V/A - "The Virus Has Been Spread / A D-Trash Records Tribute to Atari Teenage Riot" [2007]

Label: D-Trash Records

Title: The Virus Has Been Spread / A D-Trash Records Tribute to Atari Teenage Riot

Genre: Breakcore, Digital Hardcore

Release date: 2007

Track List:

1. RABBIT JUNK - Start The Riot
2. HOWARD ROARK - No Remorse (I Wanna Die)
3. ZYMOTIC - Into The Death
4. UNITUS - Death Star
5. CTRLER - Deuthschland (Has Got To Die!)
6. HANSEL - Ghostchase
7. 64REVOLT - You Can't Hold Us Back
8. noCore - U.S. Fade Out
9. DHC MEINHOF - Revolution Action
10. THE SECRET LIFE OF TEENAGE GIRLS - Speed
11. PHALLUS UBER ALLES - Heatwave
12. EVESTUS - Delete Yourself
13. HERCKLEKOT - Fuck All!
14. CYANOTIC - Your Uniform (Does Not Impress Me)
15. THE PHOERON - The Virus Has Been Spread
16. SCHIZOID - The Future Of War

The amount of contributions to the digital hardcore scene by the Canadian label D-Trash Records can't be overestimated. They were releasing obscure breakcore, digital hardcore, noise, industrial, dark ambient, IDM and all other sorts of sci-fi/cyberpunk-themed underground electronic music since late 90s, and the best of all - all their releases are freely available online, and they were at least since the mid-2000s. It was very difficult for me to find such music back then, so their site was truly a blessing at the time.

Here's a tribute to the seminal band in the whole digital hardcore genre - Atari Teenage Riot - made by various D-Trash artists in 2007, keeping all the tracks as close to the spirit of original ones as possible. My personal highlighs are the rather unusual interpretation of "Death Star" (my favourite noise ballad of all times!) by Unitus, and the surprisingly danceable cover of "You Can't Hold Us Back" by 64Revolt. If you're not familiar with D-Trash Records yet, I hope this compilation will make you to explore the rest of their releases (and they have LOTS of great but little-known stuff for all lovers of extreme electronic music with a DIY spirit).

P.S. In a retrospective, it's quite ironic that I've posted a compilation named "The Virus Has Been Spread" right in the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. Who would believe now that it was completely unintentional?..

Alec Empire - "Futurist" [2004]

Artist: Alec Empire

Title: Futurist

Genre: Digital Hardcore

Country: Germany

Release date: 2004

Track List:

1. Kiss Of Death
2. Uproar
3. Night Of Violence
4. Vertigo
5. Overdose
6. Make Em Bleed
7. Gotta Get Out
8. Point Of No Return
9. Hunt You Down
10. In Disguise
11. Terror Alert High
12. XXV3

I think Alec Empire needs no introduction to anyone who knows what digital hardcore is, and I'm honestly not sure why I haven't posted anything related to Atari Teenage Riot on here yet. While ATR was the band that introduced me (and not only me) to digital hardcore, I'd rather post one of the finest solo works of Alec Empire, entitled "Futurist" ("For a man so certain that there isn't a future, he looks like one of its most confident architects" - from a review of Alec Empire's previous album "Intelligence & Sacrifice" in NME 2002). 

While "Futurist" is a logical sequel to "Intelligence & Sacrifice", it's probably more influenced by punk, metal and aggro-industrial than any other release in Alec Empire's discography (but not forgetting the electronics, of course!), and it's brutal and chaotic just like any other his work. There were even attempts to get this album on metal-archives.com, although I personally don't think it counts as metal (and the moderators of MA most likely think so too). If anything, "Futurist" would be best described as "cyberpunk", if only it was a proper music genre.

