Musicoin just increased its lead in the music-blockchain race, as several well-known artists on the harder side of the electronic dance music world made their music available on musicoin.org. Most notably, famed South African drum and bass producers, Counterstrike, made available three of their high-energy, metal-infused epics of rolling percussion.
Not far behind in the upload race was Satroniq, aka Satronica, one of America’s top hardcore techno DJs, whose hard EDM label, Kontaminated Recordings, submitted their hardstyle infused “Egyptian Cougar” track by Satroniq and DJ Delirium.
Musicoin.org’s hard bass catalog got a nice upgrade courtesy of Pittsburgh, PA’s rising young talent, Subterranean. His four tracks of glitchy trap and dubstep are just the sounds that have been crushing the EDM festivals this summer, and anyone on the lookout for fresh ear-candy should take note.
Hardcore techno luminaries Deadly Buda and Cap also verified their profiles on the Musicoin system. Included in Deadly Buda’s upload pack was an alternative version of “King of Style”, his track that famously samples the world’s first hip-hop documentary Style Wars, and released by the world’s first hardcore techno record label, Industrial Strength Records. In addition, his “Congress of the Kickdrum” (the official anthem for America’s annual meetup for the harder styles, American Gabberfest) successfully utilizes Musicoin’s royalty pay-out function, automatically issuing payments to the vocalist and scratch-DJ featured on the track, The Gabber Cowboy and DJ Mindcontroller.
A spot for the Industrial Hardcore genre was blasted into existence on Musicoin by none other than Cap, best known for his work with the Arizona Hardcore Junkies, Industrial Strength Records, Important Corestyle, Hard Kryptic Records, Dark Like Hell Records, Six Feet Underground Records, and No Sleep Till Bedtime. Now throttling the Musicoin catalog is his classic “The Plan” as well as the anthem for Phoenix’s annual festival of the harder styles, Hard Asylum.
Musicoin’s brisk development pace shows no signs of slowing, either. Besides a plethora of new artist sign-ups, the platform is gearing up to implement the next significant stop on its development roadmap, “Universal Basic Income”. Touted as a new concept in cryptoeconomics, the system promises to guarantee a fair and steady source of revenue for musicians while make streaming content on the platform free for listeners. Universal Basic Income implementation is slated to commence in Quarter Three of 2017.
I met Lenny Dee about 24 years ago on a flight from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee. We were going to play at Drop Bass Network’s “Genesis” party. I told Lenny it was the first time I’d ever been flown to play at a rave, and I remember him telling me, “And you know the best thing about it? After that, it never stops.” Decades later, I’ve chalked that up as yet another example of Lenny’s ability to glimpse into the future. I’m still flying to play raves in Milwaukee, and we’re all celebrating a quarter century of Industrial Strength Record’s commitment to hard electronic dance music.
The funny thing about it though, is that to me, it still feels like a beginning. When Lenny started Industrial Strength back in 1991, it was ahead of its time, and even today, with the release of this 64 track monster compilation, ISR is still introducing the world to new talent at a frenetic clip. “No Tears For The Dead” pretty much sums up the last 25 years because there hasn’t been time to even pause for much reflection as maximal effort has always been needed to push forward and simply survive.
So, other labels would generally repackage their “hits” after 25 years, but the closest we get to that here is the latest and greatest darlings of the hardcore techno world re-mixing classic tunes. For example, The Sickest Squad remixed “Extreme Terror” and Outside Agency got to remix “Fucking Hostile.”
