I'm a musician and live act (Teknoaidi), dj (Avaruusveli), event organizer and netlabel manager (Kovaydin.NET) residing in Tampere, Finland. I have been contributing to the underground core scene and network both locally and globally since 2003. My articles, interviews and track and event reviews on THD are about the diverse hardcore techno underground, my special interests being in the psychedelic and experimental sounds and I hope to expose more people to these sounds and vibes with my articles. I also try to raise awareness of the global core underground by writing about local scenes in places that have smaller, yet interesting, scenes going on. These texts come from my own experiences playing and travelling in various countries as well as the experiences by the scene actives I interview. Before starting to contribute to THD, I used to run a webzine called Bass Distortion Zine, which is now defunct. I'm also working on my own website http://shamancore.info , which is to be opened later. Shamancore is about merging old wisdom of high tempo music, used in healing shaking/dancing, with the possibilities that new technologies and music like hardcore techno and speedcore bring us.
The Argentinian band Mutant Core Resistance and their label Mutant Core Records are breathing some fresh air both into their local as well as the wider global *core underground. They are fusing subgenres like psycore, breakcore, speedcore and extratone into new experimental soundscapes and something called “atmo tone”. In this interview we talked about their music and the scene in Argentina.
Who are the crew behind the Mutant Core Records and how did it start?
Mutant Core Resistance
We have different types of members in the crew. Some of them are more freelance like our brother from Poland, Si.rAk-Sa, or brothers from our country like Morphoaega, Chamal, Fuel & Fire and Charlie. They all contribute in their own way and support this music we promote on our label. Then there are the core members of MCR: Solarkae, Unfriendly bit and Beatcrusher. MCR started in 2015 as a group of 3 DJs: Trip Cris, Low Noise and Beatcrusher. They met at free parties that were organized in different parts of Buenos Aires in the years of 2010-2012. After some years of playing on their own they decided to unite and form a crew dedicated to genres like breakcore, terrorcore, speedcore and extratone.
Tell us more about the Mutant Core Resistance band..
The main concept of the band is to experiment and deconstruct. We try to merge our 3 energies into the tracks we do. The main intention is to create soundscapes that take the listeners to different places, sensations and feelings, sometimes in a good musical “trip” and sometimes we try to take them out of the comfort zone. All the songs are created with computer and synths. We like the analog sound, but we also like to do the sound designs, the mix and mastering in the DAW.
What are your musical influences?
There are a wide variety of musical influences: Pierre Schaeffer and the concrete music, John Cage and the aleatory music, Fluxus, John Coltrane and his album Om, Alice Coltrane, rock of the 60’s and 70’s like 5th dimention, Guru Guru, Jefferson Airplane, Iron Butterfly, Focus and Pink Floyd. Also electronic music like Kraftwerk, hardcore jungle from the 90s, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, The Flashbulb and Richard Devine. We also like more traditional music like Chinese music, Indian Classical music, Tuvan singing and different mantras from Buddhism and Hinduism.
What is atmo tone?
We feel that atmo tone is somewhere in between soundscapes and extratone. Atmospheric extratone is a physical phenomena (the sum of the harmonics of deep kicks) it is also music that promotes introspection combined with altered states of consciousness induced by the music.
There seems to be lots of experimental psycore coming from South-America and you guys are also involved in events, such as La CAJA DEL ODIO, that combine experimental *core music and psytrance as well as other styles. Is there a lot of collaboration between experimental electronic music subcultures in your local scene?
There are just a few people dedicated to this particular spectrum of experimental music, so we are always in touch, we need to combine our forces in order to do events and gather some public. There are a few sporadic events like the one you mentioned, also we used to do one called Speedfest and raves with different names.
How are your local hardcore techno, breakcore and psycore party scenes in general?
The scene is very small and underground, the music you mentioned arrived in our country in the early 2000 and became more listened arround 2012. Nowadays the younger generations are paying more attention to this music and new dj’s and producers are starting to appear and we are glad for that.
What are the possibilities and challenges in organizing parties in Argentina?
Argentina is a big country, so it depends on where you are. Here in our province (Buenos Aires) there are a bunch of small places for this kind of events, but you have to take your soundsystem if you want to sound decent. The other option is to move away from the city and do the events outdoors if you know a place to occupy for the night or maybe if you know somebody who owns a place. The problem is the public transport, sometimes it’s not easy to reach certain places. The police is also a big problem, they are always trying to shut our raves, because we are “against the law”.
