NEWSLETTER 030
03/08/24 - ECHO CHAMBER 7" OUT NEXT WEEK
SCHEME REPORT:
Welcome back to the only trusted news media outlet conglomerate in modern Hardcore….where we ask the hard hitting hypothetical questions like “What would CBGBs WiFi password be?” and provide you the realest releases in Hardcore…with that said…
Coming next week…a joint effort from yours faithfully, Scheme and the name brand for DEUSTCHECORE , DOWN BUT NOT OUT RECORDS AKA THE DBNO UNIVERSE. Wise up and subscribe to their new newsletter here for all euro-core needs. DBNO NEWSLETTER
PHOTO BY JOSI X HOFFMAN
You’re not getting all my juice this week, but check back on 3.15 and I will have poetry delivered unto ye like the divine word. For information’s sake, IT’S ALMOST HERE… It’ll be available from Scheme in the US and DBNO in Europe and we couldn’t be more ready for the hc world to hear this hard hitting all impact music…
also a hand full of other related shit available next week.
We’d like to thank anyone who picked up the Collateral record or inquired about distro.. We’re down the last handful of copies between us AND Fortress, so if you were waiting to buy one till they’re in hand.. I wouldn’t OR catch the band on tour with Diztort and Mil Spec in April.
SCENE REPORT:
First off … RIP to the big homie Akira Toriyama. S/o to Lou Koller wearing the crispiest Goku tee in the Scratch the Surface vid.
LUMPYS BIRTHDAY:
Lumpy and his kids in Shibuya Japan
Wreckage is on the move in April with Lead Spirit..
KYLE’S PLAYLIST:
MOZ - KILL UNCLE
ECHO CHAMBA - 7”
TOWNS VAN SANDST - ROAD SONGS
LIFES BLOOD; Live at CBGB / UNRELEASED DON FURY SESH
MARK K - ALL THE BEST, ISSAC HAYES
THE BREATH (7” ON CONVULSE)
STATUE - FILTER THE INFECTION
ALBIN’S PLAYLIST:
EGGO CHAMBER 7”
Lost In Translation OST
Are You Garbage? Pod
JETS TO BRAZIL
BLACK MARBLE
3ND7R
Editors forward: Words fail us more than they serve us lately, hence this newsletter being as sporadic as it is. In that same spirit we wanted to reach out to a trusted..a tried true..stalwart of the DESUTCHE / NEW YORK Connect to give you something more to sink your teeth into on the subject of our darlings in Echo Chamber. Timo at Grim up North is a man of vision and words..and no one would be more qualified to quantify the meaning of Echo Chamber in the modern age of Deustche HC. enjoy and absorb the knowledge..
FOLLOW THE AUTHOR AND GLOBAL HC PHENOM HERE…
ON ECHO CHAMBER (PART 1) : BY TIMO (GRIM UP NORTH FANZINE, STREET SURVIVAL RECORDS (RIP) )
Tbh i didn’t even know where to start this piece about Echo Chamber when
Kyle asked me to write something for an upcoming Scheme newsletter...
I recently talked to Yannick at a show and we somehow landed on that they
are always mentioned in the same sentence with True Blue.
I do get the comparison (don’t get me wrong this isn’t about devaluing
either, both are near and dear to my heart), but we pretty much ended up
on that both might have pulled from the same sources which formed the
sound they went with.
It’s pretty much late 80s / overall 90s New York Hardcore.
Besides the usual suspects from the class of '87, aka Breakdown,
Outburst and Raw Deal, you might wanna throw some Altercation, Cro-Mags,
Dynamo, The Icemen and Sick Of It All into the mix.
But to me, the most common thread between them and True Blue are the lyrics.
As stated in True Blue‘s liner notes, interviews and so on they are
about real life, which is what i also get from the Echo Chamber lyrics.
Or to give you the short version:
Echo Chamber is 100% pure hardcore that unites, without the need of
giving oneself any of these fancy labels.
Let's dive a bit into Echo Chamber's history, if you can call it that
after like 2 1/2 years...
They played their 1st show in October 2021 at the 3rd edition of the
Halloween Mosh in Hannover.
First set of the night and they instantly got a dope reaction, maybe worth
mentioning that there weren't any songs on the interwebs at that point
in time.
(Cheat code for new bands: cover an awesome song to start and set the tone
like they did with 'The Harsh Truth' by The Icemen)
To me this night felt like the final shift (especially in the northern
part) from what was brewing in the German scene over the last couple of
years.
The young bucks wanting to sing-along, stagedive and mosh to every band at
a show, and the old farts getting along or not caring to interfere anymore.
Just making it a more vibrant and excited scene overall with Echo Chamber
being one of the DeutschHardcore flagbearers aside of contemporaries
like Face Your Fears, Force Of Denial, Mortal Form, Phase, Preemptive
Strike, Reflex, Spiral and Suspect.
They took their time crafting these 6 demo songs, which were released
roughly 9 months later on July 7th, 2022.
