Minimum Syndicat

Minimum Syndicat - SNTWN Podcast 074 (05/2014)
from https://soundcloud.com/sonotown-1

Blog Changes

I've been planning to do a major change to the blog. Switching from daily updates to irregular updates. I've kept daily updates because, well, people like to check the blog every day, and a lot of people probably "can't be arsed" to do an irregular check of the blog. Also it was sort of the theme of this blog and kept the blog running, and it was also a check for me to see if my life is in order if I can still make kick-ass (I hope) updates every day (half a joke, half the truth).
Anyway, soo.
Irregular updates mean that the quality of updates will be higher, as I can wait to put online the really cool stuff (I hope) (again).
So please don't be of little faith, and keep checking the blog even though the updates are not daily anymore. On the other hand, you are, as Tony Wilson said, free to fuck off (a joke) (again) (I hope).

ImpulseGame

ImpulseGame - Solomon Grundy
from https://soundcloud.com/dhaturarecords

Emanuele AcidCore

Emanuele AcidCore - Trip Eat Me
from https://soundcloud.com/emanueleacidcore


Alec Empire

Reboots Fm Interview with Alec Empire about “Low On Ice (The Complete Iceland Sessions)"

Rohstein

Rohstein - Cold War (taken from "CCCP" Sociopath 006)
from https://soundcloud.com/sociopath-recordings

Angel AKAos

Angel AKAos - Home 15 5 14
from https://soundcloud.com/angelakaos

Li-z

Li-z - Idm PCP Lost Mix 2009
from https://soundcloud.com/li-z


Brain Impact

Brain Impact - What Happens
from https://soundcloud.com/kylan-dv-coupez

Cyborg Coffee - New Webzine

i started a new fanzine for hardcore techno, experimental electronics and also anarchist texts. it is digital and web, blog, based. it will not have a monthly release or so, but i will put texts up as they become available.
the focus will be on the abovementioned things, cultural musings and anarchist politics.
if anyone is interested in writing texts, or record reviews, for the zine, contact me at low_entropy@widerstand.org 

the zine can be found at: http://cyborgcoffee.blogspot.com/

so far it is a collection of texts i wrote on several occasions about hardcore, music in general, and anarchism, that had been published on various source.
new content will, hopefully, come soon.

PCP - Rare And Unreleased Projcts

a look at rare, obscure, exotic projects of the PCP crew.

Jack Lucifer Full Length Album

the second Kotzaak Compilation, From the Deepest Depths, features 3 tracks by jack lucifer (and 1 hidden track),
that were supposed to be of a full length jack lucifer album release, that is announced to be upcoming.
they are in the later style picked up by jack lucifer, not the early kotzaak style, but his blend of death metal
and electronic equipment. the name of the album was supposed to be "contaminated black planet".
in a later interview he said, this album was finished, but never released. he doesn't want to release it so far,
unless he has re-recorded all the tracks again.

See Ya In 2017

See Ya in 2017 was a different version of what was later the Frankfurt Trax 3 Album. it exists only as a
white label testpressing. it has almost the same tracklisting as the frankfurt trax album - but it has three
extra tracks, which are not released elswhere. one is a techno track, one in white breaks style, and one in 303
nation style (probably done by them?).

Unreleased 1993 Mover Demotape

a tape marc acardipane made in 1993. not much about this is known. the tracks are in mover style, but could also
be tracks supposed to be put our under other monikers of acardipane (nasty django, ace the space?).

The Praxis Tape

a rumor from the internet, that the "track 2" put out on the praxis CD compilation paraphysical cybertronics was part of a tape with much more tracks (thus the name "track 2") by the mover.

The Live Double CD

in the early years, the pcp liveact often didn't play pre-existing tracks, but did special live tracks, that were often improvised live. almost nothing of this surfaced later. there seems to be a split between normal tracks, that were put out on vinyl and CD, and the pcp live stuff, which was just for the liveacts. in an interview acardipane talks about a planned PCP live double CD with this material, but it never surfaced.

The Mescalinum United Ambient Album

in the famous alien underground interview, marc acardipane mentions having finished a mecalinum united album of twisted dark ambient tracks. it never came to light. could it be that later ambient releases (1987 metamorphosis, jupiter pulse) were originally part of this album?

Tomorrowland Recordings

this, and i think other labels, were mentioned in an old pcp feature in a magazine. these labels were planned, but never came to existance. one can only wonder what sound wouldve been put out on them.

the PCP DVD

around 2004, marc acardipane announced on the planet core forum, that he had rediscovered masters of plenty of unreleased tracks he done under monikers such as alien christ, ace the space. he said he wants to put them out on a big DVD, complete with unreleased video and live footage.
again, this never came to light.
the only thing that surfaced was the PCP mayday 1993 live video, which was planned to be released on this DVD.