What are your plans for the future?
Mutant Core Resistance live session.
In terms of music, we are working on a couple of collaborations with different brothers from other countries and we are working on our second LP. There are a few EP’s from some artists from our country and from other countries that will be released soon. We are thinking about doing some gigs in a couple of places in Europe. Some crews are inviting us to play lately, but we have to raise the money for the plane tickets and they are pretty expensive!
Which core artists from Argentina would you recommend for the readers to check out?
Our scene is small, but it has a very colorful variety of artists. Here are some:
Since some of the early PCP releases, there has always been an interest in space and the mysteries of life in the hardcore techno underground. Early warehouse parties with simple strobe lights and smoke emulated the atmosphere and elements of a shamanistic ritual by a bonfire. This was perhaps even one of the founding ideas of hardcore techno on a conscious or subconscious level, but as the scene grew bigger and split into various subgenres, these ideas continued mainly in the most underground core. Ambient, which usually has no beats, and speedcore, in which the human capability to differentiate beats is the tempo limit, were an unlikely couple from two extremes that formed a suprisingly synergic bond in the late 1990’s. This relationship spawned the term “atmospheric speedcore” and influenced new fusions such as flashcore, shamancore, and psycore among others. Although these styles lack an all-inclusive umbrella term, there is an international micro-scene that is bringing people together under this mutual interest. In this article, I will go through some history of these developments and take a look at what is going on in the present.
One of the developments started when La Peste mixed experimental hardcore and speedcore of the late 90’s together with ambient in his “Drug Store Core Boy” mixtape. This idea developed further into the subgenre flashcore, with his Hangars Liquides label pioneering the sound. Flashcore is sort of like a fusion of speedcore, avant-garde, ambient, and IDM. The beats and tempos are often irregular and chaotic, but sometimes more straightforward as well. The tracks are often birthed from hardware modular synthesizer jamming sessions, although software is also used. Flashcore has increased in popularity among underground musicians in the recent years, and it has sort of become synonymous with anything that has its signature high- pitched laser kickdrum at a speedcore tempo with atmospheric soundscapes. It is a further development of the mysterious and abstract French underground industrial hardcore/speedcore aesthetics and its secretive underground scene. Flashcore has sometimes taken the role on the internet of being an umbrella term for all of these experimental French-style speedcore artists—so often there doesn’t seem to be a general consensus on what flashcore actually is nowadays. Some would argue that it’s only something beyond traditional 4/4 structures, while others allow for repetitive structures as well. The original intention seems to have been to surpass standards and make the most out of current technology.
Another early development happened at the time when the online tracker scene and labels such as United Speedcore Nation from Germany started pushing the standard tempo of speedcore beyond 400 BPM, which would redefine speedcore for the new millennium. Lord Lloigor from Sweden released the Beyond The Green Light 12″ on USN’s sublabel Brain Distortion in 1999. It contained the track “Ray of Darkness” which became an atmospheric speedcore classic. The next year he released One Journey, a CDr album full of dark, soothing, and euphoric ambient with speedcore beats and occult themes on the Finnish label Act of the Devil. Some German artists such as iGoA and DarkFreak caught this vibe and became known for their atmospheric and psychedelic speedcore sound. Some of Gabba Front Berlin‘s output was also along these lines.
Atmospheric speedcore is usually less experimental and more traditional and DJ-friendly compared to flashcore and the French underground, yet still highly meditative thanks to the repetitive structures. Some current artists who do this style are Valovoima from Finland, who also does more experimental and flashcore tracks, and Watome from Thailand.
So, although atmospheric speedcore and flashcore are two distinct subgenres, there is also a lot of good faster underground core music out there which does not necessarily fall into these categories. After all, categories are not even the point, but are meant to be dissolved, yet can be described as very otherworldly, psychedelic, meditative, and initiatory. The Michelson sisters—Mouse and No Name—from France are some of the early pioneers of such improvised cosmic hardcore sound, and were an inspiration source for later developments like flashcore. They are still playing parties all over Europe. Other artists to check out from France include Save (Underground Perversions Records), La Foudre (No-Tek Records), Helius Zhamiq (K-NeT Label), Le Talium, Enbryoner, R-ictus aka Mechakucha, Marteau, Saoulaterre,and Mental D-struction. Artists into this improvised atmospheric sound are not confined to France, however. There’s Annwn (Anti Narcose) from the Netherlands, who weaves experimental vibes into his tracks. Sadistic (originally from Scotland and now living in Thailand) fuses the flashcore sound with UK hardcore techno (i.e. Deathchant) and crossbreed bringing the ideas and sounds to new crowds. The UK’s Tekhne Freq aka Kid Corrupt (Fractal Distortion events) also combines atmospheric soundscapes and experimental speedcore. Neuromancer, Basil (Moscow Speedcore Scum), Harhor (Greasp), and Rude Repeen are some of the actives in the Russian underground.