Playing Dead Man / Individual Distortion / Perusak / Anus Apatis - "Grind Kemana-Mana" [2011]

Artist: Playing Dead Man / Individual Distortion / Perusak / Anus Apatis

Title: Grind Kemana-mana

Genre: Grindcore, Digital Hardcore/Breakcore

Country: Indonesia
Year: 2011

Track List:

1. Playing Dead Man - Global Suffering
2. Playing Dead Man - Cannibal Creation
3. Playing Dead Man - ExistenShit
4. Individual Distortion - Giving Dropkicks To Fixedgear Riders On Sunday
5. Individual Distortion - Anjing Lu Ngentot
6. Individual Distortion - Ojo Ngono
7. Perusak - Sepele Tapi Krusial
8. Perusak - Big Bang and Boom
9. Perusak - Make Moral Judgement
10. Anus Apatis - K.R.S.G.T.H.
11. Anus Apatis - Senimu Tak Semurni Bensinku
12. Anus Apatis - Nothing Happen with Your Pusssy

Official release notes from Stone Age Records:

"Its a 4 way split made up by Individual Distortion, Anus Apatis, Perusak, and Playing Dead Man. And such an honour thing to know that the split's cover is done by one of the most famous dangdut star nowadays, Ayu Ting Ting! :p Ok. Each band in this split playing different styles of grind music. First we got Individual Distortion which is very very very pro in wrecking up your stereo with the super annoying noisecore tunes, Playing Dead Man playing grind with the powerviolence taste inside, and then we got Perusak bringing you the heavy new school grind stuff, if you're fit with Missery Index well you'll be into it, then the last one we got Anus Apatis from Jogja blowing you the insane cybergrind tunes. We'd like to say sorry if you feel that the split is way too short but it's the way that grind should be. Once again, if you think that grind is not a humorous music well you're wrong :p Cheers!"

For the most part, grindcore indeed is a humorous genre (see my previous entry); however, Playing Dead Man doesn't look like a typical "funny grindcore" band - it's rather more serious, political hardcore/mincecore. On the other hand, there's still a lot of humorous industrial grind/noise/breakcore on this split. Generally reminds me of a duo called Super Postman, whom I was acquainted with several years ago, when I studied in the uni. They were originally from Kirovo-Chepetsk, a relatively small industrial town ~570 km north from here, but came here to study. Their music (if it deserves to be called so)  was made purely for fun, since they had neither the equipment to do anything serious, nor the sufficient audience for such kind of music in their hometown. Judging from how quickly the Indonesian death/grind scene grows - I guess the situation in there is better...

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64Revolt - "Ballads Of Malice And Discontent" [2006]

Artist: 64Revolt
Title: Ballads Of Malice And Discontent
Label: D-Trash Records
Genre: 8-bit / Industrial / Digital Hardcore
Country: Sweden
Release date: 2006
Size: 15 mb

Track List:

1. Neat Girl
2. Next Generation
3. Alice, Sweet Alice
4. Moving Backwards

Just like the most releases of D-Trash Records, this EP is freely available on the internet (long live copyleft!) and features 4 new songs from Swedish 8-bit punks 64Revolt. When compared to their debut release, "Ballads Of Malice And Discontent" are less noisy and more melodic, but of course it doesn't make this EP any worse. "Next Generation" and "Alice, Sweet Alice" are just great! As far as I know, 64Revolt have released a couple more albums up to date, but I haven't listened to them yet.

"We are not the next generation revolutionaries,
You are, you are!
We are not the next generation at all,
You are, you are, you are!"

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64Revolt - "64 Revolt" [2005]

Artist: 64Revolt
Title: 64 Revolt
Label: D-Trash Records
Genre: 8-bit / Industrial / Digital Hardcore
Country: Sweden
Release date: 2005
Size: 33 mb

Track List:

1. Rebel Day
2. Second Attack
3. Analog Abomination
4. Hurricane
5. Last Day In Life
6. Martyr
7. Resistance
8. Resurrection
9. Defender
10. Radical People
    

“64revolt was initially formed by believing in the power of machines. And NOT believing in society as it is today. Our lyrics aren’t as direct as many fellow dhc-acts because we think that the audience is fed up with stage performers who think they can dictate what is right and what is wrong. We do admire that kind of effort but we have chosen another path”

Yeah, machines are vastly superior to humans, it's an obvious fact for every industrial artist ^_^ What can I say about 64Revolt? They basically are the 8-bit version of Atari Teenage Riot, who were known for their noisy sound, distorted male and female vocals, and lyrics calling for an anarchist revolution. 64Revolt does all that kind of stuff even better than ATR, and their tunes are extremely catchy. Of course, there are some tracks which I didn't like ("Second Attack" or "Hurricane", for ex.), but the rest are just amazing - especially "Rebel Day" and "Resistance". That's how true digital hardcore/electropunk should sound like.

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