PCP - More Than Hardcore, Motherfuckers

PCP now is mostly known - and in fact, well known, with a huge fanbase - for its Hardcore, Gabber and Hard Techno productions. Which is great - but also a shame - since there is so much more. Even to add PCP's important role in Doomcore (well, in fact, they created it!) and Dark Techno would not do the label justice, as there is a lot more to discover.

While PCP apparently was well received in the beginning of the Techno scene in the 1990s, soon other producers and labels took over in Germany... Westbam, Marusha, Low Spirit, you know the story. Even worse, even the hardcore scene was on the verge of "forgetting" PCP, as Miro noted in an interview from that era. This was the mid-90s then. but out of these ashes PCP, Marc and Miro rose like a phoenix. With a new label (but still incorporating the PCP classics into their live acts), Acardipane Records, and plenty of bookings at the big Dutch parties, the "Gabber" crowd was thoroughly reminded of the vital role PCP played in the creation of Hardcore, and the status of the label soon rose to legendary levels. While this was what PCP and its members definitely deserved, it also created the negative fact that PCP and Acardipane were now, by many people, almost 100% identified with "Hardcore" and "Gabber". True, PCP probably supplied more perfect productions and all-time classics in the field of Hardcore than anyone else - Slaves To The Rave, Stereo Murder, 6 Million Ways To Die, and so on - but as hinted above, the back catalogue went far beyond there.

There is hardly a style and field of electronic music that has not been touched, and sound wisely conquered by the PCP masters yet. They only did not do an acoustic guitar creation yet. You can find House tunes in early PCP and Dance Ecstasy releases. Electro (in the old meaning of the word) on Narcotic Networks. even Dark Ambient, Krautrock and psychedelic music. Electronic and Techno music in any form and shapes. Notable are the ambient workouts of "Shakira’s" 1987 Metamorphosis or the Jupiter Pulse. The liquified Drum’n’Bass classic combination of "Beethoven’s Greatest Works", found on Dance Ecstasy. the rap(!) of the Factory Of Free Base by FBI. The finishing thesis on minimalism via The Mover's Ruff Traxc remix of The Meltdown. The departure of all genre-bounds on, again The Mover's, Last Breath Of The Homelands.

There is too much to explore to fit it into this specific text.

It is a huge shame that the "Hardcore" legacy now to large parts blocks the public access to this knowledge about these sounds for most people around the globe.

Let us hope that these sound treasures are discovered and noticed by more and more people. It is collection of gems that wait to be found by cunning explorers and that wait to be appraised by people.