r/Techno

In the 90s, the new Hardcore Techno scene went through an evolution and development that was quite strong, surreal, twisted, meandering, and ever-changing.
Thoughts, concepts, methods, techniques, were discovered, appropriated, integrated, used, tweaked, torn apart, and then discarded again. Everyone sailed on to a new horizon - and when they arrived, this cycle began anew. multiples times, on and on.
this is another reason why hardcore techno was so varied in this decade, and that there are still so many wild and wonderful, strange and charming releases to be found, out there, often hidden in plain sight.

either way, our mission is once again to throw some light on these happenings;
so we look at each year of most of the second half of the final decade of the twentieth century.
And, as should be obvious, we're digging for the "real releases" here, at times underground, underdog stuff, not just the things that everyone knew and which were available on all the seemingly shiny supermarket-sold compilations.

bon voyage!

1994 and 1995

1994 and 1995 were years in which the Experimental Hardcore scene had just begun to form... true pioneer work. But nevertheless already very strong productions. Breakcore had it's first peak, Acid influenced Hardcore had its impact, some of the first Noise- and Speedcore experiments were visible. PCP was already a veteran in these years but continued its way with powerful productions. Good years for Hardcore and a taster for more to come. Great labels like Fischkopf had their debut releases. Now, to have a time machine again...

Some music examples from this era:

1. Temper Tantrum - Lock On Target (Remix) 

2. Turbulence - Six Million Ways To Die 

3. Cyberchrist - Information Revolution (Part 2) 

4. Freez-E-Style - Enter The Gates Of Darkness 

5. Stickhead - Check Dis Mutha Down - Kotzaak 

6. M.C.P. - Overload 30303 

7. DJ Freak - On The Edge 

8. Eradicator - M.C.P. 

9. Christoph De Babalon - Babylon 90210 

10. Cybermouse - My Dorectives - 

1996

Now for the year 1996. While 1997 might be the year with the most interesting output, 1996 could be the one with the strongest. I had forgotten how many great records were done in this year. Noizecore, Doomcore, Gabber, it's all there. So many labels had their strongest output in this era of time.
Labels like Fischkopf, Napalm, PCP kept pumping out heavy stuff.
The scene was at its first peak.
Plentiful releases nurtured the realms of hard electronic music...

1. Eradicator - Used Against Us 

2. Auto-Psy - Clear 

3. Taciturne - Mourning 

4. Arrivers - The Arrival 

5. Delta 9 - Mortified 

6. Terrorists - Hardcore Will Never Die! 

7. Burning Lazy Persons - Hyper Bitch 

8. Mescalinum United – Jupiter Union 

9. Industrial Terror Squad - Burn Da Fukka! 

10. Napalm 7 - B1 

1997

A recent survey showed that amongst the period of the 1990s, a lot of people agreed that 1997 was the best year of Hardcore. Why was this that way? I think one of the main reasons was that it was one of the last years where there was still a coherent single Hardcore scene - people who listened to Digital Hardcore just as Speedcore, Acidcore and Gabber and so on, and these "varied" sounds were still played on one floor or at one party night. Later Hardcore broke up in so many small scenes of its own. But apart of that, 1997 was defined by the many outstanding and classic releases of that year
Were you there in 1997?
Take care!

1. Atari Teenage Riot - Sick To Death 

2. Patric C - You Made It Perfect 

3. Reign - Hall (Huge Mix) 

4. DJ Freak - Test Plate 

5. Current 909 - Golden Dawn 

6. S37 - Offspring Of The Night 

7. Somatic Responses - Sickwave 

8. Base Force One - We Know 

9. Superpower - Innocent Minds 

10. Trash Enemy HQ - Pestilence 

1998

For me, 1998 was the last year of the first decade of Hardcore in which there was an over-abundance of great records and tracks. The sound had gotten more fierce, distorted and harder on the one side, and more experimental on the other. The Breakcore scene was forming and evolving into its own way apart from the rest of the "Hardcore" cohesion, Proto-Frenchcore was made, and an onslaught of Industrial influences broke through.
What followed were for me meagre years - until Hardcore got on its track again and there was once again a flow of great releases - just my two cents, as I know a lot of people enjoyed the period "in between" that followed.

1. The Overlord - Countdown 2017 

2. Choose - Tight Slip . Skullblower - Farewell To The Funky Flesh 

3. Somatic Responses - Hellbound 

4. Absolute Terror Field - Absolute Terror Field (Seelen Mix) 

5. Mathey Olivier - Residential Volume 

6. Sonic Overkill - No Fate 

7. Low Entropy - Adrenaline Junkie 

8. Rage Reset - Terminated 

9. Hecate - Caught Up 

1999

1999 was the last really strong (at least half) year for the first wave of Hardcore for me. Before the sober years commenced. The output was more scarce than in 1998 or 1997, but there were still some powerful releases. The genre fragmentation started to develop, Hardcore was not a "whole dish of soup" anymore. Especially Breakcore spread its wings. The first wave of Speedcore slowly died out to be eclipsed in speed and harshness by other producers in the years that followed. PCP was dead but Acardipane Records had competent releases in its place. This was the end of the decade - the end of the millenium - and it showed in the releases of that year.

1. Eiterherd - Schmerz 

2. Hecate & The Jackal - Voluntarily 

3. Amiga Shock Force - Kik Me 

4. Slaughter Politics - Forest Fire 

5. Miro - Shining 

6. Naughty Observers - B1 

7. Hanin Elias - In Flames 

8. Alec Empire - Black Sabbath 

9. Nintendo Teenage Robots – No Humanity Allowed 

10. Potere Occulto - Mynydd Ddu 

This concludes our little 90s retrospective.