While the mainstream hardcore scene is all about the known, such as banger tunes with pop culture references, predictable build-ups and drops that go in parallel with developments in popular EDM, what attracts the listeners and musicians to this music is its introspective dip in to the unknown. Instead of worshiping the DJ, focus is drawn towards what is inside you.
Another element that speedcore beats have reintroduced to listeners of contemporary music is “the shake.” Many indigenous people and traditions around the world have the wisdom that incorporates the shaking of ones body to release locks of the mind, body, and soul, helping to reach ecstatic trance states and establish a deeper connection with the universe. This phenomenon is not totally uncommon at contemporary speedcore parties. The idea is not necessarily to grasp every single bassdrum with your stomping feet, waving fists, or even with your mind, but to let go, express yourself freely, shake with the flow and see where it takes you. This kind of improvisational dynamics can also be applied to making music by jamming and letting known structures dissolve. Regardless of the death-related imagery in many speedcore and hardcore releases, the energy of the music is actually full of life and living life by pushing the peak of ones artificial limitations. Shamancore music by Teknoaidi (Kovaydin.NET) and Hiiden Virren Vinguttajat from Finland revolves around this idea that high tempo music and shaking is healing. The music also makes use of traditional acoustic instruments along with the machine sounds. When it comes to electroacoustic initiatory core, worth mentioning is also one of the most intense live acts to come from Berlin, Del_F64.0, who play improvised speedcore with hardware and clarinet.
We’re now in 2017, and there is more of this kind of music than ever. Usually few individual artists or DJs play it at select underground- oriented core parties or art events in countries such as Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, and theUK. Sometimes—particularly in places like Berlin—there is a chance to experience a night dedicated only to the atmospheric and psychedelic core music. At these special gatherings, the artists might play 400+ BPM atmospheric speedcore and flashcore, constantly, for the entire night. This might sound insane, but actually at some point into the night these rhythms become a new norm for the mind and this state of being starts to feel very meditative. Fuck Off System and their Trash n Core parties as well as parties by Splatterkore Reck-ords are worth looking into when in Berlin. Cyber City in Belgium has also organized similar events.
Here are some upcoming events to check out with more and less atmospheric and psychedelic core:
Psytrance and hardcore techno are 2 distinct electronic music tribes. Psytrance is typically characterized by psychedelia brought by morphing sounds that make your mind float above the clouds, while the main element in hardcore is an energetic, grounding and distorted kick drum which vibrates through the whole body at a fast pace. The peaceful neo-hippies and the aggressive gabbers are seen as stereotypes of these movements, but there is a lot more to these scenes than their mainstream crowds and music. In the last 5-10 years there has been a parallel development in the psytrance scene similar to what happened to hardcore in the 1990’s. More and more psy artists from around the world started to experiment with 180-200 bpm and faster tempos, sometimes even with speeds similar to speedcore. The psytrance scene has traditionally been quite strict about tempos, which have usually been around 130-140 bpm, below, or up to 160 at best, with a few exceptions here and there. Now however, more and more people are opening up to the energies and possibilities of faster rhythms. In this article I’m going to discuss the various interpretations of the fusion of hardcore and psytrance aka “Psycore”, developments around it, artists you should check out as well as my personal cross-subcultural experiences. In addition to my own investigations, I also contacted some of the pioneers of these hybrid styles to ask about their views on Psycore.
Early developments
Some early prototypes of “psycore” can be traced back to 1992. The Speed Freak’s first EP, or his track ‘Citrus’ a year later, for example start as what you’d consider ordinary acidcore, but they also have very rave kind of vibes and soon things start flying around giving a psychedelic effect similar to psytrance. Subculturally these have little to do with the goa trance of the time, but some similar ideas are there.
