December 2007

PRAXIS: 15 YEARS

FROM SCAREMONGER TO LA PESTE - THE ASSAULT CONTINUES!

The first 2 releases on Praxis came out towards the end of 1992 in London. Taking an approach of uncompromising hardcore techno, the sound of the label soon radicalized as the new underground scene tried to create an escape velocity against the commercialisation of techno. Many alliances were forged with like-minded musicians and cultural provocateurs world-wide, seeking a cross-pollination of ideas and concepts, always pushing things further, always experimenting.

With an average of 3 releases per year we never flooded the market, but were always concerned with quality and close relations between producers and label. At the same time other projects such as the organisation of the legendary Dead By Dawn parties at 121 Railton Road in Brixton between 1994-96, and from 1997 Sub/Version, the sister label to Praxis dedicated to hard drum'n'bass and epic breakcore, as well as Datacide, the magazine for Noise & Politics radicalized the subversive potentials further.

Praxis has released records by such diverse cutting edge artists as Bourbonese Qualk, Metatron, Disciples of Belial, Lorenz Attractor, Deadly Buda, Test Tube Kid, Pure, Somatic Responses, The Wirebug, Base Force One, Hecate, Kovert, Nihil Fist, and La Peste along with other projects and collaborations.

Sub/Version in turn came out with massive tracks by Pure & Christoph Fringeli, Crisis Theory, Kovert, Hecate, Vile Enginez, DJ Scud, DJ Hidden, and Amboss.

With Datacide a carrier of countercultural ideas was created in print, "heterogenous theory for the invisible insurrection of a million minds", combining critical articles with news and reviews. Another focus became the development of an independent international distribution network, and also the manufacturing and distribution of labels such as Zhark International and its subsidiaries, Dirty Needles, Low Res, Darkmatter Soundsystem and others, after having been involved with Subnet, New Skin, Stormcore on a different level ... Recently we have opened an international online shop as well as a "real" record store in Berlin at Mainzer Str. 8 in berlin Friedrichshain.

15 years are impossible to sum up in such short a space, all the discussions, ideas, parties, excesses... all the excitement, all the frustrations and all the noise... But why go on about the past when there are countless new projects on the way?:

A new Datacide is being produced and will see the light of day in the next couple of months and there will be a conference to accompany the release in Feb/March 2008. A Datacide blog is being prepared. The Sub/Version 013 by Vile Enginez is on test pressing and a re-release of the A-sides of 001 and 002 as 012 is in the pipeline, as are new releases by Kovert and others.

On Praxis we recently mastered and cut number 15 - which had never been used - as a triple album with unreleased material from (mainly) 1993-2003 which has some amazing stuff on it. The next provocative step is Praxis 44 - an anonymous compilation with 4 powerful tracks - the first in a series of 3 anonymous comps to emphasize that "What Is Heard In Sound Is The Non-Face".

The first 15 years have passed and we're gearing up for another Decade of Disorder....

August 2007

PRAXIS 43
La Peste:
Safety First

To be released this month after several months on limited white labels is this momentous work by La Peste, a 24 minute track spread on both sides of a 12" exploring molecular beats and mind-twisting noise! A truly advanced exploration that is not conforming to any standards and conventions and pushes the boundaries once more!

SUB/VERSION site online now!
Sub/Version, the sister label to Praxis, dedicated to hard and dark drum'n'bass has it's own web site now: http://subversion.c8.com
After the awesome releases by Vile Enginez and DJ Scud we just mastered new tracks by DJ HIdden and Amboss. Expect some white labels in may, releases in june/july!

Datacide 9 out now!

DATACIDE NINE
The magazine for noise and politics is back with its 9th edition. 44 pages packed with news and features - The news section consists mainly of up to date reports from L.A., Berlin, Brazil, Israel, Italy and more, including of course the report on the severe repression of last year’s Czeck-Tek and some label news.
The first major article is Howard Slater’s LOTTA CONTINUA: ROOTS MUSIC AND THE POLITICS OF PRODUCTION which examines the roots of sound system culture in Jamaica. YOU MUST HELP YOURSELF: NEO-LIBERAL GEOGRAPHIES AND WORKER INSURGENCY IN OSAKA is a report and analysis of park occupations and proletarian revolt in Japan. Matthew Hyland’s SAY FEAR IS A MAN’S BEST FRIEND in turn is looking at concepts of risk and accident following 9/11 . Christoph Fringeli follows with a polemic against the counter-revolutionary nature of current leftism with ANTI-IMPERIALISM: BANKRUPTCY OF THE LEFT? This section of features is followed by book reviews. Stewart Home is tracing the Eclipse and Reemergence of the Bildungsroman
in recent publications. CF reviews a rare recent handbook in critical psychiatry, researches the whereabouts of Ulrike Meinhof’s brain, and reviews a history of the German Communist League. Then we change the subject to music and reprint an interview with JOHN BALANCE from COIL from 1986, giving some insights into the ideas behind mid-80’s industrial culture. Following Balance’s recent death we thought this interview might be of interest to the reader 20 years on. It is followed by an extensive (but due to the long time which passed since the last issue not necessarily systematic) record review section interspersed with a few pieces of fiction by Matt Fuller, The Wirebug and Calvi23. A smaller article is investigating the political impetus behind Muslimgauze’s music. The issue is as always rounded off with the latest on Bloor Schleppy and the charts of our favorite selectors.
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To order a single copy please paypal EUR 5.00 to praxis@c8.com (incl. postage)
If you order anything else from the store as well, then process the order through the Praxis Shop system! If you're thinking of ordering bulk to re-sell please check the link below.
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If you haven't looked at the shop in a while, please check it out, it has considerably grown in the last months!

