Atari Teenage Riot

• Exclusive London reunion show announced for May
• New single “Activate“ confirmed

Atari Teenage Riot – “Activate!” by Alec Empire

In the late 90s Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) emerged out of the electronica genre, to subvert all rules of rock and techno music. The original conception was Alec Empire’s and when joined by Hanin Elias, Nic Endo and Carl Crack on stage, the mixed race, mixed sex image of the band provoked people before they even heard the music.

The seminal band was too radical in its views and statements and simply too loud and noisy to fit in neatly inside any genre, with Hanin screaming about police violence and revolution, ATR opened many doors for female artists to follow at the time.
In 1996, Alec Empire teamed up with the Beastie Boys to negotiate a label deal between Grand Royal and Digital Hardcore Recordings for North America. The album, “Burn Berlin Burn” was born.

Shortly after, tours with Rage Against The Machine, Wu-Tang Clan and Beck swiftly followed. But with the success came tension. Every musician has their own way of dealing with it, and ATR were extremely intense. Very soon the thin line between reality and paranoia started to vanish.
When John Peel asked ATR to play Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1999, the band had just released their 3rd and best album, “60 Second Wipe Out“, which was mixed with Andy Wallace (Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, Slayer). During the song “Revolution Action“, kids stormed the stage and pandemonium descended on the capital.
When the Berlin quartet played their last show at the Big Day Out Festival, Australia in 2000 everyone was watching: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, The Clash’s Joe Strummer, Foo Fighters and Primal Scream on the side of the stage. The band finally dissolved in the wake of MC Carl Crack’s death just days before September 11th 2001.
Their records stand as a testament to the years 1992-2000, where anything seemed possible. Now Atari Teenage Riot have reunited for one more show:

May 12th 2010

The Electric Ballroom, London

184 Camden High Street, London, NW1 8QP

7pm / £16 / 14+

For tickets www.gigantic.com

The members of Atari Teenage Riot are pleased to announce that the American MC CX KIDTRONIK has officially joined the band and will be completing their line up when they hit the UK later this year. Having previously worked with Saul Williams, Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails, CX KIDTRONIK is an unstoppable and explosive MC as politically minded as the rest of ATR that bring his own element to the band.

Additionally, a brand new single “Activate” has been confirmed for May 17^th and will be released through the band’s own label Digital Hardcore Recordings.  Atari Teenage Riot are also treating fans to a free remix by the LA based dubstep genius The Builder: http://soundcloud.com/alec_empire/atari-teenage-riot-digital-hardcore-2009-remix-by-the-builder

Let the revolution begin.

www.atari-teenage-riot.com

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http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/live/50750/Friday-010509-Alec-Empire-Patrick-Wolf-@-The-Underworld-Camden

we are partying in Amsterdam tonight. having a great time. not these dumb drink yourself stupid so you forget times, it’s more like we met so many supporters again, people who really care…and after months of recording for films this just feels great!

on the way to here I read this German article about how “young people” don’t care about politics anymore and that whole blah. Well, I have seen the exact difference …and not only at our shows, the G20 rallys, Mayday…Heard “Chaostage” Berlin Premiere was sold out in minutes.

To the fifty year olds who try to analyze what’s happening: the new codes are different, they are more complex. A t-shirt doesn’t mean much if you don’t know the person who wears it. We are in disguise.

Will post more soon.

Never give up the fight,

Alec

www.eyho-blog.com

“THE WHOLE WORLD SEEMS TO BE ON A BAD DRUG”

Alec Empire , taken from Control Drug of SHIVERS

Hey!

It’s spring 2009! flowers start to grow…slowly but surely!

The Golden Foretaste of Heaven Film by Richard Wilhelmer went down like a storm at Los Angeles David Lynch screening “Engine Collision Fest” and Austria’s “Diagonale” Film Festival.
watch the trailer here

While Alec’s DJ Mix album “Rauschgold” for Staubgold Records gets great reviews (a small selection of online reviews which you might not come across that easily)
digitalisindustries.com
digitalmcd.com
thesilentballet.com
hairentertainment.com

ALEC AND NIC HAVE PRODUCED NEW RECORD CALLED “SHIVERS”, a 7 track mini album (estimated playing time over 30min though). Release Date May 8th.

tracklist

Control Drug

Shivers

Baby Skull

Vampire State

t.o.t.

