Left bored and angry from the confiscation of his stroboscopic car headlights by local authorities, Jon Weinel dons his magick-techno space-cape and jumps inside the speaker box for some nano-hardcore divination. After a period of time immeasurable by mans' law Mr Weinel emerges from the haze naked, armed with the knowledge to commune with dogs by uttering sine wave bass frequencies beneath a fat-face peyote moon. He talks of the mystical secrets imparted to him by the guru-like La Peste, of a far out form of psychedelic avant-garde hardcore techno known as FLASHCORE.

Introduction:

The term is a loose one; the artists creating these kinds of sounds all have different ideas about what the music is, and many would not use the term flashcore to describe what they do at all. An unflinching approach of experimentation and high level of technicality unites this hardcore techno-rooted music and makes it exciting to listen to. Unlike the majority of electronic dance music, there is no tangible set of rules regarding tempo or rhythmic structure; in fact the music is generally considered undanceable. Flashcore’s main appeal comes from its often blistering and psychedelic sonic assault on the senses, achieved by virtue of accelerated, decomposed and disintegrated hardcore techno forms and industrial noise, channelled using an acousmatic approach inspired by artists such as Xenakis . The Hangars Liquides website until recently (it is currently being refreshed) featured a short piece of writing by Laurent, in which he attempts to explain what he is trying to achieve with flashcore music:

“What we call flashcore is what we’re on actually…Computers’ increasing speed leads to more and more powerful audio software. This has forced some musicians to put their music into question — while other composers (the mainstream ones) use those sharper tools only to re-create the same patterns since years.It’s time to actually rethink music as something that clearly goes beyond the idea of harmony and rhythm.We are actually much more interested in any action on air molecules that widens the field of consciousness than into music thought as an end in itself.What is truly interesting with the new generation of softwares is the possibility to shorten the time it takes for mental images to come and to invert new forms of mental representations. For instance, real-time morphing tools can open new ways of exploring the intricacies of our faculty to associate some ideas with others, as well as granular synthesis has allowed time to be thought as nothing more than a subjective possibility — nothing more than the length we wish it to last.Flashcore is the spatial and temporal conception of air landscapes of which ‘sonic atoms’ (=the smallest particle of sound which is thought as an entity in itself) are being controlled with the exclusive aim of making us explore our minds and perceive any kind of transcendence. As for atomic energy or drug action, we are reaching a point where it’s possible to provoke nano-audio-explosions with quite some big results for the minds.Our cells are not aware of the unity of our own consciousness. But they’re acting ‘as if’ for the sake of what we think is ourselves — our unique ‘beyond everything’ ego — and are not so much disturbed by the possible nonsense of the task. Are we, humans, aware of any similar transcendence? Is there any superior concept for which we would work?If so, I would believe that thing is only a part of something above, and so on, drawing kind of fractalian structure which is absolutely not conceivable by our limited minds. I feel it as a personal emergency to fly over there. And flashcore could help, for sure. The ecstatic pleasure we feel receiving the message from the air molecules is a step towards such meta understanding. What’s the meaning of beauty?" 1

In this article I will take a look at flashcore with respect to this manifesto, the Hangars Liquides label, and some key releases by La Peste, Atomhead, and Neurocore.

A brief overview of speedcore:



Flashcore takes some of its primary cues from speedcore techno. To understand where flashcore is coming from, lets take a brief look at speedcore. Speedcore describes techno music in which the bpm and tempos are characteristically much faster than the normal 140 bpm and 170 bpm brackets which standard mainstream forms of techno, trance and drum & bass inhabit. Speedcore doesn’t have a narrow standard tempo bracket in the way that these forms of electronic music mentioned do, but does have the common feature that the tempo is usually fast: 240bpm or higher is common. A subgenre exists called ‘extratone’, which refers to music in which the tempo is at least 1000 bpm. In general, the most common rhythmic structure is the ‘4x4’ beat, in which four consecutive kick drum sounds fall evenly on each beat of a 4/4 time signature. However there are exceptions to this; certainly in passages or bridge sections speedcore may use rhythms reminiscent of drum & bass, for example.



Beyond these common factors, the different strands of electronic and dance music which have evolved into what is called speedcore have left the genre name burdened by musical forms which in many cases have strong aesthetic opposition to each other.