One example of an early psytrance track I could find, which experiments with a 190 bpm tempo, was ‘Kikapelaus (A Spugedelik Return To Monoverse)’ by Huopatossu Mononen from 2001. This track is in the psy subgenre called suomisaundi, which originates from Finland and is by default one of the more convention-breaking psy styles, or as one suomisaundi artist I know puts it: “the breakcore of psytrance”.
Dutch Trancecore/Psycore
In 1996, Michel Klaassen aka Leviathan and his label Cenobite Records started to push a style that combined the Ruffneck artcore/gabber sound of the time with influences from goa trance and hard trance. This style came known as the Cenobite style, trancecore or psycore.
Michel describes his label:
Trancecore , Psycore or Acidcore – call it what you want, but Cenobite listens to all. I think there are many tracks that could be categorized in that style and there is many other styles you can mix it with. I really like dark melodies, but also fast trancy riffs, breakbeats, of course some acid synth sounds, there is so much you can explore, we try to make songs, a musical story with a beginning, middle part and end. We see Cenobite as a really wide range of styles concept, and music & sound as our playground. When producing music you have to follow that gut feeling and take some risks, if you really like it, nothing else matters, dare to be different.
Cenobite also likes putting messages in the tracks sometimes and the story arc is influenced by the Hellraiser mythos. The Cenobite style never truly spread outside the gabber scene. Michel tells that underground illegal tekno parties are the places where the music scenes and styles are mixed more openmindedly in The Netherlands. He has also played the occasional psytrance dj set with his Tellurian alias at events like Ground Zero Festival.
Michel tells about the difficulties in collaboration between the 2 scenes:
If you have 1 psytrance area on a festival, it could be hard for the people to buy a ticket for only 1 psy area. Also, it’s really hard to get booked on a psytrance festival with Psycore and I think it’s because of prejudice. The thing with Hardcore also, it sounds really aggressive, but the people on most parties are happy & peaceful. Would love to be the final act on a psy festival or event.
Cenobite had a break in early 00’s before making a comeback in the second half of the decade. Meanwhile, artists like Ferox and his online Trancecore.nl community carried on evolving the sound and merging it with the millennium developments of Dutch hardcore.
Psycore in the Psytrance scene
The popular free music portal and psy netlabel Ektoplazm describes Psycore as follows:
The faster end of the psytrance spectrum, clocking in at 180+ BPM. Almost certainly an extension of darkpsy but a lot of it isn’t really that dark–just fast and crazy. Although it is certainly an acquired taste it enjoys a great deal of support worldwide. Psycore is also related to neurotrance or hi-tech.
Infect Insect from Macedonia is a pioneer for this experimental sound that was coined with the term Psycore. Here is what he had to say about his vision:
Long story short, by some synchronicity of events the psycore inception started as experimentation with audio forms and music genres for the sake of testing and shifting the human frequency treshold (towards burning). The basic concept in the works was the hermetic philosophy and the trinity of virtues: psychedelia (change and pattern), core (depth and rhythm) and noise (entropy and resonance). It started somewhere around 2002 and fermented with first releases in 2005, on some psytrance, noise and hardcore labels. The french NABI-Records hosted the first releases. The sound is a hybrid form of hardcore, industrial, psychedelic and noise, and the blend seemed to have high power and potential. It is not very dancefloor oriented, but rather mindfuck oriented. It was good to see it spread through the psy scene as the heavy underground version of psychedelic trance and some other artists as my good comrade Datakult and the rest of the Nabi gang seemed to follow the path. From statistics it looks like the legacy is mostly spread in countries as Mexico, India and central Europe. For psycore bpm would be somewhere in between 160-180 bpm, going forward to 200 would turn it into speedcore or above that noisecore. A perfect tune would be the one that sounds faster at lower bpm. When doing psychedelic you can’t go into higher tempo, because you lose the extra space for syncopation, modulation and pattern definition, sound loses clarity which you need to tell a story and things start to distort with higher FM, thus you enter noise, am aware of this since I do both psycore and noisecore. The general idea of psycore is to overcome the static form of hardcore genres (speedcore, acidcore etc), which are more rhythm based and lack the diversive morphing sound of psychedelics. That concept is too dry in my terms, a rhythm should be only a backbone not the front face of a track, the fish skeleton. Another preference is live played / recorded sound over sequenced / automated. On the other hand psycore should bring a harsher, faster and harder side to psytrance which was lacking back in the days. When you are on a psytrance party you know psycore is playing when 2/3 of the crowd leaves the floor.
