Alec Empire

The Grande Dame of Digital Hardcore, Alec Empire, has a drive and ambition that could not have arrived at a better time. As European dance music became progressively de-politicized through the 1990s, Empire was inspired by militants such as Detroit's Underground Resistance, who connected their hard-edged Techno to intense social discontent. Empire took this further by advocating outright anarchy accompanied by devastating distortion, high-decibel sloganeering and Hardcore beats that verge on abusive. As his teen interests in punk and hip-hop switched to Acid House in the late '80s, his music possesses a wide scope of sounds -- breakbeats are pit against jagged guitar samples and acidic synth squelches. He continues to tirelessly produce tracks for Mille Plateaux and his own label Digital Hardcore Recordings, lead his band Atari Teenage Riot, and create countless remixes for a staggering variety of artists, inflecting all with the intent to smash the state.