A Video Primer on the Evolution of Gabber

While searching for a documentary to review, I came across this primer on ‘Gabber’, a catch all term to describe Dutch Techno from the early 90s to the present day.

What gives this video a unique, authentic feel is the fact it is being told from the perspective of an artist, fully immersed in the music and the culture. The documentary maker is presumably Dutch but if he’s reading this, please feel free to correct me.

I have some familiarity with Gabber inasmuch as I owned one or two CDs and quite a few DJ mix tapes. For me, it was early tunes like Dyewitness ‘What Would You Like To Hear Again’ and Rotterdam Termination Source ‘Poing’ (a track that consists of cartoon spring noises and distorted 909 kick drums) or even the infamous ‘Dominator’ by Human Resource.

Here in the UK, Gabber was championed by DJs like Loftgroover and The DJ Producer

Ranging from 180bpm to the absolutely terrifying tempos of Speedcore

This video tells a better detailed timeline of Gabber than I ever could. It explains the origin of the word itself and traces the sound all the way back to Technotronic ‘Pump Up the Jam.’ This is a faceless video that tells it’s story through music clips, interviews and the occasional bit of translated narration.

What I found fascinating about this video is the categorisation of genres and sub genres. House music ranges from 135bpm-165bpm. ‘Early Hardcore’ is the name given to the original sound, characterised by distorted 909 kicks and hoovers. ‘Hardcore Jungle’ describes the sound imported from the UK via a popular compilation album series. The video chronicles the evolution from distorted drums to a cleaner sound, the ‘Hakken’ dance associated with the genre and the influence of the sound on modern Techno. DJs are mentioned sparingly and labels don’t get much attention either but this documentary is more about the music and the movement and a more than satisfactory primer on a dance music genre that is often maligned but actually has a wealth of really good tracks with strong Hip Hop and Electro influences.