I wrote the majority of this post on Tuesday without any knowledge that today, November 29th, 2012, is the 40th anniversary of the release of Pong and that Buzzfeed has published an excellent article about the game entitled Atari Teenage Riot. Serendipity doo!
Alec Empire
‘The Destroyer’ DHR Mix Tape Side 1
‘The Destroyer’ DHR Mix Tape Side 2
Alec Empire is the frontman of Atari Teenage Riot, the German electronic band that Mike D of the Beastie Boys once declared to be the most punk rock shit ever. That’s a hell of an endorsement, but it was inaccurate. They are the most hardcore shit ever. So fucking hardcore that they had to make up a genre (digital hardcore) to properly categorize their more hardcore than hardcore, louder than louder, noisier than noise sound. When forced to describe the abrasive, acidic sound of ATR, I typically say “imagine if someone took all of the heaviest Slayer bits, put them in a sampler, and then hit the sampler with a fucking sledgehammer.” To date, ATR is the only band that have actually given me a headache.
I fucking LOVE them.
Sometimes you just want to go there, y’know? You want your head rattled, your brain smashed in, your sense of what constitutes music and what constitutes noise to be shaken to its very core. I listen to a lot of music, and the most in-your-face ATR or Alec Empire solo work still takes me places few other songs can, even it makes my head explode a little bit sometimes.
This mix is a combination of ATR”s greatest hits, random movie/anime samples, and in your face noise (and a Frank Zappa sample). All scratches, pops and hisses you hear on this mix are from the original source material and are not mistakes made by me during the recording process. From what I can gather, this mix is rare as shit, only about 200 or so copies were pressed to vinyl. I bought it for five bucks in a shitty NYC record store that was charging $80 for run-of-the-mill Tangerine Dream albums. There’s some irony or justice there somewhere.
If you have never heard ATR before, be warned, this might not be a good jumping on point. This is the most bone-jarring thing I have ever posted on The Lost Turntable. To the unprepared it might sound like the phone call from Stephen King’s The Cell or that broadcast in that film The Signal, and may induce a similar madness. After listening to it nonstop for about two hours I want to run outside and punch a cop in the face.
You have been warned.
Hey, thanks for this. This mix is one of the few DHR releases that I haven’t heard before.
You might be interested in this post by myself on interviewing Alec Empire back when The Future of War and 60 Second Wipeout were released:
http://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/do-riot-sounds-produce-riots-revisiting-interviews-with-alec-empire/
And a very cool pomo analysis of ATR’s music by an academic at UNC:
http://its-her-factory.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/taking-midijunkies-into-death-v-20.html
$5 for something so incredibly rare? talk about incredible luck. the only time i’ve felt that kinda luck was when i found a pretty good copy of “Run 2” for about $7.
Sweet. Thanks. I remember wanting to see ATR when they were touring with Rage Against The Machine and Wu Tang Clan. I collected whatever Digital Hardcore stuff I could find. Again, thanks for the rare stuff.
Wondering if you will do a review of RATM 20th anniversary re-issue.
I have no idea how it sounds, but $85-$100 for a 2CD/2DVD/1LP set is a rip-off, especially since I can’t figure out what the hell is on that LP since their website makes no mention of it. Even better, their website just takes you to BEST BUY whenever you click on anything for product information. Glad to see RATM really get behind that union-busting, below livable wage paying, small business crushing, illegal business practicing company. Asshole sellout hypocrite lazy bastards.
I’m not a Rage fan. In case you couldn’t tell.
Never heard anything like this before, and not really that familiar with ATR. Went in expecting just a hardcore rave mix, but there are moments that feel like a hardcore version of Christian Marclay or John Oswald. Really cool things happen in this mix. Thanks for posting this.
Not too long ago, back before vinyl started really taking off again as a collectable a few years back, there were all sort of things in bargain bins. I have one of the 500 copies of Underworld’s Mother Earth/ The Hump. I bought it for $1.00, and it was in awesome condition.
Now used vinyl prices are up, and while there are some great bargain finds out there, they are fewer and farther between. Although now people that are into tapes can find tapes for $1 or sometimes even as low as 50 cents or 25 cents. There are a lot of mint in wrapper, or used but in great condition tapes out there at stores that don’t want them taking shelf-space anymore and are trying to get rid of them. Sometimes you can find versions or remixes of things that never made it over to cd or digital download.
Holy shit dude. I love you. Thanks for posting this. If by any chance you have Sonic Subjunkies’ “Sounds From The City of Quartz” lying around yr vault of awesomeness, let’s hear that too.