Softcore – A Hardcore Encounter is a dan­ce pie­ce about the hard­co­re tech­no sub­gen­re ​‘Gabber’. At 200 beats per minu­te this beat has been descri­bed as tech­no on speed: it’s the sound of the uncom­pro­mi­s­ing under­dog. It’s rave gone cra­zy. It pla­ces the body in an acce­le­ra­ted sta­te and can be vie­wed equal­ly as part of both capi­ta­list soci­e­ty and the resis­tan­ce to it. 

Lisa Vereertbrugghen has con­duc­ted an exten­si­ve exa­mi­na­ti­on of this form of club music over seve­r­al years and explo­res the term hard­co­re with regard to trans­for­ma­ti­on, vul­ne­ra­bi­li­ty and pos­si­bi­li­ty, whi­le ques­ti­o­ning the ​“hard” in hard­co­re. What if dan­cing so fast can be a way to approp­ri­a­te speed not for being more pro­duc­ti­ve, but for the oppo­si­te: Speed beco­mes a way to increa­se sen­sa­ti­ons and to elu­de control.

© Pierre Tournay