30 years in the underground: My journey as a Hardcore and Techno producer (Part 1)

Who is Low Entropy? Who am I?

It's weird, when I get into contact with new people online, the reaction is usually either "who the **** are you?" or "omg, you are a legend, for so many years"! And it's never in between.
I guess I have achieved some kind of shadowy, liminal "fame"...

And, as I have written many bios and features about other artists, labels, projects... maybe it's time I talk about *me* for a while... and spill the beans... even though this might be a dreaded "ego" thing!

So let's go right back.

1.

I was born in the cozy metropolis of Hamburg which is located in Northern Germany in 1980.
As I got into my teens, I got into the new rave / techno wave that swept Europe as well.
Eventually, my interests became much more Hardcore, and finally, I decided to step into this underground scene as well.

It was the mid 90s, and it was kinda a turning point for the German Hardcore Techno scene (and I guess for the global one as well). Hardcore clubs closed, clubs that used to play Hardcore stopped, records stores were not interested in Hardcore records anymore... everything dried up and went bust very quickly.
The underground was still there, there were countless of fans and freaks, a lot of music was still produced... but there were fewer outlets in the "real world" for this...

Partly because of this, I decided to focus my energy elsewhere:
There was another brand spanking new thing: the internet, the information superhighway, cyberspace.
Websites, groups, communities, dedicated to Hardcore and underground music were already set up, and I joined these.
Sites like c8.com, and later the Widerstand forum, or the paranoid section (run by dr macabre), DJ Skinner's Gabber Mailing List, #gabber on efnet irc or #gabba.de on euro irc...

(yes, c8 was the official host for all the labels you can see on this menu)

Things were a bit different then. Today, online communities still exist, and they are a lot of fun... but these older sites were not just for chat, sharing favorite tracks or funny pictures.
They were a vital part of the scene, a backbone, that was used to organize and build projects, set up labels, create parties... the majority of the "major players" in the underground were an active part of these sites and groups.

For example, the "biophilia mailing list" had The Speed Freak, Somatic Responses, Christoph de Babalon, "Thaddi" from the Sonic Subjunkies, Christoph who ran Praxis Records... #gabber on efnet had The Outside Agency, Rotterdam Termination Source, Miss Bones, DJ Fishead, the Canadian Speedcore Resistance, Satronica... and lots others. There were only few users online that were not artists like that, or otherwise busy people.

It's almost as if the underground movement had "re-grouped" online now that prospects in the real world had become more grim.
And I, as a young newcomer, was somehow pulled into this maelstrom.

This very interesting part of strange music culture then got lost over time and is almost forgotten now. I guess people failed to properly achieve it, hah.

2. The Millennium came, some people thought the world would go bust, but it did not.
I realized that sitting alone in a room with a computer and being part of the cyberspace underground was fun, but was not enough.
I got a new hair cut and bought new jeans, and decided to have a try with the real world, too.

My first self-produced vinyl EP was then released on Blut Records in early 2000. I actually had some "physical" releases a bit earlier - my 800 bpm speedcore track "adrenaline junkie" was put out on the "biophilia allstars" 2x12" compilation (related to the mailing list mentioned above!), and there were tracks on tape labels ("orange socks", released by FFF), CD-Rs etc.

This Blut EP was still very much in very noisy Speedcore and Breakcore style. Also had my first "hit", Sadstep, which was meant as a joke (as it had the then popular "two step" kind of beat), but received international club (or rather, squat) play.

Later releases, like the "anarcho psychotic ep" on praxis or the self-titled widerstand album were calmer (but still noisy)... more influenced by Dark Ambient, Neue Musik, or even Goth stuff (hello Gary Numan).

Then things flipped around once more, I did the "acid massacre" EP on Black Monolith, my first Acid and Techno vinyl. Followed by "Emerald Planet", a doomed Hardcore / Techno creature.

The earlier eps had been occasionally reviewed in music mags or played in radio shows, too, but "acid massacre" was the one that really put me into the spotlight. You can still find its tracks in the playlist of old and new DJs, and I guess that's not bad for a 20+ years old record.

maybe because of this, I was also being booked at "bigger" clubs like tresor now.

3.
So let's talk about gigs. The first tresor one happened in 2003, but I had played at parties in the years before, too. Mostly organized by friends and acquaintances... the parties and opportunities slowly became bigger, and all of this felt more like being pulled by a wave than really an actively controlled journey by yours truly.
So I would suddenly stand in front of thousands of ravers in Berlin, or being lured into the Netherlands by people and crews I had never heard before (was a nice trip, though!).

