HTRK [HATE-ROCK-TRIO]
HTRK became in 2003. Early music spawned from basement sessions: omnipresent electronic drum sequences, ostinati basslines and twisted guitar loops based on repeated rhythms that make you move. Nigel Yang and Siam Scream found a beautiful muse in Jonnine D, who joined the band shortly after its inception. New alias the Hate Rock Trio: drone moored by Jonnine's listlessly simple vocal melodies.
Songs played at shows in Melbourne and Sydney were finally recorded in December 2004. A single live take captured on borrowed equipment in HTRK's cave, NOSTALGIA in its original form is the closest document of the band's uncompromising live shows (and a reverb-drenched middle-finger to 'production values'). Its abrasive sound manages to produce submission, carried by a hypnotic stability that always threatens collapse.
Scream's bass riffs are pure, slow rock and roll, Yang's guitar is insidious, the 808 is perpetual and often piercing. HTRK could provide the soundtrack to a Reifenstahl movie, a modern day marching band for immaterial cyber armies. Jonnine leads, striking floor tom with commands:
"Ha!"
"Dance!"
"Everybody let's go!"
At other times, NOSTALGIA's control effects irresistible groove, dance hits and dream-pop laments. When the songs end, un-foreshadowed, feeble silence marred by feedback leftovers and the dead static of the drum machine leaves the spectator in a rude state of torpor. HTRK's music feels like an indian gift of torture for a masochist, given then carelessly withdrawn. And it's an airy type of mercilessness, the worst kind.
Previous Shows
25/11/09 Corsica Studios London
3/11/09 Cargo London
24/10/09 Exit07 Luxembourg
21/10/09 Grrrnd Zero Lyon
20/10/09 Spazio 211 Torino
19/10/09 Circolo degli Artisti Rome
17/10/09 Bad Bonn Dudingen
16/10/09 Botanique Brussels
13/10/09 Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin
12/10/09 Loppen Copenhagen
11/10/09 Voxhall Aarhus
10/10/09 Vera Groningen
6/10/09 White Heat London
8/05/09 Debaser Stockholm
6/05/09 Columbiahalle Berlin
15/01/09 Thurs 15 Jan: SCUM + HTRK + mo London
3/05/08 Amersham Arms London
26/04/08 Barfly Camden London
7/12/07 Faction London
6/12/07 The 78 Glasgow
5/12/07 Aunty Annies Belfast
4/12/07 Whelans Dublin
30/11/07 Rescue Rooms Nottingham
29/11/07 Thekla Bristol
28/11/07 Cabaret Electric Le Havre
27/11/07 La Maroquinerie Paris
25/11/07 De Kreun Kortrijk
24/11/07 Le Chabada Angers
23/11/07 Krakatoa Mérignac Arlac
22/11/07 La Cooperative de Mai Clermont-Ferrand
21/11/07 Grrnd Zero Lyon
19/11/07 La Romandie Lausanne
18/11/07 Transilvania Milan
17/11/07 Interzona Verona
16/11/07 Feedback Club Perugia
15/11/07 INIT Rome
14/11/07 Estragon Bologna
11/11/07 Ut Connewitz Leipzig
10/11/07 Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin
9/11/07 Pusterviksbaren Gothenburg
8/11/07 Debaser Stockholm Stockholm
7/11/07 John Dee Oslo
6/11/07 Debaser Stockholm Stockholm
5/11/07 Loppen Copenhagen
3/11/07 Barfly Brighton Brighton
5/10/07 333 London
29/09/07 Dame Colet House London
17/09/07 Camden Underworld London
16/06/07 The Roundhouse London
19/05/07 The Roundhouse London
22/04/07 Luminaire London
20/04/07 The George Tavern