Darkpsy
In addition to psycore, fast bpm’s in psytrance are nowadays most commonly associated with hi-tech as well as some darkpsy artists. The borders between these 3 subgenres also interlap as we go into the faster tempos. Darkpsy is similar with a lot of hardcore in that the tone is dark and the themes often depict darker sides of humanity. It is sort of a rebelling contrast within the psy scene continuing similar ideas as industrial, metal and hardcore, although in psy-fashion often with a spiritual twist leaning more towards eastern spirituality and native tribes than judeo-christianity.
Apuruami Records from Mexico is one of the first darker psy labels to release tracks crossing 200 bpm. Digital Darkness is one such artist:
As well as aGh0Ri TanTriK from India who at times explored speedcore/flashcore bpm’s:
Hi-tech
Hi-tech is a psy subgenre that has popularized and brought higher bpm’s to wider psy audiences in recent years. The term was invented by Osom (Kindzadza & Psykovsky) from Russia to describe their music and grew into a relatively big movement worldwide. In contrast to the dirty and rough sound of psytrance’s own psycore, hi-tech focuses more on clean dynamics and detail in production. It is not necessarily dark and can express many emotions. The positive thing about this is that it proves that fast music does not always have to identify with dark, so there are no such artificial limits. Sometimes people classify music that is technically the same as hi-tech, but faster or more extreme, as psycore. What is considered as faster and more extreme varies from person to person, so there is no universal consensus on where exactly this shift to psycore happens.
Now that we have discussed what are considered the Psycores in the gabber/mainstream hardcore and in the psytrance scenes, there is still more to be said about developments along the borders of the underground hardcore techno scene and underground psytrance.
Around 2007, there was a project happening by a Russian duo called Inshizzo who started hybrid experiments without outside influence. Alexey Karlin (aka M.M.C. and MushroomJet) of the duo had a background in darkpsy, whereas the second half Sergey Shevelyov (aka Brainfilter) was into idm, frenchcore, hard techno, breakcore and noise. They created a unique cocktail of experimental core and psy with fast tempos. The bassdrums in their tracks are more hard hitting and distorted than in regular psy, yet keeping more fluid dynamics and not trying to cover a very wide frequency like in a lot of hardcore techno. Their boundaries pushing albums were released on Sergey’s Acidsamovar Records and they were also featured on labels such as Flurokarma and Entity.
Splatterkore Reck-ords from the UK started doing CD releases in 2008 and later became a free netlabel based in Berlin. The label has been mainly associated with the underground core scene, but supports freedom of expression and has released a wide variety of underground electronic music promoting cross-subcultural hybrid experiments. In the label’s early years, artists such as OmniPresence (aka Junkie Kut) and Azamat Softsleeve were pushing psycore with high speed psychedelic trance combined with distorted kicks and breaks. OmniPresence also used distorted vocals similar to digital hardcore. Their vision of psycore or “psykore” was to have mostly separate segments for psy, hardcore, speedcore and breakcore beats to create an energetic fusion. Infect Insect was also releasing on the label. In 2012, Kid Corrupt’s track The Mad Revisionist, with its rolling distorted hardcore kick (similar to a psy bassline), inspired Splatterkore’s Cross-Dimensional Contamination compilation that featured underground psytrance, hardcore and various psycore experiments by 36 artists.
I began collaboration with the Splatterkore collective inviting them to my parties in Finland, starting with their 2010 European tour, and playing at their parties in Berlin as well as releasing on the label. In 2013 I played at CEREBRAL CHAOS Anniversary II – ACID THEATER, which Splatterkore co-organized with Cerebral Chaos, a crew dedicated to dark, experimental and uptempo psytrance. A year before they had also done a psytrance + core collab party at which a certain psy artist came exposed to the psychedelic side of hardcore and speedcore. A year later, he performed as Coredyceps at this party on Splatterkore’s Cyber Dungeon stage. His vision has so far been the most intense experience for me personally in this evolution of psycore. The stage also had an especially strong presence of French flashcore and speedcore artists among others and I was there with my shamancore. The bigger stage hosted by Cerebral Chaos had some of the most intense music that psytrance had to offer.
The party definitely exposed the crowds to new music as 2 scenes were exploring each other. As I understood from the locals, there was also some minor tension between the crowds. One thing to mention about Berlin is that people there tend to stick to their own subcultural cliques. From what I’ve heard there are even 4-5 distinct crowds of hardcore who are not really collaborating with each other. But as Splatterkore founder Zoe Mindgrrind puts it: “Fuck your ego scene wars, we are one!”.
