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Alec Empire

After experiencing a difficult period, Alec Empire is back with a new epos. Intelligence And Sacrifice has been on the shelves for almost a year. And that's strange, because a better reference to a year of chaos is hardly imaginable. First there was the suicide of Alec's colleague and friend Carl Crack. Furthermore, noise collective Atari Teenage Riot went on hiatus after completing a world tour. Then there was the 11th of September. Leaving Alec Empire behind. Disoriented, angry, desperate. Luckily, he managed to overcome his difficulties, resulting in his most interesting record to date.

Tekst: Theo Ploeg

Uncrowned king of the Berlin underground movement; embodiment of the musical battle against capitalism; a noisy fellow shouting one-liners and making too much noise . . . Everybody has an opinion about Alec Empire, frontman of the Berlin noise collective Atari Teenage Riot (in short ATR) and owner of the record company Digital Hardcore and sub-label Geist. Although he has made some very disturbing records, Alec has never sounded as intense as on his new double CD Intelligence And Sacrifice. The first disc explores territories beyond the most extreme ATR tracks. The second digs even deeper into the psyche than Empire's former work for Geist. Intelligence And Sacrifice is the crown on Empires hectic career.

Alec Empire grew up in post-war Berlin during the dark eighties. The city was still split in two. Hip-hop, breakdance, and punk were Alec's only mates. In the early nineties he began making music. At first in numerous punk bands, later as founder of the hardcore breakbeat collective Atari Teenage Riot, creators of furore with loud punk guitars and distorted beats and breaks. With songs like Delete Yourself, Burn Berlin Burn, and Future Of War, they shocked the German nation. The success resulted in numerous live shows around the world and a Digital Hardcore label full of second range ATR-clones. Although ATR lost their power of attraction quickly, Alec Empire remained in the middle of the musical evolution. His solo albums for Frankfurt's Mille Plateaux label, and later for his own Geist label, have some brilliant moments. With Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick of Techno Animal, he released some disturbing dark ambient work. Collaborations that led to his current masterpiece Intelligence And Sacrifice. Two discs that show two different sides of Alec Empire. But both leave the listener behind in confusion. Intelligence And Sacrifice is disturbing and estranging. As if life is a game offering no escape. And no salvation.

An analysis the shy Alec Empire can laugh about. Empire: "Never listened to it that way. No doubt I am going much deeper on this record than my previous ones. I show much more of myself, but I remain a bystander and don't give an opinion. That is for the listener to decide." On his solo albums Alec Empire carefully avoids politics. Simply because ATR already dives deeply into the political world. No need to preach revolution again. Empire's solo work is more subtle. Its aim is to let people think for themselves, by giving them the experience of disturbing, experimental music. Nevertheless, Intelligence And Sacrifice holds an unambiguous message. Maybe not directly, but the music certainly sounds desperate. The first disc is immersed in mindless, distorted beats and vocals, and laced with heavy guitars. As if Alec is trying to cry out that he doesn't know anymore, like he is trying to exorcise the inviolable danger by making as much noise as possible. A strange contrast with disc two, a collection of abstract tracks with a highly introspective character. Music made by someone who is retreating from the world, someone who has lost all grip on his surroundings. Empire: "I wrote all the tracks on Intelligence And Sacrifice during the last tour with ATR. Before we started, we knew that we would take a break, so everybody would be able to dedicate time to other musical project we have beside ATR. Everything went different because of the death of Carl. When I am listening to Intelligence And Sacrifice now, it really sounds like I must have written the material after his death and the terrorist attacks of the 11th of September. There even are a few tracks that are about the way our world economy is dealing with global issues and about the mindless conflicts between countries that eventually lead to war. People asked me if I wrote them after the 11th of September, but I didn't. It is very strange to hear those tracks back."

It may be true that Alec Empire isn't giving his opinion about global issues in his music, nevertheless he shows himself to be very committed. He even overtly flirted with the heritage of Die Rotte Armee Fraktion (RAF), a German terrorist movement that was active during the seventies using violence to reach their anti-capitalistic aims. Empire: "That was a provocation. Someone who didn't grew up in Germany isn't able to understand the situation. In spite of all the horrible things that happened during the Second World War, former Nazis had high positions in East and West Germany. That shocked the German youth, resulting in many demonstrations during the early seventies. During a demonstration of students and intellectuals at the University of Berlin, someone was shot by the police. From that moment on, there was a real clash of generations in Germany. That resulted in movements like the RAF, in the terrorism against the dominant regime, against capitalism. I don't agree with their actions, but I sympathise with their premises. I understand why they did it." But wasn't the RAF much more than just against Nazism? Weren't they Neo-Marxists who put the theories of the Frankfurt School, a famous German left research institute, into action? "No idea," Empire says. "I am not an intellectual. I am using my common sense. I anticipate on the things I see around me, the things that happen. At this moment the sympathy for extreme right movement is growing rapidly in Germany. It is as if we didn't learn anything. The only thing we do after the 11th of September is [to become] even more protectionist. Even Germany dedicated troops to the American War On Terrorism, and that is, under the circumstances, unbelievable. But I strongly believe that eventually everything will be all right. It is a human gift to choose between ideologies in a rational way. People will choose for the most constructive one."

» 04 augustus 2002 » artikel doorsturen » artikel afdrukken

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Meer Alec Empire op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/alec-empire