hypnoskull

unpopular start
invented and created in 1992 by belgian-german producer patrick s. (°1973), after he started making experimental electronic noise music in 1990. while all grungekids around him where desperately trying to learn how to play the guitars, drums and basses, and tried to sound like the pearl jams and nirvana's of this world, patrick s. and some others teamed up to do something very unpopular that time in belgium : creating electronic music. strange, cause wasn't it belgium who had this severe and strong group of great bands and projects during the eighties ? unless that given fact of music history, the belgian press and alternative media in those days, were very anti-electronic music. electronic music was treated as something for weirdo's and worse, something for so called 'less inteligent people'.
anarchic noise tapes worldwide
picked up by sandy nys' radioshow 'netwerk' at local antwerp radiostation 'centraal', his first project called E.E.E. was broadcasted at this experimental tapescene radioshow, hosted by the producer of hybryds and ex-member of the klinik. we still write 1990. after that things went kinda fast. being introduced into the worldwide cassettescene, his projects with illustre names like E.E.E., B.R.B., godwin, das schreckenskabinett, M.A.S.K., and some others, were released on cassette tape releases on his own label EEE tapes and other cassette labels. the musical style could be best described as anarchic noise and experiments.
media and noise breaks and beats
hypnoskull was created as another soloproject in the long line of illustre tape projects that went off before. because of studying press and media in those days, the project became also related to this. 'media terrorism' and 'hacktivism', the sound of hypnoskull became a very cold structural-neurological machine that was based upon all kinds of sinister 'conspiracy theories' and off-the-hook ideas about how media and 'art' or culture could be mixed and influence each other. nothing was planned for this project, it was merely a playground for mixing various aspects all into one explosive cocktail of idea's, texts, visuals and sounds. the result was a series of tapereleases that were very harsh and 'difficult', experimental.
slow evolution
hypnoskull in the meanwhile started to grow very slowly and to change and adapt. this whole process took some years, and the first real change from noise to more beat-oriented productions was made in 1994 when techno started another move upwards and other styles like jungle music popped-up into the worldwide scene. with tremendous influences of the music he grew up with, D.A.F., front 242, liaisons dangereuses, crash course in science, the executive slacks and so on, the first beat productions were hooked onto these original electronic body music bands, but also on harsh noise like f.e. merzbow and other stuff from japan, and also from the new techno style and even the fresh jungle music style. the result was a strange mixture of styles all in one. added to that the monotone approach of industrial music like esplendor géometrico or muslimgauze, and the sinister sound experiments of projects like lustmord, h.n.a.s. or nurse with wound, hypnoskull became a very weird mixture of all kinds of influences and styles.
breaking out of the tapescene
almost at the same time, some young projects appeared suddenly at the tapemeetings and independent festivals. ars moriendi from germany, imminent starvation from belgium to name just two. some small labels like ant-zen and hands productions showed courage and expanded their releases and started to grow. in 1996 patrick s. released his first album under the name 'noshinto' at kk records, and immediately after that he started the project 'sonar' with dirk ivens (the klinik / dive), which he would join for two years and lots of releases and liveshows. in 1998, suddenly all went fast when his first album was released on german ant-zen records. playing bigger liveshows ever since 1995, hypnoskull had the basis to attract a new audience of people who were both into industrial as well as ebm-music, yet he stayed a kind of outsider of both scenes cause of his unpredictable ecclectic approach.
breaking 'scenerules'
his first album was a shot in the middle. together with some others like noisex, imminent starvation, synapscape, p.a.l., and some more, hypnoskull was soon bombed as one of the major players of the so-called 'powernoise' scene, who combined beats and noise into one harsh danceable mashup sound. his albums 'ffwdburnout!' and the highlight 'electronic music means war to us' were entirely into this trip of raw beats and extreme production techniques. anyway, soon it became a very big drag and too easy, so hypnoskull decided to change and evolve. 'operation tough guy', the following album, was a try, but in the end not a very good one. the real change came when hypnoskull released 'dark skies over planet e.', choosing to incorporate more and more elements from 'unusual' musical styles like hiphop, breakbeat, breakcore and drum'n bass. the 'powernoise' scene was splitted into those people who now also attend breakcore events, and those who rather remained 'purists' and don't accept sidesteps to 'other' styles. hypnoskull by the way never ever cared a simple fuck about who followed and who not. in an era where record sales started to drop like mad, and the entire underground music scenes also changed dramatically, hypnoskull never believed in 'stagnation'. this is why hypnoskull nowadays also plays shows where the average age of the audience is 18 years.
a difficult line
nevertheless being stubborn and true to the own ideas about music production, it also brought tremendous difficulties. a difficult line to walk as a producer. not giving a shit about marketing and release schedules, or 'markets', hypnoskull placed himself into a very difficult situation. 2005 was a sabbatical year, to think it all over, and when in 2006 'panik mekanik' was released after the intermediate 'G.O.D.-once again' album (spectre records), the hypnoskull machine went back on a new fresh track. having accepted the way it is, and the way things go, hypnoskull liberated himself from the unwritten music business rules and dogma's and actually becomes a new kind of d.i.y. project of the new era again. nothing must and nothing has to. this is maybe not the perfect basis for a project, but at least it's the most honest. truely we are aware that not many of the projects who are active for 15 years dare to act like this.
in-your-face live reputation
the livesets of hypnoskull started in 1993 and were very experimental, and short during the first two years. using self-constructed gear, like body amplifiers and handcontrolled noise generators, tapeloops and adapted drummachines, the shows were a mixture between cold performance acts and 'regular' music shows. later since 1995, the aspect moved more to liveproduction onstage including video and visuals, and ever since 1998, hypnoskull is basically a straight-in-your-face hardcore live act. known for his harsh danceable sets, loud volumes and insane changes of rhythms, the main goal nowadays is to make audiences move and go insane. writing 2008, hypnoskull plays two kinds of shows : breakcore oriented ones and harsh noisebeats-oriented ones. be aware...
references : hypnoskull played shows in cities and clubs like : new york (cbgb's), berlin, paris, amsterdam, rotterdam, arnhem, london, cannes, nice, vesoul, aachen, geilenkirchen and krefeld (maschinenfest), bremen, nürnberg, münchen, hasselt (pukkelpop festival), atlanta (the riviera club), washington d.c., los angeles and hollywood, colorado springs, chicago, boston, leipzig, moscow (DKdance club), manchester, bradford, antwerp (hof ter loo), sint-niklaas (syndroom and kompas club), ghent (vooruit), phoenix, marburg and many many more...
buy available and official hypnoskull tracks here :