I’ve been deep “in the lab” finishing a new EP, and here is what I will say about that process: Doing a blog post is less stressful than trying to write, record and produce a few pop rock songs. Maybe that’s not true for everyone. Me, though? I’m losing my mind.
But Anyway, as Popper would say. Today on Streaming Madness: Hardstyle. We enjoy “niche” music genres here at Jonathan’s Music Blog. It is one of the hallmarks of whatever this thing is. Looks like next week I’m interviewing someone who made an entire movie about hyphy. This week, though, we take a look at the contemporary hardstyle landscape.
If you don’t know hardstyle, it is noisy, high-production rave music that evolved out of gabber and trance–legend says it began in the late ‘90s when Dutch DJs started slowing down hardcore techno tracks to around 140 BPM. Since then, it has morphed into many different sub-subgenres. Most hardstyle sounds like music that could score a dystopian war movie set deep in the future. It is currently the soundtrack to leisure life in several social democratic European countries.
Where hardstyle really makes sense is at the Belgian festival Tomorrowland. This Ran-D Tomorrowland clip is actually terrifying: it’s from a lockdown-era CGI rave and it looks like it could be a scene in that hypothetical war movie I talked about a few sentences ago.
A somewhat demonic voice kicks our journey off: “You live and breathe this music. It’s within your very soul.” Well, I can’t argue with that. What follows is sound design straight out of a Marvel movie trailer and then some of that midrange headbanger carnage. I guess this track is two years old? I went to check back in on “Hardstyle Bangers” today and most of the songs were already different.
Bloodlust, Killshot, Unresolved “Ghetto Bass”
From the title and rapping to the carnivalesque EDM trap-ish buildup, this track feels like the sonic manifestation of a clueless Dutch man with a tracksuit and dreadlocks, high on ecstasy, breakdancing near a canal. I mean, just look at these producer names: Bloodlust, Killshot, Unresolved. SNL could never. I miss playing shows in Holland.
Audiofreq, Darksiderz “The 9th Gate”
Another good voiceover to start: “If you take the silent path and escape the labyrinth, if you brave the arrows of misfortune and fear neither fire or menace, if you win the greatest game and spare no expenses… Twist the strands of fate… Admit yourself passage to the 9th Gate.” No doubt! I’ve been told that hardstyle is a favorite of gym rats the world over. If I lifted, I would be banging “The 9th Gate.” For sure.
What’s crazy about contemporary hardstyle is that no matter what strain it is, or how a track is framed–“Down Down” starts as diva-led pop dance–it ultimately leads to a drop that is mostly ear-shattering midrange. Sounds like a damn car alarm!
Getting a bit of an Imagine Dragons-meets-Tiësto vibe here. Incredible lyrics. But then the drop hits. Some of these songs almost remind me of that era of American pop screamo where you had the “wimpy” singing guy but then also the “tough” screaming guy. A little something for everyone.
Navras, Becko, Dirty Workz “In Every Place”
Seems like hardstyle is in an interesting space. I check in roughly once a decade, so I really have no idea, but until the drop, “In Every Place” sounded like Linkin Park. This song is three years old and somehow Copyright Free. Put it in that movie.
Yet another spoken word intro: “Have you ever wondered why we avoid change? Maybe we can’t bear to see our life dissolve into nothingness. Change is enviable, and if you allow it to flow, it will drive you… Into Caprice.” Then a euphoric trance synth hits. This is what I’m talking about! Out of any of these songs, “Caprice” seems to be the closest to something a kid could do a jumpstyle routine to. High praise.
D-Sturb, Act of Rage, Nolz “Magnetism”
The cover of “Magnetism” shows three serious-looking young men in corpse paint, foregrounded by the embers of some kind of computer-generated fire. What are they wearing? Are those straightjackets or pieces of extremely-technical European outerwear? I’ll never know.