If You Live Or Die (2009 version feat. Robbie Furze/Big Pink on guitars)

1000 Eyes (The Golden Foretaste of Heaven Film version 2009)

Note: iTunes will have a full concert as a bonus available. (more infos soon)

Watch first part of making of series. in these videos Alec is recording weird synths which will then later make it into the songs. He also gives a quick run down on what’s happening (the films etc.).

Click here to watch

Click here to watch interview

With “Shivers” and the 2009 tour “Past -Present- Future” the Hellish Vortex launches completely redesigned Alec Empire website.
www.alec-empire.com

Make sure you click through the history section. We think the website has been long overdue. It was about time that a site explains Empire’s spider web of productions and projects…. venom

Follow Alec on twitter http://twitter.com/ALEC_EMPIRE
Join Alec on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alec-Empire/10224966919
Alec’s myspace http://www.myspace.com/alecempire

DATES!!!!!

18th of April Bass Terror official release via iTunes, Beatport and over 60 other online music stores.

20th of April Patrick Wolf/Alec Empire collaboration hits stores. “Vultures” will be available as 7 inch vinyl and digital. Patrick Wolf – Vulture

Click here to watch

ALEC EMPIRE & NIC ENDO

THE PAST – THE PRESENT – THE FUTURE TOUR 2009

Presented by Sonic Seducer Magazine

30.04.2009 Vorselaar (B) – Edma

01.05.2009 London (GB) – The Underworld / get tickets here or here
02.05.2009 Manchester (GB) – Satan?s Hollow / get tickets here or here
03.05.2009 Glasgow (GB) – Ivory Blacks / get tickets here or here Or here
05.05.2009 Norwich (GB) – The Waterfront
06.05.2009 Amsterdam (NL) – Paradiso
07.05.2009 Hengelo (NL) – Metropool
08.05.2009 Reutlingen – franz.K
09.05.2009 Jena – Kassablanca
23.10.2009 Berlin – K17
24.10.2009 Cottbus – Gladhouse / get tickets here
28.10.2009 Linz (A) – Stadtwerkstatt
29.10.2009 Wien (A) – Szene
30.10.2009 Ingolstadt – Paradox / get tickets here
31.10.2009 Leipzig – Lagerhof / get tickets here
more dates added soon.

What else is hot right now?
Alec Empire remixing next Patrick Wolf single “Hard Times”.
Nic Endo officially writing music for David Mack’s Kabuki. (more news soon!)

Film Chaostage (with Alec’s music) starts in German cinemas this month.
click here for full list of showtimes and locations!

DIGITAL HARDCORE UK OPENS FULL ON WEBSTORE!

You requested Flac? You got it!

Make sure you check out completely new digital store at Digital Hardcore Recordings UK
http://digitalhardcore.greedbag.com/
It’s ALL up there.

Support independent artists you like, don’t support hypocrites like Pirate Bay who make millions of advertising and who are financed by right wing business men (to then point the finger at their own users in court, claiming that they do the crime. not cool! Liars!).

Click here to watch

We hope to see you at the shows or parties! Keep thinking about news ways to think! Stay awake!

Best wishes from Berlin,

EYHO Team

www.eyho-blog.com

Visit The Hellish Vortex store : many rare items up for sale this month

Alec Empire: “Please tell us about your new album. What made you come up with the concept? I think it is outstanding that a musician would think himself into such a imaginary world and drags the listener into it.”