I’m reminded of a conversation I butted into at the 1994 Winter Music Conference. I overheard a few people remarking about Lenny and his label, marveling about how he could release such hard music. I told them that Lenny was ahead of his time and that one day they would understand what he did… that almost everyone else at the conference was recycling the same stuff and Lenny was a visionary. And you know, my feeling about that hasn’t changed two and a half decades later, and this compilation just pushes the vision and sound even further into the future.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
For those of us bound to the sound of the hard electronic, there is still no time for tears. There is still so much work to be done for the future. There might be a few great, shiny compilations of repackaged hits cobbled together by the big festivals this year, but I doubt if any of them will match the intensity and cohesive vision of Industrial Strength Record’s No Tears for the Dead.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
In preparation for the upcoming celebration of Industrial Strength Records’ 25th anniversary at the Paper Box in Brooklyn, we’re talking to some of the artists on the lineup. Today we spoke with Satroniq about his history with ISR and what to expect from him on November 19th. Catch him spinning with Delirium in the second room alongside Kontaminated and Audio Havok artists.
HD: How long have you been working with Industrial Strength?
My first solo release on ISR was in 2007. Little known fact: I also did a lot of album covers for ISR around that time and website work.
HD: What is your favorite memory working with ISR?
The early ISR parties at CBGB’s were really cool because I get to say I played at CBGB’s! Being a huge fan of punk, this was a great moment for me to stand on the same stage as The Ramones (even if I was dj’ing instead of rocking in a band).
HD:What initially attracted you to Hardcore and the harder styles? what has kept you coming back to produce and mix and perform?
It was like the new punk rock. Anyone with a laptop could take/steal/mash/screw/chop any sounds up into an aggressive maelstrom. These days the production has gone way up but I always feel like there could be some surprises coming down the pike.
HD: What do you think sets American Hardcore apart from other styles and scenes? What do you enjoy about performing at shows in New York City?
The American hardcore scene has some real die-hard fans who are more appreciative when we get top caliber acts here as it’s not something you see in the States every day. I live in New York city so I love seeing my peers jamming out to the harder styles that I love!
HD: Do you have anything special planned for the ISR 25 anniversary party?
I’m going to be doing something a lot of people haven’t heard yet. I will be doing a Satroniq set rather than Satronica. I have been focused recently on a new record label that works very closely with ISR to explore the harder sounds of edm that don’t quite fit into the “hardcore” category. Think subground, freestyle, and rawstyle.
Satroniq has a new collaboration with Delirium out now on their label Kontaminated Recordings, check it out here.
I got into Hardcore mainly through Oliver Chesler who was a big part of Industrial Strength (as Temper Tantrum) who currently uses the name The Horrorist. I went to college and became friends with his younger brother. I graduated in 96 so after school that meant in 97-98 his brother was playing me a lot of early Industrial Strength stuff like Disciples of Annihilation and Temper Tantrum (which Oliver was a part of) as well as the DJ Skinhead stuff. At the time I was playing in a lot of bands, doing a lot of work with the Akai MPC, tape loops, guitars, drums, and just doing a lot of experimental music in general. When Alex (the brother) introduced me to Oliver, who at the time had started Things To Come Records, because of the music stuff I was doing he asked me to play live with him and then after that I started to do production and got very into that kind of music – the Things to Come sound. Then as we started to play out live in Europe I began to see some of the shows that were going on there, like Mysteryland, the Thunderdome stuff, some of these giant parties in Europe. I actually saw Lenny Dee play there and then I met Lenny Dee and even though he lived in Brooklyn like I did, I think I got to know him first in Italy. I saw him play with Jappo who’s now Unexist at the Number One Club back in the day and at Club Florida and then I saw Lenny Dee play at Club Cocorico. It’s over in Rimini Italy. It’s was a pretty amazing show and it was unbelievable the way the club responded to Lenny DJing. And on the spot I said wow, this is pretty cool. I would love to be able to do something like this. And he basically told me, “Yeah, when you come back to New York, we’ll hook up and I’ll teach you how to DJ the way I learned and I’ll show you what my method is.” And then he taught me how to d.j, and that’s how I got into DJing. I started to be drawn to the harder sounds at that point. It reminded me a lot of what I grew up with, loving punk rock and early Industrial (EBM) and that sort of thing. And from there Lenny and Oliver really encouraged me with my production and that’s how I got into the production and DJing and into Gabber, Hardcore techno and that sort of stuff.
