Hardfloor

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Hardfloor is a German electronic duo made up of Oliver Bondzio and Ramon Zenker. They started in 1991 and broke through a year later with the Hardtrance Acperience EP on the label Harthouse. The track Acperience 1 in particular became a big favourite at raves. The song brought about a brief return of the acid house sound of the 1980s.

Music and breakthrough

That sound revolves around the Roland TB-303, a small bass synthesizer originally intended to imitate a bass guitar. By twisting the filters and accents while playing, you get the squealing, bubbling, squelching sound known as acid. Hardfloor was famous for using up to six of these machines at once. After the debut came albums such as TB Resuscitation (1993) and Home Run (1996), as well as remixes for other artists. In the mid-1990s they also played their acid sound at a slower tempo under the name Da'damn'phreak'noize'phunk. In 1998 they collaborated with Phuture, the Chicago group who had been the first to use the 303 in this way in the 1980s.

Influence

Zenker also worked as a producer of commercial dance projects, such as Bellini and Fragma. Hardfloor themselves stayed faithful to hard acid techno. The duo shows how a single instrument can carry an entire genre: a machine that had started out as a failed bass guitar became the lead player in their hands.

Listening

• 
  Acperience 1 · Hardfloor, 1992
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1993TB Resuscitation
• 1994Respect
• 1996Home Run
• 1998All Targets Down
• 1998All Targets Down
• 2000So What?!
• 2005Four Out of Five Aliens Recommend This
• 2007The Life We Choose
• 2010Two Guys Three Boxes
• 2014The Art of Acid
• 2017The Business of Basslines
• 2024Still Lost in the Silver Box

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 9: The Instrument^NL Reader