The PCP Sound - Made To Function

When I developed my first liking for pcp, around 2000, I was often met with bewilderment by friends. 'Yes, PCP did some 'Gabber classics'", "but how could you be so serious into this sound? it's from an older time".

I think this is because PCP ought to be listened in a certain way, that is not so obvious at first. In fact, a lot of PCP tracks sounded very bland to me, before I got my head around it.

And, again, to others PCP might not sound to be that much - because of this.

What is it I am talking about?

PCP has a certain approach to music, in most of its musical outings, that makes it different to a lot of other music - even to a lot other techno. Which is that it is functional.

These tracks are created to work on the dancefloor, in a party setting. The sounds kick hard, punch hard; to make you dance, to make you groove. Acardipane said in an interview PCP records were created with a PA soundsystem in mind - not with the listener at home. But the sounds not only make you want to dance. They also kick the mind. PCP has some of the most "mental" sounds I heard used in tracks. PCP tracks trip you, kick you, chill you, psyche you, raze you.

This is how PCP should be listened to. The signature of the rhythm, the harmony or the melody are not so important - but what *effect* they have. How much they trip you. How much they make you go mad on the dancefloor.

It is not made to be behold, to be watched from a distance - well, maybe that too - but to *affect* you, to push you along - in a hard way, often.

It came to my notice that a lot of people just don't hear this effect in PCP - or other music. They say, a lot of PCP is "repetitive" and "boring" - and don't realize that in these repetitive rhythms and sounds lie a lot of energy - that can be looped for minutes, without being boring at all.

Apart from the obvious thing to do to experience this "hidden" thing of PCP, I think it comes most clear in a party situation. PCP tracks sound so different on a loud PA, in a strobe and fog filled basement - so powerful.

But indeed, the effect can also be experienced by listening "at home" - even if the tracks were not intended for it. There you can feel the mental effect of the tracks too, and how they make your body want to dance.