Quick Note: I wrote a long article for the new editorial section of the music platform Nina about a hardcore rave sub-subculture that seems to be developing in the USA. I go fairly deep, but I feel like going deeper, so for this week’s edition of The Report, we are rocking with 100 percent new American rave music.
xxhardbit3s “KEEP MY HEART OPEN”
I had a real noodle-muddling moment with this tune a few months ago at a Helltekk party in the woods. It takes piano from the old-school classic “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” by Baby D and mangles it with quick-cut club gunshots and fried kicks and Trap-A-Holics drops. It’s hardcore rave, removed from the hardcore rave vacuum. In four minutes and some change, it provides a good snapshot of the energy I’ve been witnessing at events around New York City.
New Mexico head 99jakes is one of the masterminds behind 909 Worldwide, an internet-brained collective playing with new mutations of rave—they released that track I was just writing about. “GO-LUCKY” sounds like chugging a bag of Fun Dip and then puking it back up. It’s hardcore so happy that it’s maniacal. It’s hardcore so happy that it’s basically pop punk. It’s rainbow rock?
On the more headstrong end of the contemporary American rave spectrum lies Kilbourne. Her Brooklyn loft party Hammerhead is nothing but harsh red lighting and distortion. “Milkshake” is a record built not only for that environment but also for multi-generational Dutch techno festivals where men in tophats shoot flamethrowers from the stage.
Doormouse “Old Detestable Tripping Bastards”
Doormouse has one of the more singular stories in American underground music. Over the course of 25 years, he has gone from rave shit stirrer to father and gym owner to an elder statesman figure within the new school of gabber and breakcore. There’s too much to say; just read our interview. “Old Detestable Tripping Bastards” throws Big Baby Jesus into the gung-gung woodchipper. When that drop hits—duck!
Technopagen “the craziest song ever made!!!!!”
This blast of ultraonlinechaosrave sounds like Girl Talk wearing phat pants. I like how a lot of these new school tracks can function as their own self-contained mini-mixes. It’s optimized music: I can put on headphones and have my own little microrave as I contemplate the purchase of a six-pack of overpriced non-alcoholic craft beer from my local grocer.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Baseck “At Lucid Radio NYC”
Baseck is another breakcore vet who has been a major bridge between eras and styles. His Boiler Room 2x4 with Flapjack The Kandi Kid is one of the best musical moments of 2023. Here he has some live hardware in the mix and is playing mostly his own shit. It’s a good hour of music, but I’ve been listening to a lot of chopped-up breakbeats over the past few months, so now I must put on some Neil Young.