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Underground > Radio & Music >

Alec Empire

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:21 / 01.12.01

Alec Empire's playing at the Garage in London on December 10th... anyone up for it?
Or anyone care to venture an opinion on the whole DHR thing?
Personally, I love it. It's about the only label that seems to embody the ideals of the old Crass label... and in that sense, is truly "punk".
Also, Atari Teenage Riot were the only band in about the last ten years that made me feel the way I did when I saw my first gig... that whole "fuck yeah" thing.
I know DHR's politics are horribly simplistic, but I prefer to look at that as "touching naivete"... and let's face it, it isn't music made for subtlety.

17:09 / 01.12.01

Hello fellow DHR fan, I thought there weren't that many of us in existence. I haven't got anything from the label in about 14months, but cash has been hard to come by for such indulgences.
DHR, E8OR and ATR put the lame Prodigy angry elctro punk attitude to shame (sorry guys).
Their sound is were the industrial, electro, punk, rave underground have gone to ground. A right proper John Peel sound (was having a chat with him regarding Gabba and DHR, when I DJ'd with him (honest I have flyers), but his management were being funny (fukkers)).
Alec Empire certainly likes to be political and outspoken, which puts many British artists to shame (That you ,the Levellers in the background, trying to make excuses. Shut it)It does line him up for flack, but then I'm sure he is aware of this.
What can you say about tracks that are made from the sounds that come from a GameBoy(c). Fickin' Awesome.
If you tire from Radioheads last three albums, due to their muso ability, then plug your head into DHR. Straight forward acoustic headfuck, Whitenoise for the 21st Century.

Did I sound like a fanboy?

[ 01-12-2001: Message edited by: William Wright ]

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:45 / 01.12.01

Well yeah, you do sound like a fanboy. But that makes two of us. (I love the fact that there's still music out there that can still make a cynical old fuck like me into a fanboy.)
LONG LIVE THE ATARI NO-SOUND!!!

The Sinister Haiku Bureau

09:28 / 02.12.01

Ditto.

09:28 / 02.12.01

ATR always struck me as the real life version of the band from Stewart Home's Pure Mania - sloganistic ultraleft lyrics, deliberate appropriation and pastiche, violent/macho aesthetic. I liked their stuff when I heard it, and I still like the early Alec Empire solo stuff, but it seems to me like the only point of their stuff was to be heavier and more cutting edge than anyone else - which they no longer are. (Anyone who likes ATR, DH, etc. should check out the artists around kid606 on teanbeat6 - especially 'attitude', their NWA tribute album. More intense, more fucked up, and more diverse than ATR, but along the same lines.)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:28 / 02.12.01

I'd also recommend 2nd Gen.

09:28 / 02.12.01

Does anyone have "Alec Empire vs Elvis Presley?" I've been looking for a copy for a couple of years now, but no-one else has even heard of it.

Is there anyone on the Board (apart from me) that actually listens to "Live at Brixton Academy?"

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:28 / 02.12.01

In order yes (but only on vinyl, and I'll be buggered if I can find it. But if I do, I'll get someone to burn you a copy.)
And, no, youre not the only one who actually LISTENS to "Live at the Brixton Academy".
I love it. For two reasons- one; I was there, and two; it sounds like Throbbing Gristle. Only shinier.

13:50 / 02.12.01

I am an admirer of DHR, and have been mourning the death of Carl Crack for a while. But now I've returned, and after purchasing 'Shizuo vs. Shizor' I too, am starting to turn into a fan-boy. I'm even starting to like Lolita Storm.

I dont own Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley but I am a proud owner of Nintendo Teenage Robots, an equally hard to find 'side-project.'

HIPPER-BLAST GHOST-CHASE!!!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:00 / 02.12.01

Don't be embarrassed, Johnny, Lolita Storm rule.
And my copy of Nintendo Teenage Robots is in the hands of an ex-girlfriend who I no longer speak to. Which sucks.

15:16 / 02.12.01

I say we get FEVER to take on the WU TANG CLAN. I think it would be a fair fight.

Did everyone manage to get the ADF/ATR 7"?
Now that was a great line up, but I found most people too naive to realise who ATR were, let alone ADF at the time.

Does anyone know if the bands actually met or not. And if there was any cross pollenisation of ideas?

[ 03-12-2001: Message edited by: William Wright ]

21:42 / 02.12.01

Alec Empire WAS gonna play at the Leicester Charlotte this week - which would have been the coolest thing EVER!

But like all the really good acts who are advertised as playing the Charlotte - he cancelled. BASTARD!

Now we get 100 bloody Reasons instead..

I would be up for the London show .. except I'm already going to the Barbelith do 5 days later, and train tickets get kinda dear..

21:48 / 02.12.01

As for my views on Atari Teenage Riot / Digital Hardcore, I don't think they really stand up as 'musical innovators', but:

a)they make tons of absolutely hideous noise

b)they shout a load of hoo-hah about smashing the state and bringing down governements

c)they look like the replicants from BladeRunner

so, therefore a contender for BEST BAND EVER!

I mean, what more could you ask for out of a pop band?

Jack The Bodiless

10:49 / 03.12.01

Thank you! Laydees and gennelmen, The Mighty Rizla (TM)!