The founding father of provocative German digital hardcore crew Atari Teenage Riot and probably the most revered experimental musicians in Europe, Alec Empire has all the time thought-about that music has the facility to vary our world, elevate radical consciousness and encourage revolutionary wrestle.
Listed below are 10 information he endorses for soundtracking the combat for a greater tomorrow.
The Final Poets – The Final Poets (1970)
“That is the blueprint for a lot hip-hop, a very key file for the style. When you take heed to a band like Loss of life Grips, you’ll nonetheless hear parts of the primal, bodily power of this file. The lyrics listed here are so extremely highly effective: it exhibits that you just don’t must be an incredible songwriter who is aware of all of the chord buildings in an effort to talk essential concepts.”
The Impressions – Folks Get Prepared (1965)
“Curtis Mayfield made some unimaginable music. Folks now would possibly hear these songs and marvel why I’m labelling them as songs of revolution, however within the context of the time, this was very radical music and it impressed so many individuals in America.
“Lots of the white radio stations in America thought-about this Black Panther music, and wouldn’t play it, however now it’s music that Obama utilized in his Presidential marketing campaign. It’s fascinating to me how music can come in several garments. Folks suppose revolutionary music have to be loud and aggressive, however that is proof that that’s not the case.”
Meat Beat Manifesto – 99% (1990)
“I don’t suppose [MBM mainman] Jack Risks will get sufficient credit score, however his music influenced lots of people on the early rave scene: I do know The Prodigy have been followers. He doesn’t get talked about a lot in articles concerning the delivery of rave tradition, however I generally return to this file and marvel at how he was kinda forward of his time. These days, for example, sampling is so accepted and common-place, however if you happen to take a look at the music Meat Beat Manifesto have been making at the moment it’s simply actually fascinating and ground-breaking.”
Merzbow /John Watermann – Brisbane-Tokyo Interlace (1995)
“Merzbow is the godfather of noise. He has made so many albums, like perhaps 400 albums, however this is without doubt one of the greatest noise information I do know of…and I’ve heard a lot of noise information! [Laughs]. It’s fairly a uncommon file, I believe solely 1000 have been produced, nevertheless it has an actual revolutionary power. Merzbow gave me a replica of this in Japan and I used to be like, Wow! I nonetheless typically embody this in my DJ units.
“Folks generally hear noise information and go, ‘Uh, this feels like my washer performed by a distortion pedal’ however the deeper you get into the noise scene as a musician the more difficult it’s. It’s straightforward to make one noisy, fucked-up file, however to maintain issues evolving and shifting ahead isn’t straightforward.”
Igor Stravinsky – The Ceremony Of Spring (1913)
“This piece of music is so accepted now nevertheless it genuinely impressed a riot when it was first performed, which exhibits how highly effective it’s. Confrontation is typically crucial in music and folks shouldn’t shrink back from that: too many musicians now are frightened of dropping followers, however critically guys, generally you simply need to push issues. Worry will not be a great mindset for musicians – rock n’ roll was not born out of worry. The wonderful dissonant ambiance of this music could make you have a look at the world differently.”

Shizuo – Shizuo vs Shizor (1997)
“This man, David Hammer, has been kinda forgotten about – he died of a heroin overdose in 2011, sadly – so despite the fact that it’s on our label Digital Hardcore, I’m going to say it. This man used to take plenty of medication, however the way in which he put samples collectively was actually progressive: I can DJ with it now and folks nonetheless freak out.
“He would typically open up for us in America and once we’d go onstage there would already be riots within the crowd as a result of his music was simply so in-your-face and so fucked up: generally he’d be on LSD and would unintentionally play two tracks on the similar time, which was much more intense! I do know that the Beastie Boys are large followers of this file.”

Public Enemy – Worry Of A Black Planet (1990)
“Public Enemy are such an essential group. I do know a lot of individuals would nominate the albums earlier than this, however for me, with songs like Combat The Energy and Welcome To The Terrordome, that is the one, that is particular. There’s such rigidity within the music, and such revolutionary spirit. I believe this hasn’t aged: I do know individuals will hear now and go, ‘Oh, the beats aren’t like now’, however that’s not what this file is about for my part. It’s a crossover file which drew in plenty of rock followers, and if you wish to perceive plenty of the racism in America, if you happen to take heed to this file you’ll be able to determine it out. It’ll actually let you know rather more than a Kanye West file will.”

Underground Resistance – Riot EP (1991)
“This vinyl is fairly uncommon, it’s black guys in Detroit making techno, and so they have been nearly just like the Public Enemy of the techno scene on the time. At this level we have been already doing Atari Teenage Riot in Berlin with super-fast breakbeats and aggressive synths and punk information samples and so they nearly had a really related power, however on the opposite facet of the world. These days the world appears a lot smaller and extra linked, however again then it was kinda a shock to us that somebody in America shared a few of our concepts. I used to see these guys DJ at raves and it all the time felt genuinely harmful, significantly with their militant, indignant picture.”

Silver Apples – Silver Apple (1968)
“This could be music for a step earlier than the revolution, type of a heat up music for individuals! It’s an excellent essential album, they have been bringing digital music and rock and psychedelic music at a time when no person actually thought on this manner. It nonetheless provokes lots of people once I DJ these things, sure melodies have this dissonance that simply unnerves individuals.”
Winston Edwards & Blackbeard – Dub Convention (Winston Edwards and Blackbeard at 10 Downing Road) (1980)
“Folks typically play reggae at protests nevertheless it’s all the time the ‘Yeaaah, peace!’ stuff, with that laidback, stoner vibe, which truly all the time makes me aggressive! However I all the time advocate this file, it’s actually fascinating. It’s a very good dub file, with titles like Shake Buckingham Palace Down and Kensington Palace Confusion, however for some motive it’s tremendous underground: I bear in mind being in Tokyo as soon as and speaking about it to [dub producer and founder of the influential dub label On-U-Sound] Adrian Sherwood and he didn’t find out about it.
“It doesn’t sound like a Jamaican dub file, it was made by Jamaicans in England, and it’s simply actually highly effective. Dub actually brings individuals collectively, and whenever you play music like this at protests it actually connects individuals in a brand new and completely different manner.”