I heard you brought Hardcore to Colombia, can you tell us about that?
Yeah, it’s true as far as I know. I mean – I can’t say I “brought” it there. I was just one of the first foreign artists to play hardcore there. So the story is: Luis aka DJ Sonico who’s from Bogota – Sonico is his name for hard techno, and Sonicore is his name for Hardcore. He’s a big DJ in Colombia, pretty legendary. Anybody in Colombia will know who this guy is. He’s an amazing DJ. He is responsible for introducing a lot of sounds into Colombia. What he told me was he was in Europe and he was asking about some more underground sounds – records that they had there. Midtown Records gave him a copy of one of my first albums, which was Satronica on Apocalypse Recordings. And apparently he took that back to Colombia and started playing it and getting a good response. So then later he got in touch with me and we started talking. And eventually I did a remix for one of his tracks. And then eventually he booked me to play down there. And when I went down I played half hard techno and half Hardcore. I don’t think the people were necessarily used to Hardcore, but they got into it. It was funny, they weren’t into the anthem-y hardcore stuff but they loved the hard techno. Since they loved hard techno that’s why I started with that and then I went into the Hardcore and I think they were very much more into the Industrial Hardcore stuff over any Mainstyle tracks. At that time (2007) a lot of people were playing hard techno along with the Industrial Hardcore. At the time Waldhaus, Tymon, and Stormtrooper were collaborating a bunch on mashups of those different sounds. Anyway, then I was booked there again. I played by myself. And the next year I was booked and came with Lenny Dee. And then the next year was booked with Lenny Dee and Jappo (Unexist). And then year after that eventually did a show with Lenny Dee, Unexist and Sickest Squad and I think from there they started to see that Hardcore could do quite well there and then you started to see artists like Art of Fighters to Angerfist to Lady K8 and these types of people playing down in Colombia. I was the first artist as far as I know, from abroad to get booked in Colombia for Hardcore though and then it took off from there. Colombia is amazing. I can’t even begin to tell you the stories from some of those shows – way too surreal.
What kind of music inspires you?
I grew up liking diverse kinds of music. I listen to anything from early Industrial (EBM) kind of stuff like Front 242, Ministry, the different kind of music that was coming out on Wax Trax, X Marks the Pedwalk, all of these kinds of bands along with the Misfits, the Ramones, etc. And I think that’s why I got into Hardcore in the first place was because of all of that early punk rock kind of stuff I had been into. And when I was growing up, when I was much younger, I don’t know – people were not as cliquish about music. There was this one nice moment then that you didn’t necessarily have to be a punk or a skater or just a Goth or just a this, or just a that. People would listen to all these things at the same time. You’d have one mix tape and it might have Front 242, and it might have Bad Brains on it at the same time. It might have Dead Kennedys along with Skinny Puppy and that sort of thing. Along with like Depeche Mode. I wasn’t really a Raver in the beginning so a lot of people came at this stuff from some of the Techno things that were going on that they had heard coming out of Detroit or some of the House music coming out of Chicago and that sort of stuff. When I heard Hardcore though, it reminded me a lot of early really dirty Industrial (EBM), it had the spirit of Punk Rock where you could really take music from any other genre and kinda bastardize it into the Hardcore sound. I think that’s what inspired me then led me towards Hardcore and Gabber and any kind of music that has some sort of soul to it, or has some sort of emotion to it, or is raw. Anything from like Johnny Cash to Willie Nelson to all of the bands I previously named, Indie bands like Pavement or a wide variety of bands that I love or inspired me that kind of brought me to the place that I am at now which is producing some of this rawer more Industrial Hardcore, or to the new label that I’ve been working on which is slightly more accessible Hard Dance.
What are the five Hardcore songs that have really inspired you?
