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14 Tracks Processing Hardcore: The Doom And Violence Of DHR

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14 Tracks Processing Hardcore: The Doom And Violence Of DHR --- 2009

From 14tracks.com: Alec Empire's Digital Hardcore imprint was, for a short time, the definitive 'Berlin' label back in the mid-late 90's. Harnessing the cultural freedom that washed into the city after the collapse of the Berlin wall, the label espoused an anti-establishment musical and political agenda that made use of Junglist Hardcore templates squeezed and stretched into an aggressive and processed entity with an inbuilt punk attitude. Atari Teenage Riot, Alec Empire's digital punk outfit, was the definitive DHR band, even finding moderate commercial success stateside, but the label's real legacy can be found elsewhere. Alec Empire's productions for Force Inc and Mille Plateaux, as well as his solo productions for his own label, displayed a level of sonic innovation that belied much of the lo-fi aesthetics that appealed to him so much in later years, while cohorts such as Christoph De Babalon offset sonic brutality against a much more detailed production style. In later years DHR was sidelined by a seemingly unstoppable cavalcade of new genres and producers, but in hindsight we reckon there's a real wealth of dark and crazed material in these archives ripe for re-discovery a good decade later. This 14 track selection offers a very particular overview of what we liked so much about the label, ranging from dense and harrowing soundscapes, to Aphex Twin style melodic ditties to wildly aggressive amen-break treatments that to this day sound as visceral and untamed as anything we've heard since or will likely hear again...