http://praxis.c8.com/catalog (shop)
http://c8.com/c8/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5754 (bulk ordering info)

NEW RELEASES END OF 2005
Praxis 42 - Nihil Fist: Resistance is Fertile
5 tracks of the most uncompromising, militant and devastating speedcore noize ever committed to vinyl!

Praxis 39 - Base Force One: Dynamite & Fire 2000-2004
Finally released is a five tracker by Base Force One titled Dynamite & Fire 2000-2004.
These are slightly older tracks, mostly from around 2001, so they were mostly produced between Welcome to Violence and Expenditure of Excess Energy.
The EP's starts off with ferocious breakcore sampling an eyewitness report from the riot in Cincinnati in that year.
Next up is an expedition into the jungle of Guayana where kool aid, free jazz and acid are mixed into a deadly concoction, with the Rev. Jim Jones on the mic.
First on the B-side is a "dubplate" mix of "The Hate that Hate Made". I decided to include this slightly lower-fi rough mix as the sequencer file was corrupted and I would have had to re-make the whole track. This is the oldest trrack on the record.
Next are 2 more experimental pieces, first a heavy grinding one with unexpected tempo change and low bass, then a more peaceful slower track, not without disturbances.
The first edition is on red vinyl and is limited to 500 copies.
It's available now from http://praxis.c8.com/catalog

PRAXIS LABEL NIGHT
We had a wicked party at the Hirscheneck in Basel, Switzerland on Nov 19 with Dan Hekate, Kovert, Nihil Fist, Vile Enginez and CF!

2005

is promising to become a busy year with new releases on Praxis and Sub/Version. But first some re-organisation was necessary, the webstore is online now with around 800 titles, and the distribution is working. A newsletter will be printed - old school! - in late August, and Praxis 39 by Base Force One - slightly older tracks mostly recorded between Welcome to Violence and Expenditure of Excess Energy will be out by beginning of September. There will be a limited edition of 500 on red vinyl. Next on Praxis: a new release by Nihil Fist (Praxis 42).
Then there will be a major push for Sub/Version with a new sleeve and quite a few wicked releases, number 008 by Vile Enginez and 009 by DJ Scud. All mentioned records are on test pressing at the moment!
Watch this space.

Praxis 18 re-pressed!
The classic release by Somatic Responses "Post-Organic EP" has been newly mastered and re-pressed. Originally released in 1996 this captures a moment in the development of the Somatics themselves as well as hardcore techno in general. Maybe the moment when it was just about to cease being 'techno'. The record goes from classic underground hard techno getting played at the teknivals and free parties at the time (Spacegrinder, Reactor) to pushing the envelope of hardcore with Warp Spasm and entering the territory of broken up beats and noise with the memorable Insecure. What is probably the most astonishing thing that has to be said about this record is - while defining a historic point - it still sounds fresh and certainly deserves to be listened to by a new generation.

December 2004

Hecate / Etaceh Sub/Version 007
Haunting strings and monster basslines underline the driving breaks and metallic rhythms found on the new Sub/Version. Hecate presents an track of deep subtleties and masterful programming on “Technical Witch”, with Etaceh on the flip side going full out into territory bordering on breakcore, but never forgetting mixability for the progressive dancefloor.

