Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 02:21 Written by Palindrone Monday, 29 June 2009 01:45

As we enter the middle of the European Summer some interesting new releases have been both announced and released, let's check 'em out.

HARDCORE UPDATE:

1. PRO EP II by PROMO & THE DJ PRODUCER

Legendary UK Hardcore producer (and my favourite artist) Luke McMillan aka The DJ Producer appears once again on The Third Movement with a follow-up to 2007's Pro EP, co-produced with the assistance of Hardcore-luminary Promo. Pro EP II represents another stab at infusing the Third Movement sound with breakbeats, a pairing which has resulted in, admittedly, mixed results so far. 

4 fairly distinct tracks make up the release: two remixes by Producer; an interesting, uptempo track by Promo (heavily influenced by Deathchant, methinks); and one co-production from the pair.

Not wanting to influence your opinions of the release, I'll save my personal comments for face-to-face: Samples are available from The Third Movement's site.

Exciting news for all those 'Core & Bass aficionados, DJ Hidden is taking us back to where it all began with the forthcoming 8th release on (in my opinion) Australia's most exciting record label still in operation: Killing Sheep Records.  

Known for blending Hardcore with Drum & Bass in a way that makes a mockery of the competition, Killing Sheep 8 will see DJ Hidden (of The Outside Agency) revisit two of the label's landmark tracks: 'Times Like These' and 'Empty Streets'.

No date has been set for release, but judging by the clusterfuck that was the pressing of the last release, it could be a while...

In the meantime, check out an interview with DJ Hidden on Killing Sheep's site and await clips on myspace.

3. REBELSCUM 27 by IGNEON SYSTEM & X&TRICK... REBELSCUM 28 & 30 announced

The only Hardcore label with a Star Wars inspired title, Rebelscum welcomes two new Belgian artists Igneon System and X&Trick for the 27th 'Scum-y release: The Wise Guyz EP.  

One of my favourite labels, Rebelscum is notorious for complex and futuristic experimental Hardcore (often of the 190 BPM+ variety) seamlessly blending elements from Breakcore, Drum & Bass and IDM.  The 27th record stands apart from previous releases (for better-or-worse) strongly exhibiting Frenchcore/party influences, courtesy of Igneon System presumably. 

In my opinion, the release seems better suited to Psychik Genocide or DJ Hektek's Cheeze Graterz label but don't let that influence your enjoyment: samples and the record itself are available from The Hardstore.

*Play while reading the following news*

Well, well, well... An official announcement hasn't been made yet but Rebelscum has posted the artwork for Rebelscum 28 on their myspace, including the artist's title: none other than legendary Speedcore maniac of Hong-Kong Violence-fame: Akira!

A sample of 'The Short Attention Span' is available on Akira's myspace.

In related news, The DJ Producer has announced that Rebelscum 30 will be a compilation "10 year anniversary" edition.  Future ebay cash-cow?  Record collectors keep note!

- The Teknoist announced on his website that Ninja Columbo is pressing its 6th release.  Rad!

- While you're there grab their awesome ZoMbfree release. Winner!

- A bunch of new releases have made it to The Hardstore, including the fantastic Old Skool inspired compilation on Narkotik Overdoze and the new 2x12" by DJ Hidden & I:Gor on Sustained Records.  Score!

Last Updated on Thursday, 06 August 2009 13:51 Written by Palindrone Saturday, 20 June 2009 07:36

G'day HCM-ers,

Only a brief update from myself today, primarily to deliver some of the recent  news/notes of interest in the Hardcore world but also to provide a quick summary of what's on the cards for HCM's Hardcore News over the next week or two.  

Firstly, on a personal note I'd like to thank the powers-that-be for allowing me to contribute to HCM.  I'm extremely humbled to have been considered and will endeavour to make my $0.02 as informative/light-hearted as possible whilst, hopefully, conveying my enthusiasm for the music that we all love... But enough soft-core bollocks, crack open a beer and let's check out what's new in the world of the 'Core. 

HARDCORE UPDATE:

1.  ENZYME X 30 by OPHIDIAN

I'll admit this may not be the "fresh-est" of stories around, but it's certainly worth reading about for a second time: Ophidian has returned for another 7" Industrial Hardcore assault on Enzyme X.  The 30th release on the label paths the way for a new cover sleeve design (shown right) and two tracks of Experimental Industrial fury that is becoming increasingly synonymous with Conrad Hoyer's many aliases.   

Amusingly titled 'Silly Mid On' and 'Deep Square Leg', I'll let 2Styliztik fill you in on what may be the reasons why:

Ophidian spent some of his youth in Western Australia, so obviously he got into cricket (apparently he also liked the West Coast Eagles)!  He claims to be a number seven batsman!  During the summer of 2008, Ophidian and Ruffneck toured Australia.  As per usual the cricket was on TV, Ophidian got back into watching and decided to name two tracks after (odd) cricket fielding positions. He was working on the tracks while he was over here with his laptop.

Samples are available via the Cardiac site.

2.  GENOSHA 18 by MINDUSTRIES

Yet more news from the Cardiac cartel, Nils van Lingen and Yuri van Vlijmen aka Mindustries are due to return to the infamous Genosha Recordings run by The Outside Agency.  

Their first solo release on the label, Born Of Revelation continues the Genosha tradition of unforgiving darkness with 4 tracks of punishing Industrial Hardcore action.  Acid Hardcore elements make a welcome return to Genosha on 'Frequency'.

