Certainly no shrinking violet himself, Rotterdam-based breakcore producer Bong-Ra (real name Jason Kohnen) spent his early years weaned on that city’s infamous hardcore scene, before emerging with his first releases on Netherlands labels such as Djax and Supertracks back in 1997. Since then, he’s emerged as one of the pivotal figures moulding the “raggacore’ subgenre, though in truth, his productions are equally as informed by candy rave and metal as they are by reggae. This latest release from Bong-Ra on Ad Noiseam certainly conforms to the sort of behaviour you’d expect from a guy whose last release was modestly titled “I Am The God Of Hellfire.’ From the lurid title, pseudo-goth girlie sleeve art and drugs-obsessed track titles (“Coke Sniffah”, “The Rush”) onwards, it’s fairly clear that Kohnen’s more concerned with making you thrash around than making you marvel in a cerebral fashion at his meticulous programming, but in truth, there’s certainly lots of space left to do that too.
Tracks such as “Suicide Speed Machine Girl’ show Kohnen wrapping knowingly-cheesy sped-up Prodigy samples over an evil, buzzing backdrop of grinding downtuned metal riffs and relentless breakbeats, but rather than the sense of monolithic overload that often becomes apparent halfway through these sorts of albums, there’s an attention to catchy hooks throughout the furious attack that results in this being one of the most downright enjoyable listens amongst the violent breakcore crowd that I’ve heard in quite some time. This release also acts as a remix album of sorts, with the four tracks on offer here being remixed by established names such as Duran Duran Duran, Drop The Lime and Enduser (tagged here as “Old Flesh’), while the fresh meat here comes in the form of lesser-known names Cardopusher, Dr. Bastardo and Cake Builder. All are certainly strong reworkings that show the respective producers placing their own divergent stamp on proceedings; next time you feel like blowing your amp and grinning stupidly throughout the entire process, “Stereohype Heroin Hooker’ could be the album for you.
