This is not a new scene to the phone booth. We have been here before. Breakbeats, evil basslines, junglist intentions. The defining sound here is the relentless, brutally sliced, pitched and layered drums.
Some essential names introduced here – Shitmat, FFF, the legendary VSnares. Bogdan Raczynski and CDR, who have been active since before the turn of the millenium. Additionally there’s the return of the Bloody Fist label out of Australia. Sadly I somehow missed Spongebob Squarewave this week but we will hear plenty in the future. All tracks were produced between 1999 and 2007.
07/12/2021 – Amen.
Bogdan Raczynski – boku mo wakaran 24
Mirra – The Fall
Epsilon – Aim Self-Affliction
Soundmurderer & SK-1 – Dangerous
Cardopusher – Bring da fire
FRX – 061203
FFF – War Is In The Dance
Shitmat – Zagreb
Venetian Snares – Epidermis
Dev/Null – Rave5
CDR – 8+8+8
Enduser – Port666 (Line 47 Remix)
Enduser – Esb Rmx
This show marks the end of the prologue. In 2007 a certain artist would begin formally releasing works that would change the face of underground electronic forever, at least in the eyes of this humble DJ. Next week we’ll get into the dark purpose of the Hinamizawa Phone Booth. Stay tuned.
In this week’s episode we heard DJ SHARPNEL, the prolific artist who has influenced just about every sound I love. DJ SHARPNEL is the stage name of the man who goes by JEA, founder of Project Gabbangelion and eventually the label SHARPNELSOUND. Active under multiple monikers from 1996 to today, JEA was inspired to produce after attending a number of hardcore show in Osaka as part of the scene we explored in episode 1 of the phone booth. Books can and have been written about the history of this act and related personalities, but suffice it to say, JEA popularized what is now known as J-Core: an upbeat style of happy hardcore & gabber blended with anisong samples.
06/28/21 – Edge Of Your Seat – SHARPNELSOUND
L.A. Style – James Dad Is Brown (uncredited remix)
DJ Sharpnel – WHO THE FUCK IS JAMES BROWN IS STILL DEAD OR ALIVE!!???
DJ D1ed/DJ Sharpnel – WALAWALAwahINGton (Fake Promise – ERRR Micks)
DJ Sharpnel – PANTS
DJ Sharpnel – XRated ちぇる-C
DJ Sharpnel – DELUSION WONDERLAND
日向 – ブルーウォーター (BLUE WATER DJ SHARPNEL REMIX)
DJ Sharpnel – Take Core Of Yourself
DJ Sharpnel – SPEED DISCO VOL. 1
M-PROJECT – Tori no Uta (M-Project RMX)
DJ Sharpnel – Co.Co.Ro.
Keen listeners may note this week started out with a callback to last week with two more remixes of LA Style’s James Brown Is Dead. The rest of the night was all SHARPNELSOUND and associated acts. Since 2017 DJ SHARPNEL has withdrawn from live shows, opting instead to perform in virtual reality venues regularly. He’s headlined with such acts as The Speedfreak, Goreshit and W.T. Snacks among others. You can follow him @sharpnelsound on twitter to keep up with future live events
In the phone booth this week we heard a bit of house, a bit of techno, a bit of rave and a whole lot of drums and bass. The idea was to showcase one original banger, followed by an alternate version or remix released under the same label by the same artist. All of these tracks were produced around the same time or shortly after what you’ve heard before on this show, from the 90s and early 2000s
06/21/2021 – Disaster Strikes Twice – Mix/Remix
ADULT. – Hand to Phone
ADULT. – Hand to Phone (Cordless Mix)
DJ Trace – Inception
DJ Trace – Inception (After Dark Mix)
Artificial Intelligence – Desperado
Artificial Intelligence – Desperado (VIP Mix)
John B – Up All Night
John B – Up All Night (Epic Mix)
L.A. Style – James Brown Is Dead
L.A. Style – James Brown Is Dead (Deadly Remix)
That last track is a major chune and was a global hit from two relative unknowns out of the Netherlands. It’s been officially remixed over 20 times by artists from New York to Tokyo and everywhere in between. Also featured were two heavily influential DnB labels – Moving Shadow and Metalheadz. Stop in next week and you may hear the wailing of the damned, potentially some more sounds from these labels, or something else entirely.
My first update after our third visit to the phone booth. Here’s the story so far.
05/31/2021 – The First “Incident” – Virtuacore
To open, I wanted to explore a few scenes that I love and which influence many of the artists & net labels you’ll hear in the phone booth going forward. The acts here are exemplary of a style of sample-heavy hardcore jungle/drum & bass out of Osaka from the early 90’s, known as virtuacore, nerdcore, j-core and etc. My mic was overall very shitty but I promise you I’ve cleared that up now. Also the set only ran a half hour, but we will be re-visiting this in a future episode! Probably several future episodes.
Cycheouts (サイケアウツ) – Dark Entry
NIP Sound System – Re-Rouse
Kastro (カストロ) – カストロ大地に立つ サイコミュmix
DV8 – Track 2 (Untitled, from “Connect”)
Traffic Jammies – LMM
Cycheouts (サイケアウツ) – Kaos Future
06/07/2021 – Police Case File #2 – Digital Hardcore
If the first show wasn’t hard enough for you, this will certainly scratch that itch. Digital Hardcore can only be described as just that. You get what it says on the tin. Birthed in rage out of Berlin by three legends – Alec Empire, Hanin Elias, and MC Carl Crack, Atari Teenage Riot was formed in 1992 and proceeded to live up to the name. After much controversy they founded Digital Hardcore Recordings and signed some promising talent for releases & compilations. Though the label can’t really be called active anymore, “Digital Hardcore” has expanded to refer to an entire genre and underground electronic movement.
AK-47 – Unreleased Track from DTRASH006 (1999)
Alec Empire – Down With the Shit
Bomb20 – Made of Shit!
Bomb20 – Burn the Shit Down!
Sonic Dragolgo – Don’t Stop the Music
Alec Empire – Pleasure Is Our Business
Atari Teenage Riot – Hetzjagd Auf Nazis! (Hunt Down The Nazis!)
Nasenbluten – Skullbash
Christoph De Babalon – My Confession
Bastards United – Technotrashed
ENSC – Cybernetic Bodies (Bastards United Remix)
All Out Assault – Time to Stand (DJ Sniper)
06/14/2021 – An Haunting – Demoscene
I told you I would fix my mic! If you’re familiar with this community at SDF you may have heard of, been active in, or maybe still are involved with da scene. Made and performed with a multitude of samplers & sequencers built for the Commodore Amiga, the sound produced is unlike any other.
Bigdaddy – readyornot.mod
Richard Jonas – Jungle Is Massive
Punnik – the amen breaks!.mod
celsius – risintime.mod
Juice – versatile.mod
P2 (Phineus II) – Amiga Junglism Mixtape Vol 2 Side A
Kind of neat that the L/R audio is fucked up at points because in protracker and other amiga tools, the 4 audio channels are hard set to either side, and many producers back in the day would just put whatever fit where to get the most out of them, so it sounds kind of funny in a modern stereo environment. For instance at 11:45 you can hear the bassline on the right while the left channel is utilized for a synth lead. Then, at 12:10, the bass moves back to the left while the right channel plays the vocal sample.
And that’s all we have for today! If you read all of this you’re probably insane. Who knows what the future has in store for this little phone booth.
