Speedcore
Speedcore is the generic term for the fastest variants of hardcore techno . In the absence of a subsumable definition that separates the slower hardcore techno from the faster speedcore, the beats per minute (BPM) can be used as a criterion. A BPM range of 270 to 500 is considered typical.
characterization
The main feature of Speedcore is the extremely high-speed, overdriven percussion , the sounds of which can come from drum computers or have been sampled ; noises, catchy monologues, human sounds and screams from horror films and related genres are among the most common admixtures. Very artificial synthesizer noises and melody sequences, which can sound dark, seldom happy, in the mid-1990s also often acid-heavy or rock-like (with guitar samples e.g. from Cannibal Corpse ), usually complete the repertoire.
The mass of all tracks has a standard length of three to five minutes. There are also Speedcore tracks with high arithmetic clock frequencies (e.g. over 1500 BPM), at these speeds the rhythms and the individual bars can hardly be distinguished from one another, as the human ear can distinguish between music sequences of less than 50 ms repeat permanently, perceive as continuous sound. "Breaks", that is, the suspension of individual drum sequences in more or less rhythmic intervals, fill the role of the rhythmic element by which the dancer can orient himself.
Word origin
It is no longer clear when and where the term appeared for the first time, but most fans of the scene liked the 1997 album New York City Speedcore by the American act Disciples Of Annihilation (DOA) with the first appearance of Namesake of this scene. Fast music of this kind has been around for a long time, including Moby with Thousand (1992) and The Sorcerer with Summer and 303 Nation with Double Speed Mayhem (both 1993).
Categorization
Specifically, it is difficult to classify the subgenres in terms of time. a. musical parallels to Grindcore (e.g. The Berzerker or Acid Enema ), on the other hand there were also experiments in the field of classical music, such as the Dark Orchestra or Speedcore Front Ost Berlin.
history
Even before the genre name Speedcore was established, there were pieces that tried to reach the 1,000 bpm mark by using slowly increasing bpm, such as Mobys Thousand (1993) or Marc Acardipanes We are from Frankfurt (1993; as PCP) . Thousand received an entry in the Guinness Book of Records with up to 1,015 bpm as the song with the highest tempo.
Many of today's fans of the scene stated that they were drawn into the maelstrom of this music, which knows no speed limit , via the Thunderdome and Terrordrome CD compilations (the latter from 1995). These were advertised in commercials on music channels and thus made known. A little later the CD series Braindead by Shockwave Recordings , located in Bad Kreuznach with the distribution company EFA, came onto the music market (1994). So some plates, which were already assigned to a high speed range, were pressed, and the like. a. with The Speed Freak and its numerous pseudonyms, E-de-Cologne or BC Kid. The sub-label Kotzaak Unltd, which belongs to Planet Core Productions (PCP), was also established in Frankfurt in 1994 . with artists like Stickhead, Leathernecks ( Lenny Dee with Acardipane) or Great Dane Team (Acardipane). Tracks by these artists appeared on the Frankfurt Trax compilation, which was established in 1990 and which they soon helped to shape, and later also on the publications of the resident e series (2000–2004). In 1996 the compilation Bunker Beats One was released , which contained tracks from almost all of the then established speedcore producers from Germany and was dedicated to the most famous genre club Bunker (Berlin). In Berlin it was above all the Gabba Nation , Alec Empire with his digital hardcore project Atari Teenage Riot and XOL DOG 400 with his terrorcore pieces that were counted among the outstanding representatives.
While the Dutch gabber stayed away from the pursuit of initially fast tracks at a higher tempo, more and more hardcore artists to be assigned to speedcore were added, especially in Germany and the USA, but also in France, Japan and Australia. Labels like Bloody Fist (Australia), Industrial Strength (USA) or Nordcore Records (Hamburg) were established around 1995. The Terrordrome compilations were dominated by German and French artists from 1995 ( Terrordrome V ). In some cases, the number of BPM was also given and relatively often 250 BPM was achieved here through projects such as BSE DJ Team, Gangstar Toons Industry or Bakalla. In the mid-1990s, this was considered the limit to speedcore, although pieces with more than 220 bpm were also included in some cases.
As a genre designation, the term Speedcore only gradually gained acceptance . Before and at the same time there was also talk of terror , established by the track Extreme Terror from 1994 by DJ Skinhead. There were also numerous other attempts at naming such as Splittercore , Breakcore , Terrorcore or Doomcore , which were based on the respective sound image. In German-speaking countries, gabba was mostly used as a deliberate delimitation from gabber . For a long time, however, all tracks were known as hardcore / gabber . These terms have now partially established themselves for subgenres (see below). In 1996 a sub-label was formed as part of Shockwave or its parent label Street Trash Alliance , which belonged to Napalm Records and was called Speedcore . It existed for more than a decade and was instrumental in establishing the term. Artists like Amiga Shock Force, Bazooka or Sonic Overkill published here. The Disciples of Annihilation (DOA) track New York City Speedcore also promoted this designation. Another compilation was established between 1995 and 1998 with the Napalm Rave series .
Around 1997 a community with the name “United Speedcore Nation” was created, which for a long time was unique on the Internet and therefore had a high number of visitors for that time and also contributed to the establishment of the term Speedcore . From this a label developed with two sub-labels ( Brain Distortion and Hate System ) on which artists like Lord Lloigor, Qualkommando or ANC as well as former projects of Total Brutal Records (like E-605 or Noize Squad) published dozens of records and MP3 files.
