Search - Various Artists :: La Hardcore 1

Important CD

J. Kawakami | 01/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a pretty important record. There were few CDs produced by the LA underground techno/house scene in the 90s (or even today!). It's a real shame, because there are a lot of talented artists creating all kinds of sounds. To a large extent, the artform is extremely local, mostly Latino, and unknown to the rest of the country.



Texas had Tejano in the 90s. The East Coast is spreading Reggaeton today. LA had a thriving, unique techno underground that expanded from Chicago house and freestyle music played on Power 106, and it all happend before DnB got popular. I wasn't even listening to the music, and I was aware of it -- it was popular to the point where it seemed like a national, not local, phenomenon. People would talk about the local compilations and mixtapes as if they were albums.



I think it's sad that very talented artists like DJ Irene, RAW, and Oscar Da Grouch were ignored by Hollywood record companies. These DJs were playing IN Hollywood, at numerous events, and the record industry turned to Europe to find electronic music produced by artists who were not Americans. I suspect some racism played into their decisionmaking.



This album, like the artists, are hard to pigeonhole using mainstream categories. It's hard to sell, but, if you like "hard" music like jungle or hard house, you'll like it."