Another interesting and original cross-dimensional artist to mention, who has also released on Splatterkore, is Rose Red Flechette from Pittsburgh. His music is not always necessarily fast, but it is very rough and has unconventional structures combining ideas from industrial/rhythmic noise, core and psytrance.
Psytrance and the Teknival scene
As Michel told above, there is collaboration happening in the free party / free tekno scene, which hosts some forms of hardcore as well. Sometimes tekno/tribe labels include psytrance tracks, or a combination of both, on their vinyl releases and some variants of tribe music such as the so-called “mental tribe” are very psychedelic themselves. Some cultural clash also does happen unfortunately. For example the famous Boom Festival in Portugal dedicated to psytrance has an Anti-Boom counterpart happening. Usually these kinds of counter parties happen when events like Boom promoting seeming oneness between electronic tribes become too commercial and exclusive. The Teknival scene on the other hand promotes a free and temporary autonomous zone (TAZ) and there are some aesthetic differences as well which might play a role in the separation, although in the end both crowds might have a lot in common. Apart from the cultural differences, different budgets, money philosophies and such hierarchies are also one of the bigger obstacles in the collaboration between the more experimental hardcore and psytrance tribes.
Fast music identity and the desired psychedelic effects
Internet memes surrounding hi-tech, darkpsy and psycore often mock “the lesser” slower subgenres in a similar adolescent fashion as hardcore techno memes and troll with who is the fastest or hardest. This is perhaps where there is still some growing up to do with fast music in general as it associates it with some kind of ego games, when in fact for the people who enjoy it it is actually about the cathartic bliss that is achieved by shaking at the peak of ones physical limitations.
Although many artists, beginners and pioneers alike, seem to cross the 200 bpm mark nowadays, I still found some rejection towards higher bpm’s particularly in the psytrance scene. A common element that came up was the FM lead, which is used in many modern psy subgenres, including hi-tech. It was also popular in the hard dance subgenres hard nrg and freeform in the last decade. Elements such as this can give the feeling of an intense speed and energy rush in the head, even if the bpm itself is not that high. Many say that it, and other smaller mind expanding elements and details, lose their purpose at higher tempos. I also found differing opinions and that psy can also have faster bpm’s. Fast music can of course also be psychedelic and there are various psychedelic hardcore subgenres to prove that, but they would require articles of their own, so let’s not go there this time. One way to combine the mind expanding elements, distorted kicks and fast tempos is fractioning the sounds in short separate bits as is done in idm and flashcore music. A more constant psychedelic flow can also be achieved at intense speeds, but we also have to remember that music and its effects are very subjective to the listener and the same effects might not be felt by all.
The future of Psycore
To sum things up, Psycore is a term used in many established contexts and there is not only one right way to use it or make it, leaving room for experimentation. At the moment there is more and less psy and core collaboration happening in the free party scene and select few underground core/psy parties. Earlier this year I also had the honor to play my psychedelic hardcore/speedcore music as Teknoaidi at an underground psy party in Oulu, Northern Finland. Sometimes there is an advantage to smaller local scenes, because the people are more exposed and open minded to many music styles. The experiment went surprisingly well as the crowd was warmed up with some fast suomisaundi and hi-tech sets before I played. It felt like there is definitely more to be explored here. I hope to do more cross-subcultural collaboration in the future and to encourage others to do so too and to expand their minds and possibilities! On the surface psy and core are like two different worlds, and they are cool for what they are doing, but this holistic fusion of mind (psy) and body (core) from inhibited dualism to uninhibited oneness and having a dialogue beyond our comfort zones is something that the world in general could really use more of. Let the new multisubcultural underground tribes emerge!
What are your experiences of this collaboration and is there some Psycore that should have been mentioned? Please share in the comments section below!
Thanks to Leviathan, Infect Insect, Inshizzo, Tekhne Freq, M-Core Da Omkor and others I may have forgotten for your input on Psycore!
Sadistic is a hardcore artist, dj and organizer originally from Scotland. His recent releases are an interesting crossover between the psychedelic and more experimental flashcore aesthetics as well as more dancefloor friendly, yet underground, hardcore techno styles. He now lives in Thailand and has started organizing Darkside Thailand hardcore events in Bangkok. To report about these new musical developments and the latest expansion efforts of the hardcore scene to new areas, we’re here to bring you an interview with Sadistic!