Audio Clip 2 Element Abuse. Nothing To Fear Nothing To Doubt, 2005 Insomnia EP. Anti Narcose, 12”, NARC01



Audio Clip 3 Komprex vs. Frazzbass. Terror Worldwide, 2005 Spaghetti Cunts EP. Special Forces, 12”, SPF011





In an interview La Peste was asked if he felt affiliated with the “European hardcore scene”. His answer reveals the generally accepted divides within catch-all terms such as hardcore:

“I feel European, from a socio-historical-psychological standpoint, but that's all, I have nothing to do with the "European Hardcore scene". What does this mean? I don't know. Two weeks ago I was told that sometimes in the UK, Hardcore refers to something I'd personally call fast dance. In France, what they call Hardcore has become a big fluffy cheesy gabberised shit, with pseudo dark (very funny, in my opinion) anthems. 10 years ago I remembered moments during parties where people were wondering what the fuck was happening to them, because of the audio waves reaching their virgin souls, it was then used to say: "that's hardcore". Now this word is overused, as is breakcore btw, it refers to anything that is supposed to be harder than something else (?). This is well too vague for describing things.”2 A comparison of the Komprex clip with the Element Abuse one reveals distinct differences which are representative of the different strands of speedcore. Komprex has more overtly aggressive and extreme ‘terror’ sounds, achieved by using harsh distorted sounds and vocals. Element Abuse uses noise and ambient sounds to create an industrial soundscape.In an interview La Peste was asked if he felt affiliated with the “European hardcore scene”. His answer reveals the generally accepted divides within catch-all terms such as hardcore:

Hangars Liquides:



Hangars Liquides begins in 1998 essentially as an experimental speedcore label. Examining the works from 1998-2001 reveals that the 4x4 speedcore kick drums remain a dominant feature in many tracks, which is sometimes combined with abstract noise to create soundscapes.

Audio Clip 5 Korrigan, J. Bottlegrin, 1998 Antisocial Korporation. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL006 Hangars Liquides begins in 1998 essentially as an experimental speedcore label. Examining the works from 1998-2001 reveals that the 4x4 speedcore kick drums remain a dominant feature in many tracks, which is sometimes combined with abstract noise to create soundscapes.

Audio Clip 6 La Peste. 1998 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL003 However, even in the earlier releases on Hangars Liquides, we can begin to see the beginnings of flashcore, as the standard ‘4x4’ kick drums and breakdown structure starts to decompose, especially in the work of La Peste. Additionally, note that the sounds are becoming more abstract and acousmatic; the usual kick, snare and high-hat set is being replaced by short noise sounds.





Neurocore, 2004, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL018

La Peste, 2004, WTC.XTC, Hangars Liquides, CD+DVD HL023

La Peste, 2005, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL026

Atomhead, 2006, Spiral Field Velocity 2.0, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL028

La Peste, 2006, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL024 By around HL 021 (La Peste, 2001, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL021), the flashcore sound has started to become the focus of the label. Key Hangars Liquides flashcore releases to date include:

Laurent has described HL024 as the most flashcore record he has produced to date. The record consists mainly of electroacoustic ambient noise, with scarely any discernable rhythmic elements or 4x4 patterns. UndaCova’s album Intrusion (2006, Dyslexic Response, CD), and Neurocore The Starship Travellers EP (2006, Underground Perversions, 12”) should also be heard. UndaCova’s netlabel Entity (www.entity.be) features flashcore music by artists such as Sedarka and Kaebin Yield which can be freely downloaded under the Creative Commons license. The work of Xanopticon also operates in a similar aesthetic domain.

