Low Entropy Interviews

i've decided to put some interviews done with me online... i'll start with the following two.
i'll upload more of them, they will be online at: www.widerstand.org/artists/anarchist/interviews.html

the first one is from 2010.
the second one from 2009.

low entropy started making music in 1997.
he has released 12"s on praxis, black monolith, blut, kougai, widerstand.
he has played at parties such as the fuckparade, nordcore, break the silence and many more.

Q: how did u get involved in the scene?

low entropy: techno and hardcore were pretty big here in the 90s, and when i heard hardcore for the first time, i immediately fell in love with that sound...
i discovered that there was not only the "normal" hardcore stuff, but a whole underground scene for harder, more experimental music...

Q: what are the influences on your music?

low entropy: well, one influence are styles like gabber, speedcore, oldschool...
as i said, i love it, the kicks, the whole feeling, awesome.
the second influence is the whole "experimental hardcore" sound, that sound has gotten kind of rare today, but i still consider it so groundbreaking, so great...
then the third influence is "traditional" avantgarde and experimental music... which is an influence that is very important for me.

Q: tell us something abour your latest projects

in the last months i made three netrelases:
the "crisp ep" is speedcore... the "winter tracks ep" is experimental. "i/o port ep" is in the style i like most, synthesizer pads and hard beats...

Q: do you have any upcoming projects?

low entropy: well a lot of stuff is planned, i have many many ideas... there will definately be more netreleases and i hope some new 12"s too.

Q: you've said "techno and hardcore were pretty big here (in germany) in the 90s". what was the scene back then compared to nowadays?

low entropy: it sometimes seems a bit strange today, when you see how underground hardcore is, and then you think that back then every 3rd guy was listening to that stuff and it was a part of the taste of the masses...
this was of course only the more overground type of hardcore, that dutch stuff etc.

on the underground scene, well i think the two scenes (todays scene and the scene back then) cannot really be compared.
but yes, the scene back then was a lot different.

Q: you've made some radio shows in the past on "FSK" radio station and later created "Hamburg Hardcore Radio". can you tell more about that? why you've stopped doing this?

low entropy: The "Hamburg Hardcore Radio" was a show created by Sampler19 and me. i have to give Betty Bombshell credit too, because it evolved out of a radio show i did with her.
dj escada and the man unknown joined sampler19 and me, so we four did the show together.

it was a show on the radio station "FSK". iIt was real radio, not a netradio or stream, everyone at home could've turned into the show (it was a radio station in the city
of Hamburg, where i live).
we did the show at least monthly, sometimes even two or three times a month.
usually the show lasted around 8 hours, sometimes more, and was on a friday or saturday night.
for example from saturday 10 pm till 8 am sunday.
we always tried to get many DJs for a show.
DJs that played at shows include Cybermouse, Taciturne, Lonely Freek, Zombie Flesh Eater, Amboss and many many more.
we sometimes read from books or poems or self-written texts during the show, and we did other stuff like that.
we also made specials during the shows, about specific record labels for example.

the "Hamburg Hardcore Radio" was so far the happiest time in my life.

we never knew how many ppl tuned in, maybe 50, maybe 500 during a show.
but it happened to me that i for example i did hang out with people in the city that i didnt know much at all, and when i mentioned the radio show, one guy said to me "oh you are doing that show? i listened to it on the radio last friday".

Q: what happened to "Maniac Menschen Crew" and "All-Out Demolition!" party series? can you tell more about that time period, parties and so on?

low entropy: Maniac Menschen was me, sampler19, dj escada and the man unknown.
"All-Out Demolition!" was a party series we did. It was four parties, the first was in spring 2002. at these parties we and the other DJs played breakcore, speedcore, gabba, experimental stuff, techno. the parties were in a local squatted building in hamburg in the basement.

i wont really say too much here, because i dont want to hype myself/ourselves.
but i think these parties have been pretty extreme.

Q: i've noticed "anarchist" in your website title. can you tell more about your views, ideology and reasons for that?

low entropy: i think we live in kind of bad days today. everyone just seems to care who has the most money in our society, who has the most fame etc. not many people try to be real individuals, they're just consumers.
so, yes, there's a lot of stuff that i disagree with.

Q: you said: "the scene back then was a lot different". was it better in your opinion?

would you like to change something about the nowadays scene? if yes - what?

Low Entropy: well what is better today is that much more people seem to be into the music.
back then you were lucky if you ran across one guy who listened to the same strange music as yourself.
nowadays on the internet you can communicate with hundreds of people who are into this sound.
what was better back then was, the sound was more experimental, it wasn't so much categorized into different genres like today.

Q: you wrote: "we sometimes read from books or poems or self-written texts during the show". that sounds interesting haha! could you give some example of those self-written texts? what was they about?

Low Entropy: political texts for example...

Q: back to the music: what role it plays in your life? is it your hobby or something more?

