Hardcore Vibes: UK Hardcore News & Reviews (August & September 2016)

It’s almost the end of summer, but don’t let that stop you smiling because there’s an abundance of bright, bouncy and cheerful UK Hardcore (UKHC) music coming your way to keep your feet dancing and your spirits high!

First up I’d just like to take a moment to show some appreciation for Scott Brown, who’s one of the longest serving, best known and an all-round legend in the UKHC scene. Scott Brown has been active in the scene since the early ‘90s, has been running his label Evolution Records for over 20 years and not to mention, smashing out a plethora of incredible releases.

His range of music stretches far beyond the usual UK sound; over the last few weeks he’s released a hard as nails European Hardcore track “F**k What You Heard,” a beautiful uplifting vocal UKHC track “Reach For The Sky” and a 90’s inspired stomper “One 2 Three.” The latter track is a collaboration with another Scottish artist Bass-X, who in fact Scott Brown’s brother, Stewart Brown. With Scott Brown releasing new tunes at a knock-out rate over the last couple of years, we can only guess at what style might be coming up next!

Exciting news coming out of Germany this month as we learn that Dune, another true legend in the scene, has released a brand new track, named “Magic Carpet Ride.” Anyone who has caught Dune’s summer festival sets this year will know that he is very interested in the current UKHC scene and we hope this new release is the first of many more to come. There is already an official remix of “Magic Carpet Ride” by M-Project and also a house remix by Potatoheadz which is very different but also very enjoyable! Dune has also announced that there will be a “Magic Carpet Ride” remix competition, with full details of the competition being released in early September.

Remix competitions often attract interest from established artists as well as from new talent, so it will be very interesting to see who decides to take on the “Magic Carpet Ride” challenge! I can’t find any official previews of “Magic Carpet Ride” online, so rather than link to any unofficial uploads I’ll just have to encourage you to go and look for the track on your favourite music download store.

Now, we all know the stories about rock stars of years gone by who’ve allegedly created their greatest works or found their most enlightening moments of inspiration whilst under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. It’s fair to say that today’s electronic music producers are (usually) pretty tame by comparison, keeping their heads down in the their studios and leaving the wild party antics to their fans out on the dancefloor.

However, we can reveal that there is a new creativity-inducing substance of choice sweeping its way through the UKHC scene and it may even be one of the reasons why UKHC music has been hitting new heights this year. I am talking, of course, about the highly addictive hot drink known as Douwe Egberts Hazelnut Infused Coffee. This divine nutty caffeinated elixir is widely known to be keeping our UKHC artists going during their long nights in the studio and their hectic weekends driving to perform at raves up and down the country.

One of the biggest promoters of this life-affirming beverage is Macks Wolf, whose beautiful remix of the “The Other Side” by Joey Riot and Reflux is seriously rocking the scene right now. Would you ever believe that the original mix of the track was Hardstyle and even included some pretty darn raw screeches?!

Another busy UKHC artist who I know is definitely a fan of the aforementioned hazelnut infused coffee is Jakka-B, who has just dropped his wicked remix of freeform hardcore track “Miami” by A.B, with the remix being due for release soon on A.B.’s Stamina Records. Now I don’t know if beach-side bars in Miami play Hardcore, but let’s imagine for a moment that they do (it would be pretty awesome!). The original mix of “Miami” might be the tune you are up and dancing to as the sun goes down and lazy sunny evening drinks are starting to turn into a serious night of partying while Jakka-B’s remix is the darker, techier mix that’s still got you on the dancefloor at 4AM at the nightclub down the road.

One notable artist causing all the leading names in the scene to sit up and pay attention recently is Stonebank, an artist who doesn’t even exclusively produce UKHC. Formerly known in UKHC by the name Modulate, Stonebank now releases his work on the USA based label Monstercat, a label where he can release music of multiple genres depending on, well, what genre he feels like creating on any given day. In addition to creating his own solo best-in-class UKHC tracks, Stonebank is also working closely with Gammer on something that is so far still under wraps and has even produced a sneaky non-UKHC track “Back Again” with Darren Styles under the alias Zero Hero.