Christoph de Babalon:

“My new album “Scylla & Charybdis” deals with the destiny of two greek mythological figures, who once used to be beautiful nymphs and then became monsters because of witchery. I wanted to work with the story, because i find it very touching. I didn’t only want to emphasize the fact that both are monsters and kill lots of seafarers but rather concentrate on the tragic elements of their lives. The pain of suddenly being a monster, they had no choice and no way out of it. I also like the fact that their fate can be seen as a symbol for the Tragic in everybodys life nowadays, as a very real thing and not just a mythological one. Reality of life is not a polished, beautiful or fun thing. It’s tragic and utmost brutal. Bless those who have not seen it, yet. Most of us will end up as tragic monsters or as their victims. Resistance is futile!”

Alec Empire: “Your tracks take time to build up the intensity. This is one strength of your music. It wouldn’t work as a 3min song. Do you think we will see more music which is longer, now that radio is becoming less important in the age of the internet? My secret hope is that the traditional song structure will be forgotten at some point in our culture. Have you ever felt you should write a “song”? or did you ever write some?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“To reach an intense experience, a piece of music has to be dense and compact, rather than just be long. I also feel it is not so much a matter of “song” or not “song”. There has to be a reason why something is three minutes or thirty minutes or three hours long. If it is both long and intense and keeps the suspense, it’s perfect. I like music that spreads out to eternity as well as having a lot of atmospherical information. Music that really creates a world around you and in you.
In these superficial and fast times it seems like the craziest thing to make tracks that are longer than 5 minutes. It seems to be some kind of taboo, because people lose attention so quickly.”

Alec Empire: “Do you think spending time of writing music is important to reach a certain level of intensity? I think it’s an interesting question to ask in these times, when everything happens faster and faster. It sometimes feels that people don’t make the effort to explore music as deeply as they could. You seem to be very careful about how and when you release your music to the public. I think that’s great…. Too many seem to load up their music on the internet right away without thinking. How do you feel about this?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“Of course, Music is a mirror of society, things are going faster and faster. So how do i feel about this? Generally i think, a great work could be done in very short time. It really depends on what the idea is. Also how it is done. I prefer spending a longer period of time on making records, because i discovered for myself that i can go deeper into the feelings and sounds. I try to create different worlds, that takes more concentration and time. For me and the listener. The first idea and selection of instruments usually goes quick, but i take a lot of time sculpturing, taking breaks and listening back. “Scylla & Charybdis”, for example, is the most complex work i have ever done, i worked on it for more than three years! Most music that’s done quickly cannot go really deep or last long. I think its not just a problem of uploading fast, also downloading today is very easy. I Like to play with different formats, as i did with the “Premium Edition”, to make people more aware of what they are listening to. i would like people to do things that are more defined and pay more attention to their lives. I have never followed any trend with my music so I guess it’s OK, I have got the time!”

Alec Empire: “Radio legend John Peel used to love your records? How did that feel to be recognized by such an important DJ ? I really miss him, I feel that we would need a person like him so much right now. Someone who discovers new music and communicates that in an interesting way to people.”

Christoph de Babalon:

“It made me very happy that he supported me. It felt like an accolade. I have always looked up to him and his way of “half of what i know people will like and half of what i think people should like”. There is noone to take his place as far as i can see.”

Alec Empire: “In my opinion you redefined “dark” in this genre. Before your releases, Jungle and Drum’n'Bass had never reached this kind of intensity. When they used “dark” string samples it always felt like a 12 year old acting as Darth Vader or something. What made you go deeper at that point in time? What kind of music did you listen to back then?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“When I started making music I had no intention of making D&B/Jungle, of course i was influenced a lot by Jungle Techno rhythms but the atmospheres i wanted to work with come from deep within me.
Some sort of melancholical longing. A sea of tears, a universe of sadness, a romatic apocalypse. I always took more atmospherical inspiration from classical music and from books and paintings. I have always seen my music more as an artistic medium to express what I feel about this world than to worship some form of lifestyle/DJ- and Clubculture. I make music for people who look beyond the shallowness of this world.”

