Welcome to Alive At Night’s UK Hardcore feature, bringing you all the latest UKHC music and gossip from dancefloors and studios around the globe!

First up in this article is a track that’s being talked about in all corners of the scene – J-Mac’s “Let It Roar.” “Let It Roar” is right up there with the style and quality of music being produced by the biggest names in UKHC at the moment; if this track is a taste of things to come then I hope we will be hearing more from rising star J-Mac very soon.

One of the joys of having contact with our favourite artists via social media is that we get a heads-up when they are working on new music; the flipside of this is that sometimes artists can decide to tease fans and keep us hanging on! Earlier this week, Gammer decided to take it to the internet and tell us that Hixxy has a new tune in the works. This is very exciting news indeed; however, despite still playing regular gigs here, there and everywhere, Hixxy has been very quiet on the release front in recent times, leaving some fans to wonder how long this new track might take to come to light.

Gammer himself however keeps us well fed with cracking new tunes and according to the rumour mill, the next Dougal & Gammer release on Together We Rise will be “Shoulder Lock,” which is already fast becoming a firm favourite with fans and DJs alike. Here’s a preview of the track, from Dougal’s Soundcloud page.

A few weeks ago Kutski delighted his online followers by announcing that he was in the studio with Darren Styles working on a remix of a track by Dutch hardstyle duo Sound Rush. Happily, we haven’t been kept waiting too long for this one because the remix has started to sneak its way into Kutski’s DJ sets and so we now know that the Sound Rush track chosen for a 170BPM makeover is “Take Me Back.” Being a freestyle DJ, Kutski tends to play the original hardstyle version of “Take Me Back” first and then mix into the faster UKHC remix and before the crowd even realise they are bouncing around to the magical sounds of UKHC.

Darren Styles has also been collaborating with Da Tweekaz recently, creating an original track, “Heroes,” which is available in both 150 and 170BPM versions, perfect for freestyle sets or just for those of us who like different genres on different days of the week! Check out the 170 version at the link below. The big question is, of course, which version do you prefer?

Staying on a roll, Styles has also created a wonderful remix of Da Tweekaz “Hewwego.” Seriously, this remix works so perfectly it’s like it was always just meant to be.

Wouldn’t it be marvellous if Da Tweekaz work with Styles led to more European hard dance acts getting involved in UKHC! I certainly think that the Norwegian duo are bringing UKHC to listeners who might otherwise not be exposed to it.

Just recently in Sydney, Styles, Breeze and MC Whizzkid performed at Midnight Mafia; the only UKHC act on the line up of the biggest indoor hard dance event in the country. When the trio took to the stage at 3.30AM, the crowd were captivated. The atmosphere, energy and good vibes that ran through the arena during their set were nothing short of magical and I think the artists enjoyed the ride every bit as much as the audience.

Q-dance Australia has started to feel the UKHC vibes; for the last couple of years the Defqon.1 Australia line up has included some UKHC acts and this year will see two UKHC sets on the Magenta stage – Hixxy and Joey Riot.  The theme of the Magenta stage is ‘2001 – 2010,’ so it’s classics all the way!

AAN’s talked about this before and we’ll keep on saying it – UKHC would be a wonderful addition to Dutch hard dance festival line ups!

Lots of new UKHC music is now being made outside of the UK, although not so much in Europe there’s lots going on further afield in the USA and Japan, with the international scene often being closely linked to the kandi raver and cosplay scenes – those ravers are wild and they go hard!

Japanese artist M-Project is a standout representative of this side of the scene, collaborating with artists and labels worldwide to bring his makina and powerstomp sounds to a global audience while still remaining an enigma; M-Project appears in public only with his face covered, accessorised with a dust mask and slotted sunglasses, and on stage his image is completed with a long flowing multi-coloured headdress.

M-Project has recently been working with Scott Brown on various collaboration and remix projects, including this latest cracker “Purple Sky,” available as an EP including both an M-Project original mix and a Scott Brown remix.

In Sydney just last weekend, Australian ravers were out in force to welcome M-Project to the latest edition of the Rocket Science rave series. Rocket Science now had its own anthem created by Australian artists DJ Havoc and MC Riddle, released on USA label Justice Hardcore and rocking dance-floors worldwide.

MCs have always featured heavily in UKHC event programming and it’s not unusual for an event to feature several MCs over the course of a night or even for each DJ to be paired with a specific MC on the line up. We’re also seeing MCs work together as live act duos, sometimes also teaming up with a DJ to create a full live act experience.

I will admit that in the past I have been sceptical about the need for MCs to be ever-present throughout a set but recently I have started to change my mind, having heard a lot of top quality live MC performances and also DJ and MC studio mix collaborations. An MC is not only a host but a lyricist and vocalist and can be an integral part of a live show.

This summer sees MC Static and MC Enemy teaming up once again as SE1 and bringing their Bar Wars Live concept to raves around the UK, while MC Obie and MC Mayhem have been working with Alex Prospect to create a brand new live act named The Order.

UK ravers can catch both Bar Wars Live and The Order at NTWICH (Now That’s What I Call Hardcore) in Bristol in just a few weeks from now. NTWICH, which features an all-day open air rooftop party followed by an all-night indoor rave, is presented by Fallon who just last week was announced as the latest signing to major label Klubbed Up.  Fallon’s first Klubbed Up release, “Makes Me Wonder” is out today.

Moving further north now; there seems to be a lot of new UKHC music coming out of Scotland lately. Scotland is often considered to be the UK’s home of gabber, industrial and other darker styles of hardcore but there’s also a lot of UKHC action happening there too; here are a couple of new stunning melodic, vocal UKHC tracks from Scottish artists.

First up we have Ganar; who has recently launched a new label GAS Digital with the excellent “In Your Arms Tonight.”

And then we have Hotchkiss, making waves in the scene with his Evolution Records debut, “Way Down Low.”

Yet another vocal track incoming – because everyone loves those feel good sing along on the dancefloor moments!  This is “Under The Sun” by Instigate & Joey Riot ft. Dionne; it’s actually an opportune time for Instigate to make a track named “Under The Sun” because he was recently named as one of the HTID Bootcamp winners for 2016, meaning that he will be playing at HTID In The Sun next month, in the party town of Magaluf in the Balearic Islands.

Zipping back around the world to Australia but staying with vocal UKHC for the final track in this article, this is a spectacular new tune “Just Be” by legendary UKHC master Technikore featuring Australian vocalist Emi. Of all the great tracks around this month I’m going to call this one out as my favourite! “Just Be” is available now at www.oneseventy.net and all download stores.

Emi sings “You don’t have to change the world, just be!” and while that’s great life advice I am however going to take this moment to thank all the artists featured this month who are working so hard and are changing our worlds with their beautiful music!

Alive At Night would love to hear from all the international UK Hardcore fans, especially in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe!  We know you’re out there, tell us about your favourite UK Hardcore artists and events in the comments section below!