In 2012, the Experimental Hardcore scene of the 90s and related sounds had long been gone. What I noticed was that this sound literally had become inaccessible for the new generation and everyone else who was not "part of it" back in the days; the records were long out of print and fetched for extremely high sums on places like the Discogs marketplace; so except for a few collectors (and if you did not get hold of the records in the 90s when they were released), it was just not possible to hear the sound of some Fischkopf, Anticore, etc. releases anymore.
This made the sound of this "scene" unobtainable - as if it had disappeared - forever?
So what to do - to bring this sound back?
The first thing I tried to do was to talk a lot about releases and labels and artists on forums, on chats, in order to at least get the "word out" in some way. But of course, the result was that many people just did not care or were annoyed - it all seemed like old folks going on about some "glory days" that they could not connect to.
A guy I knew from "Internet Relay Chat" began uploading selected Experimental Hardcore records to his blog - but this did not work either, and ofter some complaints from labels, artists, and record stores selling them - those rare ones that were still being sold - he had to take a lot of them down again.
Then I finally had the idea - I could showcase labels and artists from that field of music in a mix!
Therefore, the sounds can be heard again - and those who didn't care would not need to listen to it, and don't be annoyed.
This seemed like a good concept to bring this sound to the new generation, and other people.
So I started with some big artists and labels like Somatic Responses and Fischkopf, and went on from there.
Another issue connected to this was that while sites like Discogs list artists and releases and so on, a lot of the "connections" in between the scene were no longer known or obvious; for example that Phil Klein aka Bass Junkie was connected to the Hardcore scene; or that Breakcore first had its place within the Hardcore scene and was not a scene of its own, and that DJs would play Hardcore, Acidcore, Breakcore and Speedcore in one mix because it was still linked. With the mixes, I could show these connections.
Some people have complained that my mixes are rarely "beatmatched"; but one of the main reasons for that was that I saw myself more as a "radio DJ" who plays tunes (the first mixes I did were actually on a terrestrial radio station back in 2000), not as a DJ at a gig who tries to do a highly technically skilled set. Of course I too wanted to create a pleasurable mix for the listeners; but the most important objective was to get the "sound out"; everything else was secondary.
Now, a few years later, the situation has changed - a lot. There have been plenty of re-releases - both digital and on vinyl - with Hardcore sound from the 90s, for example the Taciturne Archives or The Mover re-releases.
Also, on Youtube there are now a lot of uploads of tracks from "back in the day" that people can listen to.
So the sound is much, much more accessible now then it was those years ago.
That's why I'm trying to focus on more "obscure" sounds and artists in my mixes now, to shine a bit of light on these too.
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