The Mover “Over Land and Sea.” Hard Creation, “I Will Have That Power.” Claudio Lancinhouse and The Stunned Guys “Atmosfera.” Euromasters “Alles Naar Klote” is one of the tracks that inspired a lot of the Hardcore and Speedcore that came out of New York, which inspired DJ Skinhead “Extreme Terror” which would be another song that has changed my life. And if there was a sixth one it would be Art of Fighters “Hardcore Makes The World Move.” And if you want my main Hardcore influences after that it’s obviously Lenny Dee, Horrorist, Tymon, Unexist and the entire Industrial Strength catalog. I could literally name a million more artists and DJ’s who created the hardcore scene – Manu le Malin, Marc Acardipane, DJ Delirium, 3 Steps Ahead. If only there was enough time to name them all!
Also want to talk a bit about the future and the USA scene in general and what inspires me now. The Europeans are obviously masters of the hardcore sound but I’m inspired that DJ Treachery, CIK, and Cap, to name a few, are starting to make a name for themselves in the US scene. Having artists produce hardcore in the USA is something we sorely need more of!
What are some of your favorite places to play?
Of course I love to play Scotland, the energy there is amazing. The Arches Club there, it was a great experience. I love playing Colombia. It’s great energy there as well. Italy of course and I’ll never forget playing Sala Due at The Number One Club. That was an amazing experience. Then of course playing in Holland is amazing for the crowds there who come from all over the world for festivals like Dominator. Dominator especially, is an amazing experience. I feel blessed to have been able to play there. And the list goes on. I love all of the places I’ve been to, Spain obviously too. Those are the ones that really stick out in my memory. And of course Minneapolis (Yeah Jared Hanson!)
What was the scene like in New York in the beginning and again now?
I think the scene in New York is changing. Hardcore now is becoming acceptable for the younger kids through Hardstyle. I think the Hardstyle scene is really taking off in New York. Some of the E.D.M. music is becoming a little bit more raw, more hard. I think people here are starting to understand the differences between electronic music and that it’s not all just the same thing called techno, just like rock people understand that bands play everything from Folk to Heavy Metal, people are now starting to understand the differences between Hard Techno, Hardcore, Dubstep, etc. versus some of the slower varieties, more accessible varieties. And things are starting to pick up again, because of the impact of Hardstyle. Now people are starting to gravitate to some of the harder stuff. I think that there was definitely a lull for awhile in New York for Hardcore. I don’t think that the Industrial Hardcore or Speedcore that’s popular in Europe is very popular at all in New York City. I think it has to be the more anthemic mainstyle stuff for the people here to really get into it. And I guess it’s changed from the beginning of Hardcore here when there were some larger parties in New York in the late 90’s, early 2000’s where you would hear the more Gabber sound, you’d hear The Horrorist, the Lenny Dee stuff. You’d hear the Rob Gee stuff. The early Delta 9 stuff. I think one of the good things is that the drugs have changed. In the early New York scene there was a lot of dust. You’d be smelling it at a lot of events and that made people a little bit crazy. And people got a little violent. And I think that for the most part venue owners decided that they didn’t want to deal with it. It became very hard to find venues at a certain point that would actually allow Hardcore Techno to be played. They really didn’t accept the concept of electronic music that was that fast with people moshing to it, it didn’t make sense to them. The early vitality in the mid/late 90’s started to die because of the things that I’ve mentioned, but I see it picking up again through the younger kids getting into Hardstyle and into the more anthemic mainstyle Hardcore.
How’d you come up with the name Satronica?
It’s a combination of Satanic I guess and Electronica. It’s because when I was younger I was obviously into Metal and have those sort of metal satanic tattoos etc and it just sounded like a cool combination of words and I actually used it for my aol messnger screen name on my computer to be honest. Then when I started to produce, I went to think up a name to use and just couldn’t think of anything better so, I just decided to use that and stuck with it.
Okay, now what are you planning next?