This project came to an end around 2001, the Swiss project Mascha came into being, which also released vinyl and CDs (under Mascha Records ) or the legendary “Speedcoreboard” and Braindestruction, whose creators also provided free tracks on the site and CD compilations Name "N0iz3tr4uma" published (e).
The number of Speedcore releases is increasing from decade to decade. The discogs.com site assigns almost 1,000 works to this genre between 1990 and 1999, whereas between 2000 and 2009 it was more than 2,500 and from 2010 to 2019 more than 5,000.
Productions
The origin of the Speedcore lies in the (often excessive) use of drum computers and percussion samples.
At the beginning of the genre development, the performers mainly used trackers on Amiga , Atari ST and on PC Renoise or OpenMPT . Other preferred computer programs are Ableton Live , Fruity Loops and Propellerhead Reason , as well as NI's Reaktor and Steinberg's Cubase or Nuendo play a role. A few (few) artists also perform live, some exclusively with hardware (e.g. Ekpyrosis ) or even with guitars.
Typical tracks
- Sorcerer - buzzer
- Disciples Of Annihilation - NYC Speedcore
- The Shapeshifter - Injected
- Wendy Milan - Push The Button
- DJ Jappo & DJ Lancinhouse - Trash Fucker
- Legionz Ov Hell - A Torch For Satan (In The Garden Ov Shadowz)
- DJ Blackjack - Against Nazis
- Bakalla - Brainstorm
- esc - scum
- Stickhead - Your Own Death
- Interrupt Vector - Zombie Suicide Bomber
- Gabba Front Berlin - Lacrima Mosa Est
- m1dy - Tokyo Style Speedcore
Subgenres and related music styles
Breakcore
Breakcore used to be a conglomerate with Speedcore and evolved over the years into a completely autonomous scene.
Cybergrind
Cybergrind combines Speedcore with Grindcore , Gabber and Death Metal. One example is the band The Berzerker
Frenchcore
A style that has many similarities with terror , but differs in the fact that in Frenchcore there are often quieter parts in which melodies are introduced or vocals are played. Usually the tempo is between 180 and 240 BPM. Producers are u. a .:
- Radium, The DJ Producer, DJ Japan, Dr. Peacock , Androgyn Network and The Speed Freak , Laurent Hô .
Noizecore
Noizecore (also "Noize", based on the music genre Noise ) forces the chaotic and unstructured character of Speedcore. Correlations are sometimes barely recognizable to the human ear . The attraction lies in experimenting and discovering new sound generation and sound alienation processes. The relationship exists because there is a transition region in which you come from Speedcore to Noize or vice versa.
- Examples: DJ Freak, Nihil Fist, Passenger Of Shit, HartNoise, Merzbow , The Gray Wolves, Government Alpha.
Splinter
Together with Cybergrind, these are the fastest variants of the Speedcore.
The music often sounds so fast that the original bass sounds like other homogeneous noises. The overall impression then provides an acoustic image that sounds like shattering glass in high-altitude passages - hence the origin of the name Splitter. Now the music is produced directly at these speeds, i. H. beyond 600 bpm. This is considered to be the limit to the splitter, whereby there was already similarly fast music, but this did not appeal to a larger audience and therefore did not have its own name - basically the term splitter has replaced the term speedcore to give the increase in speed a visible character to rent.
terror
Terror sounds similar to gabber , only the first term from the Dutch area was used via z. For example, the This-is-Terror CD series is linked to music that sounds industrial (dirty in sound), relatively monotonous and gloomy. The demarcation to gabba takes place on the one hand culturally, since this term was first used in Berlin generally for hardcore and was later related to harder Berlin gabber in a more differentiated manner. The two can also be separated in terms of time, as terror was closely linked to Frenchcore and Gabba tended to be a well-worn term at this point. There were also Gabba parties with a BPM limit, which should force a demarcation from the ever faster Speedcore. In terms of music, it is more difficult to separate, the tonal attributes overlap strongly, whereby the industrial aspect of this subgenre is likely to emerge decisively.
Individual evidence
- ^ Disciples Of Annihilation. Retrieved June 10, 2017 .
- ↑ George Luke: Moby . In: Peter Buckley (ed.): The Rough Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to More Than 1200 Artists and Bands , 3rd edition, Rough Guides , London 2003, ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0 , p. 683 .
- ↑ See for example Thunderdome 1-22 Commercials 1993-1998 , mechanicsense ( YouTube ), published on June 13, 2009 or Terrordrome I & II compilation - MTV TV commercial (German) , Alvaro F. (YouTube), published on June 22, 2014 , accessed on February 2, 2020.
- ↑ BCKid. discogs.org, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Bunker Beats One. discogs.org, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ In 1993 the Thunderdome veterans DJ Dano / The Prophet published the track In 16 beats times second (as vitamin ), a description for 1,000 bpm, and DJ Paul as Too fast for mellow, also a popular track called In My House, which can be assigned to Speedcore . The Euromasters released 250 bpm remixes of their track Alles Naar De Kl - te in 1992 .
- ↑ Speedcore. discogs.org, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Napalm Rave. discogs.org, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ^ United Speedcore Nation Records. 1997 - 2001. Retrieved January 20, 2020 .
- ^ Mascha Records. discogs.org, accessed January 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Home | Speedcore. Retrieved January 20, 2020 .
- ^ Products. Retrieved January 20, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ Speedcore Style Overview. discogs.org, accessed February 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Dr. Peacock | Frenchcore Worldwide! Retrieved June 10, 2017 (English).