Episode 41: HOLLY DICKER
This episode kicks off our series with Dance or Die on the electronic music genre known as hardcore and what better way to start the whole thing than by talking to Holly Dicker aka Holly Dee. Holly is a music journalist and hardcore raver who has devoted longer than a decade to covering the history of hardcore while working for places like Resident Advisor, Boiler Room, Tresor, PRSPCT Records and the list goes on. Then she spent four years of blood, sweat and tears writing Dance or Die, a book that traces the history and evolution of hardcore electronic music, which has splintered into genres like terrorcore, speedcore, gabber, makina, breakcore, hardstyle, jumpstyle, J-core, nightcore and many other variants. Holly and I talk about her beginnings in UK towns like Hastings and Manchester, and how she fell in love with breakcore and then ultimately started traveling Europe from free techno parties to mega-festivals in pursuit of the perfect pummeling beat. From World War II bunkers to punk squats to scorpion-filled fields, I find out more about Holly's journey and ethos and we talk about the places where our musical lives and our work have intersected. If you enjoy this episode there are a bunch more in the pipeline afterwards and we're so excited about them and also make sure you head to Velocity Press to pick up Dance or Die and check out all the great . But for now, prepare to lock in to maybe the most hardcore episode we've done so far. Hosted by Vivian Host (aka DJ Star Eyes). For more info and extras, visit Ravetothegrave.org or Instagram @ravetothe.grave.
Visit Holly on Instagram.
Order Dance or Die now.
Visit Velocity Press.
Check out Holly’s documentary on 30 Years of Rotterdam rave culture.
Things discussed in this episode & extras:
- Thunderdome 1997. You had to be there.
- History of Hellraiser. The rave that helped stamp horror aesthetics on the Netherlands. Such a sick YouTube vid.
- A Brief History of Gabber. A really cool curation of photos, music and YouTubes of Dutch gabber history, curated by Holly.
- FR[E]E - Killer documentary on the free party / teknival scene.
- Bleep. A piece on Bleep, also the subject of author Matt Anniss’ book.
- More About the Spiral Tribe. The most punk of the hardcore.
- 30 Years of Gabber. Holly on hardcore history for DJ Mag.
- Holly on No Tags. Can’t get enough of Holly? Us neither. Here she is on the fabulous No Tags podcast.
- PRSPCT Recordings. Tap in with Thrasher’s exciting modern hardcore label.
Tracks in this episode include:
Ceephax Acid Crew - Hardcore Raver
Djinn - Dark Reference
Ace the Space - 9 Is A Classic (Ultimate Rave mix)
Rotterdam Terror Core - Armageddon
Gysele - Ruffneck Attitude
Somniac One - Electronic Dance Music
Talita Okovic - 0524 SKOPPJE