Other parties I have fond memories of are "headlining" Nordcore for their santa hardcore event (with one of the most crazy after parties ever), playing on the speedcore floor of schwerin hardcore while Tanith kept the Techno crowd happy, having a 14 hour train drive to southern germany to crash at one of the hugest squat mansions i ever saw... and the recurring berlin gigs, of course.

4.

And our own parties! Because we decided that the world, and hamburg, needs more hardcore, we decided to set up our own parties as well. And "we" were the "maniac menschen" crew of hamburg locals, which included dj sampler19, bakalla, the man unknown, dj escada, plus a few other people...

The parties were a blast, but also a bit hit and miss in terms of attendance...

Sometimes only 70 "paying guests" showed up, and sometimes the basement was filled by waves of people, I guess something like 800+ during the whole of the night.
That a kind of "anarchist / communist" market and festival took place in the same area a few hours earlier might have helped us in that regard though, and might have pulled new people in.

A very surreal and strange thing, as a whole!

5.

Our crew did not just run these parties. We also set up the "hamburg hardcore radio". It was broadcast from a DIY leftwing radio station - a bit like legal pirate radio. So, this wasn't online at all, if you wanted to hear it, you needed to turn on your radio receiver at home or at work.

This show ended up becoming very popular in hamburg. and by "very popular", I don't mean that it was known to the normal population of hamburg. but it was definitely known amongst the hamburg freaks and weirdos, the people who frequent squats and underground stores and other bizarre places.

In fact a lot of people told me that listening to the show was their first introduction to hardcore techno music for them.

Eventually, we decided to put the recorded DJ mixes of the show online as well... to put things on the international sector.

Some of the artists that played in the studios of the Hamburg Hardcore Radio:

Rod Bolts
Cybermouse
Taciturne

Nihil Fist
The Speed Freak

Bakalla

Igoa

Low Entropy

Sampler 19

Betty Bombshell

DJ Gore

The Man Unknown

6.
And another community effort... the fan-zines!
Xeroxed paper fan-zines were a very, very important part of earlier subcultures, like the 70s / 80s punk and new wave movements. When I met Christoph Fringeli in Berlin he suggested I should set up one, too, so I dutifully did this, together with a bunch of friends.

The "Aurals*x" magazine was born! As I was on the forum of Dr Macabre (as mentioned above), I thought it was a good idea to interview him for one of the early issues... but we did some other stories as well, for example about parties in Berlin, and most importantly, record reviews...!

Even though it was a xeroxed paper mag, we had a good set-up and distribution in various cities in german and also other german-speaking countries (all of the mag was in german language, sorry!).
I don't know exact numbers, but I guess some of the issues had a run close to 10.000 copies... and that's not bad at all for a purely "underground" magazine!

7. so, this was my attempt at a "short bio" and an incomplete list of my activities... for those who care about things like that.

This only covers the "early years", and I might write about other stuff at a later time.

Why am I not more "famous" or well-known these days, if I was involved in "so many" different stuff that even had an impact (or at least I hope that it had) ?
Well, see the intro to this text. I am well and widely known - but only partially (at the same time). Maybe one could term this whole thing a case of "Schrödinger's fame"... :-)

Listening suggestions:

Really Into This Space Stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni567hvEG_U

Funeral Doomcore Techno (60 BPM)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmCjuinoI4

Hamburg Hardcore Anthem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7iUNHQU6Ac

Some opinions by others about me:

"If you are familiar with the hardcore underground you probably heard of Low Entropy."

"The untouchable Low Entropy"

"The actually legendary Low Entropy"

"German Hardcore legend Low Entropy"

"Low Entropy you are a legend, a myth almost"

"Low Entropy's lifelong work in the strife to perfection"

"Low Entropy is close to a house hold name, world wide known for its unforgivable beats and noise'

"while he was still producing breakcore. He was one of the best around at the
time doing So. [...]Low Entropy proved very early into his music lifespan that he
Was not a one trick pony. And like many great electronic producers, can approach
any style that interests him and still leave a unique and signature mark on it.'

"A formidably prolific techno producer and master of hardcore techno. Low
Entropy needs little introduction to most.
Developing his craft in Germany at a time when the country was becoming well
known for being at the forefront of darker and heavier techno styles. He has
been exploring the boundaries of electronic music since the mid 90s."

"Low Entropy continues to explore new possibilities while still unashamedly a
fan of the production alchemy and rebellion against preconceived notions like
the hardcore pioneers of old."

French producer Umwelt playing one of my tracks in 2020

Links:

https://lowentropyproducer.blogspot.com/
https://www.discogs.com/artist/22777-Low-Entropy
https://lowentropy.bandcamp.com/