| Author |
Thread |
|
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
 Posted - 2024/12/18 : 05:45:03
Hello, my friends. And people I don't know yet but hope to in the future. I'm announcing my, uh, not very glorious return to the forum and the scene more generally. Thanks for all your kind messages over the years. As many of you know, though perhaps not in so much detail, I have an extremely rare and life-threatening immune disorder that has left me disabled, very low-energy, and with an uncertain lifespan. So I wanted to make hay while the sun shines. (By, um, ranting on HH.com, I guess..)
Unfortunately, a few years back I received a major setback to my whole carpe diem mentality. One of my music hard drives died on me. It was the one with most of my hardcore on it. Even though I have contacts at Mcclaren and Proctor & Gamble's dedicated data recovery departments(!!), none of them could salvage anything. That's dying hard! (Sorry, that's dumb, but last week I went to see Die Hard with my family at one of these new drive-in cinemas that are popping up around the country atm and I'm still buzzed, even if it used up my entire energy expenditure for the week.) Yeah, I know. Backup, backup, backup. I'm not that dumb. I buy my HDDs in pairs so one can always mirror the other. But the other is just gone. I'm now pretty sure my ex-friend (who turned out to be a huge penis with a small penis) stole the mirror from my house. But by the time I recognised the need for it, I wouldn't have been able to prove it and he would've been smart enough to have copied the data and tossed the drive (besides, hands up anyone who thinks the police would've given a shit about a stolen HDD?). He's a hardcore fan who also turned out to be a hardcore fan of more nefarious shit, and he was enjoying my suffering too, so I binned him off as a friend before even realising what had happened.
That drive was stacked with rare releases, including extremely rare vinyls I ripped myself before I had to sell my vinyl and turntable and everything else of any value (like HU CD releases) to survive during the long period between becoming unable to work and beginning to receive disability benefits. It's been on my bucket list for a long time now to complete a particular - very long and rather complete - list of hardcore labels in digital form (many of which only ever existed on vinyl and/or can no longer be bought). That's what all the vinyl ripping was for. I worked part-time in Sainsbury's to help myself through sixth form and uni. I probably spent 50% of whatever disposable income I had on hardcore releases. And then I managed to complete a very small amount of lucrative computer science work between my MEng and becoming ill. I did alright for myself, for a while. I don't even want to think about how much money I spent on hardcore over the years. Let's just say it had to have been, ugh, five figures and leave it at that. Of course, I lost probably 80-90% of that on the catastrophic crash, including digital releases that no longer exist (from sites like TiD and IMO) and vinyl rips from records I no longer have.
Sorry but I just had to vent as gutted doesn't even come close to covering it. I usually only cry at funerals but, man, I rage-wept once or twice. Y'know, in a manly way. I'm still on a quest to cross the hardcore collection off my list but with the amount of money I get that isn't spent on medical stuff... I'd have to live another century instead of.. whatever. I had to set a (very) soft cut-off at 2020 so it doesn't become a literally impossible moving target (but I'd totally buy anything more recent that's worthwhile). And to segue into my final point, just as I'd saved some actual cheddar to raid HU during one of their sales, it was just.. gone. It's only thanks to the Wayback Machine that I know what I missed.
I really hope and pray everyone over there like CDJay is alright. But I'm also pretty gutted that all the new stuff I'd been saving for, like the artist albums and the Nu Energy/Relentless stable remasters, were gone (I figured that if I was going to have to collect Nu Energy and Relentless etc. all over again, I may as well get the remasters, right?). I can't remember if I also had MP3 purchases that are now inaccessible too. I think so. Arghhh. I feel terrible for HU but I also feel bad for me -- that's fair, right? Do we know what's going on with HU? Is there any hope at all for a return? Are there any alternatives for the same stuff?
