April 7, 2019

Turning on death machines again

(Berlin hardcore dissenters Atari Teenage Riot were among a new generation of German techno artists (also including ATR's Alec Empire, EC80R, Speed Freak, DJ Bleed, etc.) who sought to reconnect music with political radicalism through ever more challenging, experimental hybrids, engaging everything from speed metal and acid to jungle and hardcore punk. 

Formed in 1992 by Empire, Hanin Elias, and Carl Crack, ATR's controversial first single, "Hunting for Nazis," was released by German techno stronghold Force Inc. that same year (Force Inc. owner Achim Szepanski is also known for his commitment to political radicalism). Subsequently, the group released a string of singles and full-lengths, all of them instantly recognizable for their brash, noisy fusions of brittle, 200-plus-bpm breaks, massive guitar riffs, and a good deal of shouting. Similar in motivation to Detroit's Underground Resistance or industrial dance group Consolidated, ATR professed a concern with a general conservative shift in the Western political climate (particularly in Germany after the collapse of Communism in Russia and Eastern Europe) and supported the development of new, overtly political forms of youth culture by way of response).

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