Low Entropy: Definately much more than a hobby! It's something very important to me...

Q: what do you think about a hardcore/speedcore as a lifestyle (like punk for example)? is it possible? what should it be like?

Low Entropy: Hardcore IS a way of life! It's hard to give a description because it would be wrong to give a strict description or rules for this way of life. But i would say it has to do with being an individual and not being someone who always tries to fit in "the masses" in every way.

Q: what inspires you to compose your tracks?

Q: i believe, that every musician has some sort of a message, which lays in his production... what is it in your case?

Low Entropy: Right now i would say there is no real or "big" message that i want to put into my music...
Same goes for inspirations... of course, as an artist you're always influenced by a lot of stuff...
but i would say most inspirations for me just come from other music right now...

Q: your opinion on digital format, which is so popular in music industry nowadays? what is good about it and what is bad?

Low Entropy: Do you mean digital download releases?

Q: yes. digital download releases, net labels and so on

Low Entropy: There are many good things about netreleases... for example, netreleases give newcomers a chance to quickly spread their music to other
people...
But it seems purely digital releases are in our scene not as respected as other releases. The reason people give for this is that there is a lot of bad quality stuff released as netrelases. But to be honest, a lot of bad stuff is put on vinyl too. So, digital releases should gain more respect in my opinion.

Q: what artists would you mention as the most interesting to you?

Low Entropy: The Somatic Responses. They always were amongst the best artists ever.

When it comes to older music, I dig the whole PCP crew a lot, miro, the mover...

The stuff around Praxis is still some of the best music ever.

And i enjoy Mouse, No Name, Zombie Flesh Eater and Amboss a lot.

Q: what are your other interests besides music?

I think movies and animations are very interesting right now, this is something that has a lot of potential in my opinion.

Q: last thoughts, words, wishes?

Low Entropy: Shouts out to everyone who still supports the sound. Hardcore Forever!

Low Entropy, we wish you all the best for the future.

Interview done by Zenka for the "What's that noise?!" zine.

Fobia: Sönke, you were there when Breakcore began. Tell us how was it, what was it all about and what were you all about.

Low Entropy: well, it's always complicated to define a musical field, and i don't want to make it appear that my point of view is the right one and all others are wrong. just think of the endless discussions that were made about what defines "true punk" and what not...
but, there is one thing, that i am one hundred percent sure about.
and that is, that it was a movement, with ideals and goals. one could say it was a political movement, but the word "political" is sometimes a bit problematic, and many artists would have probably rejected it, because they were annoyed with the sloganeerism, superficiality, etc that is often common with politics.
the idea was to radically change society, to tear down everything that oppresses us, all the bullshit in the world that puts us down or prevents us from living our life at its fullest.
to spread tracks that make people wake up and think about their lifes and the world they live in...

Fobia: Why did you stop making music and how was it without it?

Low Entropy: i felt like i was heading towards a dead end. in the beginning, we thought this movement would become really big, like punk was in the past, and that more and more people would discover the sound and join us in pushing the ideas i mentioned above...
but this just didn't happen. and i thought myself, what was really accomplished in all the years, does it really make any sense to continue with this sound. i know that sounds kinda pessimistic... but back then, this was what i felt...

Fobia: What or who made you want to come back?

Low Entropy: i realized that this negative attitude was wrong... a lot has been achieved by the music; networks of likeminded people developed, we had and have parties that felt like a dream has been come true....
so, yes, music can make a change. a huge change.

also, for me, this kind of sound is one of the sweetest thing that exists in this world... i realized i could never leave it for a longer period of time...

Fobia: How do you see your future, is there anywhere you want to arrive or something you expect to achieve through your music?

Low Entropy: the main thing i am trying to do with my music, is to express my emotions, and my thoughts...
art can be a form of communication, i think.

one of the ideas i'm trying to communicate, is, of course, that the world we live in is very very fucked...

Fobia: About your release on Seven Samurai, the "Counterculture" EP talk a little bit about the tracks and what is inspiring you to produce them?

Low Entropy: with the tracks, i wanted to do the style that i like most again, that is plenty of use of dark and atmospheric sounds, experimental melodies.
the first side of the record is in a breakcore vein, very distorted, and metallic beats. the other side is dark ambient, slow, mostly beatless sounds...

there are many inspirations for me, but one thing that always inspired me hugely was radical social, cultural or philosophical ideas and thoughts...

Fobia: Anything else you would like to add (news, info, plans)?

Low Entropy: two things that should arrive soon:
a CDr of noizecore and speedcore tracks that i made around 2000-2004 that were unreleased so far, and i've been thinking about making a webrelease of older dark ambient tracks...
apart from that, i'm of course also working on new music and hope to see more releases in the future.

shouts out to everyone who enjoys the hard type of sound!

Fobia: Thanks a lot for becoming a part of our history and for sharing again your music with us!

Interview done by Fobia for Seven Samurai Records