Stonebank’s latest UKHC release is “Who’s Got Your Love,” check it out at the link below.

Overall in dance music we are seeing more and more artists producing multiple genres under a single alias, keeping fans intrigued as to what will come next. Rob Gasser from Switzerland is another great example of this freestyle attitude to music production, recently turning his hand now to the higher BPMs with his new UKHC track “Once More”, featuring Arina, which is now available on the exciting new Finland Full Throttle label.

At Defqon.1 festival in the Netherlands back in June, I was down the front for Code Black’s set on the Saturday and as if his set wasn’t already amazing he then dropped this gem out of nowhere – “See The Light” by Da Tweekaz, Code Black and Paradise. So the original version of this was a UKHC track by Hixxy, right? I mean, that’s what YouTube says so it must be true?

Hmm… Don’t take YouTube’s word for it! There have been some very popular UKHC remixes of “See The Light,” including remixes by Styles & Breeze and by Sy & Unknown, but not by Hixxy. Also, if you were listening and trying to compare the vocals to this latest version – yes, it’s the original Paradise vocals. You’ve definitely raved your hardcore socks off to this song in the past, in fact I bet Da Tweekaz and Code Black have too – as a matter of fact, did you know Code Black used to produce UKHC under the alias Inverse?

Now that we’ve got that little mess straightened out, it’s time to get up from behind your screen and dance round the house to “See The Light”, re-imagined as euphoric Hardstyle for your late summer listening pleasure.

Something Hixxy definitely is responsible for though is some amazing brand new music! The man who undoubtedly took a leading role in shaping the UKHC scene and sound as we know it today, including founding the iconic Raver Baby label, has recently uploaded yet another outstanding new track “Let It Rain” to his Soundcloud. This month, Hixxy is making the big trip down under to play on the Magenta stage at Defqon.1 Festival Australia. The Magenta stage theme is classics from 2001-2010, a decade which left a great legacy in terms of UKHC so we can’t wait to hear Hixxy’s selection of tracks for this very special set!

Also nipping over to Australia for a bit of sunshine this year is MOB, who will be visiting Sydney in December to play at the SHN NYE Raveolution event.

One tune I’m sure we’ll be hearing on the big night is MOB’s collaboration with newly signed Lethal Theory label mate Callum Higby, an artist who is taking his next well-earned step up the ranks of the scene.

As the summer festival season draws to a close and the night starts getting a little bit darker in most places in the world, what do we still have to look forward to in the world of UKHC this year?

The answer – quite a lot actually! Music wise, I can’t wait to find out what new talent Spyro has in store for the UKHC scene now that he has signed up with Lethal Theory. Event wise, Westfest is coming up on Saturday 29th October. Westfest is always a must-attend event for every UK raver and features all harder styles across seven arenas, including a UKHC stage presented by Hardcore Heaven, an old-skool stage presented by Dreamscape plus some of the biggest names in UKHC will be appearing on the main stage, including Darren Styles, Gammer, Joey Riot and Klubfiller.

In Australia, OneSeventy label heads Technikore and JTS are putting the finishing touches to their new mix album Gridlock, which will feature a range of amazing new productions. The album launch party will take place in Sydney on Friday 7th October. We are also eagerly awaiting the announcement of the UKHC international artist (or artists?) for this year’s HSU Knockout Circus party, which this year will take place on Saturday 10th December at Sydney Showgrounds in the largest venue ever used by HSU Events with a whopping 15,000 capacity.

Last but definitely not least, USA ravers are awaiting the official announcement of HTID USA, which has moved from being an autumn event to a spring event, so will be taking place sometime in early 2017. Last year’s HTID USA event was filmed by a production crew arranged by Hardcore Underground via a Kickstarter project, with the end result being a ground breaking, state-of-the-art feature length after-movie, “Blu The Roof,” which will be released on Blu-ray and DVD later this year.

That’s all for now, speak to you again in a month or so, until then – P.L.U.R. (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect)!