD DATA caught up with end.user to get the low down on what you can expect when the combined chaos of these mischief makers touches down near you….
Monsters of MashUp Tour Dates:
featuring end.user, Shitmat, and Bong-Ra:
Feb. 16th – Star Theater - Portland, OR
Feb. 17th – Wire - Berwyn, IL
Feb. 18th – The Black Box - Denver, CO
Feb. 19th – Rathskeller Restaurant - Indianapolis, IN
Feb. 22nd – Churchill's Pub - Miami, FL
Feb. 24th – Zeba Bar - Washington, DC
Feb. 25th – ION Night Club - Philadelphia, PA
featuring only end.user and Shitmat:
Feb. 26th – AS220 - Providence, RI
Monsters of Mashup!
Monsters of MashUp is a pretty crazy line-up. You and Bong-Ra have been label mates for years at Ad Noiseam, but how did Shitmat get into the mix?
Jason and I met in person during 2004 while I was staying in Berlin after my first Ad Noiseam release came out. It was around the time that breakcore generally started to get a lot of attention in Europe. Jason introduced me to Henry (Shitmat) and he came up with the idea for the first Monsters of MashUp tour. We ended up doing 10 or 11 shows in 18 days all over Europe. It was hectic to say the least – but we survived
What sort of madness does this all-star breakcore tour plan to unleash?
Well I think we have 8 shows in 10 days. They are also pretty far apart from each other geographically, so I think we have a lot of early mornings / long flights. I’d like to say we’ll try to be responsible and not have too much fun, and get a ton of sleep to show up fresh at each gig – but knowing us I’m going to say bullshit. We’ll do what we can to throw down as hard as possible each night and make sure we make it to the next gig. Besides surviving, I think some ‘breakcore bingo’ hosted by Shitmat was on the schedule. Oh, I should mention that we have a handler traveling with us to make sure we are where we need to be on time, and there is an ‘Anvil’ type documentary being made about all of this. Someone must have lost a bet and will be traveling with us documenting all of it.
end.user – Enter to Exit
Tell us about the new album, Enter to Exit.
It took way too long to finish, but in a way that’s good. I almost released it ahead of time, and in all honesty it wasn’t ready. I took an extra year pretty much and ditched a couple of tracks while letting a few others find themselves. In the end it’s a bit melancholy compared to some stuff, maybe more in line with Calling the Vultures, but it was something I went through and put out there, so I’m really glad I’m happy with the final result. I don’t feel like I put something out there that I’m not 100% about. It’s full of emotions I’d say; the good with the bad.
Are there any plans to refine and release the tracks you ditched, or have those been abandoned?
One of them was a vocal track which stuck out a bit too much from the rest, so I’m planning on finishing that & having a couple of remixes from other artists for an EP. The other tracks that were leftover will either find homes on compilations or free downloads, I’m sure… although sometimes I revisit things months / a year later and see them in a totally new way. So we’ll see.
Your early releases on Sonic Terror have popped up on Bandcamp recently. How does it feel to revisit that material after more than a decade?
It’s weird in a way to listen to that stuff these days, mainly because back then I really worked so fast that I didn’t have time to think too much on any element that was going into a tune. It was just like ‘oh shit, this is happening now,’ meanwhile an entirely new thought was being introduced. Lots of chaos, lots of not-giving-a-fuck. I think the older any musician gets, they sort of consider what they’re doing *while* they’re doing it – as opposed to looking at it after the fact. Sometimes I hear these old tracks and I’m really shocked that I put some of these elements together and they worked out in the end. I’m sort of inspired by it, in a way. Stop thinking too much and just do what feels right.
How did the Sonic Terror crew initially come together?
Sonic Terror has gone through a few iterations. It started around ’99 in Indianapolis, a year or so after I started doing the end.user shows. I was living with a guy in Indy – Adam/DJ Incubus and we used ithe name mostly for live gigs. Then, when I moved back to Cincinnati I met up with Scott (Line47) and we started putting out vinyl pretty much straight away. We would sleeve the records ourselves, and we ran it out of our houses. It was very DIY but we just did it because we loved it. It’s been years since then and now Carl (N.L.I.C.) have decided to pick it back up again and offer an outlet to our friends & people who are making weird/noisy breakbeats.