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your history. How long have you been active in the core scene as a dj, musician and organizer?
Hi Hard Data crew. First of all, I wanna say thanks for getting in touch with the interview and for the awesome write up on my EP’s on CSR. I would say that is quite an accurate description.
I have been a bedroom dj since 13, but really it all started at the age of 18, when I was legally able to attend clubs and events. I started a small event in Glasgow with a friend called Odyssey, putting on a variety of music styles at the event. This lasted for about 3 years, and also led me to meet some of my closest associates in the hardcore scene. Meanwhile I was bursting to get into producing music since the age of about 16, but never knew how. Finally around the time of running these events I came across some music production software and that was the entry.
About 5 years ago I stopped making core for a while. I wanted to experiment with different tempos, rhythms, sounds, styles, vibes, methods of production etc, just generally things which I wouldn’t do when making hardcore music.
(If you wanna hear any of that you can check out our Disasters In Shado Magic album we released on Miike Teknoist‘s Zombfree label). But from doing that I actually developed a lot of new production techniques and ways to use my synthesizers, and that all contributed to my style and developing as an artist. So when I started writing hardcore tunes again, I was coming at it with a different approach than before, and incorporating in all these different things I was doing with that other music. The EP I made around then was 25 Minutes Of Sonic Power, and now we have the sequel, Another 30 Minutes Of Sonic Power. Sadistic @ Ordinary2016
What are your musical influences and what inspires you as a musician?
My synthesizers inspire me. I just like to jam and go with the flow and see where it takes me. Once I hear something I think I can work with, that’s where it begins. Once I feel inspired by the sounds then I can start to think about it seriously and how to turn it into a track.
Also when you listen to music as a dj you hear it differently than when you listen to music as a producer. When you’re a dj and playing tunes, you’re feeling the energy, listening to the main elements of the track, listening out for places you can mix and cut it up, thinking about what tunes work well with it, thinking about what will make people dance. But when you listen to music as a producer you listening deep into the sounds, how the track evolves, what emotions are in the tune, what story it tells. For me, I’m much more influenced by the latter. I always listen to people’s music from a producer point of view. I get inspired by the sounds or vibes in tunes that are nothing like the stuff I’m making. I’ll go through phases of listening to a lot of music and at times listening to only one thing. I often get obsessed by someone’s music and try to get everything they have done and listen to it over and over until I get bored of it. Usually I like the vibe of their music, the place it puts me in, the way it makes me feel, or fascinated by their music in some way. Over the years some of the people that have done that for me are Amon Tobin, Venetian Snares, Dj Hidden, Richard D James, Xploding Plastix, Rubberoom, The Opus, People Under The Stairs, MOG (Glasgow rapper), and obviously various producers, labels, djs within the hardcore scene.
Ultimately though I get inspired all the time by people who are just doing something unique or different and doing their own thing.
Your recent releases have a unique style similar to flashcore while at the same time being dancefloor friendly. What’s your opinion on the current state of atmospheric and psychedelic core music (with a lack of better umbrella term) and flashcore?
That’s true! And not a coincidence either! But that’s a tough question to be honest. I don’t really listen to so much music these days as I don’t have the time. I’m not anywhere near as collective as I used be and being able to seek out music and following scenes. I just don’t have the time these days to find or listen to more of it with working full time, studying for a degree in Astronomy, seeing my girlfriend and trying to make my own music. I love stuff when I hear it, but I can’t comment on the current state.
What brought you to Thailand?
I came to Thailand quite a few years ago to travel and about a year after going back home I came back here to live. I was just looking for something new really, but it’s worked out and I’ve settled here.
You have recently started organizing hardcore parties in Bangkok as Darkside Thailand. Tell us a bit about this concept. Have there been any local core events or core being included in lineups before this?
Over the last couple of years I have played at a few parties in Bangkok. They weren’t hardcore dedicated parties, but more so experimental electronic events. I played my hardcore and it was well received. So since there were no dedicated core events on in the City, I decided to fill that gap and put something on.
I spoke to my close friend Al Twisted who runs the original Darkside events in Scotland, which have been going on for 18 years now. He thought it was a great idea too and suggested that I could use his brand name and I decided to start the franchise Darkside Thailand.
How did the first Darkside Thailand party go in your opinion?
The first event was a success. We held our event at a club called JAM in Bangkok.