Samples are available via Mindustries' Myspace page.

3. OBS.CUR PROJEKT 2 featuring MINDUSTRIES, FRACTURE4, LEGION, COLLISION & NICHIBAN

On the subject of Acid Hardcore, many thanks to Bioxeed for the following story: exciting new Acid Hardcore label Obs.Cur are due to release their second limited edition compilation record, Projekt 2, at the end of June. 

Featuring 5 apocalyptic tracks with lashings of TB-303 from an assortment of artists including Mindustries and Fracture4, this release is sure to incite its fair share of unrelenting nightmares in the dark corners of dancefloors across the world.

Check the Obs.Cur website for samples and future purchase info.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 June 2009 05:54 Written by Crossfire Friday, 12 June 2009 02:56

Considering we haven't seen anything from Meagashira for quite some time I was intrigued to see a new release from him and Endymion on Enzyme of course.

Meagashira's style is still well and truly in the darker realms and the Endymion track is for the dancefloor but retains plenty of darkness to keep you interested.

What's particularly cool about this release are the details and background of the development of the tracks they've made available:

Meagashira & Endymion - Outcasts
This track had a long way to go. I started with a premature version quite some time ago, which was heared by Bart. It needed a little upgrading, so we introduced some new elements into the track. Softsynths really don't do the job as well as hardware, I have to admit...We gave the synths a little extra Meagashira feeling to it, with some layered screaming synths. The kick was also reshaped a little. We were happy with the result, but we were still contemplating what to do with it. Putting it on an e.p. had our preference, but Meagashira tracks don't come in large batches ;-) . The track stayed untouched for quite a while. In the meanwhile I went to Romania and Germany for my job. This leads me to the next tracks on the e.p.

Project Omeaga & Endymion - None To Give
Not having touched a hardcore track for a long time, I surprisingly found myself making hardcore on my laptop on my couch during a depressing day. By starting this track I ended a nasty period in my life, so in a way you could say that this track initiated my comeback. Being away from the hardcore business for so long, I did not have any feeling for the kicks that are created these days. So again, my Endymion buddies took the time to sit in their studio and help me to create the track as we know it today. This caused a lot of headscratching, because we were updating an FL Studio track in a Cubase environment. You will undoubtedly loose a lot of the original FL Studio elements in this environment, so we decided to add a new kick on top of the old track, and 'sidechain' the low frequencies of the old kick away. This downtempo track will probably not be played a lot during parties, but I hope you will at home or in your car.

Meagashira & Endymion - Who I Am
With two tracks finished we needed an extra strong track with hitpotential. During my long stay in the south of Germany last year I started off with the break of this track. Bart and Jelle found it very cool and during the short weekends I was back in Holland we worked on the track. This means that we were in the studio a lot during the early Sundays! Despite the early Christian hour we built a huge partytrack that really felt more like a track for the Saturday evening! When I left for Germay again on Mondays we separately worked on the elements of the track. The good listener will hear a lot of edits in the kicks and the vocals. We added a killer melody and a kick, very suitable for the dancefloor. We were certain that this would be the headliner of our new e.p., which was to be named "In Sync With the Sun".

On top of these 3 tracks Endymion delivered a solo track, which concludes the e.p. in style. We hope you'll enjoy the results, but judging from the reactions from parties I am certain this will be a historic release, not in the least for me.

Eugene

Endymion - Abduction
When we finished the tracks with Meagashira we created a fourth track for this release. We wanted to make a track for the dance floor, but not with a typical mainstream structure. The result is a big side-chained lead sound on a deep kick drum. The voice you hear in this track is that of Nikkita. This talented vocalist from Canada did a great job by creating the vocals for this release. We asked her to write something about Abduction and she came with these great vocals. What we like so much about the vocals is that is looks like we sampled them from a movie, but they are custom made for this track.

Bart

Source - cardiac.nl

Cool info but I reckon uploading the actual project files for each track would be even better!!  ;)

Have a listen and buy at www.cardiac.nl.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 June 2009 05:52 Written by Crossfire Thursday, 11 June 2009 03:26

The biggest news in the Australian hardcore scene in the last few years has just exploded with the release of the lineup for the Defqon1 festival in Sydney on 19 Sept.

For for info head to www.q-dance.com.au

Black – Hardcore Stage
The Viper
Spellbound
Evil Activities
Decipher
Noize Suppressor
The Playah
Endymion
Kasparov (live)
Art of Fighters
MC D

Grey – Old School & Early Rave
Chester
The Viper VS Frank-E & Mars-L
The Prophet
Pavo
Neophyte
Gizmo
Paul Holden
Sasha Vatoff
Public Domain
MC Losty

Red – Hardstyle Main stage
Fausto
Brennan Heart
The Prophet
Davide Sonar
Nitrouz
The Beholder
Donkey Rollers
Max Enforcer
Noisecontrollers
Deepack
Zany
Alpha2
MC Ruffian

Orange – Hard Trance Stage
Jowan
K90
Proteus
Bio Weapon
Amber Savage vs Nik Fish
Alex Kidd
DR Willis
Joop
Mark Sherry
Vandall
MC V

Purple – New Talent
Nathan Cryptic v Imperial
Suae v Pulsar
Dexi v Daniel Velerium
Matrix v Xdream
Scotti G v Cantosis
Yennus v Soul T
S DEE v Audio Damage
DJ Comp Winner #1
DJ Comp Winner #2
DJ Comp Winner #3
DJ Comp Winner #4
MC Destiny