Audio Clip 7 Atomhead. SFV 2.0, 2006 Spiral Field Velocity 2.0. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL028



Audio Clip 8 La Peste. Urgence Detergence Autrui, 2006 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL024

What Is Flashcore?:



As described, the speedcore musical landscape is not a clear-cut one by any means. At the most experimental edge of speedcore lies the term flashcore. In an interview, La Peste explains what he understands flashcore to be:

“Flashcore is the name I'd give to a sound art that relies on the computer’s increasing speed to go beyond the idea of musicality with the ambition of moving air molecules to widen the field of consciousness. Music is thought as a mental/spatial experience, experimenting the possibilty to travel multi-dimensionally, opening or closing spaces which do not necessarily fit with an euclidean representation. Also, whilst the aesthetics of power electronics or sound installations rarely integrate the time factor, duration is an essential dimension in flashcore. I tried to tell it with my words at the HL website opening page. I believe the Universe itself is a miracle; there could have been nothing instead. Being astonished by the infinite complexity of the universe is, to me, the best way not to fear death. I want the music I release to celebrate the beauty of that complexity. If it works on people, then I am really happy. Flashcore is made to be wasted.” It is important to emphasize that La Peste coined the term flashcore, and while the output of the Hangars Liquides label is often referred to as a flashcore, many of the artists featured on the label would not necessarily refer to their music with this term. Neurocore reportedly has referred to his music as cyber/abstractcore. Much of the earlier output of Hangars Liquides is indistinguishable from speedcore, until around 2001, where flashcore characteristics start to become the focus of the label. It should be noted that although I have chosen to describe this music with the term flashcore in this article, it is by no means definitive. Some of the audio clips and tracks examined in this article audibly span the boundaries between flashcore and speedcore, and in some instances terms such as ‘ambient speedcore’ may be used instead. For the time being, the term flashcore seems an apt description for the music due to a) its popularity with audiences, and b) the fact that the word seems to reasonably allude to the stroboscopic psychedelic nature of the music. As described, the speedcore musical landscape is not a clear-cut one by any means. At the most experimental edge of speedcore lies the term flashcore. In an interview, La Peste explains what he understands flashcore to be:It is important to emphasize that La Peste coined the term flashcore, and while the output of the Hangars Liquides label is often referred to as a flashcore, many of the artists featured on the label would not necessarily refer to their music with this term. Neurocore reportedly has referred to his music as cyber/abstractcore. Much of the earlier output of Hangars Liquides is indistinguishable from speedcore, until around 2001, where flashcore characteristics start to become the focus of the label. It should be noted that although I have chosen to describe this music with the term flashcore in this article, it is by no means definitive. Some of the audio clips and tracks examined in this article audibly span the boundaries between flashcore and speedcore, and in some instances terms such as ‘ambient speedcore’ may be used instead. For the time being, the term flashcore seems an apt description for the music due to a) its popularity with audiences, and b) the fact that the word seems to reasonably allude to the stroboscopic psychedelic nature of the music.

Decomposition of speedcore kick drum formula:



While often in hardcore techno the role of the high bpm is a means to increase the energy levels and speed of the dance, most people would agree flashcore is essentially “undanceable”. The role of the kick drums (where something called a kick drum can be considered present), is instead to create an abrasive auditory noise assault in the lower frequency range, and the role of the commonly fast tempo is to give a rapid fire machine-gun attack on the senses. As there is no need to maintain a dance-friendly rhythm, flashcore focuses instead on twisting and contorting the rhythmic forms into complex structures, as this provides interest to the music. Laurent refers to his goals to achieve music which reflects the fractal beauty in complexity which he sees inherent in life. One way in which flashcore achieves this is through the contortion and decomposition of standard kick drum patterns. This achieved in different ways:

Audio Clip 9 Atomhead. SFV 2.0, 2006 Spiral Field Velocity 2.0. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL028 While often in hardcore techno the role of the high bpm is a means to increase the energy levels and speed of the dance, most people would agree flashcore is essentially “undanceable”. The role of the kick drums (where something called a kick drum can be considered present), is instead to create an abrasive auditory noise assault in the lower frequency range, and the role of the commonly fast tempo is to give a rapid fire machine-gun attack on the senses. As there is no need to maintain a dance-friendly rhythm, flashcore focuses instead on twisting and contorting the rhythmic forms into complex structures, as this provides interest to the music. Laurent refers to his goals to achieve music which reflects the fractal beauty in complexity which he sees inherent in life. One way in which flashcore achieves this is through the contortion and decomposition of standard kick drum patterns. This achieved in different ways:

Audio Clip 10 Neurocore. Mystification Des Astres, 2004 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL018 In this example, there is a constant tempo which is relatively slow. We can hear this at the beginning of the audio clip, as there is a regular kick drum in a 4x4 pattern which follows the tempo. As the track develops, notice how the 4x4 pattern doubles pace and undergoes various stuttering shifts. The same overall tempo is maintained, but the increased frequency and shifts in the use of the kick drum provide interesting variations within that structure.