Alec Empire: “What do you think about sampling? To me it seems that despite the advanced technology that we have today , most “artists” imitate electronic music from the 90ties. Do you feel the same way? Have you spotted any new talents which actually use technology to move music forward instead of just speeding up the process of making it?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“Sampling is great but i don’t think about it so often. I use technology not to imitate something that has been done before. I use the voodoo of sampling, I feel, I sample atmospheres rather than music. Like sampling a large room with someone crying in the corner on the other end while it’s raining outside. Someone coughing while the orchestra plays a pianissimo. Some poor soul singing in the subway and being barked at by dogs. Because we have this complex technology we must use all the new possibitlities, but incorporate and learn about the past as well. Otherwise we just repeat history, and thats not my idea. The human composer must have dominance over his machines and create something that evokes new worlds.”

Alec Empire: “I thought about the whole history of breakcore and I want to talk a bit about that first….do you remember exactly when we first met? It was this “illegal” free rave near Cologne , in some forrest…if you compare 1994 to where we are now, what do you think has changed and how do you feel about it?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“That rave was crazy. It was very foggy and superdark. Back then it all was very exciting, it was something that just started. This kind of music just hadn’t been there before. We didn’t even call it breakcore. Also there was some kind of youth culture thrill. I haven’t got much relation to a breakcore scene anymore, we are talking about 3rd generation now, and sadly, most “artists” couldn’t add anything to that style. Breakcore now is just boring repetition of formulas and to be honest the whole thing is really DEAD for me.”

Alec Empire: “Please tell us about Cross Fade Enter Tainment. It is one of the few labels which is still going. Has anything changed since you started?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“CFET is not a traditional record company, it’s a label but more like an art project. So at least we won’t go financially bankrupt, perhaps morally. We have taken a break since 2003, because we had done all we wanted at that point and we didnt want to repeat ourselves. We have received some interesting demos, some new concepts are coming up.
A new era has begun for Cross Fade Enter Tainment. We have started working on the next releases already. Stay tuned!”

Alec Empire: “You moved from Hamburg to Berlin a while back. Was there a reason ? What do you think of Berlin ? Some people look at it as the darkest city in Europe, others feel it’s changing so fast, that it is quite superficial. What do you think?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“I live in eastern Berlin in the former Stalin Allee since 10 years. A lot of the GDR-military parades were held here. A lot of history surrounds the place. That’s what I like about Berlin, this crazy history. Not so much a lifestyle thing. Berlin is very complicated and fucked up.”

Alec Empire: “What are your favorite 10 electronic albums?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“No order, only valid now:

Wicked Messenger – Black Tourmaline
Iannis Xenakis – Persepolis
Toecutter – Wetopia
Atari Teenage Riot – The Future Of War
Drumcorps ? Grist
Revolting Cocks – Beers, Steers & Queers
Underground Resistance – Revolution for Change
Cabaret Voltaire – Red Mecca
Atomsmasher – Atomsmasher
Bourbonese Qualk – On Uncertainty”

you can order this crazy packaged album here: http://cfet.com/stores

“Scylla & Charybdis”: This new release by Christoph de Babalon is dedicated to two unfortunate girls from Greek mythology. Once beautiful nymphs, both were jinxed to live their life as monsters.

scylla-charybdis-radio-edit-snippet-1

scylla-charybdis-radio-edit-snippet-2

To describe his melancholic viewpoint of their fate, he chose the long forgotten romantic art of the Symphonic Poem. Influenced by works such as Arnold Sch?nberg’s “Vekl?rte Nacht”, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Isle Of The Dead” and Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, Christoph de Babalon transfers this technique into the present and breaks the tradititon by incorporating the human and inhuman voices of Alexandra von Bolz’n and Hanayo to create the most haunting experience for the listener.

His Diptychon about the unforgettable story of “Scylla & Charybdis” transcends past, present and future, myth and reality.

Inside the limited Premium Edition Box of “Scylla & Charybdis” the eternalness and versatility of the subject becomes most clearly visible: The “Mother Work” (and a choice of archaic format) of the Vinyl , “The Miniatures” of the CD – showing a more fractional and microscopic apporach to the monstruos atmosphere and finally the “Mixtape” interweaving beats and atmospheres into an almost disco version. Altogether the Premium Edition includes over 120 minutes of music and comes with postcards and an A1-sized poster with Ian Liddle’s intriguing Cover artwork, all enclosed in a beautiful high quality handmade recordbox.