I’ve been working on a label called Kontaminated Recordings (Click here for link.) with Jeremy Malvasia also known as DJ Delirium. It’s a sublabel of Industrial Strength. And what we are trying to do is make make music that is hard E.D.M., has the spirit of the some of the Hardcore and Hardstyle, but has a little bit different tempo. It’s 128 to 130 b.p.m. but with the spirit of Hardcore It’s slightly more accessible for some of the kids in the United States than Hardcore is and so we are pushing that a bunch. We have releases out already and the next release will be myself and Jeremy which we’re really excited about. Also I’ve been doing a lot of collaborations with some European hardcore artists so soon you’re gonna hear a collaboration with me and Unexist, then another with Unexist, Art of Fighters and myself coming up soon. Then with Unexist and Noize Suppressor and myself which is coming out soon. And I think a little further out soon you’ll hear one with Unexist and Crypsis and myself. So as far as hardcore I’m currently just working on collab’s, and doing a bunch of vocals for European Hardcore artists. In the works though, are a bunch of work with American Hardcore artists. I’m 100% behind trying to push the sound now in the United States. So look out for a few surprises with the up and comers in the US scene!
The final stop of Trauma’s Harder Styles Tour touched down in Brooklyn Saturday night. As anticipated, the venue was packed with attendees bouncing off the walls. Right off the bat is was amazing to see Lenny Dee and Rob Gee on their home turf, in the borough that made them worldwide names. Rob Gee played his greatest set on the entire tour, and frankly it might have been the single most uplifting and inspiring set –of all sets—on the tour. Rob Gee has always had something special with audiences, but Saturday night in particular he hit a resonant melody with the audience who were 100% in sync with his hardcore vibe.
DJ Deadly Buda at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
But, I’m getting ahead of myself, literally. Yours truly got to open up the night, and thankfully the sound-system was 100% on point, and there was already a crowd ready to rock. I got a chance to bust out some of my favorite tracks from the Next Cyclone label, which are rarely played, and the crowd was well into it. I also got to spin on 4 decks at once, an infrequent pleasure at hardcore shows where oftentimes we are lucky to even be using modern CD-Js!
DJ Stefanie at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
After I did my stuff, Reactor and Pulsators hit the decks and rocked the crowd with some hardstyle, leading up to the night’s headliner, DJ Stefanie. Basically, she tore it up, showing the USA why she is a big favorite in Europe and even showcased one of her latest tracks. I had the pleasure of filming her live feed on Facebook for the first half hour too. Most of her set it could be seen worldwide!
Lenny Dee at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
Next up was Lenny Dee. As always, it’s a pleasure to see Lenny Dee rocking it in his own backyard. The tough industrial sounds had the ravers rocking to and fro. Hardcore historians know that Lenny Dee might be considered the original hardcore DJ of which we know in the modern era, and to see him in his element, where the sounds were heard that would later inspire the world, was truly moving. He was followed by his frequent partner-in-cacophony, Rob Gee.
Tim Shopp at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
Satronica then hit the decks and continued the holiday of hardcore that had taken over Brooklyn’s legendary club Verboten, leading to up-and-coming, Tim Shopp, who did double duty on the main stage and the second room, keeping the crowd busy the entire night. Tim tore the cap off a shaken pop-bottle of speedcore madness that drove the crowd wild, giving a sneak preview of the coming wave of American Hardcore.
Rob Gee at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
Initially looking back on the tour at this early stage of reflection, I think there were tremendous gains made for the American hardcore EDM/Techno scene. Whereas the crowds were not sell-outs, they were decent and more importantly, everyone had a great, and sometimes life changing time. Dealing with music so much on an everyday basis, we music insiders often lose track of how important finding that new sound is to the concert goer… as we count the beans and talk the numbers. Sure, it’s an aspect that cannot be ignored, but ultimately life is remembered in experiences, and Trauma Live made sure to give people an experience they’ll never forget, and I can’t wait to see what happens to this scene next.
DJ Stefanie and Lenny Dee at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016: Brooklyn
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