Sorry for the long post. I just feel kinda powerless and beaten down by life. And I wanted to express it to people who'd understand it. The other hardcore-related items on my bucket list are to finish at least one track I'd be proud to release properly (even if I don't) and to finish one more big mix (did you ever beat my record, MusicILove? If so, I'm coming for you, bro). I hope you're all doing well. Many of you have been very good to me over the years. Shoutout to Dys7, FunDaBounce, Triceps, Archefluxx, Starstruck, Samination, Jay (do you still have an archive of the tracks from hardcorehighlights? I could really use them to boost my collection right now), CDJay, D-Luc-D, T2kazuya, trippnface, Sparkz, Chexmixer, Advather, Scott, Smaoum(sp?), the lads and ladies at JAL and HU, Si, Sc@r, Slipmatt, Gammer (for making me the target of the first and only ever hardcore diss track).. man, I hate doing these things because you always end up forgetting people. I *know* I've forgotten another dozen people -- please don't blame me, I have brain fog so thick you'd need a chainsaw to cut it. But you get my point. This scene's been good to me and I'm very grateful.
Great to see you all again, friends. If you want to send me your artist archives of your expired/scattered free releases, I won't complain! I need new material for that mix! Best wishes to all of you! And I promise not all the items on my bucket list are so lame. It's just that I can no longer do many of them and this is happyhardcore.com, not the Orient Express fan forum.
Love,
Elliott (again, back from the dead, and hopefully for a long time)
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator 
Edited by - Elliott on 2024/12/18 06:02:44 |
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
Posted - 2024/12/18 : 05:46:24
Woah, was the topic title always so length-restrictive? I could've sworn it wasn't.. And I certainly don't remember it truncating titles without asking. If you're still making mods to the forum software, how about making it so we can view our own post histories (please, that'd be super helpful for me)?
The title was supposed to be "Announcing my return and commiserations and what's going on with HU anyway?"
By the way, Si, I tried to send you a PM earlier but apparently you've blocked PMs.
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator
Edited by - Elliott on 2024/12/18 06:14:15 |
DJ Bounce
Senior Member
United Kingdom
346 posts
Joined: Mar, 2006
|
Posted - 2024/12/18 : 19:08:54
Hello sir.
__________________________________
Check out my Spotify @ https://spoti.fi/32t5Lvx
Alert moderator
|
DJ_FunDaBounce
Advanced Member
Colombia
2,018 posts
Joined: Nov, 2001
|
Posted - 2024/12/18 : 21:20:18
Has it been that long?
I mean, Starstruck passed away years ago. I could've sworn you were still around posting, though, when the news hit.
HU...
Some of us are still scratching our heads, in regards to why it disappeared.
Jay/Hardcore Highlights got married and outgrew the forum, if I recall correctly. lol!
__________________________________
"Fun with a capital F-D-B!"
http://www.brightspeedrecordings.com/
Alert moderator
|
Luz1978
New Member
United Kingdom
72 posts
Joined: Oct, 2020
|
Posted - 2024/12/18 : 23:35:45
All the nu energy stuff is available from Kev energy: https://kevinenergy.com/online-store-page/
Though a bit more expensive when I got it back in Covid lock down.
Also depending on tastes, kniteforce has a load of digital and usb releases, like jimmy j and cru-l-t collections etc..
JAL is on bandcamp.
Alert moderator
Edited by - Luz1978 on 2024/12/18 23:39:02 |
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
Posted - 2024/12/19 : 07:16:08
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Bounce:
Hello sir.
I'm surprised we've never had a proper convo but I really like a lot of your music, mate. Any chance you wanna give me a bulk discount on your back catalogue?
I need to develop a deep pool of tracks for my planned mix. I started this small speedmixing contest/community with this one and I need to take back my throne. But it takes thousands of tracks to find the perfect double drops and transitions etc. when you're doing that with 60+ tracks in a mix.
Nice to meet you properly anyway. :)
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator
|
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
Posted - 2024/12/19 : 07:30:16
quote:
Originally posted by DJ_FunDaBounce:
Has it been that long?
I mean, Starstruck passed away years ago. I could've sworn you were still around posting, though, when the news hit.
HU...
Some of us are still scratching our heads, in regards to why it disappeared.
Jay/Hardcore Highlights got married and outgrew the forum, if I recall correctly. lol!