The Premium Edition of “Scylla & Charybdis” will be available through CFET mailorder only.

Tracklisting:
Scylla (featuring ALEXANDRA VON BOLZ’N) (12:27)
Charybdis (featuring HANAYO) (12:09)

CHRISTOPH DE BABALON is known for tripping beats, dark wide spaces and eternal melancholy. He released his first record in 1994 on Hamburg’s cult-label Fischkopf. This record (as well as all that followed over the next years) were extensively played by BBC-DJ-legend JOHN PEEL. Right after his debut he began working with ALEC EMPIRE’s Digital Hardcore Recordings (DHR) where he, besides a couple of other records released his most important work: the legendary album ‘If You’re Into It, I’m Out Of It’. DHR still say that it remains their most important release.

Also THOM YORKE of Radiohead is a big fan of Christoph de Babalon’s music and invited him on a tour through southern europe in 2001. Christoph remembers those shows as being ‘unreal’ – playing dark ambient in front of an average 10.000 people per show. The arena of Verona painted black – while the sun went down.

As a co-founder of the music label Cross Fade Enter Tainment [CFET] he has been putting out records by influential electronic hardcore producers such as Somatic Responses, DJ Scud, Zbigniew Karkowski and Merzbow (to name but a few) since 1994.

In order to learn more effective production techniques and gather new experience, he began working on music for theatre productions, dance performances and film. In June 2008 he hooked up with Radiohead again to play the “Daydream” Festival in Barcelona and introduce “Scylla & Charybdis” to the public for the first time. It was a sunny day – but the sky turned dark during Christoph’s set.

“The most menacing record I own” – THOM YORKE of Radiohead about “If You’re Into it, I’m Out Of It”

“The most outstanding album on DHR [...] – nobody will ever top this!!!” – ALEC EMPIRE about “If You’re Into it, I’m Out Of It”

ALEXANDRA VON BOLZ’N is famous for her work with Grindcore-band Bolz’n. Once her vocal chords are unleashed, she runs the gamut from the deepest frequencies up to the highest pitches, emitting sounds that are hardly recognizable as products of a human voice.

HANAYO is celebrated for her work with german artist Christoph Schlingensief and musicians such as Violent Onsen Geisha, Red Crayola, Vapid Dolly, Black Dog, Merzbow, Woodman, Kai Althoff, Terre Thaemlitz, The Panacea and most recently Wooden Veil.

Christoph de Babalon selected works:
1996 ‘Destroy Berlin!’ 12″ Vinyl, Digital Hardcore Recordings
1997 ‘If You’re Into It, I’m Out Of It” LP/CD, Digital Hardcore Recordings
1999 The Peel Sessions Live, Royal Festival Hall, London
1999 ‘Dark Background’ on fals.ch
2000 Split EP with Kid606 12″ Vinyl, Fat Cat
2000 ‘Rise Above This’ 7″ Vinyl, Zhark International
2000 ‘Monkey’s Uncle’ Remix for The Locust, GSL
2000 ‘Misfortune Must Be Fought Back’ Remix for Tocotronic, Motor Music
2000 Music for ‘I Suppose this time I see what he saw (a temporary switchback)’ by Norwegian Dance Company Zero Visibility Corp.
2001 ‘Untitled’ with Hanayo for ‘Mutations’ group exhibition in Tokyo, curated by Rem Kolhaas
2001-2006 Several theatre music productions in Germany with director Schirin Khodadadian
2003 Founding of ?bergang with Guitarist Christian GG Haudej
2005 ‘Atomkrieg’ sound installation for group exhibition at Kunsthaus Dresden
2006 ‘Fear Leader’ EP with ?bergang, Low Res Records, Detroit

check Christoph’s myspace
cfet.com

CHRISTOPH DE BABALON – Scylla & Charybdis
LP, Cross Fade Enter Tainment PP012

STREETDATE: NOVEMBER 3RD !!!!!