Digital Hardcore's logo should be an exclamation point. The bands that call Alec Empire's label home make music that is universally loud, distorted, angry and fast, while their albums' liner notes demand that we "Fuck The Nazi Punks Up Their Asses!" and proclaim things like "Our Present Is Our Piss!" The question remains whether the rage present in the music is directed against the oppressive bureaucracies that stand in the way of label- sanctioned anarchy, or merely the shriek of Ritalin kids acting out and trying to keep themselves entertained. If you ever see any of these acts interviewed, the words "boring" or "bored" come up a lot (label head and incredibly- busy- guy Alec Empire excepted), and there's little discussion about anything actually happening in the world today. All of this leads one to believe that this is simply the distorted sound of Type-A youth's unchecked ID.

Though few should look to this Digital Hardcore's groups for political commentary, the DHR clique is still generating some pretty interesting sounds. The label is making a push here in the United States, trying to establish its North American office in the land where its music has made the greatest impact (most of these bands aren't very popular in Germany, but being distributed domestically by Grand Royal hasn't hurt.) You've Got The Fucking Power serves as a nice introduction to this sound, offering a little more variety than any of these groups are capable of on their own. Despite the feeling one gets that these are in fact all same- sounding puppet bands deployed by Empire in his quest for world domination, the music makes for a pleasant romp through one's aggressive self, with enough hooks and kooky breakbeats to keep pulling you in.

Atari Teenage Riot, the Empire- led group that started it all, kicks off the set with a lame track called "Get Up While You Can." Meant to be some kind of "fight the man" rallying cry, the song ends up sounding like a punk band stocked with 15- year- olds on Mini- Thins who spent an afternoon with a broken drum machine. "They tried to knock us to the ground!/ Set us up, push us around!" Who the fuck are these rock stars talking about? Warner Brothers? This is the least convincing anger on the collection, hands down. "Residiuum" by Christoph De Babalon is far more interesting, featuring a spastic jungle break spread across a bed of brooding, cinematic strings that really go for that age- old sense of Berlin decadence. I've got to check this Christoph guy out.

Also intriguing is Shizuo's "The Man", which boasts a heavy groove and some sex- you- up lyrics half- sung by a gal named Anika (she sounds, naturally, bored). EC8OR's "Mean" off their new release, World Beaters, is fun because it's so abrasive it ends up seeming comical and EC8OR's Patric C has a solo joint called "Snuff Out" that's straight DHR techno by numbers. Bomb20 offer the well- designed and sample- heavy "You Killed Me First" and Big Cheese Empire closes out the set with the distorted breaks of "Hard Like It's A Pose," the opening cut from his latest, The Destroyer. The DHR web site says this comp is going for less than $5 in the stores, and if that's the case, then I'd say pick it up right away. For most people, this all the Digital Hardcore you will ever need.

-Mark Richard-San