atari teenage riot
Atari Teenage Riot ( ATR ) have long been considered pioneers of frantic , punk influenced electronic music . Having helped coin the term “ Digital Hardcore ”, one man was at the centre of it all . Alec Empire , an established solo artist , composer , producer and DJ in his own right , has inspired many artists and music lovers with his creative musical stylings and his passion for anarchy . We caught up with Alec at the tail end of ATR ' s 2016 tour to get inside the head of a digital revolutionist .
How did the ATR / Digital Hardcore sound come about and what influenced it ?
The digital hardcore sound is basically everything that was released on Digital Hardcore Recordings , the label . When we started , journalists and music fans felt that the music we released didn ’ t fit any of the existing categories because it was not just a mix of two genres or a slight variation of a genre . When I look back now , I would say that digital hard-core takes many genres to a new extreme ; transports it into the digital age .
Usually , people think that Atari Teenage Riot is what digital hardcore is . That ’ s not quite correct . If you listen to other artists like Christoph De Babalon , Cobra Killer , Shizuo and all the others , it gets more complex . The stereotype digital hardcore track is a fast distorted beat around 140-200 BPM , with noise , guitar samples and female screaming . It ’ s true that this formula was invented by us but even when you look at early Atari Teenage Riot , there are many songs that don ’ t fit that description . Listen to “ Death Star ” or “ Western Decay ”. Many of the early cut up breakbeats were taken to their extremes in the digital hardcore scene first . Sonic Subjunkies , Alec Empire / The Destroyer and DJ Bleed . I think this is why the early productions have influenced many artists from the guys at Warp like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher to even The Prodigy .
We think more like hackers and less like traditional musicians , which is perhaps why many hackers listen to Atari Teenage Riot . We reflect that scene and its philosophy . “ Delete Yourself ” was our first album , the song itself is from 1992 . It was a warning about a possible surveillance state that would look like what Orwell wrote about in his book “ 1984 ” but using technology to control people ’ s behaviour and censor them . To many , the lyrics look like a strange prophecy from another time now . Not so strange if you know how the Nazis used technology to organise the holocaust . We always need to be aware of that .
As well as the music that influenced the ATR sound and other similar acts whom you influenced , do you listen to anything that people might not expect from you ?
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