Leslie GarcĂ­a

Leslie GarcĂ­a - SesiĂłn VOLTA O1_
from https://soundcloud.com/lessnullvoid

The Story Of Fischkopf

fischkopf first caught my awareness when it was mentioned on the old DHR website ca. 1996 on the haywire tree of sites. they wrote, about DHR, labels with 'similiar' had sprung up in other cities as berlin, for example fischkopf in hamburg. it was not long ago that i discovered the hardcore / experimental world, and was completely in love in it, so i was pretty excited; a label from that scene, with that sound, here in hamburg, where i live? i immediately tried to find out more, and got to know fischkopf records operated from a store here in hamburg called container records, for records and CDs of all kinds techno; i think they had one of the largest sections for hardcore only in europe, at least this side of rotterdam. multipara's label discographies webpage - he had one area solely for fischkopf - provided me with further information.
but now, let's cut the introduction, and get to the basics.
fischkopf was started in 1994 by a group of people, including the operator of container records, martin, and people such as DJ Raid. the first release was done by cybermouse. in an interview it was stated, that cybermouse caught the interest of the fischkopf crew as he was known for his eclectic taste in music in the container record store. this resulted in fisch 1 - cybermouse - surprise attack. the tracks on this release were done on an amiga 500, and actually first released in a diskmag called neurowaver, before they found their way on this fine 12".
the follow up was christoph de babalon's "love under will" EP. these two releases already set the way of what was to come, with their exotic, experimental approach to music that was not easily found elsewhere.
after the fourth release, the old crew disbanded. DJ Raid and others set out to create their own label (with others), Cross Fade Entertainment. the first release on the, "methods of mutilation", by somatic responses, was actually the first somatic responses EP also. it had originally planned to be released on fischkopf. also planned, but scrapped, was a fischkopf release by alec empire.
gerhard storz, called hardy, now took over the business of running fischkopf. the first release under his hands was "shortage of oxygen" by eradicator aka patric catani, one of the masterminds of the experimental and digital hardcore scene back then. what followed were releases by monoloop and lasse steen under the name of p.server, which, with their spaced out jungle and hard acid madness, showed that fischkopf could not be pinned down to one style. in this early period of fischkopf falls also the first outing by one of the most celebrated persons in experimental hardcore: joerg buchholz aka taciturne. with this release, "potpourri" EP, he also had the track which is probably the only one known to gabberists by this label; "der toten". it became a sort of "rave anthem", played on many a gabber party, and is, according to my knowledge, the best selling record of this label.
it also sometimes fetches wondrous prices on the discogs page to sell records.
cue several other later releases, and we arrive at fisch 12, "6 fragmente in der chronologie des wahnsinns". named after an independent movie, "71 fragmente einer chronologie des zufalls", it features hard hitting sonic experiments that were unseen at that point in history. you can find a more lenghty and conclusive review of this record on my blog. let's just add, that is also known to fetch wondrous bids of money on discogs.

by now it should be noted, that at that point, fischkopf had become a sort of phenomen. the "normal" hardcore scene more or less chosed to ignore most of its releases. hardy, in an interview for signal zero said, that it was actually one of his intentions, to make music that was outside the hardcore scene at that point, what he called the pcp and nordcore crowd.
so, fischkopf was actually much less known as many of its contemporary labels which sometimes even managed to drop compilations with their stuff in supermarkets and mainstream stores (hey, it was the hardcore heyday back then).
yet, to a smaller group of people, fischkopf was already known as being the source for brilliant, exquisite hardcore creations and sonic experimentation. so fischkopf managed to pierced many a subculture with its sound.
it is only now, it seems, that fischkopf seems to finally get wider recognition (although slowly growing), by the possibilites of the internet - or is it fading into total obscurity? only time will tell.

let's get on.
fisch 14 saw the first and only album by eradicator. tonal assault between 4/4 madness and an industrial record collection can be found here. catani actually got annoyed by the label, as they used a self-made artwork for this, instead of his own cover design.

in this middle period of fischkopf - we are in 1996 - three more important names appear on fischkopf. nawoto suzuki aka burning lazy persons, and the michelsen sisters, no name and auto-psy.
lenghty reviews are due elsewhere - let's just say i consider these releases to be amongst the most important at this point of hard electronic music.

fisch 20 had amiga shock force, with an aptly named assault of "psycore kids vs rave fascists."

fisch 23 saw the master release of fischkopf. a compilation with its acts and related artists. everyone always was about the vinyl version; but, according to me, better get the 2xCD, as some of the best tracks are CD only.
again, not the time for a lenghty review, but it is the outing of some of the best artists at that date with some of their best tracks, and spans from breakcore to acidtechno, from all-out noisecore to the most calm ambient.

fisch 24 saw a release by EPC, whose items are the subject of a collectors hunt these days.
after that - it was the end. why and how fischkopf ended is not clear. did hardy fell out with the container records crew? or didn't fischkopf generate enough attention and a clear balance, in the end?
no matter what it was, the shock hit the fischkopf supporters hard.

we're in 1997 now. by the fourth quarter of 1998, a white label suddenly appeared, followed by a regular release.
fisch 25 by mathey olivers. excellent french hardcore with surreal ideas can be found here.
apparenly fischkopf was due to a relaunch? but just as it appeared again so fast, it faded away again - a shame.
the last outing was the white label of fisch 26, of which only a few test pressings seemingly existed. later, it was found out that it was done by cybermouse, who has also done fisch 1 - a nice and worthy ending for this great label.

this text only covers a fragment of information (or of "wahnsinn"?) about this underrated, appreciated, fantastic, groundbreaking label. much more is to be found out. it is up to you to find out more - or wait for more information to appear.

further information: http://www.discogs.com/label/4356-Fischkopf-Hamburg