Spring/Summer

Sub/Version 006 – Kovert: Jaffna Pt.1 & 2
Sub/Version was founded in 1997 or so by Pure and myself as a reaction to the development of dark UK post-jungle-drum'n'bass that was emerging at the time. As 4-4 hardcore was growing stale and "breakcore" was still in its infancy, darkstep, techstep or whatever-step was opening new pathways of serious d-a-r-k dance music. The first release "Dark Star", a one sided 12" set the pace for the label: a heavy, harsh and dark comment and intensification on/of the new "stepping" sound. The follow-up "Anti-Christ" provoked an even more serious constellation of beats and noises. Number 3 didn't manage to top the propositions of the first two releases, but it didn't really attempt to: It was two remixes of "Dark Star", one by Panacea, one by Fennesz. A rare release, limited to 500 copies!
At this point already a certain crisis set in (crisis at least in this context not meaning something necessarily negative), for a number of reasons. darkstep - or whatever you'd like to call it - became a genre itself, reproducing its own aesthetic endlessly - something we had flirted with, but only to subvert it. Also the occasions to record together became rare, so we decided the Sub/Version 004 to be a split EP - Pure delivering the classic breakcore epic "Fight 'Em", myself, on the other side, with "Fuel For The Fire" aspiring to a minimalist but edited with cold blooded intention to reflect and pervert the then still new techstep sound.
As the initial makeup of the label - collaborations between Pure and myself - was impossible due to the geographic distance, I was looking for new ways to formulate the initial intention of the label. the first incarnation of which became the Sub/Version 005 by Crisis Theory (Rachael Kozak & Christoph Fringeli). The epic psychedelic tracks "Luxuria" and "Avaritia" became some of the baddest trips in the history of d'n'b - Pure called it the "best Sub/Version yet" while others denounced it as "too futuristic" and not close enough to the dancefloor.
Sub/Version 006, after 3 years the first installment after a long break, is by UK producer Kovert who has stunned listeners with his release on Praxis (number 34) as well as Damage (12003 - Versioning) after drawing attention with his contribution to the Praxis USA compilation.
Titled Jaffna pt. 1 & 2 - is the first in a row of releases. Razor sharp edits and practical dancefloor sub-version at its most concrete!

NOW available is Rachael Kozak's new album as Hecate on both formats, double vinyl with luxury gatefold sleeve as well as CD. The ten tracks are based on and inspired by the Sephira of the Kaballah/Qabala, which is reflected in everything from the time signatures to the atmospheres and intensities. A serious conceptual work (hence track listing of vinyl and CD are identical) with depth and focus, developing her sound ever further.
For this release, like in the case of her first full album, The Magick of Female Ejaculation, Praxis and Zhark are joining forces to bring this work into the material realm.

PRAXIS 41 – ADCSomatic: Teatrodellopera E.P.
Eagerly awaited this is the collaboration of two of the most important groups of innovators of hard electro(nica) : ADC from Rome and Somatic Responses from Wales. Having started around the same time – about a decade ago - their release history has been completely different: ADC's releases are few and far between, while the Somatics have been putting out several dozen records and CD's with many a classic among them. As their paths cross with this powerful record they present themselves as fresh, innovative and deep as ever.

Praxis 26CD Pure: Bodyhammer double CD
Is receiving a promotion push through dense.de - here's some more info about this important retrospective which, released a few months ago, has so far been largely overlooked:
In the course of the last few months a substantial section of the work released by Peter Votava under different names in the 1990's, before his releases on Mego, Staalplaat and d0c, has been made available again on CD, most notably the retro compilation of classic ironic rave act Ilsa Gold (with Christopher Just, on Mego) and the deep electro-techno soundscapes of Current 909 (on d0c/Atmosfear).
A completely different aspect is presented by this double CD compilation of his hardcore material, released as Pure (or DJ Pure, Information:Overload, Violent Shit, PL and Slab), now available from Praxis as a double CD (Praxis 26CD). Collecting the material previously issued by Praxis itself, Loop, Drop Bass Network, as well as compilation tracks from Tigerbeat6, Biomechanic and a support compilation for the EKH, Vienna's only squat named after Ernst Kirchweger, a communist murdered by the Nazis, all from between 1994-2001. Almost like a history of hardcore of the'90s from dark acid to harsh noise.
Not only was most of the material released on limited edition vinyl, and now unavailable, all the hits, collaborations and rarities are here, including previously unreleased tracks:
CD1 starting off with the deceptively titled CD-ROM section (not for easy listening) - it's the audio track of a data CD - but soon delving into the hammering beats of Information:Overload, shifting into the satanic abyss of “Anoint me with the Black Sperm of Beleth" by Slab, before exercising “Analogue Terror" from the Drop Bass Network EP of the same title, already showing the variety of approaches even within the industrial hardcore realm. This is further illustrated by the various collaborations with other activists and hardcore experimenters of the time. Not only is the near-legendary “Violent Shit" EP featured, there are three more, previously unreleased tracks from this collaboration with Ec8or (at the time a Patric C. solo project), as well as the devastating “Killer Bees on Acid" produced with the late Liza N'Eliaz.
CD2 opens with another cult item: “Speeed" by Pure vs. GTI, originally released as a one-sided limited 12" on Loop, before continuing the journey in carefully chosen order through material defying the borders of “industrial" and “hardcore".
The bulk of the material was recorded and released between 1994 and 1999 - it appears that Pure decided after his massive “King Kong/Katharsis" on Praxis that he had said what he needed to say in this musical format. This double CD (on which “King Kong" is featured in its full 15 minute glory) is testimony to the insistence, depth and violence as well as the heterogenity of his artistic vision.