If I said “Fransesco Lapicca”, would you recognize the man? Most of you wouldn’t, since you probably know him as Unexist or Jappo. This Italian artist, known as “The most terrifying Italian killer” (a metaphor, of course), is a DJ and producer of hardcore techno music and gabber. In 1995, he released his first track, and from then on, he has been performing in big clubs, private parties and festivals, not only in his home country, Italy, but all over the world. After moving to New York for a year, Unexist discovered that he had a talent for scratching and became one of the hardcore scene’s best.
Fransesco has often talked about the anger and rage inside him, and how producing hardcore techno music was the only way to release all of these feelings. In one of his interviews, he stated “Music has always been an output to me. So I can unleash my anger through my music.” As a Heavy Metal lover, hard music has always been his favorite genre.
Now, let’s discover together Unexist’s 5 most popular tracks. Get ready to be slayed by real hardcore music!
Fuck The System:
As we said, Unexist’s music is anything but soft, and this track is the perfect proof. We can feel the artist’s rage in those beats, which are at the same time very techno and extremely heavy metal-y. We can definitely imagine metal heads listening to this and enjoying it!
Questa È Hardcore :
This one is a little less hardcore than the first track, but it is just as good. More techno than heavy, it makes you long for your clubbing nights when you’re spending a calm one at home (if by calm you mean chilling in your pajamas with a pack of beer and Unexist’s music blasting from your laptop).
Burn It All Down:
The title says it all, no need for more description. Just do it, and burn it all down! If you’re wearing glasses, be careful, you’ll have to take them off before listening to this track because you will head bang like crazy!
Rockus:
Rage, anger and even more rage. This track is sick and you will find yourself dancing to it without realizing it.
Anarchy in the UK:
Yes, this is The Sex Pistols song, but with the unique Unexist sauce added to it, which makes it one hundred times better (no offense to the fans of The Sex Pistols or punk music). A little bit of punk rock mixed with industrial hardcore never hurt anyone.
Unexist, as a big fan of Slipknot and metal music, is now collaborating with various metal artists on a new project called “Fail 2 Comply”. His newest album is also fully covering the spectrums of the hardcore genre, from fast and heavy tones to more soft and melodic ones. Fransesco says that this is “hardcore seen through Unexist’s eyes”.
Discover more about Unexist by visiting his Facebook page:
The story first started in 2000’s Italy, when three guys met: Jacopo Stevanato, Samuele Gozzo and Sirio Carino. It was an instant musical “love at first sight”, so they decided to team up and create the “Sick DJ Team”. Under that alias, they dropped their first hardcore tracks on G-Net Records. A couple years after, having musically matured, they decided to change their name to “The Sickest Squad”, keeping the adjective “sick”, it being their musical brand. Being big fans of Frenchcore, they started working with DJ Randy, the owner of R909. This helped them define their sound and come up with their own musical style called “Sickcore”, which is the hybrid child of hardcore and Frenchcore.
Influenced by various musical genres that range from dubstep to punk or even metal, The Sickest Squad’s music is energetic, dark and fast, and they are considered one of the most influent and unique Frenchcore groups out there.
Today, we will introduce you to 5 of The Sickest Squad’s most popular tracks. Be ready to listen to some SICK beats!
Ass, Bass N Bitches:
After listening to this, you will definitely be in the party mood! You can already imagine the neon lights, the shots and the head-banging party animals.
Minimal is Criminal:
We can all definitely imagine the beginning of this track being the background music of a hardcore fight scene in a blockbuster, or maybe being played while a group of hackers are taking down some shady government organization.
Swingbeat #TiH :
This track gives off some nice Electro Swing vibes at the beginning, and then turns into a pure Frenchcore track. A rollercoaster of genres that keeps you on your toes!
Opera Prima:
This 6 minutes track is worth the detour! It gives off spy movie/psychological thriller vibes. Mysterious and dark music, a husky feminine voice and a beat we can only call SICK are definitely a winning combination, and the proof is right here!
Boom Shakalaka:
Starting soft and ending strong, this track builds up its beats until they explode in what we can only call a purely ecstatic combination of sounds. Listening to this will make you ditch your table at a club and go hit the dance floor, drink in hand.