Each of the dj’s played great sets and the party people brought an awesome atmosphere. Even the club owners became part of the party. The club is quite small and compact, which is perfect for what we are trying to do. The underground scene in Bangkok is vibrant, but it’s a scene with underground music on a whole, rather than being a scene in hardcore. So events aren’t packing out hundreds to thousands of people. Events are still fairly small numbered. My only criticism about the event was doing it on a Thursday. I think weekends will be much more suitable nights for the events. That is what we’ll do in future.
What are the possibilities and challenges of organizing events in Thailand?
Events here remind me of what the gabber scene was like in Scotland 10 years ago, but still even smaller than that. Small events of like-minded people with an open-mind for good underground music. As for anyone anywhere in a position like that I think the possibilities are massive and exciting, but also will be very challenging and a struggle at times. But the people who stick it out will usually achieve their goals.
How has the music been received by the locals, expats and travellers?
At the moment we’ve only had one event as the first event was cancelled due to the passing of the king. It’s a bit early really to comment on that. All the events I’ve been at with the music I’ve played and other similar styles, including our event, has all been well received. It’s a totally open-minded crowd that attend most of these events.
In some Asian countries people seem to get their first touch of hardcore techno listening to j-core coming from Japan rather than the sounds from European scenes. Have you noticed if this is also a thing in Thailand or are there any other specific subgenres of core that you would say are more exposed locally or that resonate well on the dancefloors?
Sadistic playing @ No Answer 2017 in Chiang Mai
Bangkok has a passionate underground scene for music and art. At some events I have attended, I have noticed that people listen to the music also as a form of art. And the style that many Thai artists play reflects this. When some of these events are organised they are intended for people to stand and listen and watch the performance.
There is also a quite a popular drum and bass scene, which is totally different where people do dance. I have heard a few breakcore sets in Bangkok, which is the closest style to hardcore I’ve heard. Sometimes these events are put on either of the two, or they are mixed. But exposure to the hardcore techno music and events in the hardcore scene is greatly unheard or unfollowed. So hopefully we can get more of the open-minded people here excited about the hardcore techno scene.
Any local artists/dj’s you would recommend for the readers to check out?
Space360 is one of the organisers that let me play a bunch of times. He produces IDM and Breakcore, and organises many underground events in Thailand. Top Guy!!
What future plans do you have for Sadistic and Darkside Thailand?
I have some really exciting plans for Sadistic, but can’t really say anything about them yet as there still in early stages. I’m doing some collaboration’s at the moment too with some guys I’ve never worked with, and I plan to do more over the next year or two. I want to be more involved in the scene this way, and bringing my new flavour to the table.
For Darkside Thailand the plans at the moment are to have a steady string of events every few months and build up the event. It’s a small event and we don’t have the budget to pay for international artists, so it’s a group contribution at the moment I guess you could say. When people are planning trips to Thailand we can sort out a date with them to organise events. That way we can afford to make these events happen and give artists the chance to play in this wonderful country that has largely unheard the sounds of core. But in general we hope for bigger and better things for Darkside Thailand.
2017 starts out nicely as Sadistic’s digital EP Another 30 Minutes Of Sonic Power is released on Canadian Speedcore Resistance! It’s a sequel to his 25 Minutes of Sonic Power, which came out on CSR 2 years earlier. Sadistic’s previous works, as well as CSR’s latest releases, have gone by unnoticed for me so far and coming across this EP was a very pleasant surprise. His music is an interesting development in the primarily underground psychedelic hardcore, which has been evolving into many directions since early PCP releases. The EP consists of 4 tracks with cosmic themes and sounds expressing the intensity and mysteries of the universe in the form of hardcore. Sadistic is filling the gap between subgenres such as flashcore, crossbreed and UK hardcore techno (i.e. Deathchant etc.) as they are merged together into a unique fusion of space hardcore clocking in at around 210-217 bpm. Track elements include smashing and rolling bassdrums with a twist of higher laser frequencies, crossbreed snares, aethereal soundscapes and melodies as well as ASMR tingles inducing effects. Although the tracks are more easily digestible and dancefloor friendly than many of the more experimental flashcore releases, they don’t succumb into typical buildup and drop boredom either. There is enough variation to keep things interesting and everything flows smoothly. Soundtrack for inner space travel and cosmic dancefloors!
![Sadistic – Another 30 Minutes Of Sonic Power [CSRDIGI010] – track review](http://www.theharddata.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/atDav1PYuZw-672x372.jpg)