It wasn't only the usual bubble around oneself that was excited for a
'friends band' release, it was seemingly a worldwide interest.
My observation would be that this also ultimately put Down But Not Out
Records (which is run by Fabian) on the map, shining a deserved light on
releases that were out there already, and what came afterwards.
Another standout set for me was at the Spark 'Supernova' record release
show in Mannheim at the end of 2022.
The whole place literally already errupted when they soundchecked with
'The Harsh Truth', and it just didn't stop from then on.
Social media went kinda bonkers over the True Blue 'Devilangel' cover at
FYA 9. I wasn't there, but it looked like a pretty dope set overall,
seeing a bunch of friends up front put a smile on my face.
'Dust In A Bag' on the 'Scheme Until It's Your Reality' Comp was already
a promising glimpse into what was about to come after the demo. To me it
was a step towards Dijan-era-Breakdown which is never a bad choice, if
done tastefully.
I had to choose between going overseas for FYA X or the east coast tour
of Dead Last, Echo Chamber, and Wreckage, and I mean, how often does it
actually happen that a Euro band (and that band then being from
Germany...) gets to tour the States, so i had to go with the latter option.
In between deciding, and going overseas the 'Contact : Life
Disintegrated' Promo dropped, and what can i say...the bouncy dance part
at the end of 'Life Disintegrated' is what it's all about for me.
COUNTINUED NEXT WEEK IN SCHEME NEWSLETTER 31
7” FEATURE pt. 2 (REALLY NEEDS NEW NAME):
Not to be outdone by Kyle….and since starting new job months ago I haven’t written much for this (digital) rag, I decided to pull some 7”s from the boxes and reflect on a couple joints:
True Blue - The Ice 7”
Before even getting to the music (do I even really need to? if you’re reading this you’re probably already in the secret society of TB/World Collapse fandom), let’s break down the beauty of this layout:
Without sounding like an absolute nerd, the use of the clear overlay w/information and the criminally underused 7” center fold. You can tell this is a record made by people who CARE about their physical presentation and representation in their design. You get the vibe of having to open and unveil the 7”……only to find more I’ll shit. The design aspect is a clear thru line to what you would eventually find in World Collapse. When we eventually rip off something like this for a record, please think it was an original idea and not just an homage / lift of this record.
Side note: Being the late 90s in the transitional to the digital era, I love that Crucial Response included not an email or phone # …. But their fax and their AOL page. Bring back geocities/angelfire hxc and top level domains that end in .tk instead of .com.
The music: it’s awesome. They’re probably the best German hc band ever. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said before, and probably articulated more cohesively.
Supertouch - What Did We Learn 7”
While The Earth is Flat might be one of the coolest looking and an ill record (best Rev 24x36 poster at the least), I think Supertouch is best encapsulated with this 7” and the WNYU set. It’s what I think about when I think Supertouch: undeniably swagger filled.
Layout is a perfect hardcore for its time….yeah we chillin in front of a car on the back of the cover….good double sided insert / poster lil vibe..seldom used graphic design A side AND B side featuring the cool Combined Effort/Supertouch dog design that I saw on a bootleg? on Depop….must cop.
Must be said but RIP Dave Stein ….. Kyle did a good write up of the CE catalog in a previous newsletter that you can reread here.
Iron Boots - Easy Green 7”
Iron Boots: a healthy exercise in remembering Warzone riffs … when it’s so on the nose, how can you hate? But the real best thing about this record …. is how fuckin GREEN it is. They could have simply named a record Easy Green and called it a day but all the respect to sayin fuck it … lets make this whole fuckin thing GREEN. Green cover, green insert, green record, green center labels (extra points for big hole 7”)….its truly so funny yet awesome. Record would be perfect if it somehow had a green dust sleeve.
Various Artists - Seeing With New Eyes: Long Island Hardcore 7”
One of my favorite dollar bin finds, ever. 7”s are the perfect vessels for random shit that one could argue don’t need to exist….(see: an omitted write I was going to do for the Hyrda Head Black Sabbath cover DOUBLE 7” w/beautiful gatefold packaging….why on earth?)
Today, we got a Long Island comp featuring some bands that refer the line of being LI or just NYHC: In Your Face, Krakdown, Bustin’ Out and Just Nice. The two bands besides Krakdown and In Your Face offer pretty standard fare HC of the time…In Your Face does a DEVO cover (that’s wassup) and it’s a live recording of Krakdown covering Mental Abuses - Sock Woman, maybe the first ever transphobic song ever? So we got two originals, and two covers, one being a live one. How many people were clamoring for this record?
The undeniable best part of this release is the label that put it out: SCOOBY-DOO RECORDS. This was the only release that this label put out and the name alone makes me wonder what the goal of this label was. What if in an alternate timeline this was received like the NYC Together comp and Scooby Doo records was a staple in the hardcore subculture today?
“Yea I only really fuck with Scooby Doo 1-21…”