Now that the techno music scene has become a full part of what we can call “mainstream” music, The Sickest Squad is getting more popular by the day, and their music is gaining a huge fan base that is expanding every single day. Even after their third member, Sirio, left the group in 2006, they kept making quality music that pleased Frenchcore and Sickcore fans.
After performing in several events, such as their famous “The Sickest Squad Concert”, The Sickest Squad managed to establish themselves as one of the best groups in their musical genre.
For more information about The Sickest Squad, check out their Facebook page:
A native New Yorker, Lenny Dee is an American DJ and producer who first specialized in rave music but went on to become one of the hardcore techno scene’s biggest names. Starting his career in 1984, at the young age of 17, Lenny Dee was DJing at a local Brooklyn disco and went on to become one of New York’s most important musical pioneers.
It’s when he meets legendary Tommy Musto that his career takes a dramatic leap. He and Tommy make more than 20 records under Tommy’s label Fourth Floor and become famous in the British underground scene. After that, Lenny Dee storms through the UK’s underground scene and becomes one of the few artists who truly bring a change to Techno music. That’s when the style Hardcore Techno sees the light for the first time.
In 1989, thanks to his unique sounds, Lenny Dee becomes the best international DJ in many European countries, such as Germany, Scotland, France and Switzerland. After that, he starts performing all over the world, from his home country, the US, to farther countries like Australia and even Japan.
In 1991, Denny Lee launches Industrial Strength Records, the first Hardcore Techno label in the world and goes on to work with many world-acclaimed artists, like Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin and the French band Daft Punk.
Here are 5 kickin’ Lenny Dee tracks, enjoy them!
As Long As I Got You:
We’re starting strong with this one. This collaboration between Lenny Dee and Frankie Bones has the perfect New Yorkish vibes to it. Very techno, very smooth, but also extremely dance-y, this song will make you move!
Fucking Hostile:
This track is different from the first one. More on the hardcore side, it starts quick and turns dark in the middle. The beat is what we can call sick, and we can all imagine this being played in some dark thriller.
Everything Bamboo:
Be ready to dance with this one! The track gives of an extremely Blackstreet vibe and you will definitely move while listening to it. The beat is soft and enjoyable, even for people who normally don’t listen to this type of music. This shows how versatile Lenny Dee can be as an artist and producer.
Gonne Take You Higher:
If you listen to this and don’t even move your head with the music, we’re afraid there’s something wrong with you. Your body instinctively follows the music, and for a good reason: it’s just that catchy!
Microtronic:
Strong sounds for a strong ending. This track is pure Lenny Dee, techno with a pinch of that original Lenny magic to it.
From 1984 to these days, Lenny Dee has been gifting us with unique sounds, both as a DJ and as a producer. Having worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, he is a force to reckon with in the hardcore and gabber scene.
To know more about him, check out his Facebook page:
Straight out of Italy, Art of Fighters have been bringing their particular flavor of hardcore music for nearly 2 decades. The Art of Fighters history began in the year 1997 and their career took off as one of the fastest in the scene. It was the year 2000 and they were just 18 years old when they jumped onto the biggest European stages playing their first hit tracks ‘Artwork‘ and ‘Earthquake‘ while wearing their trademark: the terrifying hockey mask, similar to the one seen in the movie ‘Friday the 13th’.
Since then, they have been unstoppable: spreading throughout the entirety of Europe, USA, Japan, South America and Australia. They have continued to produce track after track, becoming one of the leading acts of todays Hardcore scene. Creators of anthems for the biggest events as Dominator, Thunderdome and Q-Base, their sound is constantly evolving. A sound which can be described as a unique mix of harmony and technicality, with the rawness and power that you expect to be found in a proper hardcore track.
Art of Fighters
It’s a pleasure to be interviewing you! Could you tell us a little but about yourselves? How do you know each other? Did you always know you wanted to be DJs?
Ciao America, we are Luca and Cristian and we are Art of Fighters! We are producers from Italy, land of good food, good people and good music (in my personal opinion). (Cristian) I have know Luca since I was a kid, we grew up together as neighbours and we spent all the childhood together. I know him since 30years, it’s my fourth brother, even if he is from another mother.
