DIGITAL HARDCORE

'Digital hardcore' is a music genre or musical style that, in basic terms, fuses elements of hardcore punk with electronica. It developed in Germany during the early 1990s.

Contents

Characteristics

History

Prominent artists

References

See also

Characteristics

Digital hardcore music is typically high-tempo and abrasive, combining the speed, heaviness and attitude of hardcore punk with electronic music such as hardcore techno, drum and bass, industrial and noise music.
The use of the electric guitar is retained and it is played in conjunction with samplers, synthesizers and drum machines. While the use of guitar and electronic instruments is a requirement, traditional bass guitars and drum kits are optional. Vocals are more often shouted than sung by more than one member of the group. Typically the lyrics are highly politicized and espouse left wing or anarchist ideals, although this is not always the case.

History

The music was first defined by the band Atari Teenage Riot, who formed in Berlin, Germany in 1992. The band's frontman, Alec Empire, coined the term "digital hardcore" to describe the sound that he and his band had produced, and in 1994 he set up the independent record label Digital Hardcore Recordings. German bands with a similar style began signing to the label and its underground popularity grew, with small digital hardcore festivals being held in several German cities. By the mid- to late- 1990s there spawned a number of new record labels specializing in the genre, however the movement as a whole has since regressed to underground status. Today there are several artists from far afield, such as Japan's The Mad Capsule Markets and Washington's Rabbit Junk, who have been strongly influenced by the German scene and continue to develop digital hardcore into the 21st century. In Alec Empire's words, "Digital Hardcore went from a local, Berlin based scene to an international underground movement." ^[1]

Prominent artists

★ Alec Empire

★ Ambassador 21

★ Atari Teenage Riot

★ Cobra Killer

★ EC8OR

★ Lolita Storm

★ Motormark

★ Rabbit Junk

★ The Mad Capsule Markets

★ The Shizit

★ Tuareg Geeks

References

1. The definitive Alec Empire Interview 26/02/02

See also

★ Digital Hardcore Recordings

★ List of electronic music genres

★ Anarcho-punk

★ Electropunk