Frankfurt Trax Volume 1
PCP had many releases of a strange and experimental nature. But even amongst its most unusual ones, this one stands out.
In fact, this compilation (and its tracks) rarely gets mentioned in "best-of" lists, DJ charts, mix-sets.
People know it exists. But they seldom talk about it.
And indeed, it is "at the edge of the board" in many ways. It almost sounds as if it was done by a different label, a different Planet Core Productions.Few of the aliases appear again in later releases - a rarity for this label's catalogue.
There are not much "Hardcore" sounds, yes. But PCP never produced 'purely Hardcore', and you could not expect much Hardcore in 1990 anyway.But there neither is that typical, detroit-infused, somewhat minimalist, catacomb, and claustrophobic techno mania - which later became the trademark style of PCP.
Instead, the sounds are varied, massive, expansive.There are links to hip hop, ebm, dance...And even though the instrumentation itself feels minimalist, the sound itself feels huge.
To put it this way: if PCP had continued that way, I could imagine them filling rock and pop arenas with a kind of PCP sound that lies in the middle of mass appeal madness and emissions from the deepest underground.Headlining the newspapers and owning the charts.
But PCP went another way; they took no quarters, they went as rough and secretive and underground as possible.So underground that only now, decades later, a wide audience slowly unpeels these layers.
So that's what we got here. A huge "what-if?" artifact out of the earliest days of PCP.
And indeed, it is "at the edge of the board" in many ways. It almost sounds as if it was done by a different label, a different Planet Core Productions.Few of the aliases appear again in later releases - a rarity for this label's catalogue.
There are not much "Hardcore" sounds, yes. But PCP never produced 'purely Hardcore', and you could not expect much Hardcore in 1990 anyway.But there neither is that typical, detroit-infused, somewhat minimalist, catacomb, and claustrophobic techno mania - which later became the trademark style of PCP.
Instead, the sounds are varied, massive, expansive.There are links to hip hop, ebm, dance...And even though the instrumentation itself feels minimalist, the sound itself feels huge.
To put it this way: if PCP had continued that way, I could imagine them filling rock and pop arenas with a kind of PCP sound that lies in the middle of mass appeal madness and emissions from the deepest underground.Headlining the newspapers and owning the charts.
But PCP went another way; they took no quarters, they went as rough and secretive and underground as possible.So underground that only now, decades later, a wide audience slowly unpeels these layers.
So that's what we got here. A huge "what-if?" artifact out of the earliest days of PCP.
Rating: 89 out of 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 2 - The House Of Techno
This compilation actually hosts a lot of exclusive tracks that were not released elsewhere.
The "FFM Theme" picks up where the "Futureworld EP" left; but without breakneck MC-ing this time.
Vaeth 1 is mesmerizing techno by Sven.
"+3" could be a missing link to the acid of Countdown FFM (which ended with catalogue number "+2").
The "next skool remix" is an almost chilled version of "1991".
"No Compromise" is one of my favorite "Frankfurt Trax" exclusives; an epic, almost "trance-y" hard run.
"House Music's Not Dead" is a very lively bassline driven smasher.
"Phase 2" is a new chapter of suns and moons.
"Whales Alive" is another favorite pick; almost cinematic, slow, underground (or underwater) breakbeat music.
And "Persian Lover" is a thematic nod to their 80s Egyptian counterpart - and a very good one.
Rating: 91 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 3 - The House Of Phuture
Here the compilation-only tracks are:
"Murder One", a peculiar: 92-style breakbeat hardcore track; and hey, isn't the melody "art of stalking" again?
Vaeth 2 is an exciting electro-experimental by Sven.
Mescalinum United's track is the 2nd coming of destruction.
A Lighter Shade and bittersweet meandering doom-pop - I start 2 fly!
The Terrorists' Outside World samples Akira a few years before Sunbeam's hard trance mega hit of the same name.
"Legalize It" is THC-infused chilled-out dub.
The Stalker walks on Thunderground.
DetoNation is an explosive moment in acid history.
And Alien Christ adds another Phase to the Suns and Moons.
