Alec Empire

Members: Alec Empire.
Genre: Digital Hardcore, Breakcore, Techno, Experimental.
Biography:
Alec Empire is a German experimental electronic musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot, as well as a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ. He has released many albums, EPs and singles, some under aliases, and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the digital hardcore genre, and founded the record labels Digital Hardcore Recordings and Eat Your Heart Out Records.

Alec Empire’s body of work spans a range of electronic (as well as conventionally less electronic) styles. His earlier releases for Force Inc. were influenced by the rave scene in his native Berlin, and included acid house, techno, hardcore, punk and breakbeat (all of which are evident on the SuEcide EPs and the Limited Editions 1990-1994 compilation). On creating DHR his solo recordings for that label consisted largely of the digital hardcore staples of breakcore (as heard on The Destroyer album and EPs) and later experimental noise (as heard on Miss Black America), while his work during the same period for Mille Plateaux saw him experimenting with minimal techno (Pulse Code), ambient (Low on Ice) and musique concrète (Les Étoiles des Filles Mortes). His alter-egos for various labels provided outlets for dabbling in other genres such as drum and bass/jungle (DJ Mowgly), Detroit techno (Jaguar) and even chiptune music (Nintendo Teenage Robots).

After the demise of Atari Teenage Riot, Empire’s major releases for DHR sought to continue in the guitar-based, punk-influenced vein of the band. Intelligence and Sacrifice utilized live guitars, breakbeats, noise, sampled cinematic dialogue and Empire’s trademark spoken/shouted English vocals, while Futurist saw a more obvious return to his punk roots and consequently sounds as if it were largely recorded using all live instrumentation, even though it was electronically produced. The creation of the Eat Your Heart Out label saw a move to a much more electronic-sounding approach with comparatively subdued vocals over synthesized sounds and beats.

Album:
• SuEcide Pt.1 & Pt.2 (1992)
• Limited Editions 1990–94 (1994)
• Generation Star Wars (1994)
• Low on Ice (1995)
• Hypermodern Jazz 2000.5 (1996)
• The Destroyer (1996)
• Les Etoiles Des Filles Mortes (1996)
• Berlin Sky (1996)
• Squeeze The Trigger (1997)
• Miss Black America (1998)
• Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley Bootleg (1999)
• Intelligence and Sacrifice (2001)
• Alec Empire & Merzbow live at CBGBs New York (2003)
• The CD2 Sessions Live in London (2003)
• Futurist (2005)
• Atari Teenage Riot – Atari Teenage Riot (2006)
• Alec Empire – The Golden Foretaste of Heaven (2007)
• Alec Empire – The Golden Foretaste of Heaven (2008)
• Alec Empire – Shivers (2009)
• Mustard Pimp feat. Alec Empire – Catch Me (2011)
• Atari Teenage Riot – Is This Hyperreal? (2011)

LINKS:
Bandcamp: https://alecempire.bandcamp.com/