For a while it seemed like Milwaukee was a sort of nucleus for the Midwest breakcore scene that revolved around barn parties and the Addict and Distort labels. In a lot of ways Sonic Terror heralded the emergence of the post-Barn era. Was there a scene for what you were doing, or was it just a community of like-minded producers that drew inspiration from one another?
I was always a fan of what was going on up in Milwaukee. When i was in Indy I went to a few parties, and was super into Drop Bass Netowrk (Ghetto Safari) & Addict stuff. I met a few people in those days, but it wasn’t until Doormouse started to come through Cincy and Scott & I would host those parties that I got to really know those guys and feel like there was any sort of connection. That shit got pretty crazy. I remember one weekend alone I had Dan Doormouse, Aaron Funk, Baseck, Otto Von Schirach, and Chris c64 staying at my house. It may have even been the same time Knifehandchop & Belladonnakillz were there. We sort of had this breakcore stronghold in northern Kentucky that was situated between a Waffle House and a drive through liquor store. What could go wrong?
What are your indispensable tools for production, and what can people expect from your current live set?
I write everything in Renoise. I use pieces of hardware when I’m around them, but always bounce it to audio and cut that up in Renoise. I’ve always loved trackers as long as i can remember, and I hate writing music in anything else, although sometimes I’m forced to (and I do use Ableton for live shows) I will always prefer writing in a tracker.
As far as my live shows are looking now, it seems to be a mix of really old tracks mashed up with unfinished pieces & remixes from more vocal based tracks over the years. It’s always hard to mix tracks that were made 10-15 years apart because of the differences in sound quality – but as long as it’s loud, there’s enough low end and the highs don’t pierce your brain, I’m a happy guy.
About five months ago Dave Revan shared a video of this guy, playing “Ready to Rage” in a beautiful black piano, rocking a bandana and a defqon hat. Since then I’ve started my mornings scrolling my feed, anxiously waiting to see which classic The Pianist is going to tackle next. Seems like his music library and love for Hardstyle, are as big as his talent and improvisation skills. Jisk Lieftink, The Hardstyle Pianist, has been sky rocketing into the spotlight, after getting noticed and recognized by heavy names like Angerfist, Wildstylez, Ran-D, recently collaborating with Andy Svge on a track that is surely going to be a melodic master piece.
The versatility of his style and unique sound, transforms every melody into an instant classic. Ranging from Headhunterz Lessons of love to Gunz for Hire Plata o Plomo, Jisk isn’t afraid to cover the whole spectrum of the harder styles, adding his own spin to it all. Around Christmas time he recorded music video, for what he says was his favourite track from 2016, Wildstylez Encore; and enlisted the talented Judith Vander Klip to accompany him on her violin. The perfect chemistry between them, calm lighting and gorgeous set, makes you gain appreciation of the beautifully crafted melody, that sometimes may fall second to the power of the beat.
Growing up in the 80s, at the birth of electronic music, one thing we got tired of hearing was “it’s not even music, there’s no instruments”. Stripping the tracks of all the “computer sounds” (as my father would call it) and showcasing it with such grace while still displaying the strength behind it, it’s why I can’t get enough of his YouTube channel. His views count sky rocketed from 2 to 58k when Angerfirst shared his Mashup piano cover and requested him a track, which is coming very soon.
He was also a guest at the legendary Freqshow and managed to silence a sold out Ziggo dome to perform Audiotricz Inception, making grown men weep in the crowd. Kicking off the new year with Villain on stage of the biggest Hardstyle party of the NYE! His delivery of emotions through his beloved keys is so on point, I dare you to watch the video bellow and not get goosebumps more than once.
So what’s next for The Hardstyle pianist? He’s currently looking for management (so if you’re into gold mines, you’re welcome). And he has so much going on with offers coming from everywhere, he’s taking it one day at a time, planning his next steps. He is planning to perform at Defqon in June. And his goal is to create his own act for Dance events which would allow him to travel and perform at festivals around the globe. He’s also recording an album in the near future that will feature a lot of his, and crowd favourites, since he receives thousands of requests every day. As a fan, I’m very excited to see him grow while he continues to surprise me with new covers almost daily. If you follow his Facebook and YouTube channel he will become your new addiction, as he is already mine.