Rating: 94 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 4 - The Hall Of Fame
The exclusive tracks:
M.F.P.A. - Came To Party
Oh, what's that! 20 Fingers / Salt'n'Peppa style dance-rapping with breakbeats and "happy sounds".
Unexpected for pcp - but not bad at all!
303 Nation - Double Speed Mayhem
Double speed? More like quadruple hyper-speed! Swirling acidcore at several hundred bpm. Wooosh!
Tony G - Loveless
I cannot communicate how much I adore the very few incursions by PCP into the (dark) world of pop (or at least more traditional) music - and this is one of them.
"Live at Hellraiser" might be the World's Famous edit of Program 1's track, as it was included on another edition of Thunderdome (the one with the dog!)
Rating: 96 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 5 - Defenders Of The Faith
As far as I can see, there are zero exclusive tracks on this one.
Rating: 97 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 6 - Return To Zero
This time, a large amount of tracks were released on Dance Ecstasy 2001 in several vinyl volumes.
Now let's look at the 2 CD exclusives:
"Let It Roarrr!" has a lengthy breakbeat intro, before it breaks down into rough guy gabber.
Headshop sends us a Phantom track that almost feels as if the Universe was re-created by a deranged string orchestra (nice!).
Rating: 99 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 2 - The House Of Techno
This compilation actually hosts a lot of exclusive tracks that were not released elsewhere.
The "FFM Theme" picks up where the "Futureworld EP" left; but without breakneck MC-ing this time.
Vaeth 1 is mesmerizing techno by Sven.
"+3" could be a missing link to the acid of Countdown FFM (which ended with catalogue number "+2").
The "next skool remix" is an almost chilled version of "1991".
"No Compromise" is one of my favorite "Frankfurt Trax" exclusives; an epic, almost "trance-y" hard run.
"House Music's Not Dead" is a very lively bassline driven smasher.
"Phase 2" is a new chapter of suns and moons.
"Whales Alive" is another favorite pick; almost cinematic, slow, underground (or underwater) breakbeat music.
And "Persian Lover" is a thematic nod to their 80s Egyptian counterpart - and a very good one.
Rating: 91 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 3 - The House Of Phuture
Here the compilation-only tracks are:
"Murder One", a peculiar: 92-style breakbeat hardcore track; and hey, isn't the melody "art of stalking" again?
Vaeth 2 is an exciting electro-experimental by Sven.
Mescalinum United's track is the 2nd coming of destruction.
A Lighter Shade and bittersweet meandering doom-pop - I start 2 fly!
The Terrorists' Outside World samples Akira a few years before Sunbeam's hard trance mega hit of the same name.
"Legalize It" is THC-infused chilled-out dub.
The Stalker walks on Thunderground.
DetoNation is an explosive moment in acid history.
And Alien Christ adds another Phase to the Suns and Moons.
Rating: 94 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 4 - The Hall Of Fame
The exclusive tracks:
M.F.P.A. - Came To Party
Oh, what's that! 20 Fingers / Salt'n'Peppa style dance-rapping with breakbeats and "happy sounds".
Unexpected for pcp - but not bad at all!
303 Nation - Double Speed Mayhem
Double speed? More like quadruple hyper-speed! Swirling acidcore at several hundred bpm. Wooosh!
Tony G - Loveless
I cannot communicate how much I adore the very few incursions by PCP into the (dark) world of pop (or at least more traditional) music - and this is one of them.
"Live at Hellraiser" might be the World's Famous edit of Program 1's track, as it was included on another edition of Thunderdome (the one with the dog!)
Rating: 96 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 5 - Defenders Of The Faith
As far as I can see, there are zero exclusive tracks on this one.
Rating: 97 / 100
Frankfurt Trax Volume 6 - Return To Zero
This time, a large amount of tracks were released on Dance Ecstasy 2001 in several vinyl volumes.
Now let's look at the 2 CD exclusives:
"Let It Roarrr!" has a lengthy breakbeat intro, before it breaks down into rough guy gabber.
Headshop sends us a Phantom track that almost feels as if the Universe was re-created by a deranged string orchestra (nice!).
Rating: 99 / 100
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