Our 7th release is finally out & more hardcore than ever!
The Supersonic Army from UK presents a 9track EP, which is available from today on free download via this blogpost on the SNB main site.
Here is a track-by-track review from him about his influences-inspirations and how did this EP came out.
" I had always heard alot of the hardcore dance stuff from the early nineties growing up. my older cousin was a raver and i would sit and flick through his record collection and listen to tapes of his. being born in 1988, i unfortunately missed the entire scene however I never forgot about that music. my first renewed taste of the original hardcore scene was hearing prodigy experience for the first time at the age of 14. soon thereafter i started to find out about acts like Rhythm Section, T99, Cubic 22, Altern8, 2 Bad Mice, Nookie, Gordon Edge and Praga Khan.
I literally spent two or three solid years between '05 and '07 just searching out old skool tracks across the net. The Youtube was amazing back in the day, so many channels were uploading all this amazing music! It sort of became all I listened to and in 2006 started writing more hardcore breaks style tracks proactively.
I got some airplay on Fantazia radio, Remaniss Radio and a few other little internet stations. I don’t think I ever made the decision to start writing HCB music, it just happened….but once I realised what I had, I sort of went with it. I have tons of unfinished and unreleased demos from that era (06-08) that have a very old skool sound and flavour to them…but here are the ones that did see the light of day.
MYSTERIA – This is just a total rip off! I really got into sampling back in mid 2006 and this track is a direct result of that. Its got the beats from a Jonny L track (Hurt You So), and the synth from an Anticapella track (2v231). But if you listen to that Anticapella track, ive really ripped it off. I don’t think this will be seen as my most original track lets say. Nevertheless its still a good track and it always went down well live in 09-10 when it featured in my sets.
The Crew – I think this is my take on the Trip II the Moon Part 3 track from Acen. I have a thing for pianos in dance music, and T2TM Pt.3 has the best piano riff out of any ‘rave’ track…period. I took that same break, a piano from a Manix track along with a couple of other samples and put this together. Again this worked well live during my early sets in 09-10. Bit of a fast and silly track on the whole though!
The Ruff – This was from around October 2006. If I remember correctly, one of the old skool forums was running a remix competition of the Hyper-on-Experience track that had all the predator samples in there. This track was my entry into that competition. I cant remember how it did though!! The mix ive sent over is slightly different to the one found on my website and YT page. This is that mix from the comp I think!
Bombsquad – Not sure if this can be classed as HCB or not…but I included anyway. I started moving away from the scene somewhat, and started making just industrial sounding dance music. It still has an old skool flavour to it though. Big beats!!
Origins of Originality remix – I don’t think I have ever put this online anywhere. It was a live, on the fly remix of Origins of Originality (which wasn’t heard much either! That track is on my soundcloud) that I did back in the day on Ableton live. Not much to say about this one, its just me pissing about really.
Breezeblock – This is the last official (and best) HCB track I produced. This track very nearly got put out on a label in 2007, I think it was Bat Beat recordings..However the mastering guy couldn’t sort out my messy production and the entire thing never happened. This track came together so quickly, it was early 2007 before I got disgruntled with the whole idea of writing ‘old skool-esq’ music. Its got a fast Amen break, that stupid ‘woo’ female vocal and as far as im aware, no other samples at all. I was getting fedup of hearing the same tired, overused samples in just about every HCB song at the time and this track was my answer to those choons!! I wanted to show that you didn’t need to use the same old 92 synth stabs, same lazy breaks and recooked ideas all the time to have something exciting and energetic. To me, the beauty of the HCB scene was capturing the vibe and energy in those old hardcore tracks; not to try and recook the same old ideas over and over. It was this rehashed nature of the scene that pissed me off and I didn’t want to write in that style anymore.
Mysteria remix - this track i put together not long after the original mix was done, so it will have been mid 2006. wanted to go for a bit of a more warehouse style beat with less emphasis on the upbeat synth from the original. the track has been heard online much, if at all. i mentioned it a few times in blogs but its been sat on my hard drive all these years. its far more basic than i would like, hence why it probably never saw the light of day!
Apache Getaway - this is a very late 2007 demo that actually spent more time being worked on in 2008. the inspiration for the drums was taken from Obsessed Part I by Acen. I took the idea of a chopped up apache break and put my twist on it. Acens hits much harder, but i think mine is a bit easier to groove to. By the time I had made progress on this track, i had a change in direction musically and this one got shelved. Probably wouldnt have ever seen the light of day if not for this release.
i must have been inspired by Words on Fire by the Prodigy at the time because i totally ripped off the idea from their track for the Vamp/Outlander motif toward the end of the track! I remember hearing WoF live in Sheffield in May 2008 so i imagine the track was still being tweaked around that time frame.
Under Defeat - ok so this is from 2008, so technically not fitting for the ep...but the beat alone made me put it on here. i was struggling to progess musically when i wrote this track, and i felt like i was stuck in a major rut!! Its got the same sort of approach as the other tracks on the e.p. but it hints toward where i was eventually going (with future tracks like Massacre and the 2011 record 'Sunset'). Its a mish mash of the hardcore sort of beats with an updated production. The vibe was there but it didnt feel like progress at the time. Had this track of been written 12-18 months earlier than it was, it probably would have been a proper banger.
Looking back, I was essentially as guilty as anyone else for that laziness too…but I tried to at least offer a slight twist where I could, especially with the beats. I think the Mysteria samples are a prime example of laziness on my part…but I don’t think anyone has ever sampled that synth the way I did!! In the end I just grew tired and moved on. I figured id never get anywhere trying to relive a past that I actually had no original part in. I have a lot of respect for the scene and the efforts of people to keep that vibe alive. My advice to some of the artists would be to be a bit more creative with the samples though!! Focus on the vibe not so much the sound…create that excitement with updated sounds. Use the breaks but chop them up! You know, a straight ‘amen’ or ‘think’ break here and there works and that’s totally cool. But try something different, take a kick from one break, a snare from another, a roll from here and a hi hat from there and hand build those breaks into something new. Keep pushing forward! The scene will continue to live on as people will discover the original scene and fancy a piece of it themselves. Old Skool Will Never Die!! "
You can download this 9track ep HERE
Listen to the tracks as uploaded on SNB Bandcamp page
THE SUPERSONIC ARMY
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Tracks 8 Apache Getaway and 9 Under Defeat get my vote. Bob and on mate.
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