One of the things I've been picking up a lot of at the moment is *early* Ardkore Techno. Naturally I have ridikulous amounts of what you could call early Jungle, I'm always thrusting that HUUUUGE list of my records down people's throats; but this is an ever so slightly different zone, though one which, if you know what you're listening to, is clearly definable. I'm talking about all the Bleep'n'Bass stuff (Forgemasters, Ability II, Rhythmatic, Unique 3, the brilliant Original Rockers LP - Bleep'n'Bass was the one special replete with RealAudio stream that I didn't do at WOEBOT), the Belgian stuff (absolutely LOVING the 80 Aum stuff at the moment, particularly Incubus), the early Mover things ("Into Mekong Centre"), the Lenny Dee releases on Nu Groove, records like RAC's "National Breakdown", Eon and Ubik's tracks. I guess the XL and R&S stuff belongs in here, though maybe not the (more self-concious) WARP records. When you follow this trail and you come up against Psychotropic's "Hypnosis" you've come too far and you're in Jungle. The thing about this stuff is that it's STILL dirt cheap, it's been frog-leaped by people buying the Ardkore stuff. Maybe wisely, ha ha!
1991, of course, was the time when Techno and Ardkore "proper" were inseparable, when Fabio was sharing the bill the Colin Faver. There is a real directness to this music which is very refreshing. I remember a little later Techno heads (I guess perversely) decrying Ardkore for it's rhythmic panache saying "You know if you listen closely to Techno you'll find the rhythm is far more sophisticated," but the "early Ardkore Techno" period is almost, by definition, before people could and would say such things. There is a thuggishness to these plodding 4/4 rhythms laced with geriatric breakbeats that you just _know_ is completely moronic. It's certainly before you could make arguments for the "artistic qualities" of rave. You could just pull that gormless mouth-wide-open expression, freeze your neck and gaze blankly into the distance nodding to it in the comfort that that is exactly what everyone else will be doing. Like a rave storm trooper.
I was quite chuffed to pick up (on separate occasions recently) the Automation EPs. I know nothing about these records or their maker, though actually their anonymity is quite appealing in this context. There's a bit of writing on the back of the Red EP that says it all:
A BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE HARDCORE-HEADS OUT THERE.
WE'D LIKE TO THANK CHILLIN FM, INNOCENCE FM, KISS FM AND A MASSIVE SHOUT-OUT
TO COLIN DALE AND COLIN FAVOR FOR OUR FIRST AIRPLAY. HARDCORE RULES.
Ha ha ha ha ha. I find that well funny, (regains composure) sorry maybe that's lost on anyone else. The labels all have this black lino-cut head with a plug in it with rays coming out of the plug. One is red, one is green and the other is blue. I'm guessing there is a yellow one somewhere but, truth be told, I can live without it, they're not AMAZING these records. Still I like them. The track I'm listening to at the moment has a Wil-E-Coyote sample on it ("Charly" style). There are quite alot of Classical "Pops" samples like William Tell Overture and Swan Lake, there's heaps of Mentasm sounds (very "overdriven" bass lines) snatches of 303s. If I had to compare them to one tune it'd be the DJ's Unite track, some tunes on here like "Drone" on the Red EP are nearly as good as that epic (coughs) only not quite...
Posted by Woebot at August 4, 2004 08:32 AM