Can you tell me a little bit about the story behind you’re DJ name? How did you come up with the name ‘Art of Fighters’?
At the time we sent our first demo to The Stunned Guys our name was “Armageddon”. It was a cool one, around 15 demos, ranging from 200/400BPM, except a couple of them which were around 150bpm. Long story short, Maxx suggested us to put into the trashcan all the tracks except the slower ones, and to find a new name cause it was a bit overused. We already had our first logo, so we had to pick up something starting with an “A”. Our second choice was “Art of Warriors”, also taken so we went from ‘Warriors’ to ‘Fighters’ and voilà! Years later I realized how important that decision was. We became that name, and now more than ever we are fighting for our Art, which is the music and the message we are trying to spread around the world.
How did Art of Fighters get started? Did you ever expect to grow to the notoriety and recognition you have today?
We started in the basement of my parents house, using nothing else than a Pentium computer and Fast Tracker 2. Why?! I still have no idea, probably bored or just curious about how music was made. And no, never expected to make it a full time job, also because back then (first demos are dated around 1996/97) the dj wasn’t at all a recognized figure, it was more like an outcast. You had to do it just because you liked to. We are lucky that people like what we do and support us. We’ll try to not disappoint them and stay true to our Core.
Tell me a little bit about why you wear masks and their designs? Do they mean anything special?
The idea of the masks comes from the man that taught us how to mix, DJ Tetta. We had to play a b2b set in Switzerland in early 2001 and he came with the idea of jumping on stage with those white masks and white jumpsuits. We loved the idea and kept using them. After few months we decided to personalize the mask a little bit (here’s why the different design for each one of us) and somewhere around the 2006 we hired someone to make the ones we’re using right now, which (as what the creator said) are made using the mold from the original Jason 13th movie.
(Niko e Tetta, Art of Fighters circa 2001)
Here you can see the pictures of the first time we used those masks. The design is a bit different from what we use now:
Would you have ever seen yourselves coming to perform the USA? How do you think playing for a US crowd will be different from playing in Europe, what do you expect? Are there any new tracks you plan to drop, or any tracks you are particularly excited to play for the US crowd?
This year was full of unexpected gigs. We also did Colombia and Japan, and about to set foot in Canada aswell. And every one of those gigs is a blessing. We love to travel, see different cultures, people and situations. I belive we are all the same but still very different, the idea of party in Italy is different that the one in France or Japan, and I bet my ass that US is a different scenario aswell. As they taught us, you have to adapt in real time to the dancefloor, I’ll try to showcase all our music, which goes from 150bpm to over 200bpm!(I use the singular since it will be a solo dj performance in the US… Luca will be unable to join me due to technical reasons).
Do you think Traxtorm Ganstaz Allied could make a US performance in the future? (DJ team consisting of members Unexist, The Stunned Guys, Mad Dog and Art of Fighters)
I really hope so, and not just in the US!
Art of Fighters
Are there any upcoming releases or future collabs you can share with us? Anything you’re particularly excited about that we should be watching for?
We’re finishing as we speak two tracks, in collaboration with a really talented and underestimated friend and producer which is Dj Predator. A mix of Early rave, Drum and Bass, Mainstyle Uptempo with a touch of Neurofunk. We Love It. There’s also an Hardcore Italia compilation mixed by us and about to be released in Japan. Lot of fresh and cool music and idea over there from a lot of new producers and talents. Keep an eye on it. And also working on something different for 2017. If it will work I’ll talk about it in another edition of Hard Data.
Fantastic! Is there anything else you’d like to say to the readers on the Hard Data?
Yes. A scene without a crowd is not a scene, and a dj without a public is just an expensive cdplayer. So please, support the US scene and attend every party you can!
For me personally, listening to en episode of the Hardcore Italia podcast mixed by an Art of Fighters is what sparked my interest in hardcore music and I am very excited to see them perform here in Los Angeles! Catch them on the USA stops of the Industrial Strength Records 25yr Anniversary world tour, performing in Los Angeles, CA on November 18th, and in Brooklyn, NY on November 19th.
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