Audio Clip 11 La Peste. Alors le doute s'immiscea, 2005 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL026 Clip 10 sounds as if the tempo may have been massively increased on a passage which was originally designed at a lower tempo. A slow tempo can be picked out, where each 1st beat is in fact most likely the beginning of a bar. Therefore, although there is a constant tempo, whether or not it is high or low ceases to be relevant; it is the texture of the sound which is most important. This is an example of flashcore going beyond the formula of speedcore, because speedcore makes the fast tempo of the music a focal point of the sound. In flashcore the tempo may not necessarily be fast; audio clips 9 and 10 could both be described in terms of a tempo slower than 200 bpm. What is important, is that the staccato textures which result from speedcore’s fast tempos are carried through into the flashcore aesthetic; the idea of flashcore being a ‘faster’ type of music (than the rest) is irrelevant.

La Peste uses a pitch bending effect or similar on the kick drums in this piece, so that they speed up, slow down and dive in and out of the higher frequency ranges. There is no constant tempo, yet the track maintains a high level of intensity and velocity due to the wall of stuttering noises across the frequency range. This is a defining feature of flashcore. The music sounds as if the stuttering repetition of the kick drums in speedcore has been combusted and is now exploding across and between the middle and upper frequency range as well as the low end.

Beyond speedcore:



Apart from speedcore, La Peste draws influence from a variety of sources beyond the hardcore techno sphere:

“My masters are: François Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani, Iannis Xenakis, György Ligeti...” The influence of these composers is apparent to an extent, perhaps primarily in the ambition of Laurent’s work to go beyond the usual compositional goals of hardcore techno. HL024 (La Peste, 2006, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL024) certainly bears closer resemblance to works such as Xenakis’ Electronic Music (1997, Electronic Music Foundation, CD, EMFCD003) than any of the aforementioned speedcore. It contains no discernable rhythmic elements, consisting mainly of noise gestures and ambient sounds which bear similarity to Xenakis’ work.

Audio Clip 12 La Peste. Alaoui J'Ecoute Ton Horloge De Sueur, 2006 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL024 Apart from speedcore, La Peste draws influence from a variety of sources beyond the hardcore techno sphere:The influence of these composers is apparent to an extent, perhaps primarily in the ambition of Laurent’s work to go beyond the usual compositional goals of hardcore techno. HL024 (La Peste, 2006, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12” HL024) certainly bears closer resemblance to works such as Xenakis’ Electronic Music (1997, Electronic Music Foundation, CD, EMFCD003) than any of the aforementioned speedcore. It contains no discernable rhythmic elements, consisting mainly of noise gestures and ambient sounds which bear similarity to Xenakis’ work.



“There is a word used to describe sounds from which you cannot tell where they come from: acousmatique. To me it's like the gravitational force of a black hole, there are no lights at all around it, and I am attracted into it, absorbed by the energy of the unknown.” If we compare La Peste to an artist such as

Audio Clip 13 Venetian Snares. I’m A Fucking Idiot, 2001 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL019 Flashcore makes the jump away from the standard structures of hardcore techno, undoubtedly inspired by artists such as Xenakis. Hower this influence may have also prompted another crucial leap, which is the sonic detachment from the usual rave and techno signifiers which dominant hardcore techno and similar forms such as breakcore. In the interview, La Peste comments:If we compare La Peste to an artist such as Venetian Snares , the approach of hiding the source and signifiers of the sounds used is a key difference. Venetian Snares is another artist experimenting with twisting the forms of hardcore techno and pushing the envelope. Yet if we look at records such as Venetian Snares’ EP on Hangars Liquides (2001, Untitled, Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL019) we can perhaps identify how his work differs from flashcore.