I guess so, mate. I think I made a brief return in 2020 but didn't catch up much. I think before that it would've been around the time we used to talk on Skype in about 2017/18. Maybe I did know but had forgotten.
Jeez, that ****ing sucks. Starstruck was the guy who got me into production. He was one of the most generous people I've ever met. He got me through all the early doubts and shitty production values (or, rather, even shittier) with his encouragement and advice. I named a track after him way back in like 2014. RIP to a legend of the scene and a wonderful man. Can anyone please upload the full AWF archive he released for free after the label folded? I used to have it, of course. In fact, I'd already bought most of it.
Great to see you're still around. I like your new track and the fact that you're still sticking to your guns with that classic mid-'00s style. Are you still releasing your stuff for free? If so, could you package up an archive for me please? There are quite a few people around still doing that era. I suppose because for many of us it was at or near the peak of hardcore. (For me, it was a bit later but not much! Maybe 2008!) I love the variety of all the different people making paeans to different eras of HC now, like that Bee Trax dude, who has to be doing the most niche thing of all -- given that B-Trax was one of the only HC labels around in what was regarded as a dead scene at the time!
Thanks for your response in my VSTi thread btw. I may as well respond here by saying thanks for the kind words and advice that confirmed what I thought I needed.
Love,
Elliott
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator
|
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
Posted - 2024/12/19 : 07:35:02
quote:
Originally posted by Luz1978:
All the nu energy stuff is available from Kev energy: https://kevinenergy.com/online-store-page/
Though a bit more expensive when I got it back in Covid lock down.
Also depending on tastes, kniteforce has a load of digital and usb releases, like jimmy j and cru-l-t collections etc..
JAL is on bandcamp.
Hi! Thanks. Looking at what it's going to cost me to get back even two of the labels I bought legit in their entirety back in the day is eyewatering. I'm going to have to start bugging label owners to see if they'll give me some kind of sympathy bulk discount or something. Funnily enough, I actually spoke to the guys at JAL about that and they've been amazing. I love JAL and their entire label fold!
Take care, new friendo.
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator
|
Elliott
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,145 posts
Joined: May, 2012
|
Posted - 2024/12/19 : 07:38:50
Also if anyone knows how to get in contact with Jay, would they mind please asking him to take a look at this thread? He always seemed like a really solid guy who'd help me out even if he isn't exactly active now.
Man, I was devastated when I'd found out that Highlights had gone down too as that was going to form part of my base for restarting my collection.
And two more general questions for the audience:
1. Name any and all of the producers and/or labels releasing their stuff for free atm. That's well within my price range. :p
2. Who are the big names to be looking out for atm? Last time I really checked in, Scott Brown and M-Project were killing it on Evo. And the top tier had mostly stopped doing stuff of interest to me. They'd continued their transition from wanting mainstream acceptance to fully crossing over into the mainstream and making modern EDM at 170.
ETA: I just heard "Never Let Go" by Divide. That's an entirely new name to me but a banger of a tune. Scarred Digital is making some moves! But 200 releases. Fuuuck me! This is as depressing as it is pleasing. I'm happy for everyone else to see the scene in a decent-ish place but sad for me.
__________________________________
old soundcloud
i gave up producing
Alert moderator
Edited by - Elliott on 2024/12/19 08:00:57 |
Samination
Advanced Member
Sweden
13,170 posts
Joined: Jul, 2004
195 hardcore releases
|
Posted - 2024/12/19 : 10:14:46
WB Elliott, it has been a while, and yes, the topic length limit has always been there.
AS for Hardcore Highlights, it was actually up for a long time. I think I first saw it being 404'd was this summer.
quote:
Originally posted by Luz1978:
All the nu energy stuff is available from Kev energy: https://kevinenergy.com/online-store-page/
Though a bit more expensive when I got it back in Covid lock down.
Still cheaper than most others for the amount content you get.
__________________________________
---------------------------------------------
Samination, Swedish Hardcore DJ
Happy, UK Hardcore, Freeform, Makina and Gabber
http://samination.se/
---------------------------------------------
Alert moderator
Edited by - Samination on 2024/12/19 10:15:52 |
|
Printer friendly