Audio Clip 14 La Peste. Il Etait ... "Magnetique" / Une Possibilite, 2005 Untitled EP. Hangars Liquides, 12”, HL026 Note that although the complex forms reminiscent of flashcore are present, Venetian Snares employs sounds which signify hardcore techno and rave in a more overt manner. The clip features a distorted bass drum kick, a staple sound of hardcore techno. More crucially, the snare drum sounds used will be recognised by listeners familiar with jungle and drum 'n' bass, as derived from the ‘Amen’ breakbeat. The result of this is that when we listen to Venetian Snares music, we associate it with hardcore techno, and appreciate it as a twisted version of that form. Yet when we hear a record such as HL026 by La Peste, we are confronted by a range of sounds, such a smashing noise and various whooshing and mechanical sounds, which we cannot necessarily identify under the same taxonomy. The lack of associative signifiers produced by the music may enable the listener to lucidly construct alternative images and forms more freely. Since these associations are not grounded to any specific real-world source they may take on a quality of ‘otherness’, and this could perhaps be interpreted as psychedelic.



“It's time to rethink music as something that clearly goes beyond harmony and rhythm.” These are not new ideas in music; the idea of basing music on noise and dissonance dates back to 1914,



Atomizer:



The staccato sound of speedcore kick drums seems to have been transported across the whole frequency range in flashcore. Flashcore is composed from very detailed, complex structures of short, fragmented sounds which La Peste refers to as “nano-audio explosions”. La Peste describes the purpose of this in terms of achieving as many micro-emotional responses from the listener in as short a space of time as possible



This may be the key to the psychedelic effect which flashcore seems to achieve on this listener. The consumption of hallucinogenic drugs often seems to have an effect of catalysing the mind to create torrents of shifting fractal patterns and forms. Synaesthesia effects are commonly reported, where the heightened torrent of thoughts and ideas seems to flow between visual experiences of colour, sound and emotion.



If we consider the effect of flashcore in relation to this, it might be seen that the result of imposing these torrents of sound upon the mind is to simulate this catalytic effect on the brain. Instead of a drug stimulating the nervous system to trigger these heightened states of thought, the sound is providing the stimulus. Complex sculptures are formed in the mind of the listener from the torrent of pin-point sounds. Each sound is like a stimulating dot in a multidimensional sound-matrix, and the dots combine to form twisting sculptural shapes in sound.



Live: In the flashcore manifesto, La Peste comments:These are not new ideas in music; the idea of basing music on noise and dissonance dates back to 1914, The Futurists and Russolo . But perhaps what La Peste is alluding to, is that it is time for music within the hardcore techno evolutionary continuum to go beyond harmony and rhythm 3 . It’s certainly true that hardcore techno has seldom fully disassociated itself from its rave music signifiers. The recent boom in popularity of mashcore is an example of hardcore techno multiplying its cultural associative qualities as much as possible. Minimal techno artists such as Basic Channel perhaps achieve a successful reduction of techno music toward a purer more acousmatic sound uncluttered by signifiers. Perhaps flashcore represents a hardcore techno equivalent; a psychedelic and detached sound; yet unlike the throb of Basic Channel, flashcore is driven by the more intense assault of speedcore.The staccato sound of speedcore kick drums seems to have been transported across the whole frequency range in flashcore. Flashcore is composed from very detailed, complex structures of short, fragmented sounds which La Peste refers to as “nano-audio explosions”. La Peste describes the purpose of this in terms of achieving as many micro-emotional responses from the listener in as short a space of time as possible 4 . If we consider the acousmatic approach to the use of sound, in principle this makes sense. The listener is bombarded with a torrent of unfamiliar sounds. Theoretically, the listener may attach an emotional or psychological response of some description to each one of these sounds.This may be the key to the psychedelic effect which flashcore seems to achieve on this listener. The consumption of hallucinogenic drugs often seems to have an effect of catalysing the mind to create torrents of shifting fractal patterns and forms. Synaesthesia effects are commonly reported, where the heightened torrent of thoughts and ideas seems to flow between visual experiences of colour, sound and emotion.If we consider the effect of flashcore in relation to this, it might be seen that the result of imposing these torrents of sound upon the mind is to simulate this catalytic effect on the brain. Instead of a drug stimulating the nervous system to trigger these heightened states of thought, the sound is providing the stimulus. Complex sculptures are formed in the mind of the listener from the torrent of pin-point sounds. Each sound is like a stimulating dot in a multidimensional sound-matrix, and the dots combine to form twisting sculptural shapes in sound.